1181: Why Not Just Go To the Store?!

I stopped by the Miller house on my way home from work on Friday because it had been awhile since I drove up to the house. I can see it fine from the railroad tracks but I can't get the full impact from there. The gate happened to be open so I drove up the long driveway, which is getting more and more rutted out due to large trucks and lack of improvements. As we came to where the circle drive connects, I noticed the large tree that had fallen over near the house and was just laying there, starting to rot. I originally thought that the fallen tree was new but it's also there in the Google satellite image so it's been fallen over for at least a year.

I was going to get out and take some pictures but the grass was so tall and everything looked so precarious that I didn't feel, at that time, like it was safe. There was also a large truck blocking the road as well as the tree so getting turned around and back out was also a bit of a chore. I noticed that there was no glass left in any of the windows and the back porch had collapsed at some point in the last two years.

Ever since I learned about the Miller house in 2001, I have fully expected the house to either be torn down or, due to vandals, burned down. I never expected it to fall down due to neglect and I've talked with the owner about it and it's just too costly to renovate so neither he nor the historical groups he's talked to can afford that kind of investment. Currently the property is being used to house farming equipment and other things for the owner's farming business.

The house was in the Miller family for over 100 years and two of their children are buried on the property behind the house. I would love to preserve the house and refurbish the stone for the two children but I, too, lack the funds. If nothing else, I would like to purchase a new stone for the kids or relocate the graves before it's too late.

How did you let the dog food run out? Who goes to a neighbor to get spare dog food? Who does this? I ask you. Who, when they run out of dog food, would just go to a neighbor's house and ask for food? People don't even go to their neighbors to ask for a cup of sugar or two eggs anymore because everyone is a stranger and we need to be scared of everyone who isn't us.

1180: You Should Be Happy We Let You Out of Your Cage

It's Free Comic Book Day and while I had initially planned on doing something, I haven't been on a computer to do anything so you get nothing. But what you can do is go to your local comic book store pick up a couple free comics and then purchase a back series or a trade paperback or graphic novel. Get suggestions on what to read from the employees and spend some money because FCBD isn't completely free. The stores still pay for the free comics and the shipping.

Look at that! Wilberforce gets to eat dinner tonight and not be chained up in the basement with a bucket of fish heads.

Sadly it's probably something he doesn't like. Oh, well, he's 9 and has no real power or opinion of his own.

1179: It's About Time Brutus See His Therapist Again

You may have seen this flag and phrase around usually on big, loud trucks whose exhaust system may not be 100% up to code. I'm torn because I am for honoring your ancestors and, for better or worse, being a part of the Confederacy or serving in the Confederate military is considered part of your heritage but only if one of your ancestors served. Down in the South, this makes sense as there is the chance your distant relative served for the Confederacy. But are you really flying the Confederate flag because you want to honor your great-great-grandfather or because society generally agrees that the flag is racist?

I live in Kansas and I see people flying the Confederate flag. Kansas was never part of the Confederacy nor would the people who fought and died to keep Kansas from allowing slavery be okay with you flying that flag. It also occurs to me that the people who fly this flag would never, ever, ever fly flags of other countries where their ancestors immigrated from. My ancestors came to Connecticut from Britain, migrated to North Carolina and Tennessee before ultimately winding up in the Little Dixie area of Missouri. Due to those last three places, there is a huge possibility that distant relatives of mine fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves so I think I could get away with flying the Confederate flag.

But I won't because why would I fly another country's flag? If you're not willing to fly the British flag which is more than likely where your ancestors came from, then why fly the Confederate flag? Also, if you have to explain why your flag isn't considered hate speech then maybe you need to get a new icon for your heritage.

Currently everybody who knows Brutus hates him so the odds don't seem to be in his favor.

1178: Why Isn't Wilberforce Eating Dinner?

Chip must get a lot of telemarketer phone calls so that crosses over into the comic strip but I also wonder if Chip holds his cell phone a good foot from his face. I use the speakerphone too but only when I can't use my hands or when there is no one around. Don't tell me that Brutus can't hear--he's only 40-55 years-old depending on which Born Loser timeline you use.

1177: Baltimore Has 99 Problems But Gladys Ain't One

"Freddie Gray died on April 19, one week after he was taken into custody by Baltimore police.

About 30 minutes after he was arrested and thrown into the back of a van, Gray was found, according to officers' accounts, unconscious and unresponsive. His spinal cord had been severely injured and his voice box nearly crushed.

While the investigation into what or who killed Gray continues, protests and riots swept through Baltimore on Monday. Much like in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police killing of teenager Michael Brown last summer, the prevailing questions seem to center on who is responsible for the violence in the streets — but in order to really understand Gray's final days and their aftermath, one must consider his life and the kind of city in which he grew up — the city that would eventually be the death of him."

