August 28, 2013

Check it out! The Gridiron is here and what a beauty. At least, we here think so.

For the first time, we present all three local football teams in living color!

Remember when your family got a color television. The excitement is on that grand of a scale.

Or an even better example: The time was the early ’90’s and no individual I knew had a cell phone.

One day I get a call from a friend who says, “Guess where I am?”

“The living room,” I say.

“No,” he says….. “OUTSIDE!” The shock and awe of a person talking on a telephone and not standing in a building was mind-blowing…

Meanwhile, it’s 2013 and The Prentiss Headlight has finally managed to have color in the middle of the paper! We have no choice but to be more forward-thinking. When high school kids who are accustomed to digital display smartphones ask if their photo will be in color and are told no, they roll their eyes and walk away. Well, suffice to say, it is time to join the modern age. (Relax, calm down everybody…the website is coming…)

Unless you’ve worked here at The Prentiss Headlight (and half the town has) you have no idea how much work goes into what looks like such a simple rag of a publication.

Starting over a month out, football schedules are gathered, advertising is sold, ads are made, and coaches are interviewed.

Perhaps the biggest job in compiling this photo album of sport is photographing the subjects. Try getting 40-50 rowdy football players together at one time to sit still in uniform, hands on knees, and maybe crack a smile. Oh, and just for fun, let’s do it all in searing heat and humidity. Oh, and at the same time, let’s keep putting out a weekly paper. (There has been one every week since 1906. God forbid, we miss a week.)

Anyway, The Gridiron is finished, the work is over and we get to hold it in our hands. Like giving birth to a baby, I hear. The pain is awful, but you foget all that when you hold…whatever. (I’m never forgetting this pain.)

Oh well. There’s so many people who had a hand in today’s creation. Our advertisers. Take a look at their ads, and frequent their business.

Jennifer Hall, who is so talented with her camera and got the most fun shot of PCS seniors players and cheerleaders.

And Tony and Tracy Waits. Tony, a master photographer as we well know, and Tracy, so good at taking charge and getting the best look from everyone.

Janice Griffith. Let me explain what a mind she has. Each year, we rotate which school is featured first, second and third. This year, it was Prentiss High School’s turn to be first, followed by Prentiss Christian then Bassfield. We were told color pages in the middle was possible, but how could we put Prentiss Christian in color and the other two schools in black and white? Mission Mississippi would have been all for naught. So we decided to forego color altogether. It just could not be done fairly.

Next day, I get a text from Janice. She had been thinking. Why do we need to do things the way they have always been done. Mix it up, spread it out, move things around, and create a work of art that showcases the best of every school. Brilliant, I say. That woman is worth every penny, and she is paid in pennies…every week we give her a little bag o’ pennies. Thanks Janice.

Monique Hester came in on Saturday, as she frequently does, and proofed, saving us from a world of embarrassing grammatical errors.

And finally, thanks to our subjects, the bright, beautiful and talented students of Jefferson Davis County. You are our future, and we live vicariously through you. Make us proud. And enjoy The Gridiron.