It is hard to believe but The Real News is now 35 years old. Time seems to sneak up on you like a slick bandit. The Real News started as a hand written zine published to keep recent graduates up to date on the college newsroom antics continued on to chronicle the highs and lows of a lifetime. I used to collect mailing addresses to send out Xerox photocopies of the News until the list went through the laundry one too many times.

Then it was tech guru, Rocky, who suggested that the News go digital. If anything to save postage, but in the same over-analytical process that at times curses me, I founded not one but three web sites. Occasionally I look back at the old paper back issues and wonder why we have not been put away for the adventures and misadventures of a solid core of normal, independent misfits a few steps out of time and tangoing to their own drum beats. For example, a short 1995 trip to Nassau led to an inch thick tome called Commission of Inquiry: Island in the Screams, the Nassau Real News.

To circulation list has been long gone, and people have moved on deep into their time lines, so why continue publishing the rants and editorial cartoons of one guy? Because sometimes they still hit home, like in June, 2014 when a parent of one of my deceased friends by accident found a tribute issue about her son. She said she cried when she read it. It seems that in various forms and situations, that is the affect I have on women, for good or ill.

As a young adult, I fancied myself as a writer. Whether I am any good at conveying thoughts and truths is a matter of debate, but at least I have a place to disgorge the mental froth in some constructive form than paying a therapist a small fortune. Perhaps, when the alien overlords land on Earth and stumble across some of these issues, they will take pity on us and flee the planet.

But the reason to keep writing and drawing is to feed the old rebellious side of my character. When you have spent decades being a professional, solving problems, advocating advice, holding confidences, and being The adult in the room at times, the easy diversion is fall back to collegian nostalgia to hone my humor genes, which are both a charm and a defensive curse. There are many creative people who can sit down and crank out art and expression with ease, but usually there is some personal cost. Some psychologists believe creative types need a vacuum in order to allow the inspiration to leech out of their brain cells. I have too much more to do to allow scientists to begin probing my skull.

Last year at this time, I took stock. One has been caught in a habitual work minimal social life hamster wheel will understand why I resolved then to re-connect with people important to me so as break the chains of endless work schedules. There were many bumps in the road (relapses and conflicts) but significant process was made in the socialization connections because new good memories clearly trump the daily tedium of routine.

So today I evaluate the progress of personal growth. I still get satisfaction in publishing my random electron thoughts and opinions on the web. From an edition standpoint, 2014 was on the high side of publications. And 2014 was a much better year for social well-being, even though there are still lapses of idiocy in relationships. I resolve to do better because I realize that there are a few constants that can bring the best out of me.

2015 figures to be the crest of Potential. I will resolve to meet the challenge.