It all started in a geometry class in my sophomore year in high school in Carmichael, California. The year was 1972 . . .

My best friend, Steven, whom I have known since the first grade, disappeared from my Catholic school at the beginning of fifth grade when his parents chose to send him to the public school across the street. We lost contact with each other until freshman year at La Sierra High School when I was delighted to discover that he was going there, too. Unfortunately, our geometry class experience and camaraderie in our sophomore year ended when his father took a job out of town and his family moved away to Napa.

I was very surprised to receive a letter from him after he had moved. It was written as a newspaper called The Toro Reportre. In our Jovian mind games, he had split off from the Empire, founding a republic based on Earth’s quasi moon of Toro. His newsletter had lots of interesting stories where his diminutive republic challenged the Jovian Empire on several issues. On the back page, he included news about his participation on the Napa High School Swim Team, so he even had a sports section!

Not to be outdone, I responded in kind by creating my own newspaper, The Jovian Outluk. I’ll explain the weird spelling in Post #3 . . .