This old Sunday has run here before, but that was a few years ago. And I like it. There is big news today in my old hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Harper Lee’s new old novel “Go Set a Watchman” is being released. Apparently, a lot of people already are restless, because the real-life Atticus Finch, Lee’s father, wasn’t Gregory Peck after all. I am looking forward to reading the book, and I’m reserving judgment until then. Things have been kind of slow around the Web site this summer, but be sure to check in next week. Arlo & Janis turns 30 on July 29, and I expect we’ll have a modest party. And did I mention it’s hot?
In the Footsteps of Little Billy
By Jimmy Johnson
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196 responses to “In the Footsteps of Little Billy”
LOL! are those 300 pairs of shoes in Janis’ closet??
30 years. Wow Time flies when you are having fun. Keep peeking in our windows. We will give you plenty of material!
“…restless”, indeed. Most of the authors of the reports about and the reviews of the new book (and the writers of the comments thereto) I’ve read seem to be of the opinion that their corn flakes have been peed into.
I have a lot of trepidation about Go Set A Watchman… I feel if Harper Lee really wanted us to see it she would have published it years ago. And yes, apparently Atticus Finch wasn’t the saintly figure we thought he was.
On another note, would love Jimmy’s reaction to the return of Bloom County after 25 years. Other than Peanuts and A&J, no strip was a bigger part of my life than Bloom County.
I haven’t made a decision yet about Watchman. I love To Kill A Mockingbird and don’t really want anything to spoil that, even if it is another book by Harper Lee. And I do agree with Jim that if she had wanted us to read the book, Lee would have published it long ago.
On the other hand, I am thrilled…THRILLED!…over the return of Bloom County: The New Adventures Of Opus And Binkley. What’s in your Closet of Anxieties?
Dang it Jean, I have been scooped, as Milo would say! My Facebook friends had been keeping me up on the momentous event but I was holding out for the great unveil.
Don’t plan to read that book, only read the first because school required it. But, from what has appeared in the local press, the “new” book was written before Mockingbird and for whatever reason was not picked up. So Mockingbird was written but the whole experience put Ms. Lee off the publishing business. That was long ago and people/times change. I see no reason she could not change her mind and let this one go to press now. And judging it against Mockingbird would be like judging today’s version of A&J against the way Jimmy did it in 1985. Unfair and incorrect. Take Watchman for what it is, a first effort that is getting a second chance.
Is it 30 years already? It seems just last month that Phil and I, a newly-married couple, first met Arlo and Janis in the Detroit Free Press and have been sharing their lives ever since. Thank you, Jimmy!
What a coincidence! Did you realize that is the day Windows 10 makes it’s debut. Perhaps we can get a little icon to go in the tray to announce the event. Sounds good to me.
I have to comment on today’s strip in the papers. My wife has recently picked up adult coloring books just to keep her mind busy (along with word-finds and cross-stitch). Some of the designs are very complex and colorful when done. It seems to have become a “senior” fad. And JJ peeked again.
Ten years ago we were cleaning up after Hurricane Dennis as we were told that we hadn’t seen anything yet. Who would have guessed that we would go all this time with no storms?
Jerry: It looks like it is our turn rather than yours! Here is SE Ohio, it rained 5.5 inches last night. The parking lot was flooded and our cars got water in them. We have been sweeping mud and wet vacuuming the cars. And we did not have it as bad as a lot!
Expecting another severe storm tonight. Ah me…
We do have our regularly scheduled afternoon thunderstorms but we’ve gone with a different kind of grass and don’t have to worry with the fungus any more. We’re surrounded by trees which block some of the wind and give us shade from the sun. Sorry to hear about the weather there. One of these days it will be our turn again.
Today’s strip about the adult coloring books reminded me of this publisher’s offerings. I posted the same link shortly before Jimmy closed the comments, so I will repost here: http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-coloring-books-design-coloring.html
Besides the patterns, they also have ones for classic art, various world art styles and for children.
I really like the retro, reminds me of myself, and pays tribute to another great comic artist and his work.
To Set a Watchman was written first and submitted to the publishers. A wise editor had her use the same setting (but 30 years earlier) and characters to tell the story in To Kill a Mockingbird. Now, all these years later, a busybody has unearthed the first story and persuaded Lee (I think she’s 89 now) to let it be published.
Academically it’s interesting to see how the publication/editing process makes a difference in the quality of a story. Those who think she’s somehow written a new story in the intervening years will be disappointed.
I’ll be skipping Watchman.
In today’s A&J we see JJ illustrating a fundamental difference between guys and gals. I, like Arlo, expected something different.
Sorry you are having a heat wave, Jimmy. I am very happy with our weather here in the southern Rocky Mts – this has been the wettest and coolest spring and summer in, most likely, a generation. Even the burned out mountains are looking lively and green. Lakes, rivers and streams that were all but dry in March are now filling up, some rivers even flooding. I went camping near Durango CO over the weekend and the grasses in the meadows were hip deep and wildflowers were beating each other about the stamina for access to the sun.
My wife and I have a couple of those mandala coloring books but I prefer painting (watercolor, not walls).
And to think, when I drove through this exact intersection at 6:30 yesterday evening, there was even a few feet between the bottom of the bridge (just out of frame to the left) and the water line. How can we bring oil down from Alaska, but can’t get water to the West?
https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/905809_10153520904119940_7323756199526254049_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoibCJ9
More footage.
http://wane.com/2015/07/14/portland-mayor-declares-state-of-emergency/
Yikes, Mindy. It seems like everywhere is wet, often much wetter than usual, except for the west coast where it is most needed.
5.5 inches of rain in a night? We get just 19.75 inches total precipitation in a year!
Yeah. Thankfully that round missed here, but it sucks for everyone I know back that way.
Joyeux jour de Bastille and yay New Horizons flyby!
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/150714_NewHorizons.htm
Lots of other good [and sobering] stuff in this issue.
Peace, emb
So, is Pluto going to get its planethood restored?
Quiconque célèbre le quatorze de Juillet doit donner le salut traditionnel Français:
“Nous nous rendons!”
(Je préfère le quatrième de Juillet moi-même.)