Sometimes we do crazy things in the name of yearbook . . . Pregnant. Blizzard. Trapped. 

Fawn

When my AP, in front of my sophomore English class, whispered into my ear the meaning of a comic strip I had printed in my school newspaper, I almost died of embarrassment. It's important for yearbook (and newspaper) advisers to be cautious.

I was on top of the world. Yearbook Editor. Student Body President. Prom Queen. Academic-honored athlete. It had been a fantastic year. The yearbooks were distributed, graduation was planned, final exams were finished . . . and I had one last week of bliss until graduation. Little did I know that all that joy and all the excitement of what I had accomplished would drain right out of my heart, flood out my toes, and sink into the floor. Five words, and I was undone.

Jane Doe

We flew to Colorado on Christmas Day, not to celebrate Christmas, but to commemorate my grandpa. His funeral was two days after Christmas, and two days after that, I found myself walking through my grandparents' home saying good-bye to the place where I had "grown up." What I found that December day in the basement's back bedroom changed me forever . . . and changed my view of a yearbook.

Henry

You need time in yearbook class to do your yearbook work. There is work only you can do. You aren't able to delegate everything because some yearbook tasks are high-priority, adviser-only, information-sensitive work. Some of it just plain needs your expertise. That's why planning well and setting some boundaries can make all the difference in whether you lose time in yearbook class or gain it. 

Red Light Green Light

I don't drink, but I just couldn't help myself. I had to buy this bottle of wine because I felt it was a cute representation of our dynamic trio. We are a dynamic team because we have great team dynamics. You, too, can build a dynamic team in your yearbook classroom. Building strengths upon strengths, you can build a winning yearbook team.

Dynamic Trio

Chris Hartley was a firework. A vibrant sunflower. A zesty lemon. A hot fudge sundae. Chris Hartley was Bruce's fun-loving and joyful wife and Taylor and Hallie's playful and supportive mother. Chris Hartley lived. Despite her long-term and incredibly difficult battle with cancer, she chose to live . . . every single day . . . and the way she chose to live a full life can inspire us to follow her lead, laughing and dancing through the field of sunflowers and daisies. As Bruce eloquently put it, "There's a difference in living and living," and Chris lived. May we live, too.

Vibrant Sunflower

Weekends? Love 'em. Mondays? Hate 'em. That's the way it goes . . . BUT I propose that we flip a switch in our mind to transform our work week into something as delicious as chocolate pie and as fun as confetti! Sound like a cheerleader? Yes. Sound trite? Maybe. Sound ridiculous? No. "Why do it?" you ask. All I have to say to that is, "Why not?"

Chocolate Pie & Confetti

Pawpaw is 93 years old. He's a funny, wise, loving man who's seen it all. Through 93 years of history, innovation, and technology., he's seen change, and lots of it, but over all the years, one thing has stayed the same: Time Flies. The great thing about a yearbook is it grabs time and holds onto it forever, which is a gift you create for all the students of your school . . . and their parents.

Time Flies

"Dill with it." That's what the pickles on the duct tape across my face are saying to me. What happened isn't serious nor eye-threatening,but what happened is an interesting take on how to "dill" with the  incessant frustrations and irritations that come our way each day.  

"Dill" With It

Oh what a relief it is . . . to have a foreign object removed from my eye. I feel like a new woman! It was such a joy to get the relief the doctor provided.

Never forget: When we bring relief to those whom we serve (students, parents, colleagues, our service and support doesn't evoke merely relief. It also evokes elation. 

Elation!

Hurrah! Yearbooks are here. It's exciting when the yearbooks arrive, but you need to prepare yourself and your students for the inevitable complaints and regrets that pop up as the books pop open. Remember, go easy on yourself and on each other. There's no such thing as a perfect yearbook, so if you spot something you wish you could change, take heart . . . so did Maya Angelou each time she published a poem.

Yearbook Pep Talk

This is a long one . . . 11 minutes and 48 seconds, but it's hard to communicate something so important in brief. 

Minutes tick down the days now, and the end of the year is in sight. You may find yourself conflicted--it seems the last day of school can't get here quickly enough, and yet there's so much to do before that last day that it's hard to see straight. "How will I get it all done?" you may ask yourself, and on top of it all is yearbook distribution to contend with, which, like childbirth, doesn't always go as smoothly as planned. 

Delivering a yearbook is a lot like delivering a baby . . . nine months of gestation lead to a lot of hard work (and sometimes pain) to deliver at the end. Yearbooks and babies require loads of planning, patience, problem-solving, and persistence, but both are worth it. 

11 Minutes 48 Seconds

Life doesn't always go as planned. It can be a bumpy ride. The twists and turns can leave us upside down and inside out, and often times, things just don't go like we plan. The start of the school year can be like that. Hang on. Hold Tight. It will get better . . . and so will you. 

Cliché, Cliché, Cliché

Sometimes odd things happen, things we wish we could back and undo. It's too bad there's not a "Control-Z" for life. When those things occur, mild or severe, what we must do so that we can go on is not take ourselves too seriously . . . identify the problem, work to prevent it next time, make it right, and then let it go. 

Absent Mascara

With the beauty of fall comes the "beauty" of portraits. Just like cleaning up the fallen leaves, it takes a bit of work to "clean up" portraits to get them ready to submit. Portraits are a lot of work, yes, but they are also fun and incredibly important to students and parents alike. Here are a few tips and points to consider . . . my musings about portraits while driving up Blood Mountain.

Portrait Fun

Every once in a while we need a little something to go on.

And we need to go on.

These are one-take, on-the-fly, unscripted, on-the-road yearbook tidbits . . .

nothing serious
okay, sometime serious
but most often light
funny
meaningful

I’m not Ira Glass nor Alex Blumberg, but I’m recording stories about this American yearbook life to encourage yearbook advisers.  

Why?

Because I get it. I speak yearbook.

You go the extra mile.
We go with you.

Happy yearbooking,
Gwen :) 

P.S. 
I record these via Bluetooth. Safety first.

go on.

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