The genesis of my name
Here’s the story about my name, in brief: Three months into my mother’s pregnancy, my parents agreed they needed to find a gender-neutral name to refer to me (I was their first child). My dad, being a staunch socialist, proposed “PM” in memory of the daily New York City publication PM. For reasons beyond my understanding, my mother agreed. I’ve always loved it, even though my dad didn't tell me why he chose the letters P and M until two days before he died.
I usually spell my name “Pm” to lessen confusion. It's pronounced "pim."
A few references:
Wikipedia entry for PM
"About the Newspaper PM" by Philip Nel, in Crockett Johnson website (8/2005)
Other web pages that mention PM:
- PM: New York's Highbrow Tabloid (Roger Starr, in City Journal, summer 1993)
- Dr. Seuss Went to War, a catalog of Theodor Geisel's World War II cartoons (Mandeville Special Collections Library, UC San Diego)
- Lillian Hellman's FBI file (at UPenn's The American 1950's)
- George S. Patton Papers (at the University of North Dakota)
- "Superman Versus the KKK" by Richard von Busack (at MetroActive)
- PM: A New Deal in Journalism, 1940-1948, by Paul Milkman
