History of One Blogger

When I was in Junior High School, a friend published a four-page, mimeographed newspaper for his friends.  He called it the Sunmont Bee. The name Sunmont came from the top line of a calendar: Sun, Mon, T(ues). Circulation at one time reached a peak of 40 copies.  To fill space, I was permitted to write a column of junior high gossip.  You know, like, "JerryT. likes Amanda M.  At least he gives her his Hershey Bar at lunch every day.  But he doesn't know that she gives half to Nancy G.  Shh, don't tell him."

My friend, Bob Norris, now a professor emeritus of University of California, Santa Barbara, considered this kind of gossip to be drivel, and named the column Dribble.

In Van Nuys High School, I became first, assistant editor, and then co-editor of the school paper, The Mirror, and I had a general interest column, and I kept the name Dribble. I freely stole ideas from a column that my father had run in Beverly Hills in the 1920's. One item "We call ourselves we in this column because all great editors call themselves we, and we hope to be a great editor someday." I think he, in turn, stole that from E.B.White, who really was a great editor.

In my forties, I learned to fly.  Subsequently I bought an Ercoupe, a 1946 two-place, low-wing, single-engine monoplane  Ercoupe owners formed a club and printed a newsletter, Coupe Capers.  For while I was editor and wrote such things as:

Heard from the tower.

Me: Castle tower, this is Ercoupe one six Hotel.  Crossing the Jet Advisory area, landing at Merced.

Castle Tower: Roger, one six Hotel.  Watch out for jets.

(That was my advisory?)

Me:  Ah, sir, would you ask the jets to watch out for me, too?

And then many years later, I learned about blogging.  I started a journal and named it Dribble, after those column of long ago.

And in it I wrote such things as this.