Preliminary reflections on my next Tutorial (#1384)

Topics/tags: Teaching

The CS department will soon be putting together its schedule for the 2026–27 academic year. There’s a good possibility that I’ll be on tap to teach Tutorial. At least I’m one of the two people in the running [1]. For those not at Grinnell, or not yet at Grinnell, Tutorial is the one required four-credit course at Grinnell [2]. It’s a small, seminar-style course for incoming first-year students to help introduce them to various aspects of college-level work (e.g., writing, academic honesty, more systematic discussion, time management) while providing them with a community and advisor. Each Tutorial is on a topic the instructor selects, although the topic should be secondary to the skill building.

In my early years at Grinnell, I loved teaching Tutorial. It allowed me to explore topics a bit outside my main wheelhouse, provided me with the opportunity to meet some students whom I might not otherwise have met, and let me think more deeply about writing. The few members of the CS department all loved teaching Tutorial, so there was always a competition to see who could teach the course. I tried to teach it every third or fourth year.

During the years of growth, I didn’t get opportunities to teach it. In some years, CS couldn’t spare any faculty to teach Tutorial. And, when we could, it was more important for the new faculty to teach Tutorial, since doing so exposes you to many more of the inner workings of the College.

I finally had the opportunity to teach it again during the pandemic. But a remote, seven-week, five-days-per-week course is not the same experience as an in-person, fourteen-week, two-days-per-week course. So I’m looking forward to another opportunity.

As I suggested, one particularly attractive part of Tutorial is the opportunity to explore with students a topic you might not otherwise get the opportunity to teach. In my first Tutorial, we studied hypertext, looking not just at technical issues, but also at models of organizing information, nonlinear fiction, and more. In my next few Tutorials, we explored various issues of intellectual property. My students even ended up contributing parts of the Grinnell copyright policy. My most recent Tutorial was on Liberal Arts in the 21st Century, with an emphasis on Grinnell’s approaches (e.g., the Open Curriculum, Tutorial, the First-Year Experience, and Convocation). It was scheduled to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Open Curriculum.

So, what will we explore next? I’ve thought about a variety of topics over the past decade. At one point, I wanted to consider Webcomics and the ways they break down the restrictions of print strips. At others, I thought board games would be a fun topic. However, I’ve decided to do board games as a group independent study rather than as a Tutorial.

I’ve also been gathering resources for potential Tutorials. For example, I’ve been considering a Tutorial on Love and Rockets (the comic by Los Bros Hernandez, not the band that was named in honor of the comic). I also gathered many resources on Walt Kelly’s Pogo. I think I’ve settled on a topic, just not how to cover it. In fact, I’m not even sure what to call it. For now, I’m calling it Five Iconic/Iconoclastic Comic Strips: Walt Kelly’s Pogo, Gus Arriola’s Gordo, Dan O’Neill’s Odd Bodkins, Allison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For, and Keith Knight’s K Chronicles. Maybe I should call it Comics Trump would hate.

Each of these is a strip that I love that challenges the status quo in some way. Kelly wrote beautiful strips that could be deeply political at a time when explicitly liberal political perspectives in the strips were rare. Arriola challenged stereotypes of those who live south of the border. O’Neill was even more political than Kelly, although at a time when such perspectives were more open. Bechdel is, well, Bechdel. She’s also grown far beyond her strips. Nonetheless, I think it will be enlightening to consider her work. Knight has also branched out (into kids’ books and animated cartoons, among other things), but still maintains his two main comics, including both the semi-autobiographical K Chronicles and the one-panel (Th)Ink.

Teaching comic strips will be a challenge. I should talk to my colleague who taught Calvin and Hobbes for some insights. I’m intentionally choosing strips that are less well-known these days, but there should be some commonalities. I definitely want to explore the interplay between word and image in each of the strips.

I also want them to think about the creation of the strips. To achieve the latter, I’ve started to look for originals of each of the strips. I’ve managed to snag something by everyone except Bechdel; her originals run in the thousands of dollars.

