It was 1997 and I was just 15 years old when I had my first encounter with a Macintosh. My regular hang out was Blitz Records, a local Michigan record store. The owner of Blitz Records, Mike Fiscus also produced a music and culture magazine; Anti-Matter. I could be found at Blitz almost daily and built a great relationship with the Mike.
I was there when he entered the store carrying his new baby, a new Mac SE. It was a day that changed many things for me.
I remember being overwhelmed and inspired by the Mac, I would actually say I was afraid of it. Mike took time to explain desktop publishing and even demonstrate the features to me. His intention was to change Anti-Matter, to make it into a really creative endeavor with more control at our hands.
Within a year I was working part-time at the store and was asked to begin writing a few reviews for the magazine. I gained a lot of exposure to the Mac and desktop publishing and thus began my affinity with the Mac platform.
Mike was instrumental in all of this, from showing me how layout was processed, letting me enter my own reviews and interviews into the magazine and just being a great mentor.
I'll never forget the day he took me and a pile of floppy disks to a professional design studio to finish the layout.
They and dozens of Macs, printers and even a scanner.
The scanner felt like Star Trek to me, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. It was science fiction come to life.
From there I was set loose, I began renting time on Macs around town to do creative work, mostly designing flyers for my band.
It was a few years before I had daily access and eventually my own Mac, but I've never regretted my crush and eventual love for all things Mac and Apple.
