Why the Title?

A GAZILLION YEARS AGO, I was editor of my college newspaper—the Campus Chronicle at Pacific Union College in California.

As a young and aspiring journalist, my unknowing model and mentor was Herb Caen, long-time columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle—about an hour’s drive away. Caen was known for his fast-paced observations on life in The City: short column items separated by ellipsis points—a style that came to be known as “three-dot journalism.”

The year before being elected editor, I wrote a column for my college version of the Chronicle and chose as its name: “It Says Here…” Lo these many years later, I’m reviving the title for use in a new venue and millennium.

I would never threaten Caen’s secure place in American journalism. But it took me months to come down from the high I enjoyed when our little college paper somehow crossed Caen’s desk, and he borrowed and credited items from my column for his, on more than one occasion.

A year or so later as editor, I had the chance to interview Ronald Reagan for the PUC Campus Chronicle and pose with him for photos as he made a campaign stop downhill from my campus during his first run for California governor. But if I had to choose between that experience and Caen’s quoting my stuff—and keep just one—Caen’s publishing my very own words for the whole Bay Area to read would win hands down!