Emily Wolfe
Hello! My name is Emily Wolfe and I am one of the cartoonists for The Michigan Daily. I am a sophomore in LSA studying international studies and Program in the Environment, but aside from my academic interests, drawing is something that I have always been passionate about. This is my second semester as a cartoonist for the Daily, and I have loved having the opportunity to publish cartoons that send a message about issues I care about or situations that other students can relate to. In my cartoons, I mainly focus on depicting (and making fun of) the daily challenges and situations we face as students, as well as illuminating specific issues on campus that I find important. I love the way that creating cartoons allows me to share the way I look at the ridiculous world we live in, but in a way that still leaves room for the viewer’s interpretation. Plus I love trying to be funny.
Erin Wakeland
My name is Erin and I am a new cartoonist. I am creating cartoons along the lines of ~universal groans~ and/or ironic wordings/double meanings. I don’t have a recurring protagonist or title; they are each independent works. I am a freshman pursuing a dual-degree in Art & Design and an undistinguished LSA major. Long story short, I wasn’t really a person last semester, but finally figured out college and how to do it and realized I love working for newspapers (I was the editor-in-chief of my high school paper) and should stick with it. If you’d like to know more, here’s a laundry list of things I enjoy: hiking, podcasts, stop-motion animation, idioms, making T-shirts of various fruits split in half, reading and those second-grade pottery painting birthday parties.
Frannie Miller
Frannie Miller is a cartoonist, musician and writer who accidentally became a performance artist. Her hometown is Skokie, Ill., where she was raised on a diet of dill pickles and Judaism. That “artsy” sophomore who refuses to wear a block ‘M’ T-shirt because she “doesn’t like feeling like a walking billboard,” Frannie’s “kvetching” about the culture and politics here at the University of Michigan is a labor of love … and a desire to dismantle a system because we deserve it to be better. Interarts Performance BFA, class of 2017. You can always find her on the 8:20 a.m. Bursley-Baits bus, noisily eating an everything bagel.
Joe Iovino
Joe Iovino makes cartoons about large squirrels and other campus happenings for the series “The Michigan Times.” In this era of fake news, “The Michigan Times” is perhaps the last reliable source of journalism we have. Unlike most reporters on the Daily staff, he does not follow a “beat.” He has no heartbeat. He has poor blood circulation and his hands and feet are cold all of the time. He is an Art & Design junior and is a chronic procrastinator and perfectionist. Only when he began to consider a broader perspective — that this 150-word bio is meaningless in the scope of his short lifetime — did he really begin to feel comfortable writing it. He is proud to announce that he has just finished cleaning his room. If you have any news tips regarding squirrels or unusual local infrastructure, send them his way at jiovino@umich.edu.
Michelle Sheng
Michelle Sheng is a junior majoring in computer science, with minors in art and German. This is her third semester as a cartoonist with the Daily and her first semester as cartoonist manager. She has a regular series about three mermaids on campus, whose lives are at once quite relatable and specifically personal. Occasionally, Michelle is compelled to make cartoons about events in her own life as well. She wants to portray the lives of girls of color, explore perspectives from the outside looking in and the inside looking out and end on an optimistic note (most of the time). In her spare time, she can be found mesmerized by animation, coding something besides her projects and petting dogs.
Nia Lee
Hello, my name is Nia. I am an Art & Design junior, and hopefully pursuing a minor in Asian languages and cultures. The comic that I want to make this semester follows the lives of women of color on campus. With each comic, I hope to introduce a new girl and thereby a new perspective. It’ll talk about insecurities, prejudice, sexism, colorism and all that good stuff. If you ever want to find me on campus, I’m either at the Art & Design School up on North Campus or in my apartment building, because I’m always doing work and I’m constantly on the struggle bus. So if everyone can keep the “homeless artist” jokes to a minimum, that’d be great, thanks. I look forward to sharing my comics with all of you. Thank you for welcoming me; I’ll try my best!~