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Behind the LogoBehind the Logo 

A creative writer’s lair is easy to spot. It’s a mystical place where only one of three crumpled papers ever hits the waste basket. I wrote my first poem in longhand at the age of twelve, begrudgingly sold it to my sister for pocket change (see Homework) and never looked back.

I recall the early creative days when I would dissect every phrase in a 1964 TV commercial while others watched a Volkswagen Beatle float across the screen. To this day, I can still recite the one-minute VW "Snow Plow" ad that used only twenty-five words to deliver its message. Each was perfect.

My high school graduation gift – an Olivetti Lettra 22 portable typewriter – opened new frontiers as it sat ready to lock and load with a trusty bottle of Wite-Out® stationed nearby. All through college and as a promotional copywriter for radio I learned that words are living organisms which strive to exist in harmony. But occasionally they must be mastered and corralled like wild stallions in a box canyon.  Sometimes they're too cumbersome or clumsy  - like unannounced inlaws.   And occasionally the one quintessential perfect word just won't show up.

With apologies to The Book of Isaiah and an outside chance of divine intervention, the tagline Beating Words into Plowshares came to be.  Enjoy.