About PsychDiscourse

By: Halford Fairchild

Psych Discourse: The NewsJournal of The Association of Black Psychologists, started out as “The ABPsi Newsletter” or “Newsletter of The ABPsi.”

Originally produced on a typewriter, we entered the desk-top publishing era in the late 1980s (probably 1987) when we moved into our office building at 821 Kennedy Street and Ruth King and I bought an IBM PC and I trained her in desktop publishing.  In those days, it was painfully slow.

Somewhere around that time, I urged the BOD to elevate the Newsletter and we had a naming contest, which I won.  My first suggestion, “Psych Intercourse” brought a blush from Ruth, and we settled on the current name.

I assumed editorship in 1990 and pushed hard for advertising.  The legacy of that effort continues in the ABPsi Career Center, which is grossing more, today, than PD ever grossed (our peak was in the mid $90K for the year.)

During my more than 10 years as editor, every issue was edited by me, set up for desk top publishing, and taken to the printer for printing (Doucette Printing, in L.A.).  I also mailed the copies to the membership — using bulk first class mail; and mailed invoices to advertisers (with monies sent to DC Office).  We were so successful we moved from quarterly to bi-monthly to monthly publication (with 9-10 issues per year — some slow advertising months were combined, e.g., March/April, May/June).

Stay Strong in the Struggle!

Hal Fairchild