When interviewing Dorothy Freudenberg for this month’s feature article, I was struck by her statement, “I realized a subject could speak more profoundly and eloquently sometimes in a different color than its given color; that allowed me to break the rules about what I thought things should be…” That got me thinking about my own subject: the “art” of laying out Cascade A&E.

Since books first began to be written, designers have been playing with layouts, fonts, images and color. A text presented in one format may be completely unappealing to read if the fonts are inconsistent, layout is distracting or color in dissidence. It is the job of the graphic designer to create a text that people will not only want to read, but be compelled to read. This is achieved in countless ways: a great cover image, the overall structure, logo, fonts and much more.

As I am just now reaching my first year mark as editor for Cascade A&E, the time has come to get past what the magazine has been and explore how we can make the pages speak more eloquently (and maybe even break some rules of what should be). We have a new look to the cover, contents page and headers...but in truth, I hope the design can change and evolve over time.

I like to call my job, “a giant game of Tetris.” Many different pieces filter in each month, and I try to figure out not only how it will all fit on a page, but how can it speak more profoundly.

January 11, 1922.  The back room of Values at Tiny’s General Store, somewhere in America.

“What’s the matter Boss? Why the long face?”

“Oh, it’s all this-here inventory I’m stuck with,” Tiny complained.  “Sales were slow over Christmas, and I’ve got all this darn candy that didn’t sell.  I still got me four cases a’ those stuffed bears I thought the kiddies would want.  And to top it all off, that fast talk’n’ salesman from Omaha sold me all that red wrapp’n paper, an’ it didn’t sell neither.  I got me a back room stuffed to the rafters with choco-lat and stuffed bears and red paper, and nothin’ to do with it!”

“That is a problem Boss.  Ain’t no holi-days coming up where people want candy nor stuffed bears until the Fourth of Ju-ly.  And if it gits hot like it did last spring, we’ll have us a big ol’ puddle of choco-lat long before anyone gits to buying anything.”

“See, that’s just it,” said Tiny.  “Ain’t enough holi-days where people eat candy.  Nobody wants the darn stuff for Washington’s or Lincoln’s birthdays.  Easter’s okay, but it’s all bunnies and junk, not stuffed bears, and none of the boxed choco-lats like we got all over this here back room.  I’m gonna go broke!”

This summer, history will be made in Bend as Shore Thing Productions presents a staged concert version of the TONY winning Broadway musical 1776 with a revolutionary all female cast of twenty-five performers backed by a full orchestra.  

Open auditions for all roles, to be performed by women middle school aged & older, are scheduled for February 21 & 22 at Pinckney Center For The Performing Arts at Central Oregon Community College.  The production will be presented as a benefit for The Tower Theatre Foundation, a nonprofit that offers a variety of live performances for Central Oregon audiences as well as educational outreach programs through area schools and community organizations.  

The musical, with a score by Sherman Edwards, features a book by award winning playwright Peter Stone.  The powerful story focuses on the heated debates between members of the second Continental Congress in Philadelphia leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.