Credit Sherb. She was my 10th-through-12th Grade High School Journalism teacher at Tustin High. Back when Journalism was an actual course in the English Department, not an elective as it is nowadays.
Wait, no, it goes back farther than that - it was Mrs. Hurte at SCMA. That was my real first start in Journalism. 9th grade. I was a proofreader. That was the first ste...
No, wait. Farther than that. Way farther. Like the mid-sixties. I don't recall how extensive the reporting was, or even if we had a circulation of more than two or three. But it was a start. A couple of kids writing about the goings-on on Guinea Drive in what was then La Puente, later to become North Whittier, then finally just Whittier. We were writing about the new school under construction "around the corner". Said "...a new school is being billt..." Proofreader indeed.
I've always enjoyed writing about stuff, mostly about factual things; I suck at fanciful, fictional stuff. I coulda been a [fill in the blank] writer, but I have no imagination for [again, fill in the blank]. Yeah, let your mind wander on that for a bit... I'll wait.
Interestingly enough, I'm not the only one from those days of writing about Tustin High goings-on to have a knack for Journalistic endeavors - at least a couple of old friends have gone into Journalism, one quite successfully I might add. I do think about those old editors and reporters on the Broadcaster from time to time, without being icky. One works for the LA Times; another is/was a teacher of Journalism herself, as well as a reporter for some paper in Ohjo.
Me? I'm just a hack writing about animals and pets for CAWS, and of course this here blog. My little slice of Journalistic heaven.
Sherb would be proud.
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