The Southerner needs your support

Yearbooks don’t just happen.   Most students don’t pay them much attention, especially in November. That’s end-of-the-year business. But work on this year’s book started as early as  April.

When you pick up the 2010 edition of The Southerner this spring, you’ll hold in your hands the product of the hard work of more than 30 students who will have dedicated countless hours to it over the course of 12 months. You might also be holding the last issue of The Southerner as we’ve known it.             

Originally, word from on high suggested that this was to be The Southerner’s 74th and final volume, and the news was, at least for me, gut-wrenching. In the face of budget cuts throughout the university though, I can’t say it would have been the wrong decision compared to the jobs that money could be spent on.             

It’s not quite as extreme as that, though.

Rumors of the yearbook’s demise have been greatly exaggerated; while we’ve weathered cuts and are staring down an uncertain future in terms of budget, there will likely be a Southerner. Much like the university, though, it will have to change, become leaner and more agile while considering new ways of reflecting the lives of students at Southern Miss.             

In keeping with that last statement, that the yearbook must reflect the lives of students, The Southerner is looking for characters. Every year it is our distinct pleasure to spotlight a few, and this year is no exception. Whatever it is that you do, whatever it is that makes you or someone you know unique, we want to hear about it. Anyone may submit a nomination for a spotlight by sending an e-mail to SouthernerSpotlight@gmail.com. We also need your help by coming to the Thad Cochran Center Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a headshot if you haven’t already taken one.             

Yearbooks reflect. They gather memories; archive them. Yes, we have Facebook accounts now but in ten years? Twenty? Fifty? Seventy-four? There are copies of The Southerner in our office from the 1940s. Covers fade a little, pages fray a little, but books never crash.             

That’s why we do what we do. That’s why we’re working to make you a better yearbook, something you’ll want to keep until it’s practically ready to fall off the bindings many, many years from now.             

Until that uncertain future, we’ve got you covered.