After months of missed deadlines due to severe understaffing and a myriad of technical difficulties, Spotlight, a Macalester tradition, should be in students' mailboxes by the end of the month.

Usually released in October, Spotlight is a directory of student and staff contact information known for its quirky mix of information and humor. This year's publication will feature the usual infotainment style, but will be delivered four months past due.

Loren Smith '03 and Meg Stinchcomb '04, Spotlight's two co-editors and only permanent staff members, struggled with the directory from the beginning. Campus Programs' Media Board hired Smith and Stinchcomb knowing neither had any experience with Spotlight, or even with digital photography and computer layout applications. However, the Media Board did not have much of a choice — Smith and Stinchcomb were the only two students who showed interest in the job.

"[Smith and Stinchcomb] didn't say they had any knowledge of Quark and Photoshop and the programs they needed to use," said Assistant Campus Programs Director and Media Board Advisor Tara Stormoen. "We all knew it was going to be a struggle."

In an effort to compensate for their unfamiliarity with computer publishing, Smith and Stinchcomb say they solicited the help of about forty students they knew were creative or computer-savvy. They received responses from several students, but most of them were in the same boat as the two co-editors; Smith and Stinchcomb said that their recruits were ambitious, but lacking the computer skills necessary to help produce Spotlight.

"We were trying to figure out everything as we were doing it," Stinchcomb said. "Possibly, maybe, two people could pull it off if they knew exactly what they were doing … but we [did not]."

Last year's Spotlight, which reached students' hands in October, had a three-person staff, and one editor had a year of Spotlight experience under her belt.

"We had great intentions, we worked hard, but we weren't qualified," Stinchcomb said. "It's just depressing," Smith added.

Despite their initial struggles, Smith and Stinchcomb completed many of the early administrative tasks — they were able to send out information packets to about 150 advertisers and snap pictures of the student body. However, Smith and Stinchcomb fell farther and farther behind once it came time to hit the computers.

Stormoen says she moved Spotlight's office next to The Mac Weekly office at the beginning of the year to provide the inexperienced duo access to the staff of the newspaper, which uses the same photography and layout software as Spotlight.

"My hope was that, when we moved Spotlight into The Mac Weekly office … that [Smith and Stinchcomb] would ask when they needed help," Stormoen said.

Despite their other efforts to gain computer assistance, the co-editors did not seek help from The Mac Weekly staff. Their struggles were exacerbated by the bad condition of the sole computer dedicated to Spotlight. Smith and Stinchcomb solicited assistance from Macalester' Computing Information Technology department, but ended up doing much of their work on Smith's laptop.

According to Smith, by mid-November, with much of Spotlight stillunfinished, Smith and Stinchcomb decided that they would be unable to complete the publication in a timely manner.

"We messed up, but with the best intentions possible," Smith said.

The co-editors met with Stormoen and devised a plan to commission outside help. Smith and Stinchcomb distributed flyers at the Minnesota College of Art and Design (MCAD) and received a response from an MCAD student who, in typical Spotlight-style quirkiness, goes by the name of Sparky.

Smith and Stinchcomb gave up their $800-a-piece stipends to hire Sparky, who originally intended to finish work on the publication by Thanksgiving. Sparky fell behind, but finally completed Spotlight just before the end of fall semester.

After this year's fiasco, Spotlight's future is up in the air. The publication's usefulness as a directory has been curtailed by the directory on Macalester's website. Similarly, recent proposals to resuscitate the college's yearbook threaten to bring to life a publication that would directly compete with Spotlight on the entertainment front.

"The question is out there," said Stormoen. "I think we should survey the students."

Smith and Stinchcomb maintain faith in Spotlight. "I still think Spotlight rocks," said Stinchcomb.

Smith has a few suggestions to avoid this year's problems if Spotlight publication does indeed continue. "There needs to be a different process," she said. "There could be an ad manager. There could be a layout and design person. There could be a copy editor … The editors and the staff need to know about their positions months before the spring semester ends."

Despite Spotlight's foggy future, for the first time in months, the forecast for this year's directory is bright. The finished Spotlight is now at the printer, and with Macalester College Student Government's unanimous authorization of printing funds Tuesday night, Spotlight should be distributed to students by the end of February.