Gosh, it looks like it was a lovely, early spring (45-years-ago-today) day at Walden when Roland arrived, especially considering he'll soon be introduced to the commune's "marijuana plant" in full bloom.

How sadly ironic that the joke of the 40-years-ago-today Flashback strip — Duke saying the NRA wants to bring gun sportsmanship into our once-proud schools — is the reality we now live.

"When was Rosie born? How did I miss this?
-- Jan, Vancouver, CANADA

"Were did Rosie come from?"
-- Tom Tingley, Florence, KY

"I realize we have all been distracted, but did you skip an entire pregnancy? Congratulations, Alex and Toggle!"
-- Chris, St. Augustine, FL

Wow -- Alex and Leo have a third kid already? Awesome. I remember reading when she was born (and I don't mean in the Classics series -- I mean on the original publication date). Time sure flies. 

With Sunday's strip and recent classics, we get a non-topical two-fer. The Boopsie/B.D. reprise trots out many of the usual tropes regarding grownup couples (okay - the Warren Beatty crack was "topical"). The latest Doonesbury grandchild exaggerates precocity to a new multi-syllabic, multi-word level (and okay - "wall" is topical, too). 

Try as you might, the Boopsie/B.D. relationship will never reach the soap opera heights Luke and Laura attained. 

Rosie, you rock! Today's strip takes me right back to Ellie announcing "It's a baby woman!"

Go, Rosie! Happy to make your acquaintance. I can see you're going to be special...!

I wonder if I am the only reader who sees echoes of formulaic "made-for-TV" movies in this week's Classic strips, in which the ham-fisted B.D. and the long-suffering Boopsie seek to get their relationship back on track.

I am disappointed in your strip this past Sunday where you indicated that a veteran would be willing to kill a member of Congress. This is highly immoral and does not represent the values of our servicemen and women. I have enjoyed your strip for many years but I think you hit the wrong note on this one.

Oh, oh oh! Can I be the first to say, Go Melissa! I know I'm not the only reader who wishes she was really in Washington making a difference.

Back in the day when I scraped for food, cadging cigarettes was the only source!

I am so relieved for Mike that although he could only afford to give his daughter a stolen box of paperclips for Christmas, he can still afford to smoke. Things haven't changed much in the years since the strip was first published.

So wonderful how Doonesbury helps me keep on top of things, even if it took me ten minutes to figure out the derivation of "Juuly"...

As a new icon in the Doonesbury world, "Juuly" joins Buttsy, who has been around for 30-odd years as a penetrating critique of Big Tobacco and cigarette marketing. Juuly, at first shot, has a different focus. Although GBT gives a nod to the "Big Cig buyout," he also perpetuates the "addiction model" as representative of the "vape kids." Odd, perhaps, since roughly 30% of all who first try cigarettes, become dependent ("hooked") which leaves the remaining 70% as somehow not representative. It's likely that a popular view of vaping has a similar pattern -- where the behavior of the minority dominates the narrative. Side note: could it be coincidental that in today's 1992 Classic strip Mike shows up to his job-seekers-support-group in a bathrobe, unshaven, holding a cuppa joe and (wait for it) a burning coffin nail?

I remember when my rather moderate daily newspaper, the Journal Gazette of Ft.Wayne, Indiana, put Doonesbury on the editorial page. Considering GBT's ability to puncture ideological balloons, no matter the political stance of whatever person -- well, I thought the strip belonged on that page anyhow. Bear in mind that Indiana was very red regarding the elections of 2016 and 2018. I tend to be more moderate in my beliefs, and voting; while wearing a purple shirt.

Reading the recent comments on the Classic strips, I thought I’d share my two cents. Newer readers may not be aware but, at various times, Doonesbury has been considered so controversial that certain newspaper editors have chosen to banish it from the pages of their papers. Because of this even someone like me, a reader for more years than I care to admit (40), is seeing some of the older strips for the first time. Another odd choice made by some papers was to move the strip from the comics page to the editorial page. Who’da thunk it?

GBT, generally at his best when "non-topical," hit a home run with today's Zonker flashback (as perpetual adolescent). It is interesting, however, that Zonker has lately taken a redemptive, entrepreneurial road as a Colorado cannabis producer.

Even more thanks for filling in non-existing memories for me: In 1986, I moved to a country that (gasp) does not have a single newspaper that runs the daily Doonesbury strip. So the Classic strips running now are all new to me! 

The Classic strips from the early '90s open up some new ground on my understanding of the Doonesbury universe. While I remember the older material well, I didn't remember B.D.'s shipboard fling, Mike's recognition as a "Point o' Lite," J.J.'s career as an NYC cabbie, or (most recently) Duke's decision to conduct a "hillbilly stocktake" of his business. Thanks for the memories (even those I can't really recall).