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'Good grief,' what a bittersweet farewell

Chances are, you know who Peppermint Patty is. You have laughed at Woodstock and sighed with Charlie Brown. And you are probably familiar with a pet beagle that spends his spare time as a World War I flying ace.

After 50 years of "Peanuts," it seems impossible that anyone could grow up without knowing the famous comic strip. Generations have integrated Charles Schulz' characters into their lives and memories.

Newspapers across the country ran the last original "Peanuts" Sunday strip Feb. 13, the day before Charles Schulz died. Only months earlier Schulz had announced he would retire the strip to focus on his recovery from several strokes and colon cancer treatment. The last original daily strip ran Jan. 3, 2000.

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  • "It was weird that he had intended that strip to be his last," said fourth-year College student Erich Wasserman, referring to the Feb. 13 Sunday strip.

    Announcing the end of the strip was in Schulz' best interest but that did not make saying good-bye to the "Peanuts" gang any easier.

    "I guess everyone could relate to Charlie Brown," third-year College student Arwen Joyce said. "He's just the born loser. Everyone has a little bit of that in them."

    Charlie Brown was the character for whom every day was a bad day. It's not too hard to sympathize with that. "Everyone has days when nothing goes right for them," Joyce said.

    The "Peanuts" world was one where kids still had security blankets and trees attacked kites. It was a world where dogs could cross the Delaware with General Washington or roam the deserts with the American Legion, Lawrence of Arabia fashion, while teachers spoke in an unintelligible "wa-wa-wa-wa-wa."

    "I loved how the teacher always talked that mumbo-jumbo," third-year Engineering student Hannah Choi said.

    Teachers might have been indecipherable, but the children's feelings always were clear. There was nothing complicated about Linus' devotion to his blanket, for instance.

    "I could really relate to Linus. I still have my blanket," Choi said.

    Students shared their Charlie Brown memories, reminiscing about the strip and discussing the varied "Peanuts" memorabilia they had accumulated throughout life. "Peanuts"-rabilia ranged from blankets and stuffed toys to stickers and greeting cards.

    The animated movie specials on Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween provided favorite memories.

    "The Charlie Brown Christmas tree -- that's a classic," said second-year College student Jeremy Camden, gesturing with his hand, showing the puny size of the little Christmas tree Charlie Brown chose year after year.

    Fourth-year College student Brooke Alexander remembered the Thanksgiving special.

    "We watched it every year. It was one of my favorite memories," said Alexander, quoting a few of the lines from the movie, like "Where's the turkey? Where are the mashed potatoes?"

    Thanks to the imaginative, blanket-toting Linus, the Great Pumpkin lives in cartoon lore for coming to pumpkin patches on Halloween and bringing gifts.

    "The thing about the strip," Wasserman said, "is that it wasn't that funny. 'Peanuts' was just kind of wry."

    The "Peanuts" world was not full of gags and jokes; there was something serious about the baseball games that never were won or the five-cent psychiatric advice offered by Lucy.

    Marcie called Peppermint Patty "Sir," and Peppermint Patty called Charlie Brown "Chuck." Linus always missed the Great Pumpkin and a blockhead is a blockhead is a blockhead.

    Snoopy's great novel never seemed to get beyond the first line of, "It was a dark and stormy night." Charlie Brown never did get to kick that football and his kite always got tangled in the tree, but the very repetition of these anti-climactic actions added another facet of the strip to which readers could relate.

    "I always wanted Charlie Brown to kick the football. That really irked me. [Lucy] always pulled it away," Camden said.

    Readers could depend on the situations and the characters; little changed in their world.

    But not every student shares the "Peanuts" love.

    Second-year College student Adam Moore said he was never a fan of the strip.

    "Fifty years, and they really only did six things: they kicked a football, got a kite in a tree, there was Snoopy and the Red Baron, Peppermint Patty sleeping in class, Snoopy stealing Linus' blanket ... and that damn red-haired girl."

    He seemed at a loss to describe the little red-haired girl.

    Moore did acknowledge, however, that "like [Schulz] or not, you have to admit, he seems to have influenced an entire generation of cartoonists."

    Charlie Brown never did reveal his true feelings for the little red-haired girl. It was another one of the twists of the strip that emphasized the "everyday is a bad day"-ness of Charlie Brown's life that was somehow so familiar to many people.

    Waking up in the morning to a paper without new episodes of Sally and Schroeder, Linus and Pigpen, Charlie Brown and, of course, Snoopy, seems strange. Through Schulz' death, the world has lost one of the most thought-provoking comics it has seen.

    We'll miss you, Charlie Brown.

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