“Well this is it. The end of the line, the final hurrah, the last chance to dance, any other cliche you want to throw in here. After almost six years at UA and four years at the Buchtelite, my reign of terror is coming to an end next Saturday when I officially graduate.”
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Well this is it. The end of the line, the final hurrah, the last chance to dance, any other cliche you want to throw in here. After almost six years at UA and four years at the Buchtelite, my reign of terror is coming to an end next Saturday when I officially graduate.

It’s kind of strange. If you would have told me six years ago that I would be sitting in this Buchtelite office, writing this farewell column, I would have said you were high on the Jenkem, but here I am.

When I was told that I could choose the theme of my final page, I knew that it had to be Calvin and Hobbes. The parallels between Bill Watterson’s genius creation and my college career as an art student are kind of hard to ignore, at least for me.

Much like Calvin, all throughout my middle and high school days, I was more comfortable communicating through art than I was through any other medium. I would spend my days doodling pictures and not really paying attention in class. My imagination would run wild until reality would interrupt and I realized where I actually was.

When it came time to enter college, all I wanted was an opportunity to be me. A chance to learn a trade, while not compromising who I was as a person. Design gave me that chance though I had to fight to break the mold. It seems that if certain people had it their way, everyone would come out of the design program being the same lame person.

I had to make an effort to stand out and shy away from being a boring machine of a designer. While Calvin was in school, he would always try to stand out. Perhaps reading Calvin and Hobbes as a kid had an effect on me.

If I had to give advice to someone entering college, or someone who is already here, it would be to never stop working for their big break. I could have given up and gone on in my life when I was originally hired by the Buchtelite, six years ago, and was let go because there were too many people on staff, but I stuck with it. Two years later, I was hired again, and you have been subjected to my rants ever since.

Being allowed to write for the Buchtelite was a challenge alone. I had to prove to people that I could write. A designer who could write was unheard of. The general stereotype of being an art student is that we just doodle and finger-paint all day. I had to keep pushing for the opportunity.

This tenacity can be seen in Calvin any time he is pulled away from his imaginary world and told to do something. He just wants to be alone in his thoughts – who couldn’t say they have felt like that from time to time?

Much like my life, art and the pursuit of art dominated Calvin’s existence. Everything he did, from a simple drawing to a complex scene made out of snow was his way of expressing himself.

If you have not read any of the Calvin and Hobbes series, I recommend doing so as soon as possible. If it has anything close to the effect on you that it did on me you will be a better person for it.

I can still remember being a little kid, knowing that for a birthday or for a Christmas, my grandparents would have a new Calvin and Hobbes collection waiting for me. I can remember going over to their house after school and sitting down with my grandma. I would read the Calvin and Hobbes strip to my grandpa, and he would chuckle when I would totally mispronounce a word.

Calvin and Hobbes provided terrific memories and inspiration to me as a kid and still does so today. One day I hope to share Bill Watterson’s greatness with my future kids and grandchildren.

You should check it out, or if you have read it, go back and read it again and again. You’ll be amazed how much you have in common with a little boy and his stuffed tiger.

Now that my college days are over, and I’m staring down the barrel of real life and an actual career, Bill Watterson’s final strip rings more true to me now than it ever did. I can’t think of a more fitting way to finish up than to say; It’s a magical world Hobbes, ol’ buddy … let’s go exploring.

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