[0649] Straight Outta Camden
└ posted on Monday, 12 January 2015, by Novil
- Sandra: I don’t want to be rude, but: Where’s all your furniture?
- Luna: We had to leave everything behind when we had to leave our old apartment in Camden in a hurry.
- Sandra: Camden, New Jersey!!
- Luna: Yes, we lived there for six years.
- Sandra: I’ve heard murder is now officially recognized as a natural cause of death in Camden.
- Luna: Oh, it wasn’t that bad actually.
- Luna: Except for that one time when a crackhead broke into our apartment, stole our money, and killed mom… which made dad fall into a deep depression.
- Sandra: Lovely.
![[0649] Straight Outta Camden](/comics/2015-01-12-0649-straight-outta-camden.png "[0649] Straight Outta Camden")
@ Renadt:
Congratulations! You win the Lenin medal for useful idiot of the day! And, my personal award for useless idiot!
Honestly with how since her debut she seems to have hijacked the comic my main takeaway’s just that I kind of dislike Luna just on principle.
Her growing up in Camden explains so very , very much.
@ Qohen:
Reminds me of Sayonara, Zetsubō-Sensei, to be honest.
J wrote:
Ha! 84! I live in bel air comparatively
(Huehuehue)
Tucci78 wrote:
Jersey has an international reputation as a hell-hole.
Renadt wrote:
Like he’s quoting Rush Limbaugh, scoob!
Sson it isn’t white black.
Mexicans commit crimes, whites commit crimes, sometimes Asians in da desert. It’s about being cool, tough, putting on the show to be accepted by the in-crowd. Then you reap the fruit of the labs and WHOOOOOOEI YOU BE SOLD OUT MAH MAN
Has noting to do with anything after school bro. White privelidge my ass, you know who just back stabbed my father out of the business he invited him into? A Mexican man who was born to extreme poverty and made an honest fortune first. But you bet he didn’t hesitate to backstab. Just like any greedy capitalist.
Whoa! The pubbikan bleevz in greedy capitalist too!
Yeeeees, yes he does.
Dude underpays his labor too, my dad used to fight him over workplace liability and employee safety, wasn’t even going to try wage raising with this guy.
Finally said “I want out” of his own business because it was going to ruin his reputation after the stab. Ridiculous.
Like racism that I don’t remember having any trouble with as recently as 2007.
“Dang republican you lie. I can remember back when ain’t never been fair since them confederates ruled the south for republicans”
Abe Lincoln? GOP
MLK? GOP
Forrest? Democrat
Most racially divisive president post CRM? Not going there. Because I honestly believe that’s not his fault. Maybe he doesn’t make the best decisions but suggest what he should do, he can’t- too many folks want to play cool off him.
A sarcastic “Lovely.” is the last thing you reply to a person who just said that her mother was killed by a crackhead, Sandra. What the hell?
nintendosagafan wrote:
I think this might be an indicator of her mental state. I can actually kinda relate–I haven’t gone through that type of tragedy, but if I had? That would be my type of mindset.
This entire segment about Luna gets more and more uncomfortable for me. It was witty with the first comic about the clothes, but then it got so awkward and… inhuman?? Luna seems like an alien, completely detached from her life and Sandra’s reactions come across as cynical, cold and plain weird. When someone tells me their parent got shot and killed I gasp in horror and immediately try to understand and/or comfort them. I don’t sense any empathy from Sandra towards Luna. It might just be me, but those several last strips made me wonder if I should continue to read this comic.
Tucci78 wrote:
Renadt wrote:
Could we please agree that there is both black and white racism? Could we please agree that the socialists are not tolerant and peaceful and that the liberals did not invade america with tolerance and peacefulness? Come on, guys, the world is not so simple, just open a book about evolutionary biology or history.
I know exactly how she feels. I was robbed at gun-point (as in a gun was pointed at me) when working at a convenience store (a stop-n-rob is what I call them) and had a very similar reaction mainly almost none. Some people in my shoes can never work that job again, some have breakdowns and PTSD. I can honestly say it was not the worst thing that ever happened to me and I continued to work that job for years.
