After sending in a sketch from one of those "can you draw me" matchbook-cover ads for art school, Jared abandoned his day job shoveling corn at the Executive Grain Silo and signed on as art director, turning Metro Pulse into a force of nature at the annual Addy Awards.
Jared left Knoxville in '95 to take the art director position at the Dallas Observer. He returned a year later after finding out that the job entailed having to actually live in Dallas.