Dear anonymous sticker person, 

You know who you are. The one peppering our campus with stick figures of me and a square-headed Daily Helmsman beating the crap out of “good quality news.†I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for using such a flattering picture – there are definitely worse ones out there – and to let you know you’ve taught me a lot. 

You’ve got us all brushed up on our alt-right lingo, for one. For those of you who aren’t as immersed in the culture, you can put the paper down to Google “virtue signaling†if you need to – it’s okay, I’ll wait. 

But the main thing you’ve done, sticker bandit, is remind me that the things we do and say are actually important. I’ve pissed people off before and gotten a variety of criticism for it, but a sticker campaign is a new level of creativity. 

Stories that people really didn't like: 

Violent sorority hazing haunts University, officials refuse to identify suspects (2015)

“It’s sad when people are being murdered, there are protests about living wages and bombing oversees and the media focuses on speculation… what happened to real journalism?â€

-Prataj Ingram, former SGA vice president and member of sorority written about. 

No liquor, but rappers will get $95,000 for Spring Fling (2016)

“My only feedback (beside a yawn) is why spend so many column inches in a non-issue?â€

-Leroy Watson Jr. Managing Editor TigerSportsReport 

Trump grabs country by the White House: America you made the wrong choice (2016)

“How in God’s name can you justify a headline that mocks sexual assault. Good journalists don’t let things like that happen.â€

-Addie James, visual media journalist and former layout editor at the Helmsman,

 ‘Say no to racism’ by putting a white woman through school. (2017)

“You, Jonathan Capriel, are a disgusting human being. You are little better than a Klansman or a black racist.â€Â 

-Anonymous poster on our website

And while the stickers are great, they got me thinking – and googling – and so I have a story to tell you.

When Leremy Gan was young, he thought he didn’t have the skilled hands or the intuition to be an artist. But maybe the largest hurdle he faced was living in a world of mostly gray.  

Gan is color blind. He can barely distinguish red from green or blue from purple, and he can only see about 5 percent of the colors most people can. But Gan found a way to make art that did not require him to use the full color spectrum. For the past five years, he has made a living off black and white stick figures.  

A lot of Gan’s work takes complex ideas, like job loss caused by automation, and turns them into vector art that he sells on his Shutterstock.com page.  His portfolio contains dozens of stick figures in a variety of scenes, some of which are silly, but Gan himself takes his work pretty seriously. On his page he says he’s “dedicating my life to stick figures.â€

Gan said some of his work requires quite a bit of research, like in one piece he did on the different ways to deliver a baby. There were few images available online to aid him in his endeavor. 

Though he lives in Malaysia, much of Gan’s work captures universal ideas and, as a result, has been spread all over the world. But one piece that seems to have captured much attention is Gan’s two stick figure officers beating up a man in a fetal position.  

(SEE GAN'S POLICE ART)

Although most of his work depicts police doing normal police work, Gan said he can’t just look at the positive side of things. Abuse of power is a reality, he said, and it was “an example of the negative side of this noble job.â€

Several variations of the stick art can be found on the Internet, and one made it all the way to the University of Memphis.

In my four years as a journalist and my short time as editor-in-chief of The Daily Helmsman, I’ve experienced many forms of feedback and criticism of my work. But, I have to admit, posting stickers with my face on them across campus is by far the most unique way anyone has shown disdain for what I do. 

As much as I enjoy the stickers (my staff has asked if you could bring a dozen to our mailbox), I am troubled by the use of Gan’s art. Did the people behind the stickers pay to use his stick figures? Did they know that he was a father of two or that this is how he makes a living? Was this the most creative way to mock our paper?

I showed the stickers to my illustrators, Jeff B. Carter and Zach Lindsay. Both of them came up with more creative ways of putting me and our paper down. Below are free images to download and use as stickers if someone wishes to do that. If you plan to use them, you should do it fast. My last day as editor is April 26. 

It’s been an honor serving and infuriating this campus for these last four years.

 Yours truly, 

Jonathan Capriel

Investigative reporter and editor-in-chief of The Daily Helmsman