Hm… am I the only still waiting for a punchline?
I dunno, these strips are so off the usual ones. I like them, though.
But what is the point? To show that no matter one’s background they should be treated equally and should not expect outside help or sympathies?
That’s what I gather at least.
@ Alakaslam:
Civil right changed the political landscape. The “Republicans” of Lincoln’s time are now Democrats.
Mechwarrior wrote:
Really? It seemed like a pleasant island when I visited. Maybe a little infested with bankers.
@ J:
Perhaps NYC is the most dangerous city in the US, if you consider the spiritual[1] and ethical dangers. Not to mention being terrorist target central for the US.
[1] spiritual that which tends to unity in any process.
@ Petah-Petah: damn you petah-petah, that comment made me laugh my ass off, and now I feel bad because that isn’t something I want to laugh at.
Renadt wrote:
Ignorance, eh? I grew up in Camden County. The town of Camden is the county seat. The major secondary medical centers in South Jersey are located in Camden, and I’ve worked in Camden’s very worst neighborhoods, including the places where the cops only go in squad strength. Over the decades, wounded and crippled gang-bangers – and all the gang-bangers’ families – have been my patients. I know Camden.
I’m a lifelong local, and as such I’m not much intimidated by the slough of despond our local Norcross machine Democrat politicians have made of what had once been a thriving industrial and commercial center, driving out productive enterprise and taxpaying residents with Democrat taxes and Democrat “regulations” and Democrat graft and Democrat waste and Democrat corruption.
Not that the Republicans have ever been all that praiseworthy, but in Camden it’s like the difference between ulcerative colitis and bowel cancer.
Cross Crescent Boulevard into Collingswood and it’s like going from Chernobyl into Leave It to Beaver, helping even an arrogant leftard ignoramus like you to realize that the only difference between Camden and the bordering suburban towns is that places like Pennsauken and Merchantville and Audubon are OUTSIDE the jurisdiction of the “Liberal” kakistocracy in the Milk Bottle.
What the hell do you claim to know about the agony Camden’s been going through since the Democrat “Great Society” programs of the ’60s culminated in the riots that tore through the city in ’69 and ’71? Have you watched the town dry up and die over the past half-century, the way I have?
Nah, you’re problem is that I know Camden only too goddam well, with an eye on the total picture unlike anything you and your ilk will ever have, ’cause your only interest is in exercising your progtard fantasies.
Well, reality ain’t your friend, is it?
@ Onihikage:
I came here to say the exact same thing.
Probably the best person to tell this to, for a multitude of reasons.
@ Renadt:
More simplistic Communist / Leftist propaganda. The Democrats are the party of the KKK and of the racist eugenicist Margaret Sanger. The Democrats pay black mothers to be divorced, breaking apart the black family. Shattering the social bonds and making the State the father, the ghetto culture is a creation of the Left. If poverty breeds crime, it is the State and Leftist polices that breed poverty. This allows the Democrat leadership to both oppress and contain the blacks while turning them into a dedicated voting block due to institutionalized dependence on their largess. It’s a kinder, gentler form of slavery and eugenics clothed in the guise of helping, tricking a huge number of good but misinformed people into supporting them.
Fizzroy wrote:
Maybe you do that, but I highly doubt that’s the most appropriate reaction. What you described can easily come of as pitying and pity is often not what people want. I think Sandra has the better idea here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlYp5w4iFQ0
I just couldn’t but remember this. Sorry.
As someone who grew up in the town adjacent to Camden, NJ I believe that this is pretty much right on the nose. As a kid I got into the habit of watching the local news while I ate breakfast… it was pretty much just a running death toll capped off with a feel-good story to make it all go down a little easier. Needless to say that habit did not last long.
An interesting factoid about Camden that you all might not know: A vast and disproportionate amount of state money allocated for education floods into the city every year, where it is then summarily wasted. I have no problem with them doing so, actually… but the people who get the money have no clue what to do with it.
