When my grade school teacher said my picture could not be published as it would just turn out as a big ink blob.

Ink on paper from the old mimeograph machine I had in the 1980s. I wanted to see what would happen if I turned the crank with no stencil in the machine. The results are a keepsake.

It reminds me of an experience I had in grade school where my mind was too full of ideas. The assignment was for everyone in the class to draw a picture. The teacher gathered up each drawing and made copies from the ditto machine in the office. Copies of each persons drawing were bound into a booklet of copies for all the classmates.

My drawing was not included. The teacher apologized and explained that my drawing was too complicated. It had too many lines and solid areas of black so the machine would just print a big blob of ink.

Mimeo, with black or colored ink, was often used in church bulletins while ditto, with the blue ink was used in many schools. Some folks will remember the smells of those copies. This was before the internet days.

In the 1980s, I used the my hand cranked mimeograph machine to publish a small newsletter of my own opinions; Robert's Telling Tales. That publication never got big in the media world, but it was a good experience.

In 1981, the Tacoma New Tribune did a feature about me. It was titled, Cranking Out Happiness at Robert's Think Tank.