“We have a saying around here. It’s that, ‘We give a damn.’ A bit rough around the edges, but it gets to the point.”
– Lane Press
By Mary Beth Strickler • Photographs Courtesy Mary Beth and Matt Strickler
The pages of German Life are carefully sent (electronically) to Lane Press—our printer located in Burlington, Vermont—six times a year. As we have great faith and are so pleased with the quality and care Lane takes in printing our magazine, we never thought to schedule a 560ish mile road trip to see our pages come to life on the press until recently. What an epic experience! One that we couldn’t stop discussing on our long return drive home and knew we had to share the evolution of our issue pages—from an author’s Microsoft Word document to a designed feature to a ripped digital “book” which is uploaded through Lane’s online portal then transfer to color plates and “put” on the press.
In bitterly cold temperatures and unpredictable mid-February winter weather (we awoke on press morning to a blustery sub-zero temperature, iced over car doors, and snow-covered roads), we arrived at Lane Press in the early morning hours before the workday started for many employees and waited for our press time in a comfortable lounge. Within the hour (the time it takes for the pressmen to set up, check and then begin to run our magazine), Jane who was working on the half-web press (cover press), greeted us and we stepped through metal doors from a darkened hallway into a hum of working machines and bright lights. Foam ear plugs were offered to deaden the machinery’s noise.
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