Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Exposure provides a forum for student groups and area non-profits at Michigan State University and the Greater Lansing area. On the show, you'll hear discussions about the groups themselves as well as the relevant issues of today.
This is exposures on Impact 89 FM.
Gavin:W DBM East Lansing.
Tessa:The show that lets you know about everything that goes on at the MSU campus that you otherwise might not know about. Tune in every Sunday at 9 AM. I'm your host, Tessa Kresch. Welcome to Exposure. Hello.
Tessa:Hello. And welcome back to Exposure. You are listening to season 15. I'm your host, Tessa Kresch. From freshman orientation to graduation, every year at MSU tells its own story.
Tessa:And for over a century, the Red Cedar Log has been capturing it all. Today, we're diving into the pages of Michigan State's official yearbook produced by students for students and filled with the moments that make Spartan life unforgettable. I'm here with Bella, Gavin, and Ria. Thank you guys so much for joining me today.
Bella:Thank you, Tessa.
Tessa:Absolutely. Alright. Could you guys start by introducing yourselves?
Bella:Yeah. My name is Bella Short. I am a journalism major here at MSU. I am a junior this year, and I'm the editor in chief, but I've been a part of Red Cedar Log since I was a freshman.
Gavin:Hi. My name is Gavin. I am a junior at Michigan State, and I'm studying photojournalism. I'm the photo editor at, the Red Cedar Log. And I'm Ria Pachava,
Riya:and I'm a junior creative advertising major here at MSU. And I'm the design editor at the Red Cedar Log.
Tessa:Tell me, how did you guys personally get involved in the Red Cedar Log?
Bella:Well, I can start off. This is it's kind of a funny story. I did yearbook in high school. I was the editor in chief of my high school's yearbook, my senior year. And when I decided I want to go to Michigan State, the first thing I knew I want to be part of was the yearbook.
Bella:I was really passionate about it in high school, and I was like, I know MCU has a yearbook and I really want to get involved. So I applied on Handshake and then I emailed the editor in chief at the time, Katie Denson. I emailed her about 20 times because they were doing hiring for HR person. So it took a while for me to get hired, but I emailed her and I was like, oh, I applied and I really wanna be a part of the yearbook. And I emailed her about 20 times just following up about an interview that I didn't have.
Bella:So I was kind of crazy about it, but I was really passionate about joining the Red Cedar Logs.
Gavin:Yeah. I joined, the spring semester of 2023, and I just have passions that lie in photography and photojournalism, and stuff like that. But I love the Red Cedar Log working, within the organization. Just such a brilliant, amazing minds, and I absolutely love it. I joined because, I was a the editor in chief of yearbook in high school my senior year, and I just really, really enjoy all things yearbook.
Riya:I actually joined fairly recently this past just at the beginning of the semester, so I'm fairly new to the Red Cedar log. But it was I think I as a creative advertising major, just design is, like, a natural part of my life, and it's something that I become really about. And the Red Cedar log and the yearbook in general is just a great way to, like, incorporate design, but that's also really centered in MSU as an institution. So you kind of get to do a little bit of everything, and it felt like I was really contributing to the campus. So yeah.
Tessa:Right. Well, we talked about this being a very long standing yearbook, and I wanna get a little bit into the history of it.
Bella:Yeah. Let's I'll tell you about it. So, we have been established since 18/89, and ever since then, we've had a yearbook every year. It started out called the Wolverine and then kinda switched over over the years to the red cedar log. So, yeah, that's a little
Tessa:I find it really interesting that it was originally called the wolverine considering our rival school.
Bella:Yeah. So at the time, actually, it was called the wolverine because our state animal of Michigan is the wolverine, I'm pretty sure. So that's why we were called the wolverine, and then we switched over to the Red Cedar log because our staff at the time thought that it better represented our campus in general and then also with the University of Michigan's rivalry rivalry with called the Wolverine as well. Yeah. So it's kind of complicated, but, yeah, a little bit of unknown of the Red Cedar log.
Tessa:Right. And you brought some of the books here today. Tell me about what you brought here.
Bella:I did. So I brought my favorite book, the 1942 edition, which was called the Wolverine at the time. This is one of my favorite books because of our theme. So, you know, the book has changed over time. Like, some years there was a theme.