7 Facts Everyone Needs to Know To Understand What's Happening In Baltimore

As what happens when you work in a school, the Baltimore protests came up in one of my classes. One of the kids offered a solution to end the protests. "Send them back to the cotton fields then maybe they will appreciate what they have."

That. That right there is why they protest. When your first thought on solving the problem of systemic racism in our society is to re-enslave the people who we are being racist to then I don't even know where to begin on where the problem lies in that. Another student even made the comment that there can't be racism because "look at the president."

While most of the blame I place directly on the kid or, more appropriately, his parents, I also feel that the media is to blame. The protests were peaceful throughout the weekend and during the funeral. Barely any mention. But once that CVS went up in flames, media--and therefore the general population--suddenly cared a whole hell of a lot.

So Gladys is just standing in the middle of the house with her arms crossed? I bet she's also going "humph" every few seconds too.

Yeah, that seems healthy.

1176: *Shudder*

It's disturbing when Veeblefester puts his arm around Brutus. It's also disturbing just how much power one tea cozy magnate has but I guess no more disturbing than two brothers controlling a good percentage of a political party.

1175: Are Doughnut and Donut Interchangeable?

A donut isn't going to kill you. Quit shaming your wife and let her do what she wants. It's great if you are concern for her well-being but it is no one's place to tell Gladys or anyone else how to live there life.

You do you, girl. And bring me a donut.

1174: I'm Good At Driving the Carts Too

I was going to comment on this strip on Friday but didn't have time and then on Saturday but I did the Bruce Jenner post instead so I'm going to mention it today. I looked up Kokosing Drive and discovered that it is a real street in Gambier, Ohio. Does Chip live on Kokosing Drive? Does Chip have a friend that lives there? Or does Chip know someone who went to Kenyon College in Gambier and just liked the name?

Some people who went to Kenyon College were President Rutherford B. Hayes, Paul Newman, Bill Watterson and Josh Radnor of How I Met Your Mother. Maybe Bill Watterson lives on Kokosing Drive! Everyone needs to converge on Kokosing Drive right now!!

Veeblefester asks Brutus to go golfing with him all the time. I think Veeblefester only does it because Brutus is bad at golf but still it's a pretty regular thing. I would like to see Brutus take Veeblefester to his favorite golf course and we learn that it's mini-golf.

Who knows. That may have already been done.

1173: I Love Scheduling My Day Around a Golf Tournament

I didn't watch the Bruce Jenner/Diane Sawyer special last night. I don't really need a TV special (or upcoming documentary miniseries) to be told what I already know. I do want to commend Bruce on her bravery for coming out and becoming a role model for a whole group of people who need a role model like her.

I was talking to my mom about Bruce a few weeks ago, I think it was after the Diane Sawyer interview was announced, and she just couldn't believe it. Bruce Jenner had always been like a hero to her. In her college dorm and even after she had me, she had pictures and posters of Bruce Jenner hanging up. She has a Bruce Jenner action figure still in its original package. While she didn't seem to grasp the understanding of why Bruce took so long to come out, she did say that Bruce deserves to be happy. And that's true. Everyone deserves to be happy.

I'm glad that Bruce feels safe coming out and I hope this encourages transphobic people from my mom's generation and younger to be more accepting of the trans community. So many are cast aside or made to feel like less than who they are. It's reported that a trans person is murdered once every three days. And 41% of trans people have attempted suicide which is nine times the average rate. Those numbers are unacceptable--any unjustifiable death is unacceptable but these statistics are preventable starting with parents. Parents shouldn't be their child's first bully and it seems all too often, that is what happens.

I remember when I was in school and the go-to insult was calling someone gay. I did it, my friends did it, everyone did it. Then there came a point where I just stopped. Like a switch in my brain, there came a day when I realized that using 'gay' derogatorily, was mean. I still hear kids say it. In one of my classes, a student constantly make jokes about one of his friends being gay like being gay is the worst thing you could be. I'm sitting across the room going "Seriously? You're an 18-year-old high school senior in the year 2015 and that's your go-to insult?" It's interesting to see all the progress we've made but still be able to see how much we have left to do.

Here's hoping we've progressed even a little bit further.

I know that there is no halftime in golf but the joke seems clunky. How many people glancing at this strip would raise an eyebrow to Gladys' comment about halftime and wonder what the joke is?

Also, aren't most golf tournaments during the day starting at one? That would put halftime in the two, two-thirty area and unless Gladys is using dinner in the "largest meal of the day" sense, two, two-thirty ain't dinner.

1172: They Should Quit While They're Ahead

Brutus doesn't even know how many games his son has played? I realize that Brutus is lazy and would rather sit on his duff and watch sports on TV but I'm lazy too and I would much rather watch my son play a sport that I don't care about.