Perhaps students from the plains of Indiana should avoid the Swiss Alps.
251. The Italian ski industry put considerable efforts into marketing their resorts to Americans during the Thanksgiving weekend. The Americans would have off but the Italians did not, so it was a good way to fill the hotels and slopes. For many of us, including me, this was our first change to ski. The opportunity to do so in the Alps was even more amazing.
252. A friend told me that the goat on Chuck’s back was the funniest thing I ever drew. This Observer had a cover story of the bribery scandal that eventually became known as Abscam. The Doonesbury cartoon in this Observer was prematurely predicting the end of disco. (Yes, Gary Trudeau and I shared billing in the paper.)
253. Other news in The Observer — Walter Cronkite announced his retirement. An advertisement from WSND promoted their playlist including: The Clash, The Police, The Pretenders, Blondie, Joe Jackson and … Andy Gibb.
254. As previously noted, one way to stay timely from a distance was to focus on national news. For those who need reminding, the Moscow Summer Olympics were approaching, but much of the world was concerned about the USSR’s intervention in Afghanistan. Jimmy Carter ultimately instructed the U.S. Olympic Committee to boycott the games.
255. At the time, the names of the new dorms (that eventually became Pasquerilla East and West) were a secret. So even from Rome I had enough time to write a pertinent campus cartoon. (This was back when liking Woody Allen films was not at all creepy.) As I understood, the Pasquerilla’s at first did not want any recognition but Fr. Hesburgh convinced them that with all the Irish names on dorms they owed it to their heritage. But as they had a son on campus, they kept the name a secret until just before his graduation.
See the first five classic strips. Check back monthly for more classic Molarity strips. Molarity Redux, the updated, continuing adventures of Jim Mole and friends, also is posted monthly. For those new strips, check out the cartoon archives.