Dear Diamondback reader,
I am writing this piece to inform you why my comic strip, “Bear on Campus,” will no longer be running in The Diamondback. Please allow me to give you a long history of the comic’s origins before I explain why it came to an end.
“Bear on Campus” started because I was bored in my calculus class and I started drawing and copying down funny quotes my classmates, friends and professors said. Besides occasionally doing the Sudoku and pretending to complete the crossword to look smart, the comic strip “Not From Concentrate” was the only reason I picked up the newspaper. After that comic strip ended, the newspaper ran an ad looking for a new artist. As you may know, “Liberty Meadows” by Frank Cho and “The Boondocks” by Aaron McGruder started in the paper; therefore, I didn’t want to let them or anyone down. So I put together five of my best comic strips and pitched them to The Diamondback but was rejected three times from fall 2008 to spring 2009.
Because of my disappointment, I pitched my idea to two other student newspapers: the University of Virginia’s The Cavalier Daily and Syracuse University’s The Daily Orange. I was accepted on my first try, even though I wasn’t a student at either school. If you found my college comic strip funny, it’s actually pretty terrible in comparison to Tam Nguyen’s “The Robot Is Sad” and JT Ingram’s “Titles Are Overrated” (try to search for them, because they’re hilarious). So I thought to myself, “My comic strip is pretty bad, but I’ll improve on it and apply one last time to The Diamondback.” In the fall of 2009, I became an official Diamondback comic strip artist.
The job came with its share of troubles; since the strip’s inception, I’ve received many racist and hateful emails from readers. In fact, I got one email from someone who talked about how my comic strip was terrible and demanded, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” In response to the sexist undertone the author exuded ( he assumed I was a woman), I wanted to let that person know I was the only person in the kitchen. From April 30, 2010, to February 2, 2011, “Bear on Campus” was The Diamondback’s only comic strip. Therefore, I knew if I quit, there wouldn’t be any comics for students to read. There were many times I wanted to quit, but despite negative feedback, I continued because of the encouraging letters from my fans.
However, as with all things, the strip must come to an end. For the past three years, I did my best to produce new comic strips and create new characters. I am always happy to hear that people taped my comics on their fridge, shared them with their friends and used them as toilet paper. I do apologize for the reruns the past semester and a half; I was busy with school. I graduated from this university this past summer with my masters’s degree, and I want current students to have the opportunity to be a Diamondback comic strip artist. If you would like to read my old comic strips, please visit bearoncampus.com, or like “Bear on Campus” on Facebook. In the future, I hope to continue the comic strip — or at the very least give it a proper ending. Finally, I would like to thank: Justin, Lauren and Thomas for giving me my first opportunity in The Cavalier Daily, my parents, my friends and my fans. You guys are the best. Until then, go Terps!
Tung Pham is a 2012 master’s graduate of this university. He can be reached at tinothanhpham@gmail.com.
