During the fall of 1997 I created and published a comic book, Roadside. It's a small collection of comics I was working on, and most of my friends seemed to like it enough so that I took it around to a couple stores and got it sold there. Roadside mostly has autobiographical stories, but it also includes some humorous true tales, a Mullet Field Guide and some other surprises for your viewing pleasure. There are two issues out right now, but soon there will be more (once I get the time to work on it, that is), and you can be sure I'll let you know when that happens. Order Roadside by mail! It's only a dollar and a stamp, sent to Roadside, c/o Sarah Oleksyk 66 Carlyle Road Portland, Maine 04103. These images copyright 1997 Sarah Oleksyk.

In 1996 I had the honor to be included in a great collection of comics from young cartoonists, nearly all of whom are/were students at Parsons. Junkfood City was a collaborative effort, independently published and distributed in the New York City area. The range of styles and story types is amazing. I'm not sure whether or not this project is still being continued, but you can check out the Junkfood City Page if you are interested in ordering copies or taking a look at the art. Duck copyright 1996 Mayumi Hanawa.

I love to screw around in Photoshop, distorting photos and direct scans of my face and others'. I also do some direct drawing into the computer and have a couple of images I really like. Most of the graphics on my page are mine - anything that looks cartoony. If you'd like to take a look at some of my computer art, click here. And of course, you could always visit my Evil Sesame Street Coloring Book Gallery.

Sign Changing It's a holdover from my days as a young punk. I can't help it... I'm powerless to stop myself. I MUST CHANGE SIGNS!!! It's gotten so elaborate that we actually have a pre-changing brainstorm, sitting at Dunkin' Donuts and deciding what the most effective rearrangement is. Two of my friends, Jon and Jesse, were actually arrested for this in high school - the KFC near my house has a convenient low sign, hit by us a lot but visible to cops. But now we're vigilant, and one of us watches for cops while the other creates the work of art. Some signs I've only heard about, some I've done. Usually we can't remember what the original sign said, or we borrowed letters from the message on the other side, or the original sign had been tampered with and didn't make much sense in the first place. Keep this in mind, and take a look at some of the final messages created on the streets of Portland during our ongoing reign of terror!

Ryan Kavanaugh, Jon Lovell, Jesse Lent and their friends are responsible for these: I Mow The Grass And I Cry Come In Son - All Night Rat Buffet (from "All Night Buffet at Westbrook Location") Ryan changed "Closed Due To Remodeling" into "Closed Due To Mold." Grover, Wally, Gabe and I were walking home at about 2 am on Mother's Day (a Sunday), and we changed a sign in front of a church from "Worship Jesus, Lord of Light" to "Do It, Be A Whore For Life." Please don't give us flak. We were young. Grover and I were responsible for quite a few ourselves: On a garage on Forest Avenue (home of the easiest targets), we changed "Stop In Today For A Free Brake Check" to "Stop In Today For A Free Breast Check." Same garage, different message: the original said "Sizzling Summer Savings: Lube Job, Brake Check," etc. We worked our magic: "My Flesh Sizzles When I Pee." "Brighten Up Your Fall Wear With Us" became "Frighten Me With Your Walrus." "Acrylic, Nails, Fills, Tan Spec." became "Inspect A Frilly Clit." Someone had gotten to this one first: "Maine Grown Bees Eat It Raw." We improved it: "Home Grown Kids Make A Tasty Meal." The restaurant gave up and got rid of the sign the next day. A bar had an announcement missing letters - "Tuesday" and some spares. (See photo.) They actually left it up for a good week and a half. Some new ones from the summer of 1998: "Wedding invites, tuxedoes 99.95" became "Do we sit in dung." (See photo.) By removing entire words from a toolshop sign, we got the ever-puerile "Work Dad's Tool." We were going to change one from "" to "Spread open legs for fish stench" (ah, immaturity!), but the cops came. These were all in one night, by the way, on the same stretch of South Portland road. Sometimes the simplest are the most effective. This is still my favorite - I was walking home one afternoon, and with a flick of my wrist I changed "Buy 2 Lg Pizzas, Get One Lg Free" to "Buy 2 Lg Pizzas, Get One Lg Fee." Genius. And now my friend No Darn God tells me he rearranged a sign with a lot of letters, including the word "Go-Cart", to say, "Go Pee Blood!!!" Plus he stole the extra letters, which we usually don't do but don't care if he does.

For help changing phrases around, you may want to try The Anagram Server. It'll rearrange your letters in every possible way. However, I cannot overestimate the bonding experience of sitting down at Dunkin' Donuts late at night, planning your move and figuring out all the rearrangements for yourself.

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