It is worth noting that the violence is isolated to Camden, as noted by another commentator. Despite being so close to the violence, my home town had a nigh-nonexistent violent crime rate.
Left in a hurry makes me wonder what their reason was. Witness protection comes to mind except you don’t share your history with anyone in that case. I take it her father has somewhat recovered or at least is able to function to work, unless she’s in some charity programs although it looks like a government program.
…Are these strips with Luna supposed to be amusing? Because they’re not. Everything has just been deeply disturbing in manner of presentation.
…
D : }
Wow, wowee. Poor Luna’s life is getting more depressing with each new strip she’s in.
As someone who has been caught flat-footed when another person revealed something mind numbingly shocking about them selves to me I would say its possible for Sandra to respond with “Lovely”, however how she follows through afterwards will show more about her than anything else.
If this child has been through as much as she’s said, then her matter of fact delivery would be a coping mechanism. I’ve volunteered with abused foster children before and I’ve seen kids respond in exactly the same manner.
I’m quite interested to see where this goes.
It’s pretty bad when the town near your hometown is mentioned in a comic from someone who doesn’t even live near it. Just don’t wander into it around dark and you’ll (probably) be fine!
Ok for a comic that advertises itself “about friendship, life and the art of (not) eating squirels” this strip is soo dark. For Christs sake there is a little girl calmly and nonchalantly mentioning that her mother was killed by crakc-head and her father have deep depression. Sick man
@ J:
Mine is #100, and looking at the crime statistics I’m in the worst area of town. Nevertheless, I’ve lived here 20 years and I haven’t been murdered yet…
Seriously people some of you turn this into a political debate? What the hell?
Also
zann wrote:
Tragedy is part of life and friendship as well. I mean Sid the squirrel’s mother died after getting hit by a car and remember the Lynxes kitten mother? Also Luna acted like that probably she’s either mentally strong after living in that kind situation for so long or she’s already broken a long time ago.
SaintCrow wrote:
This. Numbness set in after long exposure of pain and fear.
well that just took a turn for the depressing. Between this and the last Gaia, i’m feeling a bit like I’ve taken a uppercut straight to the feels.
@ J:
I have, at various times, lived in 5 of the cities on that list.
@ SaintCrow:
Lovely.
The Comic doesn’t Have any way to show the Tone of Voice that sarcasm or ironic comment would carry.
I’m pretty sure that, sooner or later, we’ll get to see that “Lovely” was spoken in a tone that turned it into “Oh, MY God, That’s Just Awful”.
I am going to need Sandra to be way more comforting than she is being right now…
I have lived in more than a dozen of that 100, but back then some of them weren’t all that bad, some were worse (if you can imagine) and I survived.
What I didn’t survive was riding a bicycle to work in Dallas County TX. 08/31/2001 I was hit from behind by a driver that had to make a u-turn to get on my side of a divided highway disguised as a city street, at a speed that crash investigators placed as “between 45 and 65 MPH with highest confidence at 60 MPH”. Yep, he did it on purpose, and I died. For 2 minutes I was without pulse or respiration, which ironically saved my life because I had literally blown my lower leg apart in the wreck. I broke both the tibia and fibula in my left leg and had a hole that required a 8″ by 5″ skin graft to cover up. I also had a broken femur, broken hip, lost a chunk off the bridge of my nose, had to get my face sewn back on after landing on it when I flew off the windshield about 16 feet in the air and landing on my face. Now I have diffuse axonal brain damage, and PTSD, and can’t keep a job because I may or may not be able to remember how to do it that day.
And I still think that Luna has a worse (sadder) back story than I do.
@ Opus the Poet:
Oh I remember you! I remember you told us this story (in this webcomic? Or another webcomic? I can’t really remember). Do you ever think about having a specially trained dog to help with your PTSD? I remember several war veterans got trained dogs that can help people with PTSD cope.
(Sigh) the white face of great and powerful grin fails once again.
