Did You Know? Issue 3

Kae Kirkwood- Archival Librarian

“Distortion: To twist out of shape, change the usual or normal shape, form, or appearance.”

I spend a lot of time poring over Geneva yearbooks, and the 1976 edition is one of the most creative, funny, and outrageous of them all. “Distortion” was the theme, and as the editor-in-chief, Ruth Byker, explained in the introduction, “In form, the book has indeed been ‘twisted’ out of its ‘normal shape’…. The form, however twisted, was chosen to convey the content of the yearbook and year as we saw it.”

Distortion—76 definitely did take a different form than other yearbooks Divided into four sections, each section imitated a nationally known magazine: U.S. News and World Report; Who’s Who; Sports Illustrated; and MADD Magazine. It included great photography and artwork, along with a lot of the unexpected.

The U.S. News section reported on many aspects of Geneva life—academic departments, Artfest, drama, a critical essay on Humanities, and more. Who’s Who contained individual student pictures. Geneva sports were featured in the Sports Illustrated section. And, MADD, as you can imagine, took a sarcastic, satirical look at Geneva College.

I asked Dr. Byron Curtis, Professor Emeritus, member of the Class of 1976, and a contributor to the yearbook, about the reaction to Distortion—76. “The public reaction? From students, mainly laughter. Lots of perplexity. And occasional fury. From administration, outrage (or so I'm told), and lots of perplexity….It was wonderful. It was infuriating. Much of it was hilarious. I loved it.” ‍ ‍1 1976- Geneva College Year book‍ ‍ ‍According to Dr. Curtis, the editor “included candid photos of faculty, staff, and students, sometimes in embarrassing circumstances. Those photos sometimes brought fury. Faculty photos were often wonderfully well-chosen, brilliantly captioned, and occasionally unkind.” Biology professor Dr. John Cruzan graced the cover of MADD in an enormous sombrero. “He loved it.”

Dr. Curtis went on to say that one page featuring “The Cynic’s Bible,” a take on Ecclesiastes 3, was read aloud on KDKA Radio’s morning drivetime show by Jack Bogut, one of Pittsburgh's best-known 1976- Sterrett, James Genevan radio voices.

I always laugh when I read the pages in MADD entitled “Great Songs Rewritten,” especially the one showing Library staff photos, with words to the tune of “The Sounds of Silence.” “Hi, McCartney, my old pal. I’ve come to study here awhile…” Another musical section is “The Alma Mater Drives Us MADD,” with photos appropriately captioned by each phrase of the [now mostly unknown] Geneva alma mater.

Distortion—76 is great fun to read. I highly recommend it to current Geneva students as a very creative way to communicate and chronicle by way of pictures, art, and words. Take a look! It is available in the stacks of McCartney Library.

KAE KIRKWOOD