For a while there, I had one of the greatest parttime jobs in the world.
I was picked to be part of a staff of "civilian" writers to produce a column for the local newspaper.
	Eight of us were chosen from a barrel of applicants to write one column each every month for the next 2 years.
The title of the column was "Common Sense," after Thomas Paine's legendary dissertation.
	The idea behind the column, according to the editorial staff, was to get their finger on the pulse of the "ordinary man," and, at the same time, create a buzz in the community.
As long as we generated calls to the newspaper's "Open Line," Letters to the Editor, or just plain old complaints, we were considered to be successful.
	They liked me since I got more complaints than anybody. Or maybe the editor told us all that.
We were given free reign as long as we didn't offend community standards, didn't personally attack any one person, and brought the article in at approximately 750 words.
	The assignment was intended to last for 2 years. I ended up writing the column for 6 years.
My own personal guidelines for writing the editorials that appeared every Sunday and Wednesday (my day was the first Wednesday of every month), were to pick a topic and then rant and rave with as much humor as I could muster until my computer told me I was safely in the 750 word harbor.
Here are my contributions to the effort.