Hi everyone
Well, we spend enough time on this forum criticizing the Society don't we? I think we should even this out by commending them whenever they get something right.
For example, the cover of the 2012 Yearbook is a VAST improvement on the year before!
Here's the latest yearbook cover...
Smiling people nervously making their way through the jungle, about to be pounced on by a pack of hungry hyenas / missionaries being trained in one of the last ever Gilead schools / people smiling outside a convention with their new bibles. It ain't bad!
Compare that with the weird illustrations that graced the cover of the 2011 yearbook.
I mean, what were they thinking?!
Graphics guy: So Ed, what pictures do you want on our 2011 yearbook cover? We're doing Papua New Guinea this year...
Editor: Yes of course. Do you have any pictures of older sisters smiling unnervingly?
Graphics guy: I have one in mind, but she ain't easy on the eye.
Editor: That should do. Put it against a backdrop with a palm tree, that will relax people and distract them from the sister.
Graphics guy: Done. Anything else?
Editor: I don't suppose we have any pictures of random guys carrying blackboards on their backs through jungles?
Graphics guy: I don't think so, but I can take a look. We may have something in the polaroid file.
Editor: That's great. If the guy with the blackboard's wearing a silly hat, even better!
Graphics guy: Okay Ed, so that's Papua New Guinea fittingly represented. What about Estonia?
Editor: Estonia... hm. We need to think poor and impoverished, but still positive. Do we have any pictures of smiling peasant women?
Graphics guy: Yes, we have one sister mentioned in the article...
Editor: Brilliant, use that.
Graphics guy: The only problem is, this is supposed to be a 2011 yearbook, and the picture was taken back in the 1940s.
Editor: That doesn't matter. In fact, have you got any other old images that aren't remotely related to the modern day?
Graphics guy: Well we have a picture of a truck with some boxes and men in uniform, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with....
Editor: Excellent! I love trucks, and, er, men in uniform. Use it!
Graphics guy: Er, okay?! So there's a bit of space for one more photo...
Editor: What the heck, just use a picture of some random couple serving in Estonia, that should do the trick.
Graphics guy: Your wish is my command!
***
I'm probably being unkind, but I have an artistic background (and an awareness of what year it is), and I just can't understand the thought process that led to some of those images being used.
So let's commend the Society for this improvement! Will you join me?
Cedars