CRAWFORD GRIFFIN - Never Stay Silent

The first issue of the Boston News-Letter , published April 24, 1704, prominently displaying 'Published by Authority' at the masthead. On April 24, 1704, Boston postmaster John Campbell launched a modest single-sheet newspaper that would survive for 72 years and establish the foundation for American journalism. The Boston News-Letter wasn't flashy, independent, or particularly controversial, but it was something more important: it was sustainable. A Postmaster's Safe Bet The Boston News-Letter's modest format: a single sheet measuring 8 by 12 inches, printed on both sides. According to journalist, Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831), Campbell had been writing handwritten newsletters to colonial governors since 1700, but printing them required a different approach. Every issue prominently displayed "Published by Authority," modeled on London's official Gazette . The royal governor pre-approved each issue; this wasn't independent journalism by any means, but...

When I was a kid, my parents would tell me that the reason they named me "Jon Crawford Lloyd Griffin" was because it would make great name for a senator. It always made me excited because it made me feel like I was destined for greatness. However, being five years old, the only senators I knew of were the Ottawa Senators (the NHL team). As I grew up, the dream of playing in the NHL began to seem less and less realistic, but a new passion began to blossom.  My sisters and I at my high school graduation. I was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina along with an older and younger sister. We grew up in the suburbs of North Raleigh, spending majority of our time outside playing with our neighbors. It was a special neighborhood (Stonemoor) filled with young families and kids the same ages as us; to this day, my family's closest friends are the ones we met in Stonemoor. Us boys spent hundreds, maybe thousands of hours playing outside, specifically street hockey.  It's a...