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Happy 25Th Anniversary Early Edition All the fan-fictional news that a cadre of Partly inky today, with loyal DTWOF readers clear patches. Tonight, saw fit to make up. much darker with a sharp increase of crosshatching. HAPPY 25TH Peace Rally on Fifth Anniversary of Iraq ANNIVERSARY Invasion THE ESSENTIAL DYKES By Anna Beek TOWATCH OUT FOR n the fifth anniversary of the US inva- Osion of Iraq, it appears that disapproval of the Iraq Invasion is as alive as ever.A small but dedicated group gathered downtown to ALISON BECHDEL is the author of protest the US presence in Iraq and call for the best-selling Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, withdrawal of the troops there. Time’s number one Best Book of 2006 and a The protest began in the late morning. National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Participants gathered in the Main Street Since 1983 she has been chronicling the Square, under the leadership of local anti- lives of various characters in Dykes to Watch war activist Stuart Goodman. From the Out For, named by Utne magazine as “one of square they marched approximately three the greatest hits of the twentieth century.” miles and through many busy thoroughfares For longtime fans of Alison Bechdel and the to the local Army Recruiting Headquarters. new fans of the graphic-memoir phenome- At their destination, Mr. Goodman spoke non Fun Home, this edition collects the best briefly about the need to recall US forces selections from her Dykes to Watch Out For from Iraq immediately,and the general need strip—“one of the preeminent oeuvres in for peace in the world, alternately brandish- the comics genre, period” (Ms.). ing a “No Blood for Oil” sign and tending to For twenty-five years Bechdel’s path- his young daughter. “This war is a travesty,” breaking strip has been collected in award- he declared, stomping for emphasis on his winning volumes (with a quarter of a mil- makeshift podium—but in the next lion copies in print), syndicated in fifty moment turning aside to say “Now, J.R., alternative newspapers, and translated into don’t bother that dog.” He continued, “Far many languages. Now, at last, The Essential too many have died for this war to be con- Dykes to Watch Out For gathers a “rich, funny, scionable by any standard of ethics—here, deep and impossible to put down” (Publishers sweetie, don’t kick the podium; I have some Weekly) selection from all eleven Dykes vol- local apple leather for you—” as he set to umes. Here too are sixty of the newest rummaging through the pockets of his kilt. strips, never before published in book form. The protesters were generally patient Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap with Goodman’s divided attention, and opera (Bechdel calls it “half op-ed column were receptive to his speech. However, an and half endless serialized Victorian novel”) Fun Home, but I have been following Dykes “I have had such a crush on Alison undercurrent of futility ran through the of the lives, loves, and politics of a cast of to Watch Out For since it began twenty five Bechdel for so long! Um, well, obviously crowd, as was demonstrated by the lengthy characters, most of them lesbian, living in a years ago. Bechdel is astonishingly percep- it’s destined to remain unrequited”, he con- diatribe of one protester. “We’ve been at this midsize American city that may or may not tive. I find myself agreeing with her almost tinued, blushing.“But seriously, Dykes to Watch so long,” said Monica Testa, beginning at a be Minneapolis. always.” Out For is a clever depiction of a group of mutter but gradually rising to rival Her brilliantly imagined countercultural We asked Testa if she was referring to oddballs, mostly but not all lesbians, mostly Goodman’s amplified voice. “We’ve been band of friends—academics, social workers, Bechdel’s left-leaning politics. Frowning but not all left-wing, and how they build protesting for more than five years now, and bookstore clerks—fall in and out of love, slightly, she replied, “What other politics their own community day by day. It’s a soap for what? Congress isn’t responding to us. negotiate friendships, raise children, switch would any sensible person have?” She opera, but it’s a lot more than that too.” Bush is a lost cause! What do we need to do careers, and cope with aging parents. began to pound her fist on her desk. “These He broke off the conversation to stop to make ourselves heard?” She continued at Bechdel fuses high and low culture—from days, when the lawless Bush administration Jiao Raizel, who appeared to be giving her- some length. foreign policy to domestic routine, hot sex is seeking to overthrow everything