December 10, 2005
-
Info 411
Carry Over and Balderdash
That headline was one a headline in the infamous Info 411. Info 411 was the old newsletter that I published at Cornerstone (old church). Been thinking about re-releasing them as an anniversary edition set along with the Masterbuilders tapes from ’99…dunno though.
When I first moved up to Huntsvegas, I wanted to maintain a newsletter…that’s why I did the church bulletins at Walls Chapel. But a bulletin isn’t the same as a newsletter. A bulletin is a nightmare of a layout project, rewording and fiddling to get everything to fit just right. A newsletter is much more flexible and since it is a periodical that one wants recognized, it doesn’t change that much visually (and typographically) and is therefore easier to manipulate and maintain unity across the issues.
(Is it weird to subconsciously feel that it’s wrong to use “I” too many times even on your own blog? That you have to reword and get things out of first person?)
One thing that discourages me from re-releasing is that I don’t have all of the issues electronically anymore…Info 411 was created and edited on the old Gateway… P2, 300 Mhz, 32 MB SDRAM, on board video and audio, no CD burner, no ZIP drive, no nothing to back up with. Just good ol’ floppies. In fact, that’s the reason why I don’t have one of the issues. Yannow…maybe I should just drag everything into InDesign, re-layout everything and then do a release… In all, there were 5 issues… issue dates are as follows:
August 2000
October 2000
February 2001
March 2001
April 2001The idea was for the newsletter to be a monthly publication…the dreams of young, foolish kids, eh? Always trying to be like adults, never quit getting there. Length was variable issue to issue. Items that had continuity across the issues: logo (but even that changed from the August issue to October; from then on, it stayed put), the heading (with info such as the volume and issue), the first two pages had color on them, the font used to set all of the body copy (minus some submissions) was Century Gothic, two-columned, birthdays were listed on the left hand corner on the second page, the birthday images were edited in Photoshop Business Edition (which sux when you’re trying to do text)…the list goes on. I might even do a before and after and wrap the whole thing as an anniversary edition.
Thought about even doing an electronic version of both the continuation and also the original issues. Don’t think I’ll try to get it up and running again…unless you, the faithful readers would like to be a part of this and help give material each month. We could even start a website and/or chatroom about this. Thoughts and comments appreciated. If there is enough support for this idea, I’ll collect submissions and layout, thus acting as Editor in Chief and Layout Editor.
Questions you’re probably asking yourself right now:
So what made me think of something that’s been dead for five years?
Well, I was filling out the application for Office Max the other day and remembered that I did maintain a newsletter. (This was before I had gone to Desktop Publishing [DTP] at the Indianapolis Training Center [Indy, ITC, etc.]). Since I was applying for the Print and Document Services (PDS) division and wanted to list this on my application, I needed the dates, so I pulled ‘em outta storage.What made me do it?
Honestly, I don’t remember other then I wanted to be a writer and a journalist. Actually, I called Mom to ask her, and she said she thought that it was because someone else was doing a newsletter but that it was atrocious. Sounds like me, but I’d remember that. I do know that there is a lost issues (January 2000). It was entirely black and white. I think I just did it to do it. One of the few times that I’ve actually heeded the Nike slogan. If there’s any active readership of my blog from the Cornerstone community of that time that might have a clue as to why I published Info 411, by all means leave me a comment or email me why you think I did.What kind of reactions were there to the newsletter?
Mixed. There was great anticipation every moth as to whether or not a new issue would come out. Definitely, it gave us something to talk about. There was always some kind of reaction to the Bible Corners that I would write; mostly disagreement of course, but I think it stirred up a lot of healthy debate.Who cares?
No one I bet.And the point of all of that was?
Now that I’ve babbled on and on about something that is in the past and no one cares about, you’re probably wondering why I wasted the time writing this entry and plan to waste further time redoing the layout. As for this entry, Xanga is my journal, and this is my entry. In the attitude of Eric, this is my blog and I’ll write about what I want to write about, when I want to write it, how I want to write it, when I want to write. As for the layout job, it will keep me in practice, I can fix some blunders, and it will give me something to do that I’ve wanted to do for a long time.Back from La La Land a.k.a. News Goes Here
Don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not, but I quit working at the Godawful place I was working at. Have an interview on Monday (unless they’re gonna take me up on my proposal, it’ll probably only be part time), and a couple of leads to follow up on. Since I’m waiting on Sunni to give me the final pieces of information that I need for the Arête, I’ve not only wanted to write the past couple of days, but have really had the “inspiration” to. What I mean by that is thus: there’s a mood that I get into when I want to write…it’s hard to explain. It’s almost like a heightened sense thing. Every piece of music tells a story. I can hear conversations in my head as well as read descriptions of settings. I can even see the cameras and sets and lights. So I get “inspired” but the page is still blank before me. I swear, I just need to sit down and write, letting the chips fall where they may. Perhaps Stephen King and Timon Skees are correct after all. I mean, I do love to write. In fact, I think that’s why I blog: it’s easy writing.Point(s) to ponder:
Why is it that scores/soundtracks are out of order, namely, Man on Fire, Hannibal, and Meet Joe Black?
Comments (6)
I had to maintain a newsletter for three years for the company where I worked. No one cared what I put in it, as long as I had a page with events and news and essential crap, which only filled up one or two pages. So the front page always had some nonsense I would write trying to amuse, then I had a recipe section where I posted recipes for things such as potato chip sandwiches, etc. The back page was always a letter from me with more comments and sort of a summary of whatever news I had printed. I had to write it all by myself, so it was limited to say the least, but people would come up to me and say, “I love your newsletter. It’s the only company publication I read. You should write.” And I would invariably wonder how I should take that. I mean, I thought I was writing.
Did they retire your orange hot pants at Hooters when you left?
what they were meaning was that you should write professionally such as a novel, book, screenplay, etc. vs. “journalism”
Have you ever noticed that no one cares what is written in newspapers? Yeah, political commentators will grumble about the paper’s contents, but when was the last time you sat down and actually thought to yourself, “this article is written poorly” or “that’s beautiful/good writing”? I trow, never.
What was the purpose of that rant? To show that newspaper (and hence by inclusion, newsletter) writing, though indeed writing, is not considered “writing”. Thusly, your co-workers were encouraging you to explore the art of writing as a career instead of taking care of a publication that honestly no one cares about.
Don’t take that last statement wrong. I’m not saying that no one appreciated your or my newsletter, I’m saying that in the vast scheme of things, life goes on whether it’s a fantastic newsletter or a downright shitty one.
Eric:
I never washed those shorts, and in my honor neither did they, so you can still see the sweat stains. I hear that the gals use ‘em to masturbate while thinkin of me during their 30 minute breaks.
Actually, I’m one of those who raves at newspaper editors for the glaring spelling errors, poor grammar usage, and the heinous misues of the apostrophe. What DO they teach in school these days? Certainly not basic English.
And yes, life goes on…its standards degenerating steadily.
Yes, I become oddly uncomfortable when the vicious ”I”‘s dott my blog entry. “We cannot say it. Suffice to say it is one of the words the Knights of Ni cannot stand . . . I just said it! I just said it again!”
Anyway, I’m all gung-ho for a newsletter/journal. I’m slightly proficient in Microsoft Publisher, because I was the editor of our school newspaper for two years and that is what they used.
Right now, I’m just sad. Sorry, nothing interesting to comment.
~Kait