I’m Dan Piraro, the creator of the Bizarro newspaper comic. Each week, I post my Sunday Bizarro comic, then a short essay, then the past week’s Monday-Saturday Bizarro comics written and drawn by my partner, Wayno whose weekly blog post I recommend highly.

And here’s this week’s ANSWER KEY to the Secret Symbols.

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Welcome, beloved Jazz Pickles. I have two things to share about my life today that I hope will enrich yours. 

One is an explosion of talent, humor, perspective, and insight from someone who is as brave and interesting a person as I have long wished I was but have not had the courage to be. The other is a charming and intelligent person who knows something you may wish to know and is willing to share it. 

I’m proud to say that both of these people are personal friends of mine. I’ve benefitted from having their talents dancing through the periphery of my life for the last few years, and wish to extend that opportunity to you if it suits you.

Person One: He contacted me a few years ago while traveling in a van with his wife and dog (two separate beings) from Memphis to Alaska to Costa Rica. He wanted to interview me for his podcast, I agreed, and we spent a memorable afternoon on my patio. (But this isn’t about that.) All three of them—Andrew and Tiffany Couch and their dog, Pelé— became instant friends. Andrew has now published a book of short stories from his life, and I cannot remember when I’ve enjoyed a tome more!

To avoid pushing it into that category of not being able to live up to the hype, I’ll just say this: The Moron at the End of This Book is brilliant in so many ways: casual, clever, funny, self-deprecating, heart-breaking, humble, compassionate, and profound. And his way with words…I’m so impressed with his style that I want to both kill him and make love to him. (Not in that order. And not literally. It’s a metaphor.)

And even though the themes of the stories are often profound, it’s a fun, relaxed, easy-to-read page-turner.

You can get the ebook or paperback from Amazon. Download the sample and fall in love with it, then buy the book and love it more. Rest assured that the few bucks you spend couldn’t be going to a better human. You can also find out more at the book’s website: https://moronbook.com/

Person Two: As often as I have poked fun at my crappy Spanish, I have also said that my lack of language acquisition is no reflection on my teacher, Ricardo. In truth, my Spanish is light years ahead of what it was when Olive Oyl and I stumbled into this pueblo a few years ago, and Ricardo is responsible for most of that. 

Whether you’d like to begin learning Spanish or raise your skill level from fluent to expert, he’s an excellent maestro with whom you’ll enjoy working! He lives here in town, so we’ve become friends, but his teaching sessions are via the Internet (Google, Zoom, that sort of thing), so you can hire him from anywhere.

He’s a native of Mexico but has lived in San Francisco and Montreal, traveled extensively internationally, and was educated as a writer and translator. Ricardo is a published writer (pen name: Rodrigo de la Serna), is fluent in English, and has years of experience assisting English speakers with their Spanish.

Like many of us these days (myself included), as the world and its economies morph and freak out, he has found himself looking for more clients. I hope this humble blog can connect him with a few new students. Contact Ricardo here for more info: kayuko1@gmail.com. As you can see from the photo below, he’s a great guy—you’ll love him!

My partner Wayno is another great guy who bears mentioning. Let’s see what nonsense he’s amused us with in this week’s Bizarro cartoons…

I just feel better knowing there’s a council.

Consult your local law enforcement authorities before engaging in cannibalism this Halloween.

The crust is my favorite part of ghosts.

So does my dermatologist.

I definitely prefer it over hairy pottery.

The “problem of losers” joins the “problem of evil.”

That loud clunk you imagined you just heard was Wayno and me punching out on our imaginary time clock, as we are officially off-duty. If you don’t completely hate what we’re doing here and want to help support our ability to keep this site ad-free, please consider some of the links below. Our faces will resemble happy-face emojis if you do.

Until next week, enjoy Andrew’s book and your new Spanish tutor, Ricardo!

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