I think I’ve identified a good primary text for each of the five authors [3]. I’m also working on putting together a library of other books for students to peruse as they work on more complex projects.

I’ve also come up with at least two special events that might accompany the Tutorial. Keith Knight tours college campuses from time to time. I wonder if we could get him to Grinnell? I’d also love to take the students to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. Could we arrange such a trip? It’s worth exploring. And the Dan O’Neill archives are at Cal [4]. Maybe I’ll take the trips first.

For the time being, I want to think more deeply about teaching the intersection of word, text, and time that we see in comic strips. I must also consider how to use strips as a subject of literary analysis. Ah! I could look for colleagues to meet with for a faculty-faculty tutorial [5,6].

For some reason I don’t quite comprehend, there’s a voice in my brain that suggests that I also consider an Argentine strip, such as Quino’s Mafalda, which is incredibly political but also seemingly attractive to children, or Liniers’ somewhat hallucinogenic Macanudo. However, neither is as ingrained in my psyche as the other five. Perhaps I’ll revisit the question later.

That’s enough consideration for today. I suppose I should try to figure out whether any students would want to register for this Tutorial. Nah. I’m confident that some of them will be interested in the topic. Right?

Appendix: Potential Reading List

Here are the books that we’ll likely use in the Tutorial. I think all are in print or are obtainable at somewhat reasonable rates. If you have other suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. The best book I know of on comic strips as an art form. Still in print.

Walt Kelly’s Ten Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Years with Pogo. A nice early overview of the strip. However, it doesn’t include the later, more political strips. The Fantagraphics reprint series also hasn’t hit the early 70’s yet, the days of We have met the enemy, and he is us. I wonder if Selby Kelly and Steve Thompson’s Pogo Files for Pogophiles would be as good. I’ll need to reflect more. In any case, both are out of print, but relatively affordable.

Gus Arriola and Robert Havey’s Accidental Ambassador Gordo. There haven’t been many Gordo reprints. There was a hardcover in the 50s that’s long out of print. Gordo’s Critters and Gordo’s Cat focus more on the animals that populated the strip in its later days. They’re also out of print, but generally more affordable. Accidental Ambassador Gordo covers a wide range of his work and includes contextual narrative. Gordo was also reprinted in comic books, but those are pricey. This one is still in print.

Dan O’Neill’s The Collective Unconscience of Odd Bodkins is a reasonably good overview of the strip. Unfortunately, it didn’t last all that long. This one was out of print for years, but is now back in print through Amazon.

Alison Bechdel’s The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For is also a reasonably good overview. And it’s still in print! Still, I should see if I still have my individual books from the late 80s.

I had planned on Keith Knight’s The Complete K Chronicles, which isn’t really complete; it’s just the first four years or so. But it’s out of print. And copies are going for around $40 each. I wonder what the bookstore would say to that pricing. Maybe I can write to Knight for a suggestion; he seems like a nice guy.

I’ll also stick with my two standard skills texts: Joe Williams’ Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, and Wayne Booth and colleagues’ The Craft of Research.

In any case, that’s my starting point. I’ll need to finalize the list at some point. I wonder when book orders are due.

I’ll note that, back in the days before GrinnBooks, I would now be keeping a steady watch on used book stores to find cheap copies of each of these. Oh well. It’s better that the College spend the money. Or should I pick up used copies of the out-of-print ones just in case? [7]

[1] It’s highly unlikely that both of us will teach Tutorial. CS can’t spare that many teaching slots. CS also can’t pick up that many additional advisees.

[2] We now also require the First Year Experience course, which is a half-credit (as compared to four credits for a standard course), as well as a non-credit summer introduction to advising and liberal education.

[3] See the appendix.

[4] a.k.a. Berkeley.

[5] That’s a different kind of tutorial. In faculty-faculty tutorials, two (usually) faculty members meet together, with one helping the other develop knowledge and skills to teach a new topic. Or something like that.

[6] I would appreciate suggestions!

[7] I’m pretty sure that I know what my kids would say.

Version 1.0 of 2025-12-11.