In grade 12, a friend of mine named Matt, and myself started to       
publish our own underground magazine. It was called free Verse, and          
was a collection of creative writing, humour, and poetry. We collected       
submissions from our friends, published them, and sold it back to them       
for $0.50. Since we did not have the endorsement of the                      
establishment, we did not want to put our names on it, we created a          
personality to be our editor. Matt found a picture of a girl in a year       
book that he had from some school in Vancouver, and we tacked on the            
first cool name that we came up with. Gene J Stroner was born. 
	As free Verse gained cult status at Prairie, Gene J Stroner became
a household name. To announce the release of the Christmas issue, we 
put up posters all over the school saying "Happy Sweet Sixteen Gene J,
We Love You." With free Verse being so popular, Matt was making a killing
off of sales (I never saw a cent), but it started to attract some unwanted
attention from the authorities. After a scare that we were in real trouble,
or that they would shut us down, we were forced to take a censor on board.
Mr. Enns became our proof reader, and were forced to care about what
might offend the ultra conservative Christian fundamentalists that Three Hills            
seemed to shelter. We did publish two more issues after this, but our 
enthusiasm quickly dwindled because we had lost the rebellious               
motivation that we previously had, and the lack of artistic freedom.         
During the height of our popularity, there was a demand for free Verse         
parafinalia, so we made some FV pens, fridge magnets, and stickers.