Bella:Some years, it was really basic starting like black and white photos. And the main purpose of the books was to cover to have everyone in Michigan State in the book. So it would just be, you know, a portrait photo in your name. Like, that was the basic. And then over the years, just seeing the different design elements that have been added to the book, and every book is different.
Bella:But I love specifically, we have this little drawing of Sparty. You can see it in the 1942 book. But every page, he is doing something that's related to the spread. So for the college of music, he's playing the cello, and then we have, you know, a photo of, like, a barbershop. So he's getting his, top of the head trimmed.
Tessa:His helmet?
Bella:His helmet. He's getting his helmet trimmed a little bit. We have, like, just it's a really cute book with little doodles of Sparty. And then I brought 2 other books with us today. I also have the 1976 book, which is the first edition that was called Red Cedar Log.
Bella:So that's when we switched over, and this book is very different. We have, again, black and white photos, but it's in the seventies. So one of my favorite things about this book is the fashion element.
Tessa:Mhmm.
Bella:I love fashion in general, especially seventies fashion. And in every photo, you can just really see It it brings you back. It makes you feel like, oh, this is what the seventies were like. Like, I can imagine, like, myself talking to these students, and these are more basic photos compared to what we cover today. We have photos of kids sitting in class, like, with their teachers just laughing.
Bella:We have photos of, you know, different musicals that were going on on campus. We have photos of people at the bars, like nightlife
Riya:Wow.
Bella:Which we can't do that anymore. Yeah. But yeah. And this one, it's it's just it's an interesting book with there's a lot of copy that we're seeing. So over the years, we didn't have story based content in the beginning of the yearbook time at Michigan State.
Bella:Yeah. And now, like, we're kind of starting to see more copy throughout the book with these photos that are going along with it, which we still have today. So and then the last book I brought is our most recent edition, the 2023 to 2024. So the yearbook we worked on all of last year.
Tessa:It's crazy to see how different even just the front covers look. We'll have to put a picture of it in the, in the notes.
Bella:Yeah. I just want to bring this book to just show you how much we've changed in general of content, the different stories we're covering, the different photos our photographers are taking, you know, going from black and white to color and using these different elements, different themes that we have every year. And, yeah, a lot of color. It's a lot of pop, which is very different from past years.
Tessa:That is so cool. I went to your office, and I saw you guys have a whole bookshelf filled with all the yearbooks. I can imagine majority of them at least.
Bella:Majority. We are missing a couple books, but I'm pretty sure all of our books are in the archives at the MSU library.
Tessa:Tell me your guys as well. What your favorite books are and what stands out to you about the different years of the yearbooks?
Riya:I recently because I just joined, I recently I'd gone through some of the yearbooks in the past just, like, out of admiration because especially that, the earlier yearbook, the 1942 one because the doodles are just so fun to look at. But my favorite yearbook definitely has to be the yearbook. We call it the yearbook because it's it's made out of denim. Like, the front cover is denim material. And as you would expect, is is from the seventies.
Tessa:Of course.
Riya:But the photography is just incredible. And, also, like, I'm using that yearbook as a lot of inspiration for this year's yearbook because we're kind of, taking inspiration from nostalgia and things like that. So we're I'm sort of using those past yearbooks, especially the seventies ones because they're all interesting, using those to kind of inspire the work this year. Yeah.
Gavin:I really enjoy. I can't remember the exact year of it. I believe it was in the fifties, but we didn't have it, originally in the office, and it was kinda cool. My dad, works at a hospital over in Battle Creek, and they had one of the yearbooks that we didn't have in our, shelf. And my dad kind of asked nicely, like, hey.
Gavin:Like, could I get my hands on this yearbook to show my son? Like, he works at the Red Cedar Log, at Michigan State. And it was really cool. She kindly donated the book to us, and now we have one more copy of a book that but it's it's it's an amazing book. The cover essentially, like, represents, like, the red cedar kind of vibe of, like, the wood, and it's just a very, very intricate, cover with lots of detail.
Tessa:Yeah. And you guys are able to look back at all of these years and have it inform your decisions in designing this yearbook. But how else has the yearbook evolved over time?
