Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

Page 26 text:

Deadline fever Deadlines were not a fact of life for the 1979 TOWER staff-they were a way of life. From the end of October to the end of February, the four deadlines hit hard and fast. Things looked grim at times for the small and largely inexperienced staff, but the count- less work weekends and all-nighters paid off. The book was finally completed. It seemed that I was spending every minute working at McCracken Hall, said Dave Cieseke, sports editor, but after each deadline, I was ready to go to work on the next one. The yearbook deadline schedule was different from the weekly newspaper deadlines, and for new staff members with newspaper backgrounds, a transition had to be made. I had more time to develop ideas for yearbook copy than for newspa- per articles, said Ken Wilkie. Writing for the yearbook was more like a magazine than a newspaper, and that all goes back to taking your copy and putting it in creative language. Deadlines were different for the 1979 TOWER staff than in other years, because the yearbook was pasted up by the staff rather than by the plant. This involved typesetting all copy and headlines, adhering them to layout mats, adding lines and graphics and masking out the area for each photo. Because of our low budget we had to go to the econo-plan, said Laura Widmer, editor. I was really afraid to go to an all-school paste-up, because we ' d never done it before. It was so newspaper-oriented, and at that time we had no people who had a newspaper background, so I recruited Carole Patterson who worked with me as co-editor of the Missourian. Layout and design were what she ' d been doing, so I knew she was the person to be production manager. When Widmer began selecting people for editorial positions, only two staff members were returning from the 1978 staff. When all the recruiting was done, I knew I had a bunch of hard workers on my hands. They learned what needed to be done, and they were versatile. Widmer believed that although the staff was small, quality rather than quantity produced the book. According to Renee Tackett, adviser, along with quality, dedica- tion was an important charac- teristic of the 1979 TOWER staff. I occasionally caught some flak from the staff about being picky, said Tackett, however, in the long run it was probably for the best. We were striving for a publication that we could be proud of-no matter how difficult that was to remember at four or five in the morning. The nucleus of the staff was hardcore TOWER; they went to the extent of risking grades or even their own health for this book. V 22 TOWER

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LEFT: Jim MacNeil, photography editor, prints a cover photo. A part of the new format was the use of one dominant picture on the front page FAR LEFT: After the paper comes out, it must be sent to subscribers Dave Cieseke, circu- lation manager, sends out 1,300 papers throughout the nation every week. BELOW: Janice Corder, news editor, interviews Kevin Brunner for a front page story. Corder was one of the 10 freshmen on the Missourian. i m h NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN 21

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i k 1 1 I I Copy I ditors ' indy SedlerandBobPowri take a break during the McCra k.n Hall Christmas Party LEFT. Checking ovei the Homecoming copy are Ken Wilkie, Laura Widmer, editor, and u ih Power Wilkie and Power were two of the four copy writers during second semesta BOTTOM LEFT: After attending the national collegiate journalism ention in Houston, Tex., Laura Widmer and Sports Editor Dave Cieseke play frisboe at the beach in Galveston, Tex Fiv • suit! members attended the convention and enjoyed a Sunday picnic by the surf TOWER 23