It began out of failure. Three brothers were going to help start an Internet Radio Station with some old college DJs. The plan fell flat on its face before it even began, and the brothers were left to flounder in the swampy peninsula of Florida in the summertime. In 1996, the Internet was just getting going, and it didn't take long for the brothers to realize that while it would take millions to start a radio station, it wouldn't cost anything to write on-line columns. Jon, Matt & I all claim to have come up with the title "Shut Up, I'm Talking," but at a time when we weren't agreeing on much, all three agreed on that title for our collected columns.

In the beginning, there was a brief hope that our brilliant insight into modern life would be purchased and published by newspapers around the country. This belief was short-lived, but we continued to write for the sake of writing. This was long before the phrase "blog" was created. While technically, these are web logs, I've always maintained that these are columns. My personal life often becomes part of my topics, but I've always hoped there was some grander purpose or basic lesson by the end of my 750 word rants.

As most people know, Chris Jungle is not my real name. It is actually the name of my first and only imaginary friend when I was three years old. I was already writing columns for a self-published now defunct zine called Lies (remember zines?) under that pen name, so using the moniker for the on-line SUIT columns made sense to me. 10 years later, Chris Jungle still serves as a sweet alter ego. Chris Jungle's favorite quip to this day is "I'm a columnist, dammit, not a communist."

The writing exercise became a welcome routine. Without much deviation, my columns would be written on Sunday mornings with a couple cups of coffee dosed with Irish Cream as fuel. My brother Matt would type out his column on his computer behind me. Sometimes it was therapy. Sometimes it was turmoil. The nagging question always being "What are you going to talk about?" Some weeks, the answer was easy. Some weeks, it seemed like I had nothing. Some weeks, we took a vacation.

After 10 years, I know who reads the columns for the most part. It's my family, and it's my friends. There are a few web surfers. There's even a cab driver or two. My parents see the columns as how we brothers keep in touch with them. Friends and relatives will bring up a column or two when I see them. I don't write letters, I don't call people on the phone, so these columns are my contact with folks far away. I guess that's pretty swell.

What has writing approximately 500 columns done for me? More than anything else, it's made me decide where I stand on issues and life. I had to figure out what I thought about my leaders, world conflicts, local endeavors & personal challenges, and I had to sum it up in a page and a half. I always maintain that my columns are a representation of how I feel at a particular moment, and that all beliefs are subject to change.

Not only can my beliefs change, but also my style. Sometimes the sentence/paragraph style gets a little stale. Sometimes, it's a dialogue, or a short play, or an outright writing experiment. My editing skills vary from week to week. I stole a few bits from Hunter S. Thompson, emphasizing CERTAIN words OR PHRASES. I steal a bit from other writers all the time. That's what writers do.

I never would have thought these columns would go on for 10 years. I really thought that after we realized there was no money in it, that would be it. I thought that as life went on that the brothers would tire of the routine. Jon has two little boys now. Matt has drifted off to the middle class and back again. Chris Jungle is a cab driver, actor & rock n' roller these days.

And yet...and yet. These columns have persisted. These columns have satiated. These columns have continued.

As I slurp down the last of my second cup of coffee, I know it's about time to wrap up another installment. I already know it's far from my best effort, but it's just a bit of nostalgia after all. I already know I'll be back next week bitching about the government, throwing in my two cents about Middle East conflicts, waxing poetic about some little thing that happened to me, rattling on about my forever developing philosophy of life, or rambling on about this & that. This & THAT. THIS & that. THIS & THAT.

And that's the joy of these columns. We can write about anything we want, however we want. It's still just three guys exercising their 1st amendment rights in the good ol' US of A. So thanks for peeking in on these columns over the last ten years, and SHUT UP, WE'RE STILL TALKING!

Chris Jungle loves his brothers.