Bella:I think the biggest thing is just traditions and also content. So, again, kind of like I said, starting in black and white photos, there not being a lot of copy were written words. There weren't stories based. And now looking today, every week, we have a full team of staff designers, staff photographers, and staff journalists, and we assign stories every week for our photographers and our journalists to go out and cover events. So we cover every sport at Michigan State, the majority of clubs, culture events at Michigan State, and, really, we just try to capture what life is like today in our books.
Bella:And every year, what it was like in 2023 to 2024 being a student at Michigan State and diversity. I think diversity is one of our biggest things at Red Cedar Log that you don't see in a lot of old books, and that's something that's really important to us today is covering every person no matter who you are and telling your story.
Tessa:In a way, it feels like the yearbook is a time capsule.
Bella:It definitely is, Tessa.
Gavin:Yeah. I mean, I love looking at old film photos and the whole process of what went behind creating that photo. And there are so many photos in these books that were developed, in the older books that were developed, like, using, film and, like, the dark room. That whole process is just it took forever. And now we have all of these, like, digital cameras, and it's just a completely different technology, sector for sure.
Riya:Also, in terms of design, I think it's really interesting looking at the old books because, truly, you get a full understanding of what, like, life was like and what design specifically was like. Because, I mean, design over the ages, it changes so rapidly, and things become trendy or things, are, like, very like, the seventies is full of, like, really poppy colors and, you know, like, fonts and things like that, just, like, silly stuff. But it's very, like, it's very cool to look back on the old ones and especially since, like, I don't know. I'm a really big nostalgic, so I'm like, wow, like, life. What's like that?
Riya:Like, people, the stylistic elements are just so reminiscent of the time. So it's cool to look at.
Tessa:And you talked about how you cover all of these events, and you talk to these student organizations. So you're kind of diving into campus fully working for the Red Cedar Log. Tell me what surprised you.
Bella:That's a great question. I think what surprises me is how kind people are and are willing to talk to you. I think one thing being a journalist myself and coming to campus as a freshman in general, I was so nervous. And this job, when I became a staff journalist, every week I would go out to some club event or some sporting event and have to interview people I didn't know. And I am not from Michigan, so I didn't know a lot of people on campus, and it really took me out of my comfort zone and getting comfortable interviewing people, talking to people.
Bella:But one of my favorite things is that I love storytelling, and I got to write about what people are passionate about. What people do as a hobby. You know? Why are they passionate about the sport? How long have they been doing the sport?
Bella:Just getting to really know the person on a deeper level, and then getting to write about that and have it in a book forever. That is something, I guess, that surprised me. I was excited about joining the yearbook, but really afterwards, I was like, wow. This is something that I think is really special and in a way, like, making history.
Gavin:Yeah. One thing that, surprised me for sure by working for the Red Cedar Log was as a longtime Michigan resident, I kinda grew up, watching all the Michigan State sports games. And to be working at the Red Cedar Log and having the permission, it's just so grateful to be able to go down on the field, like, at the football games and to be down on the court at the Breslin Center. And just it's it's a great there's lots of freedom for sure with the with the job.
Riya:I feel like it's also really interesting how much is going on on campus. I feel like I really don't even realize that, because I'm very involved in, like, the things that I'm involved in. I feel like everyone has their kind of own little circles of things that they do and people that they hang out with, but the Red Cedar log and especially assigning stories and coming up with ideas for stories because everyone sort of contributes on the team to story ideas, I found out a lot of things that were going on on campus that I had no clue about, and I was like, this is such a cool event, and maybe I'll go. And I didn't even know about it before. So really got me to understand, like, more of what's going on at MSU.
Tessa:I wanna talk about this book in particular that you're working on for the 2024, 2025 season. What goes into the process of putting a book together?
Bella:Oh, so many things go into this process. So, yeah. I mean, again, like, every year we have to hire staff. I would say that's the beginning part. But then, really, it starts with the design element, which is all Ria.
Riya:The design element is something that is kind of like the foundation of the book. It is, you know, photo piggybacks off design, and we kind of have a discussion. Like, me and Gavin had discussion at the beginning of the process where I talked about the theme, and then we kind of discussed, like, what do we want? Like, what kind of photos are really important? What sort of things that we do we need?
