Frank Spiro is an English major from Atlanta, GA who started the satircal newspaper, The Tulane Vignette as a Freshman. Now a Junior, Spiro continues to manage and write for the successful online publication. With a sense of humor reminiscent of The Onion, The Tulane Vignette is certainly Tulane’s finest news source. Find out about Butler residents getting laid, the response to TEMS shutting down for a weekend and all sorts of other news by visiting their website, facebook or twitter.
What inspired you to start The Tulane Vignette?
Well, I used to write for The Hullabaloo, and apparently they weren’t big fans fo me just making stuff up for my articles, so I decided to start my own newspaper; unfair and unbalanced, like a dizzy republican.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of running the online newspaper?
The Tulane Vignette has always been fun for me. The most rewarding aspect of the Vignette is the anonymity- it gives me the freedom to do whatever I want, without the pressure of having to write funny responses for random interviews. What have been the most frustrating or challenging aspects?
The most challenging part is writing the article right after an article just went really well. It’s super easy to sit back sometimes and be content, but if you do that getting back up becomes much harder. It’s better to just stay standing, because even though your lefs might get tired, it gives you better posture… I might have lost the metaphor a little there.
What makes for a great Vignette article?
The best Vignette articles are secretly true. They point out random things that people at Tulane thought, but didn’t know they were thinking. Or weird, I love weird Tulane Vignette articles. It’s good that other people look at these articles before I post them, or there would be way more posts about TEMS members secretly being reptiles, or architecture students building underground tunnels… Is there a way for people to submit articles or idea to The Tulane Vignette?
Absolutely! Just message us at our Facebook page, and like it!
What are your goals for the future of The Tulane Vignette?
My goals reach far beyond my time at Tulane. I think The Tulane Vignette could possibly be printed one day, we could add a video component, 10 new articles every day… I think the Vignette could be the first colony on Mars if we put our minds to it. Space is the final frontier, aliens are real, we CAN make contact, the question is when, not if.
What are your own goals for writing and/or comedy?
I want to do it! As far as where I’m going with it, the only thing I really know is that I love doing it, so I think I’m going to do it and see where it takes me.
Who are your greatest comedic influences?
I think I have three main comedic influences. The first is Harold Ramis, who never made a movie I didn’t think was hilarious. Everyone should go see Stripes. The second is the Mr. Show writing room, run by David Cross and Rob Odenkirk. Nobody did weireder humor and stayed truer to themselves quite like Mr. Show did. The last one is my mom, who comes up with the wittiest, most offensive jokes I have ever heard.