Get Ready for "Occupy Woodson (Signs)!"

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone! Hopefully everyone enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal, and emerged from the Black Friday sales in one piece. As we prepare for our meeting this Wednesday, November 30^th, it’s time to turn our attentions to the first stage of publicity: the posters.

Using the Occupy Wall Street sign shown above as a template, featuring the words, “The End is Nigh” at the top, and “Submit Before the Silence” at the bottom. These posters will begin cropping up in hallways two weeks before the start of winter break.

            When we return from break the real fun begins. Beginning January 6, we will be staging our “End is Nigh” Fridays in the mornings. Adorned in sandwich-board signs bearing our “End is Nigh” slogan, and armed with half-sheets bearing information regarding submissions and Page, we will confront students as they enter the building. The goal is to shock, amuse, and amaze, all in an effort to generate attention for the magazine. Mr. Marvin has also volunteered to mix some background music for us, using “The Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers as the main song. All of these features, from our sandwich boards and sweats to the half-sheets and music, should allow us to embrace the “Occupy Woodson for Page” movement with unabashed enthusiasm. We will hold these demonstrations on January 6, January 13, and January 20.

            Two days after the first demonstration, we will begin hanging posters asking for submissions. These posters, featuring crop circles and constellations, will be accompanied by brief explanatory notes at the bottom that will “fade out” the further down the page one reads. For this campaign, our slogan, featured prominently at the top, will be something along the lines of “Have Your Voice Heard Before the Silence.” These signs showcase the new Page emblem, a symbol Hailey Slayton will devise. This is the third and final step in our publicity campaign.

            In short, the next few weeks will be filled with lots of planning to get ready for our “demonstrations” in January. The next few meetings are crucial to ensuring a successful publicity run, so please come to the one this Wednesday, December 1. Come to the meeting, and “have your voice heard before the silence,” or at least, before we finalize plans for posters.

            

Time to Bunker Down...

This week we took important steps in establishing a plan for our publicity campaign. Our approach works something like this:

1.     Intrigue: To begin, we plan on posting flyers across the school with a symbol. Just a symbol. Something that shall pique the interests of the student body, something iconic and clever that represents our theme while also adding to the aura of mystique essential to our theme. This is a job perfect for all artists on the staff. For next meeting, it would be lovely to have some ideas of various symbols, or better yet, actual design drafts.

2.     Occupy Woodson/ Picketing: This stage involves some acting. Channeling our inner picketers, we shall stand outside Woodson with large signs declaring “The End is Nigh,” outfitted in black sweatpants and Nike sneakers, distributing Page submission flyers to students as they enter the school. To maximize the effect of this demonstration, we plan on holding it over a series of days.

3.     Posters: This is our final chance to captivate the student body. These flyers shall adorn the hallway, bearing upon them various signs, such as constellation arrangements, messages cut in cornfields, or Maya Glyphs that warn of the end of the world. To make these images more believable, we need to develop back-stories for them. This is where we need the participation of all Page staffers: please, please, please, if you are a talented artist or writer, bring a concept for the flyer images as well as the story behind these images to the next meeting. Please email me if you are interested in creating one of these flyers. The more volunteers, the more authentic we can make the posters!

We also discussed the culminating activity in greater detail. Remaining true to our original idea of providing a venue for students to display their “last thoughts” before the end of the world, we arrived at a suitable means of housing said thoughts: a bunker. What better place to house those things worthy of preserving than a shelter from destruction? Though we still have a great deal to discuss regarding the logistics of this scheme, please keep this in mind as we proceed.

As we trek even further down the path to destruction, we need to solidify our publicity plans. Again, please email me if you are interested in working on a flyer. The next meeting is Wednesday, November 16. The End is Nigh. Time to spread the word.

-Hayley