Insomnia, My ‘Fishbowl’ and “Funky Winkerbean”

Everyone I have talked to agrees that the past two weeks have been some of the busiest the peninsula has seen in many, many years. Indeed, the smiles on the faces of business owners easily outshine the hint of fatigue in their eyes. And I am no exception, although the fatigue in my eyes may be slightly more pronounced .You see, for the past week or so, I have had difficultly falling asleep.

Unlike typical insomnia, I know exactly why I am having trouble sleeping, but before I reveal the source of my problem you need to know something about my bookstore and Funky Winkerbean.

First, if you are not already aware, you need to know that my bookstore sits at the bottom of the Sister Bay hill at a prominent intersection. The southwest corner of the store features a window that looks south up the hill and a window that faces west, looking out at the beginning of Sister Bay’s Waterfront Park. When I laid out the store I chose this corner for the checkout, which means I am clearly visible from two directions.

Dave, the publisher and co-owner of the Peninsula Pulse, appropriately refers to my personal placement in the store as “Steve’s fishbowl.” Of course, just as people can watch me, I can look out on them and this past week I have enjoyed prime viewing for the horde of humanity partaking of our peninsula.

Second, you need to know something about the comic strip called Funky Winkerbean.

The strip is the creation of Tom Batiuk, who – as a middle school art teacher in Elyria, Ohio – began doodling comics while he supervised study halls. In 1970, his doodles made the teenage page of the local newspaper under the title “Rapping Around.”

By 1972 he had completely reworked his concept and sold his creation to a national syndication company and Funky Winkerbean debuted in newspapers on March 27, 1972. Today, the strip still appears in more than 400 newspapers throughout the world.

Batuik’s strip has undergone several revisions through the years to the point that today’s strip bears little resemblance to the original of the 1970s and ’80s. In the original incarnation Funky and his cohorts were students at Westview High with Funky serving as the “average Joe” who was most often the straight man for the comic strip’s jokes.

Among the characters Batiuk created were Holly Budd, who never removed her majorette uniform; “Crazy” Harry Klinghorn; “Bull” Bushka, the school’s star athlete; Leslie (“Les”) Moore; and Junebug. Among the adult characters were Principal Bunch, counselor Fred Fairgood, secretary Betty Reynolds, band director Harry Dinkle, and football coach John “Jack” Stropp.

And then there was the school’s computer, which became an artificial intelligence and tormented students and faculty with its Star Trek obsession.

I confess that my favorite character during this incarnation of the strip was Crazy Harry. Crazy Harry actually lived in his locker, and though we were never shown the inside (to my recollection) the implication was that it was expansive. Crazy Harry also had the inexplicable talent for being able to play pizzas on his turntable and, no matter the pizza’s toppings, the music that resulted was always hard rock.

One of my favorite Crazy Harry storylines was when he entered an air guitar contest. Over the course of several weeks, Crazy Harry kept winning as his classmates at school followed his progress through each round. Eventually, Crazy Harry made it to the World Air Guitar Championship, where he competed against the best air guitarists on the planet.

So the strip skips to Crazy Harry returning to school where he is on crutches. His classmates ask him for all the details on the competition and, true to their confidence in him, Harry made it to the finals. But in his final performance Harry leapt back to the stage from his “air amplifier” and fractured his ankle. Crazy Harry was forced to settle for runner-up.

The episodes of Funky Winkerbean that I was thinking about recently, however, revolved around Funky becoming interested in competitive bicycling. Over the course of several weeks we watched Funky carefully selecting his bike and then all the gear and clothing he needed to be a “real” bicyclist. Proud of his selections Funky begins riding … and finds that bicycling is very hard work.

Nonetheless, Funky persists, until one day he meets two other bicyclers. Funky attempts to engage them in a conversation about their bikes and riding, but the couple simply stares at him. Finally, in the last panel, the female bicyclist says disdainfully to Funky, “Spandex and Lycra are a privilege not a right.”

So back to the beginning, where this column started: my recent insomnia. Keep in mind the “fish bowl” vantage point afforded by my bookstore’s location. And keep in mind the typhoon of tourists passing my windows. And, think too, of the wisdom provided by that female bicyclist all those years ago in the panels of the Funky Winkerbean comic strip.

In case you haven’t figured out the cause of my insomnia, here it is: When I close my eyes I see yoga pants where no yoga pants were ever meant to be!