Before there was journalism at Central, there was ‘Life.’

The staff and students of Central Normal School, a fledgling mid-Michigan teachers college, probably never figured their humble weekly would last this long.

Were they around today, the idea that Central Normal Life would eventually provide a launchpad for thousands of reporters, photographer and editors might leave the original staff slightly slack-jawed.

You could say the very first journalists at Central walked softly and carried a small, almost nonexistent twig.

“The Bulletin” served as Central’s first official publication until late 1919, when the 14-member staff decided to reorganize the small monthly magazine into a weekly newspaper.

Maria Marron recalls certain articles, individuals and contributions of leadership from Central Michigan Life over the seven years she has been with Central Michigan University.

As the Journalism Department chairwoman, she has witnessed virtually a new cohort of students cycle through the paper’s staff on a regular basis.

The ’50s were a time when not a lot happened, said 1958 to 1960 CM Life Editor in Chief Neal Miller.

“We didn’t have all the issues they have today,” he said. “The diversity of students on campus wasn’t at all like it is today.”

The ’50s saw a strange decade for the staff of CM Life.

The 1960s were a time of action, protest and tragedy. In one decade, the nation’s youngest elected president, John F. Kennedy and black rights advocates, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were assassinated.

On top of that, roughly 50,000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon was caught in the Watergate scandal that scarred Americans trust in government.

Advancements in technology have brought Central Michigan Life a long way from the 1970s.

The computers that rest on the desks in the office were non-existent at that time. Instead, there were typewriters.

“A reporter would sit down and take a sheet of yellow paper, put a carbon on top and another sheet of yellow paper – kind of like a sandwich – and put it into a typewriter and start typing,” said Jerry Morlock, 1979 to 1980 editor in chief, now city editor at the Muskegon Chronicle.

The 1980s were an era of controversy and technological change at Central Michigan University and Central Michigan Life.

“Toward the end of my time, the journalism department got the very first computer terminal,” said David Fritz, the fall 1980 managing editor.

The 1990s were a prosperous time for the nation, and the student journalists laboring in the basement of Anspach Hall saw the paper through the transition from word processors to the rise of the Internet.

“There was no Internet, no PCs. We had machines called VDTs .