Duquesne graduate publishes collection of comedy
Julie Ciaramella
Issue date: 10/26/06 Section: Features
Last update: 4/30/08 at 12:36 AM EST
Dave Jakielo has been out of college for merely a year-and-a-half and he's already published a book. College on the Rocks collects 40 of his favorite columns out of more than 100 he wrote as the Duke's humor columnist from 2001 to 2005.
People just seem very surprised when they find out I published a book, Jakielo says. Hopefully a Hollywood-type comes across the book and turns it into a sitcom starring Brad Pitt as myself, he jokes
Still, he says having a book published is extremely bizarre to him, and that it's even crazier that people are actually buying it.
College on the Rocks was published through Xlibris, a print on-demand service and a division of Random House Publishing. Jakielo supplied the manuscript, took the front cover photograph at Shale's Caf'¿½, and a graphic designer at Xlibris turned the material into the book. Jakielo says he planned to place his favorite columns in a book when he was a senior at Duquesne.
I liked the idea of having something tangible that could preserve that body of work, Jakielo says. Not just for my own benefit, but I also thought it would be a book that current readers and eventually, new readers would enjoy.Â"
Jakielo misses a lot about college, but says the only thing he misses about writing the column is not having a forum to voice his opinions. Jakielo says he wishes he would have had the opportunity to write about MySpace, something he believes high school and college students are obsessed with.
It's amazing the impact it has made on our culture. People in bars now are asking if [someone] is on MySpace and not for phone numbers, he says. Our grandmothers and grandfathers were spending money to spray love letters with their perfume or cologne, buying a stamp and putting that letter in the mail.
In the future, that courtship story might become, Â'I met your grandfather at a bar one night and he was able to find me on MySpace. Immediately, I accepted his friend invite and after our first date, when he put me in his Top 8 next to Tom, I just knew he was the one.'Â"
Although he still has funny insights about culture after publishing his humor columns, Jakielo works as the Director of Development at Bishop Canevin High School in Crafton. Not as a humor columnist. During his senior year, he said that, like most seniors, he wondered if he would make something of his life after graduation.
If you think about it too much, it can really get to you, he says. So, at the time, it comforted me a bit to know that if I ended up as an unemployed loser living under a bridge after graduation, at least I could say I wrote a book.Â"
Jakielo will have a book signing Thursday Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. at McArdle's Pub, Bingham and 16th Streets, South Side. College on the Rocks is also available online at readdave.com and at myspace.com/collegeontherocks.
People just seem very surprised when they find out I published a book, Jakielo says. Hopefully a Hollywood-type comes across the book and turns it into a sitcom starring Brad Pitt as myself, he jokes
Still, he says having a book published is extremely bizarre to him, and that it's even crazier that people are actually buying it.
College on the Rocks was published through Xlibris, a print on-demand service and a division of Random House Publishing. Jakielo supplied the manuscript, took the front cover photograph at Shale's Caf'¿½, and a graphic designer at Xlibris turned the material into the book. Jakielo says he planned to place his favorite columns in a book when he was a senior at Duquesne.
I liked the idea of having something tangible that could preserve that body of work, Jakielo says. Not just for my own benefit, but I also thought it would be a book that current readers and eventually, new readers would enjoy.Â"
Jakielo misses a lot about college, but says the only thing he misses about writing the column is not having a forum to voice his opinions. Jakielo says he wishes he would have had the opportunity to write about MySpace, something he believes high school and college students are obsessed with.
It's amazing the impact it has made on our culture. People in bars now are asking if [someone] is on MySpace and not for phone numbers, he says. Our grandmothers and grandfathers were spending money to spray love letters with their perfume or cologne, buying a stamp and putting that letter in the mail.
In the future, that courtship story might become, Â'I met your grandfather at a bar one night and he was able to find me on MySpace. Immediately, I accepted his friend invite and after our first date, when he put me in his Top 8 next to Tom, I just knew he was the one.'Â"
Although he still has funny insights about culture after publishing his humor columns, Jakielo works as the Director of Development at Bishop Canevin High School in Crafton. Not as a humor columnist. During his senior year, he said that, like most seniors, he wondered if he would make something of his life after graduation.
If you think about it too much, it can really get to you, he says. So, at the time, it comforted me a bit to know that if I ended up as an unemployed loser living under a bridge after graduation, at least I could say I wrote a book.Â"
Jakielo will have a book signing Thursday Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. at McArdle's Pub, Bingham and 16th Streets, South Side. College on the Rocks is also available online at readdave.com and at myspace.com/collegeontherocks.
Be the first to comment on this story
By posting an article comment, you agree to the Terms of Use policy.