The Tom Anti-Defamation League and Tom Club

A Great Tom

Membership in the Tom Anti-Defamation League requires dedicating yourself to standing up for our good name and being quick to respond when we are defamed (Peeping Tom, Doubting Thomas, etc.). This link connects to a file with good things about Tom and, ugh, bad things.

For brief background, the club was founded by three journalists (at the time): myself (Gable, financial journalist), the editor of several airline and city magazines (Shess), and Blair, the columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and former editor of San Diego Magazine. We were lamenting that no one was naming their children Tom anymore. Then we started cataloging all the slights to our name (Tom Foolery, Every Tom Dick and Harry, etc.). We then founded the Tom Anti-Defamation League to fight these slurs head-on. Since no one seemed to take this too seriously, including ourselves, we created the Tom Club as the social auxiliary and started having events.

This organization (and we use the term loosely) meets irregularly and has only four bylaws: you need to be named Tom (or Tomasina or Tommi, etc., since we have three female members); official meetings can last no longer than 60 seconds (the social part can go on for hours); we never pay for food and drink; and anything and everything discussed is totally confidential (what happens at the Tom Club stays at the Tom Club).

Please feel free to share the good things and bad things with other Toms! And if you are interested in joining, please email tom@gablepr.com with your curricula vitae and a short paragraph on why you should be considered for membership.  After review and approval by the nominating committee (Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom and Tom), you will receive updates on Good Things Tom and be invited to future events, which happen every three to six months, usually from 5 to 7 at a fine purveyor of food and drink. You’ll enjoy the Tom Foolery.

Yours, in Tom-Dom

Tom