We Don’t Need a Yearbook
In high school, I remember signing yearbooks on the last day of school. I wrote short messages like “stay in touch” and “have fun,” etc. And those yearbooks truly were a summation of the year in photos. But at Middlebury College, we do not need a yearbook:
- Our lives are now documented digitally. Want to check back on your college experience in twenty years? Check your facebook photos from freshman year. Better yet, check other Middkids’ photos from freshman year. Stalk your former crush online to not only remember what she looked like back then but to get updated with what she’s doing now. Go look up a Campus article you wrote online. Hell, check MiddBlog’s archives for 2008. The digital archives you keep are not only personalized but far better at helping you recall your experience at Middlebury.
- Few step up to create the yearbook. You recall those signs in McCullough reading, “Be the Kaleidoscope Editor-in-Chief!” Well, they go up every year because, despite the hoards of us that did yearbook in high school, all editors seem to quit after a year working on our Middlebury yearbook. Why? It’s hard and thankless. You try documenting everything that’s happening at Middlebury, spend time laying it out, and then printing a huge 200+ page book. With a 2,400 students, it’s difficult to capture an accurate look into the breadth and diversity of the student community when the expectation is the school is small enough that you can do so.
- Seniors don’t know we have a yearbook nor do they expect it. Yes, tradition is sometimes a good reason to continue but in this case, a yearbook is not necessarily part of our graduation culture. Chatting with ’09 friends, many had no idea that we had a yearbook until recent signs for “free sit yearbook photos” went up in the dining halls.
- It’s for parents, not students. Underclassmen parents pay for the yearbook to see what great things are happening at Middlebury and what a nice education it all is.
- It’s Expensive. See for yourself how expensive it is to produce a yearbook, which is provided free for Seniors. This money comes out of students’ activities fee.
MiddBlog wants to know: What do you see as the purpose of a yearbook? Do we need a yearbook?
Update: Kaleidoscope writes in with their video response…
8 Comments
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- The Campus 3/19 « MiddBlog
- Are you going to be in the yearbook? « MiddBlog
- links for 2010-03-15 « On Rye
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The Middlebury yearbook is the oldest publication on campus (over 100 years old I think) and you can go through and look at old copies of the yearbook in the library.
I agree that its expensive, but I think that getting rid of it is an unacceptable option, even if tradition is the best excuse not to. The idea of an online yearbook is also nice, but how sentimental are you going to feel about a showing your kids a URL or storing a flash-drive in your attic? Plus, these types of new media technologies are so fleeting (Facebook? Please) A yearbook is one of those pieces of school memorabilia that you can take out over and over again, no matter how trivial the “have a great summer” messages are. So in short, yes, we (middlebury) need a yearbook, even if you do not. If you don’t want one, then don’t buy one and leave one of Middlebury’s longest traditions alone.
i agree with above commenter. all middblog seems to care about is enviornmental and homosexual activism. they do a poor job of representing the student body
I agree with MiddBlog’s original post. While I’m a tremendous fan of documenting Middlebury history, Kaleidoscope is simply not a reliable (let alone cost-effective) way to record a year on campus.
Could it transition into something else? How about a smaller version that contains fewer “candids” but acts more as a record of important events, notable athletic seasons, etc? This would require less staffing and financial commitment without abandoning traditional paper.
Also, the Kaleidoscope video response misspelled “Abernethy Room.” Let’s hope they proofread the actual publication.
Hi sophomoregirl: it’s not really the intention of each MiddBlog writer to represent the divergent views of the student body. Each MiddBlog writer’s post represent his or her views only, with the attempt to engage other members of the student body. In this case, Ryan is expressing his view that yearbooks are outdated; readers are welcome to respond to Ryan’s view. (I happen to disagree with him!)
MiddBlog tends to cover environmental activism, homosexual activism (mostly last year), and other similar issues because those are the things MiddBlog writers tend to be interested in. This is quite different from the Middlebury Campus, which is a newspaper trying to cover all aspects of the college. You should read a post I wrote last fall defining what a blog is and pointing out the differences between journalism and blogging: http://midd-blog.com/2008/09/15/whats-a-blog/
If you do not agree with the views written about on MiddBlog, you are welcome to do so in the comments section. Alternatively, you are invited to write a guest blog post, or, if you’d like to see even more of your views represented on MiddBlog, we could discuss you becoming a permanent MiddBlog writer.
Can someone confirm if seniors have to pay for the yearbook? This post mentions that it is provided for free to seniors, but I just heard that it is $75? There seems to be a crazy last-minute rush among the senior class to take photos today, although no one really wanted to do so until two days ago.