I Chose Art Over Tabloid Journalism

When I was 12 and attending Ferguson grade school in Philadelphia, I read about a man being bitten by a dog. Well, as a novice in the newspaper industry I was bitten by this story, so I decided to write my own one-page newspaper and use the dog biting incident as my feature headline story.
I laid out the page and revised the story by headlining, "Man Bites Dog." I hand-lettered the page along with some sidebars, and admired my handiwork. A real publication masterpiece.
I presented the page to my English teacher for approval and support. My English teacher admired my work and praised my writing accomplishment.
However, without a press to print and reproduce my newspaper, I set it aside and decided on pursuing my artistic talents instead, leaving newspaper writing and publishing to an established source. In those days the Philadelphia Bulletin was one of the leading papers in our area, as their catch phrase implied, In Philadelphia nearly everybody reads the Evening Bulletin."
While in high school I reexamined the newspaper industry, as a paper carrier for the Bulletin, and later became a branch captain and finally a branch manager with the circulation department. But that, unfortunately, was the end of my short career as a newspaper man, in lieu of beginning my art studies at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art, which today is the University of the Arts.