Learning to Take My Own Advice

"Learning to shut up." Opinions Column, The Brown Daily Herald, 21 October 2008.

Sigh. This is one of my weaker columns, in part because I don't think there was enough material for an 800-word piece, and partly becauseI wrote it while I was still very frustrated with a few moronic fellow students. One thing I've learned is that it's best not not to write opinions columns while tired, frustrated, angry or occupied-- they're rarely as cogent or polished as the pieces I write when I'm in a better mood.

I do believe that I had a valid point in writing this column, situated somewhere in the middle of the piece, but I'll leave you to divine it for yourself. I need to learn how to shut up and let my writing speak for itself.

This strip can also be found on PETA2.com. Except for not.

browndailyherald.com, Summer 2007 Issue

A blood-curdling scream, a nightmare about mass murder, and a reference to Ratty food. I think I'm certainly starting off on the right foot.

I'm pretty excited about the comic right now. I'm even feeling reckless enough to say that it might even be feasible for me to crank out 60 strips that qualify as at least mildly funny. The biggest challenge right now is going to make sure the characters are recognizable from frame to frame. As evidenced by the hair on the girl on the right, this is certainly not my strong suit.

The two characters in this strip WILL be regulars, and they do have names. I figured it was best to wait until regular installments begin (in September, after another strip in the Orientation issue) to introduce them as such.

I'm going to try to post the strips as they are published in the BDH in real time, which means the next strip will be posted at the end of August. There'll probably be another post sometime in the meantime in which I will blather on about my artistic vision or lack thereof, though, because as you can see, I'm not exactly concise.

I'm excited to join the world of self-referential, absurd comic artists. Am I pretentious enough to keep up with them? More later.