INTRODUCTION

There never was much doubt about it. I was born to be a newspaper man. I grew up in a newspaper family. My father and most of his brothers and sister made careers in that field. Three of my cousins also had newspaper and magazine experience.

I briefly gave some consideration to becoming a lawyer. The research and the precise technicalities of the law were appealing. However, the extra years of study needed and the bar exam were not appealing.

A standing joke says that what is wrong with the world is there are too many lawyers. That didn’t help the cause of becoming a lawyer.

The fascination with writing things and seeing them in print finally prevailed. The following tells how that decision played out.