“If I can educate anybody on a certain topic using humor and entertainment, then I’m doing my job,” senior Caoimhe Farris, cartoonist for Lafayette’s News Production, said.

While they have been drawing since they were a kid, Farris was encouraged to draw for the Image newsmagazine when they were drawn to the school newspaper for two reasons: opinions and humor. Starting in their second semester of freshman year, Farris creates panels for the staff editorial section of the newspaper, crafting their comics to have a humorous twist on current matters affecting the school.

“I kind of use the cartoon to take a serious topic and make it funny,” Farris said. “We commented on how parents have been acting at board meetings.”

For example, Farris said, “We did a story on how we’re treating our superintendents and our administration. I did a cartoon where [Superintendent Mark] Miles [was] walking into a board meeting and seeing all the parents and teachers attacking each other.”

Adding a visual representation of the topic helps to enhance the reader’s interest and understanding of the content presented to them.

“I think it helps everybody get a laugh in, and if you understand the message and you can laugh at something serious and still understand it, then that’s most important,” Farris said.

The purpose of these cartoons is to draw attention to important issues in a more light-hearted way.

“There are some newspapers that don’t have a cartoon in it and they do fine, but I think it adds character to ours,” Farris said.

While comics provide information in a light-hearted way, cartoonists have to straddle the line between comedy and callousness.

“There is a difference between being funny, what I think is funny, and what other people think is offensive or rude,” Farris said.

Comics play an important role in how readers take in information; they become more than just lines and colors, but information and messages, according to Farris.

“It’s like when you feed your dog medicine, sometimes you have to hide it in peanut butter,” Farris said. “For me, humor has always been a great coping mechanism when we do discuss things that are more of a serious nature.”