Coming Full Circle
by
David B. South, Jr.
reprinted from The Monolithic Dome Roundup Summer 1997
Sometime
in January, 1987, my dad asked me to help my grandmother, Marjorie South,
create our company newsletter - the Roundup. It was a simple, black and
white, four page publication that we sent to about 500 people.
At that time she was creating the Roundup by hand. First she would type
all the articles with her electric typewriter. Then she would bring the
photos, articles, and her layout ideas to the Pioneer Press in Shelley,
Idaho. The owner of the press would typeset the text and halftone the
photographs. On a pasteboard sheet he would carefully, hand lay-up each
article, headline, and halftoned picture.
He printed the newsletter and we would hand label each one for mailing. The process was time consuming and fairly expensive, two words my father hates to hear. Dad has always stayed close to computer technology and I've been using them ever since I was eight-years-old.
By 1987 we had moved into the era of CAD systems running on IBM-AT computers. We also purchased an Atari 520ST, sort of the Atari version of a Macintosh. It became my job to help Marj (my grandmother preferred that everyone call her Marj) use the Atari computer to layout the Roundup and print it on a "laser printer."
Once "printed," we would take the pages to the press where the owner would add the photographs. It was supposed to be cheaper. Never mind that we didn't own a laser printer and I didn't know anything about newsletters. Only now can I truly understand how patient my grandmother really was.
One interesting note: the owner of the Pioneer Press said that a desktop computer will never do an adequate job in the publishing business. Hmm.
In 1994, we changed our four page newsletter into a 16 page tabloid newspaper. It was eight times larger than before. We thought we could NEVER fill up all that space. We also thought that sending 1000 issues at a time would be extravagant. Our last issue of the Roundup went to over 10,000 people.
My sisters have edited the Roundup for the past three years. For two years, Rebecca filled the newspaper with her articles, ads, and ideas. Then Melinda, who managed a mountain of e-mail and worked as dad's assistant, still produced superior Roundups. Of course, they didn't do it alone and everyone involved has as much to be proud of as they do. I want to thank Rebecca and Melinda for their hard work and dedication.
This
is the first color Roundup, ever, and I have come full circle to be its
new editor. I cannot tell you how excited I am about our new magazine.
Now we can show the Monolithic Dome as we have always wanted to. I hope
you enjoy what is inside as much as we do.
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