Riya:Like, elements do we need to complete and really make a spread that's, spans across the book and really encapsulates our theme. So first, we need to come up with a theme and then inform our designers, inform our photo staff, and really just go from there. And then we kind of fill out the book with content and photo, and we put it all together. And it sounds easy, like, saying it like that, but it's there's so many little parts that go into it that is it just completely gets lost in the shuffle. Like, there's so much going on.
Riya:But yeah.
Tessa:How many pages is an average book these days?
Bella:Let's see. Last year's, it was 355.
Tessa:So you're designing pretty much
Riya:over 300 pages. Something like that. Yeah. Me and the staff of designers. But, yes, altogether, pretty much 300 to 400 pages, which is an insane amount of work.
Bella:Something I wanna add on to really quickly. I was just thinking about it. It's kind of it's interesting because at the beginning of the year before, you know, the year has ended, the books come out in the spring, like, right before, graduation. And we kinda have to decide what is this year going to look like, which we don't know. We don't know until the end when it's, you know, fully done, fully produced, fully designed, everything.
Bella:And it's really fun to brainstorm of, like, how can we capture this year when we're not really sure what the outcome is? I mean, there's been books where things happen that we have to cover because, again, we're trying to cover history and, like, that year specifically. So it's a it's a fun process before anything started, before any spreads are being designed or contents being written or photos are taken of just dreaming up the idea of, you know, what's the cover gonna look like? What screams this is 2024, 2025 at Michigan State University?
Tessa:You're not allowed to tell me anything about the theme yet, are you?
Riya:I
Bella:I don't know. I don't I don't think so. Okay. Okay. We're gonna keep it under wraps.
Riya:It's very cool, though. Be prepared.
Tessa:Okay. Sounds exciting.
Riya:Those are big shoes to fill. Never mind. Forget I said that.
Tessa:I am intrigued, though.
Bella:So I was just thinking about, like, the books over the years and, like, what's changed, what hasn't. We kinda touched on the story, but something I love seeing throughout the books is tradition at MSU. I feel like that's a very big thing here. And one of my favorite things too in the 1942 book is what to see like what traditions have stayed the same and what's changed. We used to do this water carnival, and it was kind of like a homecoming parade, but it was in, the Red Cedar River.
Bella:And people would make floats and just literal floats. Yes. Literal floats and of their clubs. I I think really anything they wanted, and everyone would swim, like and or, like, be on boats in the river. Wow.
Bella:Which we don't do anymore today, but I didn't know that. And I feel like a lot of people don't know that
Gavin:Right.
Bella:Unless you're looking through the book. And I think it's really interesting to see, like, you know, things that we still have today that we've had since 18/89.
Tessa:For this upcoming book. I know you can't tell me the theme, but what else is is in the book? I know you cover events, but you also mentioned portraits. Tell me about
Bella:that. We don't necessarily do every class like we used to in the earlier years, but we do cover seniors. So with seniors, you are not required to get your portrait taken, but most seniors want their photo in the book, especially their parents really. So we take your photos at Lauren Studios, which is in our office in the student services building. On the 3rd floor, we have our Red Cedar Log office, and then next to it is Lauren Studios.
Bella:So if you're a senior, that's where you would get your photo taken, and you sign up for a time to come in and do that. In general, the way that we cover students is through clubs, events on campus, things like that. And if you're at those events that we're covering, you could just be lucky enough to end up in our book and not even realize it in the moment Yeah. Until the end of the year, and you're like, oh my goodness. I remember that photo being taken, and now I'm in the book.
Tessa:What are some memorable moments or events that you covered or just anything pertaining to the Red Cedar log that you wanna talk about?
Gavin:Yeah. I can start. My first, football game that I took out to take photos of was the Michigan, Michigan State game, October 2023. And it was an out of body experience for me as a long time, like, Michigan State football, watcher. It was it was really cool to be able to see the football players.
Gavin:They're a lot taller than I could have ever imagined. I'm just, like, towering they're towering over me, but it was it was really cool to be down on the field to take photos with them. But
Bella:One of my favorite moments is when I was a freshman, and I am not a sports person, but I was assigned sports stories, being a staff journalist, and I was really nervous to go out and cover these sports because I was like, oh, I don't like writing about sports. I don't know how I'm gonna make this interesting. And I got to cover the gymnastics meet for our our team here at Michigan State, and it was incredible. I got to watch them meet. And just watching them right in front of me, I would have never thought if I had not done this job, I would have never gone.
