alumniprofile
travel 2008 Australia Discovery February 20–March 2 Journey “Down Under” to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef, spot native wildlife in Melbourne and visit the sites of Sydney. Treasures of Japan May 15–25 Explore the fascinating culture of Japan. Visit the bustling capital of Tokyo, and see its oldest temple, Sensji. Partially ascend majestic Mt. Fuji, relax at the hot spring resort of Hakone and cruise Lake Ashi. Board a bullet train to Kyoto, where 1,001 statues of the goddess Kannon await. Finally, head to Nara and marvel at the bronze Daibutsu, or Great Buddah. Italian
“Just Doof It”
Riviera May 3–11
ASK THE AVERAGE person about Igdoof and he probably won’t know what you’re talking about.
Enjoy the
Ask graduates of the early 1990s and they will likely remember the popular Diamondback comic strip by Jeff Kinney ’93. After graduating, Kinney stayed on at The Diamondback before moving to Massachusetts a year later. There, he started working for the Family Education Network and began working on a Web site called Funbrain. It is also where, in 2004, Kinney posted his Web comic, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Its star character is Greg Heffley, a middle schooler who brings the hazards of growing up to life through his journal. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid is my attempt to canonize my childhood and the middle school experience in general,” Kinney says. The comic came about in part from Kinney missing his work on Igdoof, which he attempted to syndicate after graduation.“I started a journal to shame myself into working on my cartoons again. I drew little doodles in my entries and I thought that the format was really appealing. So I decided to do a book that mixed cartoons with prose,” he says. Now, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Abrams Publishing) is sitting high atop the New York Times Bestseller list and Kinney is nominated for a Quill Award honoring the year’s most entertaining and enlightening titles. Since forcing pen to paper to get started, Kinney has certainly lived up to the motto that adorned an Igdoof T-shirt created while he was a student:“Just Doof It.” —MLB
splendor of the Italian Riviera. Embrace the charming seaside village of Sestri Levante. Explore the gothic church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia and lose yourself in stunning coastal scenery and delicious cuisine.
For more details on these and other tours featured in the Travel 2008 program, visit www.alumni.umd.edu or call Stephanie Tadlock at 301.405.7870/800.336.8627.
TRAVEL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION; ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF KINNEY; BOOK PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF KINNEY
TERP FALL 2007
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