Halycon Daze

As the former editor in chief of the Halcyon ’92, I read “The Then And Now Of The Yearbook” with great interest.

I’m not exactly sure why I wanted to edit the book in the first place, but I can vividly recall the hours spent putting it together and the dedicated team that made it happen. We were developing film by the bag, laying out sections by hand on paper, and furiously writing copy to give the book some life. The most challenging part of the journey was that the 1992 book was already in a budgetary crisis before it even got off the ground. To fill the gap, we worked with our local photographer to stage formal pictures (which would be sold to parents) in exchange for free film processing. The only catch was ensuring that we got enough students to sit for very un-Swarthmore formal pictures. We put in place a rule that said if you didn’t sit for a formal picture, you could not have an informal picture page with your friends. After the controversy rose to the pages of The Phoenix and the dust settled (and a few students ended up with wigs in their formal pictures), more than 92 percent of the graduating students were in the formal shots. The proud parents bought the pictures, we got out of a hole, and the book turned out great. The hours put in by the staff really made it something special. 

It has to be pretty good since I was still getting asked for copies of it as recently as five years ago …

—Michael Costonis ’92, Spring House, Pa.