Bella:And then afterwards, I got to interview a couple of the gymnasts, and they were all so sweet and so passionate, and that they won that year. And I just remember feeling really lucky and being like, I'm so glad I have this job, and I was able to talk to these athletes. It was really it was an incredible moment, and I think the only sports story I've written that I actually liked.
Riya:I've gotta say my favorite memory so far yet this year. Also, I've only been a part of it for only so long, but it feels like I've really been a part of a family because we kind of we have these meetings where we get together, and as a staff. And we had recently, we had our first, true, like, all staff meeting where we're all in there. And it was just so great to be among everyone, and we were rearranging the office from last year to this year and trying to figure out, like, a setup that worked for us. And it was just so fun because we were we're all kinda moving things around, and I get to I got to talk to people I really hadn't spoken to ever yet.
Riya:And Yeah. It's just cool. It felt like I was a part of community.
Tessa:You mentioned this family aspect of the Red Cedar Log staff. There's many different aspects, obviously, design and writing. How do these come together and collaborate to make this product?
Bella:Well, the way that our meetings work is that we meet, once a week, and the editors meet first. So during the week, we have every person on staff, editor, journalist, photographer, designer. You need to find 3 story ideas just throughout the week of stories that are happening the following week. And then as editors, we go through all the story ideas and pick, like, 4 to 5 stories for that following week that we wanna cover and have in the book. And then we meet with the rest of our staff, and that's when we assign stories.
Bella:So that's an opportunity for journalists and photographers to kind of get together and see if they're going to the same event to cover something, to kind of coordinate that. And then even with designers, design's a little different, but that's a chance for designers to talk with Ria and cover certain spreads of, okay, this week you're gonna design this spread, and this is kind of the vision that we're going for this year
Riya:with the theme and things like that. It's just like a really collaborative process because I feel like every single piece of the yearbook and every different, like, we have the photo staff and then the design staff and the content staff. So every single part of the yearbook just really comes together to create something really whole, and it's really important just communicating with each other. And I think we've done a really great job of that so far. Just Absolutely.
Riya:Really making sure that everything is reminiscent of the Red Cedar log. Just really I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to say. No.
Tessa:It makes sense. It seems like you guys are have to be really close in order to make this what it is. Yeah. Do you guys do any bonding activities just to kind of reinforce that?
Bella:We definitely have bonding planned for the future. Again, like, it's you know, we just started this year. I feel like we've been so busy,
Gavin:and,
Bella:you know, it's just we have a lot to cover, so we have bonding planned for the future.
Gavin:It's a
Tessa:pretty quick turnaround for 3 to 400 pages.
Bella:Yes. And we have deadlines coming up. Like, we we have our first deadline coming up next month, for the first a 100 pages. Yep. 100 pages.
Tessa:How many of you are on the team?
Bella:Well, let's see. 16. 16? I think 16 on our staff.
Tessa:That's impressive, and that's on top of schoolwork too.
Bella:Yeah. That's something we were talking about on the way over here, especially Gavin was saying it, but it's just crazy how this is definitely a passion for all of us, and we are all so busy and have different majors. I mean, I we have some of the journalists are history majors. Like, they're not even majoring in in what they're doing, and they're doing it out of a passion, really, and just for the Red Cedar Log and
Tessa:For MSU Yeah. And for the future. Speaking of the future, do you guys have any long term goals? We already talked about how it has evolved, but how do you expect it to evolve in the future?
Bella:I just wanna say, I think one of our biggest goals for the Red Cedar log in general is getting the word out about Red Cedar log. A lot of people I've talked to on campus when they ask me, oh, like, if you have a job, and I tell them that I work for that cedar log. They're like, what is that? What are you talking about? Yeah.
Bella:And I just think it's crazy that people don't know. I knew about the red cedar log when I was in high school, and I didn't even go here. Like, our you know, I didn't I'm not from Michigan. So it's crazy just that people don't know that we are a publication here and that we have been since 18/89. That and also diversity.
