If someone had told me that I would be a comics editor, sitting in The Daily Texan basement batting illustration ideas back and forth between the senior staff, laughing until I had tears in my eyes and working next to amazingly driven people, I would not have believed it. Nearly three years ago, I tentatively applied to be a comic artist, with the simple hope of getting a chance to doodle every so often with no expectations beyond that. I couldn’t be happier at how wrong I was. Since then, I have created my treasured comic series Zoophobia and Deri, and the dozens of comics I have made through that journey have made me a better artist and storyteller. But that’s not what I really take from my time at the Texan. Because it is here that I have met many lifelong friends and made a family I love dearly.

I think much of my journey really began when I started as a senior staffer and into becoming an associate editor for comics. Working with Bixie and Channing was a time filled with talks of conspiracy theories, wild humor and friendship that only grew in this last semester. This fall I was a co-editor with Channing, and it has been a highlight of my last remaining semester at UT, as well as the founding of one of the best friendships I have ever known. Now, Channing and I are closing the book (comic book?) on our last semester at The Daily Texan, and the feeling goes beyond bittersweet. 

I will miss the wonderful friends I have made here in The Daily Texan basement and wish the best of luck to those who take on the comics department. This has been the best of times, and I will hold the memories I made down here close to my heart — always.