Death, Love, & Toxins

Miami class warfare, marital strife, or Midwest toxic waste alert?

On the surface, today's piece is little more than a knowing if cynical wink to its Miami audience, one of the puzzle's major demographics, which concurrent with this puzzle has been named as America's "most miserable city"¹. While this reading is interesting in its own right it is, as in most works of Hoyt & Knurek, just one of the many layers of meaning embedded within the text. 

True to form for the auteurs, even this basic reading has its own depth. In Knurek's riveting satirical scenario, The zombies are quite clearly representing the upper echelon of Miami society²,  being the only citizens able to afford the option of living close to the water. Knurek shows them as they seem through the eyes of the miserable "99%": scarred, misshapen, unkempt, without souls, and obsessed with waterfront real estate. 

The scenario Knurek presents in the text makes a brilliant implied metaphorical connection to Ponce de Leon's mythical quest³. The aging elite have come looking for the fountain of youth, losing their souls in the process and creating misery for everyone around them. The true genius of the satire of course lies in the puzzle answer, which will fly over the heads of any readers without fortitude enough to complete it. The zombielike rich, searching for their fountain of youth, have in the end found nothing but the Dead Sea⁴.

On this level of textual analysis, Hoyt has, limited by the constraints of the puzzle structure, been left to make little more than a rudimentary restating of Knurek's basic premise. However, it should be noted that within the confines of the real-estate sign⁵ we can see Hoyt's optimistic and hopeful urging to any of the "zombies" who might be reading the puzzle and actually understanding its message, that all hope is not lost, should they remember that instead of pursuing material wealth and a pointless quest for artificial immortality, that the river of Jordan stands by at the ready to wash away sin if they choose instead to renew their spirit for true eternal life.

Moving into the psycho-social analysis of the puzzle, as it can be usually seen in context of a conversation from Knurek to Hoyt and/or vice-versa, we find another layer of meaning. In his comic, Knurek relates his recent feelings of marital stagnation, which have left both he and his wife feeling lifeless and without vigor. His wife has suggested to him that perhaps a vacation would help, but Knurek, feeling uneasy about this, thinks such a trip may be nothing more than a death knell for the marriage, which is his greatest fear.

Hoyt, in his friendship and wisdom, responds first of all by subtly suggesting to Knurek that perhaps he and his wife would find better solace returning to church again ("Jordan re-alty") , which they had been falling away from lately. Then in his insightful and simple textual way reminds Knurek to remember that much of this is just a process of getting older (signified by "baggy"ness), and a possible result of the pattern of "harsh" criticism which he had begun to notice in Knurek lately. He suggests that Knurek and his wife have a heart-to-heart, perhaps a good cry ("puddle"), and remember that after all, each of them is only human ("people").

Below these two equally valid interpretations lies the key message intended by the auteurs. A very specific and significant political message is being sent here, presented in a double-veiled form to slip past all but the most piercing critical editor. As can be seen clearly when viewed in a political context, both Hoyt and Knurek are directly criticizing the environmental irresponsibility of Jerry Ota Land, Inc.⁶, a local mining interest, for dumping millions of bags of toxic waste near the local reservoir, which the two discovered one day on an outing with their families, when their children ran to them telling them of a "funny puddle" they had found. The men are calling us all to political action with their rallying cry, "Dead sea, people!!!"

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¹ Kurt Badenhausen, "America's Most Miserable Cities," Forbes Magazine 2 Feb. 2011

² These elite were defined by a recent article in Forbes Magazine as households making upwards of $75,000 a year.

³ According to legend, Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to what is now Florida in 1513. Since then, the fountain has been frequently associated with Florida.

⁴ In this case of course not meaning the literal geographic Dead Sea, but a metaphorical sea of death, as in a place by the water where one spends ones days until expiry.

⁵ It is well established⁶ that Knurek occasionally allows Hoyt a forum for commentary inside confined circular or square spaces on his drawings, the circles and squares being a reference to the anagram format where Hoyt's comments normally appear.  
⁶ Subsidiary of My Imaginary World, LLC