Bella:I think in recent years, we have done a good job of covering everyone on campus, But it is still amazes me to this day how many clubs and organizations we have at MSU and how many we cover in this book. Like, I'm I'm looking right now. We have a knitting club. That's the spread I'm open on in our book from last year. We cover so many clubs and it honestly, it makes me feel proud to be a Spartan and to be able to work for this publication.
Bella:There's something for everyone here on campus and I think you can see that in our book. And I think it's important to cover the different identities, the different people on campus, and it's a really beautiful thing to be a part of that process.
Riya:I think, like, mainly just our goal for this book as well is just like is so that people, when they look in their future, they look back, and they're like, oh, man. Like, 2024. Like, that's what life was like. Like, that's me on page number 100. You know?
Riya:Like, we just really want everyone to know that they have a spot in the yearbook and therefore a spot at MSU. It's really just a time capsule of every year just like you said, and we wanna we really wanna make that, something that people are aware of, first of all, just like Bella said, but also something that they can look back on when they're older.
Bella:So And to add on to that, even alumni. But I've talked to some alumni, from Michigan State, and one of my goals too is not even current students or, you know, students of this year, 2024 to 2025, and having a book and being like, oh, I was in that book. Or, yeah, I was at Michigan State during that year. But alumni being able to look through our book for this year from, you know, the future and being like, oh, I remember being at that dining hall. Like, I remember, I don't know, like, the Boston Center looks the same when I went there.
Bella:And seeing things on campus in our book and being like, wow. It hasn't changed a bit. Yeah. Just being able to, you know, no matter how old you are, what year you are, what year you graduated, being able to open any book and see that and be like, oh my goodness. Like, I remember walking to that Down farmland.
Bella:Yeah. You know? Yes. Like, that's one of my favorite things too is looking through the old books and reminiscing on what it was like, you know, during the seventies or during the eighties or the early 2000 and seeing parts of campus and being like, wow. Like, I, you know, I've walked in those halls.
Tessa:And if club does want to get represented in the yearbook, how can they go about doing that? Can they reach out to you guys?
Bella:They can. I would say they can reach out on our Instagram, which is redcedarlog.
Gavin:At, redcedarlogmsu on Instagram.
Bella:So they can find us on Instagram and DM us and just reach out and say, hey, like, we have an event coming up, or we would love to be featured in your book. Here's when our event is or when our club meeting is. And also, they can also email me personally and let me know that they wanna be in the book, which is rcleic@asmsu.msudotedu.
Tessa:Alright. Do you guys have anything else you'd like to add before we wrap up?
Bella:Yeah. The last thing I wanna add was you also, if you're a senior, you can purchase an ad in the back of our book. So it's a senior ad, like in high school, your books have, where usually parents for their kids can purchase these, but you can go on our website, and purchase this. But it can be you know, you can have a photo, but we sell those on our website, which is asmsu.msu.edu, and then just type in redcedarlog. And if you scroll down, we have a section where you can purchase a senior ad.
Bella:So that's kind of a fun thing to look through the book too when, you know, if you're a senior and you're like, I really wanna be in the book or even just for parents to look back, Yeah. And see their kids in the MSU yearbook and just have a little moment for just all the hard hard work that they've done over the years.
Gavin:Adding on to that. So if you ever wanted to work for the Red Cedar log, we do have, applications that will open up at the end of the fall semester and then the spring semester for positions.
Bella:On Handshake.
Gavin:On Handshake.
Riya:And those one thing. The one thing. Yeah. And, also, if you're interested in getting a book for yourself and just seeing what we did do with the book this year, then at no cost to you guys, you can pick them up at the student services building, which is located right near Grand River, near the museum, and you can pick up your book there. And, also, we do we do give away books at the end of the school year, so you might just catch us on your way to class or something, and feel free to pick one up.
Tessa:Fantastic. And I'm gonna bring back signing yearbooks. That's my goal. Yes. I'm Tessa Kresh.
Tessa:You've been listening to Exposure. This was this week's episode of Exposure. Keep in mind that the views and opinions discussed on Exposure are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff at Impact 89 FM. If you're interested in going back and listening to our archive of stories, feel free to check out our website at impact89fm.org. And of course, if you're interested in what's going on next week, you can tune back in and we'll see you back here.
Tessa:You've been listening to Exposed.