A pen name is a fragile thing. It’s easy to want to create an entirely new identity when finding your personal anonymity, but actually finding your name is a little more difficult.

This was my dream when I was a young boy. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of giants like Samuel Clemens and Theodor Giesel. I wanted to create a new secret identity behind which I would chronicle my life and maybe even fight a little crime. Then on the fateful day when 14-year-old me created this little corner of the internet, I introduced my new persona to the world.

I’m glad to say that Geoffrey Jacobs had a short and uneventful life.

In the wake of trying to launch an entirely new identity, I found Nickel: a phonetic spelling of my nickname and my last initial – Nick L. It was fitting not only because of the clever wordplay but also because the majority of my life has been a frantic scramble to make sense of things.

I’m happy to report that I have yet to do so. It keeps things interesting. I have, however, made a little sense of certain parts of my life. Not much but just enough.

In fact, I’ve made about five sense. Five cents.

-Nickel