Hey MrsNessaC

[EUOL]

I just figured out who you were!  Thanks for the letter!  

(Hurray for reading through the Introduce Yourself thread to see who joined while you were out on book tour.)

[Nessa]

Haha.

You're welcome, Brandon (it's too weird for me right now to call you EUOL, but I'll eventually get used to it). I could have emailed you, but I'm just old-fashioned that way.

So, since I've been here, I haven't been able to figure out if I know anyone else here in real life. So far I don't think so. Is there anyone from TLE I might know? I think SE started TLE right after I left, and I think I vaugely remember him, but I don't know...

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I started before you left, and this year I got married to Karen Stay, who comes here every once in a while...weren't Dan and Jeff going to TLE by then as well?

[42]

I started in May of 1999, or sometime around then.

Greg started earlier than that, though I couldn't say when.

[Nessa]

Ookla - OK, I remember you a little. Hi!

42 - I'm sorry, I don't remember you. You started after I left. I left soon after issue 36 was finished printing, partly because I was hugely pregnant and didn't have the energy for it anymore.

I don't remember Dan.

Yes, I knew Karen Stay. We had a little tiff while she was fiction director, so she may not remember me too fondly. Sigh. Why is it I mostly remember the stressful parts of being at TLE?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Well, the only thing I remember is that she said there was a no-talking policy which drove people away and it took a year for that one issue to come out...I doubt she holds any personal grudge, but I think most of the later TLE people (many of whom have since migrated to this site) demonstrated that having a more friendly and goof-off-tolerant atmosphere actually (though counterintuitively) led to more work getting done because more people felt like showing up to do it. Nothing personal--TLE management runs in cycles, and lessons constantly have to be relearned; that's just the nature of a student publication.

[Nessa]

I guess I don't remember the no-talking policy. Perhaps that was a result of my likely too-serious personality and people were afraid of me. I've mellowed out quite a bit since then.

But then, right before you came there was a lot of upheaval, some people (editors and others who were heavily involved) had serious personal issues (cancer, newborn babies dying) that may have set the tone for a while and it took time for the new set of people (who hadn't been affected by it) to take over and change things. Circumstances made it so I had to take control of TLE when I wasn't really ready, so there was some strain there, which likely overflowed onto the rest of the staff.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Dude, if you guys keep reminicing about TLE I'm going to get all nostalgic and weepy about my freshman year and then end up in the grumpy thread ranting about how boring my life is right now.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I am proud to be one of the pioneers boldly breaking the no-talking policy. I got hollared at a lot for gabbing. But I'm not controllable, so I just kept on doing it. I probably went too far the other way a lot, but in the end, since most people are more moderate, things were in about the right place when I left the magazine.

[EUOL]

I guess I don't remember the no-talking policy. Perhaps that was a result of my likely too-serious personality and people were afraid of me. I've mellowed out quite a bit since then.

But then, right before you came there was a lot of upheaval, some people (editors and others who were heavily involved) had serious personal issues (cancer, newborn babies dying) that may have set the tone for a while and it took time for the new set of people (who hadn't been affected by it) to take over and change things. Circumstances made it so I had to take control of TLE when I wasn't really ready, so there was some strain there, which likely overflowed onto the rest of the staff.

Interesting.  I didn't know any of this, Nessa.  I always wondered why the crowd before my generation had such a subdued attitude.  I won't say that our group--except maybe E and Morag--were rowdy, but we did get a lot of strong friendships and the like going during the magazine.  And, we were certainly more boisterous during meetings.

[Nessa]

The Grovers, who were a few editors before me and who 'trained' me as Associate editor, their baby died and they suddenly stopped coming. So, Dave Burnett, who hadn't been to BYU for years at that point, but who was an old TLE-er, stepped in temporarily. His wife, who was also another heavy hitter (she's the one who set up amazing art contacts--she probably knows who did the Quantum Duck) got breast cancer. Our leadership at that point was pretty much non-existent. We almost didn't make it to issues 34 and 35.  So when Carl and I took over we had to get a grip on things and fix the momentum. I think the subsequent generation of TLE-ers had it better than we did.

[The Jade Knight]

Same guy who drew the Quantum Duck also drew the Technoheadz logo, I believe.

Can't remember his name, though.