decent self an amateur mud facial. We continued As Mr. Goodman spoke, a small counter- to postmodern theory—in a serial graphic about America, we need more left wing pol- on our way. protest of war supporters—hastily organ- narrative “suitable for humanists of all per- itics.” She grabbed our shirt and began to English professor Ginger Jordan told us ized the previous night through various suasions.” shake us. “Society is being reduced to a jun- that dialogue was central to Dykes to Watch Out conservative internet forums—began to The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, after the gle! We’ll have to form an anti-war militia! For. “It’s not just that the characters never congregate on the opposite side of the runaway success of Fun Home, is sure to bring Weapons training begins next week!” shut up,” she told us, “especially my ex- street. Throughout Mr. Goodman’s speech new fans to Bechdel’s revealing and endear- Finally noticing that our teeth were rattling, housemates.There is internal dialogue in the they heckled and chanted slogans defending ing comic strip masterwork. Testa stopped and sat back. “I need to get strip, in which the drawings comment on the war and the president’s actions. back to work”, she said, and went to shush the text, and the characters’ personal lives Cynthia Pharr-Wright, a graduate stu- a couple of teenagers whose voices had risen reflect political events.” So there you have it. dent at Buffalo Lake State University,claimed Book Review slightly above a whisper. When the wind howls and the rain drums credit for organizing the counter-protest. A different perspective was provided by against the windows, we know which book “These people need to be challenged on By Andrew Burday graduate student Cynthia MacGruder. “You we’ll be curled up with. How about you? what they’re saying,” she said in a brief know”, she began, “there’s this perception interview. “They can’t just go around crying Local Residents Comment that every lesbian is a weed-eating left-wing ——— that war is bad and Bush is evil. In this case, on New Bechdel Tome pacifist. What I like about Bechdel is that the occupation is a necessary operation, and even though that’s pretty much what she is, should continue until Iraq’s situation has Hermes Tricksteristus she’s still capable of representing lesbians stabilized.” who don’t fit the image.” Pharr-Wright declined to comment on a he days are getting shorter, the leaves are We found stay-at-home dad Stuart young woman bearing a “Dykes for T turning, the nights are getting cooler — Goodman at a local playground with his Immediate Withdrawl” sign who crossed it’s autumn, time to grab a blanket and snug- daughter, Jiao Raizel. Goodman began the the street several times to speak with her. gle up with a good book. The publishing conversation by asking us to sign his peti- The young woman heckled Pharr-Wright event of the season is best-selling author tion to deport all registered Republicans to during our interview, calling “Why don’t Alison Bechdel’s massive new collection, The shrinking ice floes in the Arctic Ocean until you tell them where you were last sum- Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. We decided to they agree to act on global warming. When mer?” Pharr-Wright claims that last summer take a walk around town and see what some we said that that sounded unconstitutional, she was attending an occupational training local residents thought of the book. Goodman muttered something about how program. the Constitution was abrogated in Librarian Mo Testa spoke with us at her November 2000 anyway.But when we asked desk in the Nether Heights public library. ——— if he was familiar with Bechdel, he positive- “It’s fascinating how graphic works have ly gushed. become respectable”, according to Testa. “Bechdel became famous with her memoir © Liza Cowan details about this exciting sequel, the Legal marriage also would help same-sex not available for comment. However, Dr. spunky Miko says “but I’m not going to tell couples in the event that their relationships Sydney Krukowski, Plain State’s second you any more than that.” Stay tuned for dissolve, Ortiz said. “If both partners have choice for the position that the Ivy League- updates on The Chop Shop and our local equal resource to dispute resolution assis- bound Dr. Gilhoohey dropped like a sack of legend that is Miko Takagawa. tance, the personal tragedy of a breakup may organic, fair-trade potatoes, did offer these be easier to bear,” she said. remarks: “Dr. Gilhoohey was a friend and colleague. I was proud to work with her Same-sex Marriage despite that minor plagiarism incident of A New York Times hers.
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