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" The thing that really struck me when I went to junior high was class. I grew up on a pretty poor street, but the school district I was in included some fine neighborhoods - so I got to know a couple of the kids from those places and went to their houses and experienced such culture shock. "

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" I was unable to sleep and I would stay up and draw these little cartoons. Then a friend showed them around. Before I knew it I was a cartoonist. "

Lynda Barry

Stay

Little

Friend

" I started doing cartoons when I was about 21. I never thought I would be a cartoonist. It happened behind my back. I was always a painter and drawer. "

" In life there are always these things happening if you can just get the joke. "

" The strips are nearly effortless unless I am really emotionally upset, a wreck. "

Lynda Barry

Effortless

I Am

" I am not sure how much I would like being married if I wasn't married to him. A man who likes flea markets and isn't gay? I knew I was lucky. "

Lynda Barry

Lucky

Man

" 'What It Is' was based on this class I've been teaching for 10 years - I wanted to write a book about writing that didn't mention stuff like story structure, protagonists, and all those things that we know about only because they already exist in stories. "

" I need to be cheered up a lot. I think funny people are people who need to be cheered up. "

Lynda Barry

Funny

People

" Part of a horror movie has to be a bit fakey for me to really enjoy it. The new ones are so realistic that they distract me from the ride through the horror. "

Lynda Barry

Ride

Horror

" I found myself compelled - like this weird, shameful compulsion - to draw cute animals. "

" I've gotten a lot of livid letters about the awfulness of my work. I've never known what to make of it. Why do people bother to write if they hate what I do? "

" When you think about it, giving up your 'real' personality is a small price to pay for the richness of 'living happily ever after' with an actual man! "

" When I work on a book, I usually start with a question. And I don't sit around and go 'I need to write a book. What's a good question?' It will be a question that's just clanging around in my head. So for 'What It Is,' it was this idea of 'What is an image?' "

" It's much easier to teach writing, because people are less shy about writing. If they're in a group, nobody can see what they're writing. When you're drawing, people get a little more nervous. "

" In my writing class, we never, ever talk about the writing - ever. We never address a story that's been read. I also won't let anyone look at the person who's reading. No eye contact; everybody has to draw a spiral. And I would like to do a drawing class where we could talk about anything except for the drawing. No one could even mention it. "

" Race and class are the easiest divisions. It's very stupid. "

" Cartoonist was the weirdest name I finally let myself have. I would never say it. When I heard it I silently thought, what an awful word. "

" My strips are not always funny, and they can be pretty grim at times, and I know I lose readers because of it, but I can't do anything about it - my work is very much connected to something I need to do in order to feel stable. "

" There was a beautiful time in the beginning when I just did it and didn't analyze the consequences, but I think that time ends in everyone's work. "

" The minute you understand racism, you're responsible for being racist. It's like eating from the tree of knowledge. "

" I remember my comic strips being called 'new wave.' It bugged me. "

" If I didn't try to eavesdrop on every bus ride I take or look for the humor when I go for a walk, I would just be depressed all the time. "

" I live in constant fear of being fired or dropped for that dark part of my work I can't control. "

" Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke. "

" It's not hard for me to be funny in front of people, but most of that is just horrified nerves taking the form of what makes people laugh, and afterwards I'd always feel dreadfully depressed, kind of self-induced bi-polar disorder. "

Lynda Barry

Kind

People

" The library was open for one hour after school let out. I hid there, looking at art books and reading poetry. "

" I do dumb stuff, like playing my favorite dumb Barry White song and lip-synching into the mirror so it looks like his voice is coming out of my mouth. "

" I wasn't afraid to be laughed at or be loud. "

" My mom didn't want me to go to college. She didn't want me to read - when I read, I may as well have been holding a pineapple. "

" My goal on my bucket list is to write a romantic comedy movie. "

" I used to live a very social life and never spend much solitary time looking at birds or reading. "