For Thursday, January 16 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 699 words

Eight is enough

Last Friday marked a momentous occasion for me. I accomplished a small, personal goal that maybe can't be fully appreciated without living it, at least not at the euphoric depth that I'm feeling today.

Last Friday I pushed the button that connected my eighth and final computer to my high school journalism lab. Whoopee.

Twelve years ago when I began teaching journalism, we had a cardboard box full of scissors, wax, and blue-grid layout sheets. We used a typewriter and rub-off letters for headlines. We glued our stories to the layout sheets, reduced them on Mr. Romer's campus copier, and rented videos. The videos we watched while running the paper on the campus copier, which took eight hours to finish 36,000 runs.

Ten years ago the English department got a computer in the hall. We used it as a typewriter for two years, while raising the money to buy our own. We liked ours so much that we saved up and bought another the second year.

Then we discovered the magic of desktop publishing, and that's when trouble began: our dependence on technology. With the computer as the central processor, our class suddenly experienced a horrendous bottleneck as 20 students waited in line.

I made a vow. Our newspaper has eight separate departments. I vowed that "One day we shall own eight computers, and each department shall have its own." Each year since then we have added one computer to our network. The money came from Benicia merchants who advertise in the Paw.

Two months ago we connected "George Miller," our seventh system. George was a 486 built from the donated parts of a half dozen other computers. Thus, we'd met our commitment for another year.

However, when George went on-line, I realized how close we were to the ancient vow. Another year would be too long to wait. I decided to dig into our funds and build Nellie, a high-speed Pentium. She came together in my garage over Christmas Break, and last Friday she went to work.

It's hard to describe the elation I felt when Nellie mapped to Mongo our server. The thrill doesn't compare to winning Oscars or Lottos or Superbowls or becoming President, but for me it was a big deal.

What thrills me is that my students and I created this lab ourselves. We raised the money $20 at a time. Except for two emergencies, some textbooks, and use of the campus copy machine, I've never asked BUSD for a budget. I figured, we were running a business, and a successful business is self-sufficient. We also pay our own phone bill.

Actually, the support comes from the community. Over 40 businesses advertise and most have been with us since the beginning. Exxon is our oldest customer. It has purchased a full page ad every year since the old days of Lick and Stick publishing.

Many merchants trade services for ads with the Paw. My students need to eat at night during production. Pacifica Pizza promises us 45 pizzas a year. Subway sends over giant six-foot sandwiches. Taco Bell trades tacos. Robert at China Garden invites the whole class to his restaurant every Chinese New Year for a big luncheon in exchange for designing his holiday flier.

AMC sends us seven free movie passes each month so students can do film reviews. Digital America gives us unlimited Internet access and web space (The phone bill comes from Pacific Bell, who charges full business rates, and AT&T who charges $5 a month for not making long distance calls.) Recently, the Benicia Ed. Fund offered to buy us a scanner if we design their newsletter. The list goes on and on.

While I'm celebrating Nellie's connection - she was named after Nellie Kim, by the way, one of my most outstanding journalists -- I guess I'm actually celebrating our newspaper's successful relationship with the Benicia community. So, if you cannot feel the euphoria, at least know that it's for ya.

What else thrills me is that we won't have to work so many late hours taking turns using the computers. Each department finally has a home. Happy New Year.

It's time for a new vow. Bigger scholarships.