<< first   < previous next >   latest >>

Plans

Comic Text

Lily: My parents are having a Halloween party on Friday. Want to come?
Simon: I'm planning to hang out with Lane.
Lily: She can come too.
Simon: Okay, I'll ask her. Do I need a costume?
Lily: Just don't show up naked and you'll be fine.
Simon: I'll wear shoes then.
(panel of Lily wearing clothes and Simon wearing shoes)
Lily: Great! Together we'll add up to someone fully-clothed to the socially-expected degree.
Simon: Good enough.

Interview Problems

Comic Text

Lily: Hi Sasha! How was your interview?
Sasha: I think I bombed it. I'm so bad at these things. I said I didn't know if I could do the job. It's not like I'm gonna lie to them.
Lily: Yeah, you don't have to lie.
Sasha: Well, what ELSE am I gonna do? Everyone is out there padding their resumes and making themselves look better than they really are.
Lily: Just take some responsibility. Say something like "Don't worry, I'll do my best, and if I mess up, it's on me." Lily: Like imagine you're the recruiter. What would make you feel comfortable hiring someone like you?
Sasha: If we got to talking about our interests and they were like "Wow, you like writing gay Star Trek fan fiction TOO?"

Over-Confidence

Comic Text

Lily: We're trained to be over-confident. In school I learned that when a teacher asks me a question in class, admitting I don't know is not an acceptable answer. It's better to make something up.
Simon: I want my students to come up with theories. I don't want them to PRETEND they know things.
Lily: Sure, that makes sense. I was also taught to express my theories and opinions as FACTS, because writing "I think..." in an essay is bad form.
Simon: If you're writing a good scientific paper, you use phrases like "this evidence suggests..."
Lily: Yeah, but most people don't write scientific papers, we write persuasive essays. We pick a single viewpoint and hammer it in using manipulation tactics, with little regard for what is ACTUALLY TRUE. And if that sounds like the problem with political discourse these days, I don't think it's a coincidence.

Noah's Arc

Comic Text

(Simon is teaching Ecology)
Simon: So what's a limiting factor in the polar bear population? Noah, what do you think?
Noah: I don't know.
Simon: I appreciate your honesty. Do you have a guess?
(Noah starts crying)
Noah: sob
Simon: Oh... it's okay.

Trouble From Mrs. Castle

Comic Text

Simon: Are you okay, Noah?
Noah: Yeah. I just have a lot on my mind. Sorry.
Simon: No need to apologize. Anything you want to talk about?
Noah: Earlier today Mrs. Castle yelled at me for getting an answer wrong in class. She said I should go back to fifth grade because I clearly don't have a high school-level understanding of the material.
Simon: Ouch.
Noah: I know I'm just being a pussy but there's other stuff too. Sorry, I mean being a... you know.
Simon: A person who responds to stressful things with normal human emotions?

<< first   < previous next >   latest >>