a long time ago when i was editing my college newspaper, i noticed that i was writing the bulk of the articles myself -- not wanting to appear narcissistic (i am) or like i couldn't get anyone else to write (i couldn't), i realized that something had to be done -- being a fan of comic books and secret identities, i set about concocting a nome de plume, much like mark twain and clark kent before me -- long into the dark night i worked, straining every creative bone in my body -- around 3am i remembered that i was supposed to be working on a pen name, not pickup lines -- ten minutes later i came up with "T.F. Charles" by taking my initials (FT) and my middle name (Charles), then mixing them up a bit to sound more distinguished, like "T.S. Elliot" -- freed by anonymity, my writing style as TF was less restrained and more sarcastic -- TF took on the hell-raiser aspects of my personality, and "his" articles exposed one or two campus scandals -- at some point TF even earned an editorial position!
after my stay in the institution, i returned TF to the pandora's box from whence he came -- later, when i signed up for AOL back in 1992 when only geeks were on the Internet (insert ironic pause here), i reanimated this pseudonym for use as the ultimate screen-name -- later still, in a fit of insanity brought on by my domain-speculating pal jeff ("you better buy that domain name or i'll snag it and use it as a porn site...") i acquired TFCharles.com -- and the rest, as they say, is history...