Levity, folks this is a comic.
Hoooooo, yoyoyooooo…. Yo yo yo, you, yoh yoh…
Hohohohoho!, yoyoyooooo, yayaya, ya, ya ya.
But yeah both of the political sides fail. People just aren’t complex enough to solve these problems. Whether Obama tried to be or not, skinheads on every side were determined to make him a figurehead for racism and that is a crying shame.
This may inflame some, but I don’t care- he is just like Sarah Palin in that regard. Yet Hillary Clinton does not experience the same public shaming; I ask someone to disprove the current heavy bias of this stupid conversation is going to continue.
Ferguson is being used. Another crying shame.
No this ain’t no lie, I’d rather be Kentucky fried than alive and kicking in Jersey any day
Switch Master wrote:
No, it’s escalated, as in “the change of atmosphere in the story’s speed escalated quickly.”
Jack wrote:
Epic fail in the assigning of motives.
The difference between irony and sarcasm is intent. An ironic, but not sarcastic: “Lovely.” Is a vocal expression of shock, rather than an intentionally caustic remark.
Malicious, caustic people generally take great delight in the suffering of math teachers and do not go out of their way to help mitigate their suffering.
In this manner Zoey and Michelle’s sarcasm concerning Luna’s outfit (several strips ago) can be compared with Sandra’s ironic remark (in the current strip) to illustrate the distinction in motives between “sarcasm” and “irony.”
Luna, I suspect, will have no problem distinguishing the two.
btw: Really good comic.
@ Tucci78:
Maybe THIS is a large part of the Problem in Camden:
From Wikipedia:
In 2010, massive police corruption was exposed that resulted in the convictions of several policemen, dismissals of 185 criminal cases, and lawsuit settlements totaling $3.5 million that were paid to 88 victims.
…
As of 2006, 52% of the city’s residents lived in poverty, one of the highest rates in the nation.
…
Mayor Milton Milan was jailed for his connections to organized crime. On June 15, 2001, he was sentenced to serve seven years in prison on 14 counts of corruption, including accepting mob payoffs and concealing a $65,000 loan from a drug kingpin.
…
Camden seems to to be afflicted with the New Jersey Curse:
Political and Public Corruption that drains the city of everything Good.
///
@ Alakaslam:
You all assume I think the Democrats are without reproach? No, but they are far less than the GOP, whose heads re so far up their asses people are actually fleeing the sinking ship. Also, you can’t use the “Forrest was a Democrat” line, since back in the 1860s the political parties were the exact opposite of what they are today. And yes, white privilege exists. You use one example that is exception to the rule, but how many Mexicans and Blacks are successful compared to the whites? White privilege only means the odds of success are higher for whites than “minorities,” not non-existent. That’s like saying Racism doesn’t exist anymore. And yes, the GOP are greedy, or at least the leaders are, but that’s par for the course for those in power. However, many GOP worship at the Throne of Rand, who literally teaches that greed is the only virtue.
Tucci, so you live there, doesn’t mean you’re right. Remember, you’re in the forest, I’m not. It’s like in Robocop, the rich (not all, but enough to make the stereotype) will often look down at the poor, and if I am reading correctly, there is police corruption. That is not “left vs right,” that is something else. Call it like it is.
Gnarly Doug, proof please? You seem to be speaking Faux News here, as the KKK are in fact all Republicans. And you need evidence for the rest of your drivel.
@ Arent:
Racism isn’t “black and white,” sadly. It’s all shades of gray but.
@ Qohen:
At a point you sort of go numb to abuse and forget what impact it has on others
AckAckAck wrote:
Yep, this. Imho, if people start talking about their experience/past in a calm way it is a sign that it was really serious.
Sandra’s reaction is appropriate as far as I see it. I wouldn’t mind it…
Ouch, that turned painfully dark. I felt sorry for her before, but 6 years in Camden? That’s HARSH.
Sometimes I feel bad for not being rich, but then I remember that I could be worse-off.