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THE RHODODENDRON APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA
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THE RHODODENDRON APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVETSSITY BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA The yearbook even Orwell couldn ' t predict. This yearbook, The 1984 Rhododendron, is for you, the students of ASU. How trite. That exact sentence has been used by every editor of every yearbook ever produced. It has the ring of the ' big He ' used so effectively by political hacks and P.R. executives. If yearbooks are really produced for students, then why do so few students buy them? Why is the yearbook publishing industry slowly dying off? Why are many universities curtailing yearbook programs entirely? We on the staff of The 1984 Rhododendron, by and large, share the obvious contempt and dislike which so many students have toward the ' basic ' yearbook. We are, by and large, a staff with little or no experience in the production of yearbooks. We are a varied assembly of journalists, photographers, and designers who were willing to work their butts off to create a yearbook unlike anything ever seen before. Our premise was simple - what HAS been seen before is no longer relevant, marketable, or of value to the vast majority of students. In essence, we are a group of people who not only believe that yearbooks were boring, poorly designed, and archaic, but also that a yearbook could be created which was exciting, well designed, and fun to read. This book is the result of our efforts, and our efforts were monumental. Quality, after all, demands a lot of time and hard work. We have tried to do all of those things which students have wanted in a yearbook for Our premise was simple - that what has been seen before in yearbooks is no longer relevant, marketable, or of value to students. - Steven Boyd, Editor ages: twice as many color pages with five times the number of color prints; effectively organized, modern design and graphics as opposed to what I call the ' trash compactor layout ' so evident in other books; well reported and written journalism as opposed to the flaky, ' featuresque ' writing style so often used in the past; and an outrageous doubling of the total number of photographs of students - from a previous average of 800 prints to over 1600. Sure, we have missed covering a few of the more than 200 clubs and organizations on campus, and even 1600 photos cannot insure that YOUR picture is in the book. There is a point at which realistic goals become illusionary fantasies, and attempting to cover every group, every person, and every event on a campus of this size definitely falls into the illusion category. Given that there exists here at ASU and on many other campuses very little if any administrative support for the yearbook program (whether in budgets, supervision, input or even emotional support), it truly falls upon you, the student for whom this book was produced, to help us feel that the 40-hour weeks at an average of lOc per hour, missed classes and exams. lowered GPA ' s, all-night work sessions, and (believe me), stomach ulcers and dangerously frayed nerves, were worth the effort. This is no joke; we as a staff have worked so hard and long on this thing, with so little recognition or input from the university, that it approaches the psychotic. Ultimately, if I had it to do over again - knowing what I now know concerning a university ' s expectations that a yearbook will be pulled out of a magic hat the third week of April, supplying NO information akin to that received by a newspaper, with NO phone calls from clubs or academic departments concerning events or story ideas, and with NO memos inquiring as to our progress or achievement - I would not attempt the project. This university, having gained close to $30,000.00 from the yearbook for other projects when it switched to a subscription plan, is already in the process of deciding whether or not to phase-out this publication. Now it is only a numbers game, the future of the yearbook resting upon how many students will fork out the $5.00, $7.00 or $10.00, in advance for a book produced by an ignored and severely underpaid and unappreciated staff. The plan is to gain another $10-$15,000 over the next few years by eliminating the print-cost student-fee budget entirely, and further raising the price-per-book. You, the student body, have the right to know these facts and figures, and you, the student body, will ultimately decide whether The Rhododendron will survive. Unlike this year ' s Greek housing proposal, Student Activities Room, H ' appy ' s entertainment center, and a hundred other costly projects which the university supports and is asking you to pay for, the yearbook no longer fulfills the marketing-tool role to increase enrollment and the coffers of this institution. Slide shows and media presentations have taken its place in the important area of student recruitment. The only remaining ' market ' , or reason for the continued existence of the yearbook, is you - the student body of Appalachian State University. This, then, is the ' state of the yearbook ' at ASU and throughout the country. That this yearbook exists at all is testimony to the great determination and dedication of a select few, the staff of The 1984 Rhododendron. My gratitude to them is immeasurable, and I hope this bound volume makes the effort worth the trials. Steven S. Boyd Editor Design Director The 1984 Rhododendron
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