Whaddya know, we're back again. Not to brag, but I actually predicted this yesterday. Yep, I saw this one coming a mile away. So here we are, and I said that I would continue my discussion of Yearbook Camp by actually talking about the yearbook part of it all. Sound good to you? Word.
We attended the camp to help us become better at our jobs on the highly-coveted Yearbook Staff. First and foremost, we needed to come up with a theme for that year's edition. The theme should be something that we could carry out through the entire book, while also hopefully being somewhat catchy. We had a few decent options, but I wanted to come up with one that everyone could rally around. Therefore, I was eager to go to a workshop with my friend Jason on that first day specifically about forming themes.
The workshop instructor opened by using her old high school as a sample school for which we would create a theme. She was from DeKalb, Illinois, and she gave us a few facts about the school and the city. Most importantly, Cindy Crawford was from there. She didn't say that was most important, but I know she meant to. Secondly, and almost as important, she said that barbed wire was invented there. It was such a part of the culture there that even her school mascot was the Barbie Crow. She told us that there were a lot of tenuous budget issues going on and that everyone was anxiously waiting to see which way things would fall. Oh yeah, and there's lots of corn there.
One wiseguy suggested that the theme should be, "Shucks!" in reference to the corn. No, it wasn't me. She laughed but said that a good theme is more specific to that particular year for the school than something that could be used any year. Someone clearly didn't get that point and suggested, "Corn on DeKalb." She reiterated that getting more specific was key. We talked through the issues more, and we eventually all agreed that "Bird on a Wire" worked pretty well since it tied in with the precarious nature of their budget situations (and the Barbie Crow, naturally). Not bad; not mind-blowing, but not bad.
I got two good things out of that workshop. First, it helped me more clearly wrap my head around how to brainstorm for themes. Secondly, it gave me the power to scare the shit out of a couple from DeKalb when I met them. Seriously, that was great. I was working for Orientation Programs at UCSB and two parents had nametags that said they were from DeKalb. I saw that, and it took me a minute to contain my excitement. Once I composed myself, I very casually glanced at the nametags and said, "Oh, DeKalb, that's where barbed wire was invented, correct?" They looked absolutely shocked. "Yes! Wow, how did you know that?" I ignored the question and kept going: "And if I'm not mistaken, there's even the Barbie Crow as a school mascot." "That's amazing! Are you from Illinois?" they asked. "No, Cindy Crawford and I are tight, and she told me all about her hometown," I said with a smile. Yeah, they didn't buy that for a second. I told them the truth and assured them that I don't know that much information about every city.
Back to camp! So after learning how to go about coming up with a theme, Jason and I sat down to talk specifically about what made this upcoming year different than others. We quickly realized that a lot was different. There would be a new principal, a new magnet housed on the campus, a new block schedule format on some days, and a new locker policy in which no one would be allowed to use one for fear of hiding weapons. (I love L.A.!)
After talking through it some more, one of us commented that there was a whole storm of issues. We both lit up at the same time and agreed that "Eye of the Storm" made sense, especially if we made the argument that the yearbook was there in the middle of everything, calmly reporting what happened. Eager to share this with our teacher and other staffmates, we hurried in the direction of our residence hall. On the way, we ran into one of the head presenters, some teacher whose books always finished in the top ten nationally of...whatever yearbook rating system there is. We told him what we had come up with, and he said, "Ya know, if you want to get really crazy with it, you can bring it all back to the individual student and make it 'I of the Storm' instead." We thought that was the most brilliant thing we'd ever heard, and when we told the others, they all heartily agreed. (Please don't confuse the others with The Others from "Lost." We wouldn't have been nearly as excited to share things with them, because they're pretty creepy with their mindgames and blurred motives.)
And so it was that for the '94-'95 yearbook, it was all about the "I of the Storm." It's funny, but now when I look at that, my first thought is, "There's no I in Storm!" I need to work on that. Regardless, irregardlesss, and disirregardless, that's my story for today. Have a good Wednesday, and I'll see you back here for another Sorry Honey It's Thursday. Shaloha, my homies.
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