Why I started this blog about famous people before they were famous …
1: They say journalism is the first rough draft of history. I’m not sure who “they” are, but there’s certainly a lot of truth in this statement. It’s important to focus on the words “rough draft.” Not everything written in newspapers during the past 300 years is completely accurate, for a variety of reasons. But in most cases, there’s a lot of truth in the stories about the now-famous people I write about in this blog. I do check with other sources to make sure there’s at least a grain of truth to everything I include in each story. And I point out when something printed in the newspaper is tremendously wrong.
2: Until recent years, newspapers were the dominant form of communication in this country. Almost every town and city, no matter how small, had its own newspaper. Often more than one. And so, there’s an incredible wealth of interesting and often fascinating information out there just waiting to be mined. Our history is in these newspapers.
3: I was a newspaper reporter for a long, long time, so it’s been fun to go back and see what other reporters wrote. Maybe in 100 years someone will read one of the articles I wrote back in 1997. Nah, probably not. It will be too hot to read by then.
4: History is fun. And people are interesting. My brief, before-fame bios aren’t intended to be exhaustive biographical sketches of the early years of these people. That’s hard work! They’re fun looks back at people we think we know. And hopefully you’ll learn something new.
5: I’m easing my way into retirement and need something to do and a way to continue to connect with the world. This seemed like a logical way to accomplish this.
6: I want to be famous! Nah, that would be terrible. I’ve been around enough famous people (for newspaper stories) to know I don’t want any part of being famous. It’s exhausting. Writing about famous people is a lot easier.
From Unknown To Famous 