Hi! My name is David Murray, and I’m the head of SEIBEI, and Commissioner of the Intramural Zombie Hunting League. I graduated from the University of Virginia in 2004 with a degree in Japanese Literature, and, at first, SEIBEI was just an expensive hobby. I’d always enjoyed drawing stupid cartoons to make my friends laugh and making presents for people, and t-shirts seemed like the best medium to do both of those things on a larger scale. I want people to lighten up, and take it easy. I want to make the world a safer and more enjoyable place for everything I’ve ever been called growing up – weirdos, spazzes, dumbasses, and everyone else.
Though I’m the only permanent fixture, there have been a number of other people’s hands in this operation at some time or another. SEIBEI would be nothing if not for the consistent encouragement, support, critique, and inspiration from friends and family, and all the new friends I've made in my time as SEIBEI. You’ve all given me so much, and I’m going to do my best to make you proud.
Of course, I'm also a bit of a vindictive jerk, so, most especially, I would like to thank Professor Meera Viswanathan of Brown University, who, during her time as a visiting professor at the Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies, never returned any of my papers for her Japanese Literature classes, even when I asked for specific criticism so I could work them into writing samples for graduate school applications, and who went above and beyond the call of duty by assigning me outside translation work so I could refine my skills, which were also never returned or even critiqued. Furthermore, when I e-mailed her asking for advice on Japanese Literature graduate programs, she never responded.
If not for her brutal lack of encouragement or care, there’s a chance I might have given this up for academia. Ha! Then again, if one professor, albeit an important one, completely disregarding me is all it took, then I probably would have stuck with this anyway.