I have to say that, oddly enough, this page makes a lot more sense when taken with the previous one as a spread.  Beyond that, I’ll just let it be, and not try to over-explicate the scene.  Once again, though, it’s the great pain of the weekly long-form comic that sorting out scenes like this can sometimes take a while.  But I paced it this way for a very specific reason.  You can see the spread as a voting incentive, thus:

TWCgenCh3_vote2

This week, by the way, saw me reach my 33rd birthday.  It passed more or less unnoticed, though I did get a few notes from friends – one in particular was extraordinarily uplifting for me (thanks, Joost!)  It was, however, depressing that my birthday should now be connected with an act of horrible violence, and very close to my home.  I live in Lower New England, near New York City, and on Friday, there was a terrible massacre at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, nearby.  As an architect (which is what I do for a living) that kind of thing stands in very stark opposition to the creative and constructive work I have chosen to devote myself to, and I found it doubly distressing to see how fast politicians with agendas began trying to make hay out of a tragedy.

I’m not nato believe, as some reactionaries may believe, that we can outlaw tragedy of this kind.  Rather, I found it most sad and depressing that one of the immediate reactions in a great deal of the regional media was of the “Where’s Your Messiah NOW?!” variety, coupled with a dismissal of the culprit as an irredeemably evil person.  It’s a temptation to succumb to such easy answers to the problem of bad things happening in the world; I, for my part, just feel sad and disappointed that once again, non-violence has been dealt a heavy blow.  The struggle goes on.

And so does daily life.  And as I have a job to get to in the morning, I’ll leave it at that.  Until next week, folks, all the best to you!