This is part of the staff of the student newspaper, The Plainsman.

Things have, perhaps, changed a bit now, but the 1951-52 staff worked much as we did in the mid-1990s. There were five computers then. One was for layout, but we were still using Exactos and glue. The four other machines were in the common area and we all had to jockey for time to get our copy in the system before deadline.

That's a really good paper, then as now. It enjoys a fine tradition and history -- and a lot of my former colleagues are now in prominent newspaper jobs with a lot to be proud of when it comes to their college days with the state's largest weekly.

Back to this paper. Good to see that Coke has held such an enduring relationship with Auburn. That'll come up again, I'm sure. I'd love to see that old wall calendar behind Jim Jennings. I wonder if the styles have changed.

This is not the same building used by today's writers. Foy Union, where The Plainsman currently resides, wasn't built until the following year, 1953. And that seven column paper Kokomo McArdle is holding is long ago a thing of the past.

Notice how they're hiding those typewriters? Even in the 1950s those weren't the most important things in the newsroom, just a means to an end. It was the beginning and that end that counted. The medium changes just as a process in between. The Glomerata staffers seemed to understood that long ago.

Speaking of hiding, what do you think is inside that newspaper that McArdle is holding? That's an "I'm getting away with something" expression if you've ever seen one. Sadly, the name Kokomo McArdle returns no search engine hits, despite the uniqueness of the name.

Check out the current Plainsman.

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