I was eighteen, and I’d graduated from high school earlier that summer. Some of the Mousketeers from the All New Mickey Mouse Club came to Cleveland to promote their new album MMC (I have two copies, one of them still sealed!). I’d wanted to originally interview one of the ‘teers for the teen section of The Plain Dealer (called Next), but someone beat me and my best friend Charla to it. So, I got the next best thing. I got to review the record.

Disney sent me a press kit with photos, a press release, and a copy of the MMC CD. But I’d already had the CD—I’d won it in a contest for Teen Beat a few months prior (along with a water bottle and a signed poster. Now, mind you, after meeting them, I had tons of signed MMC stuff, so that just added to my collection.) So I was ready to review it.

This wasn’t my first publishing credit, but it was the first article I actually got paid money for. You can click the picture for a larger, more readable size.

I even have the little slip of paper that says how much I got paid, and what for. I had a lot of confidence in my writing back then. I hope I can get it back soon.

(fyi – commenting is closed to anonymous and non-friends until Sunday. just a precaution…)

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)