HSA 65th Anniversary Book

fy
FEBRUARY 1, 1991 –
JANUARY 31, 1992
OFFICES
92
PRESIDENT
Robert
Frost
Thayer Hall B
Canaday Hall G
Let’s Go spins out as wholly owned,
for-profit subsidiary of HSA
The position of Personnel Manager
evolved into that of Vice President,
and Eve Reiter ’92 became the first to
hold its title. Under the new General
Manager, tensions unfortunately
persisted over HSA’s professional vs.
student leadership. The bottom line
remained healthy, however, as HSA
had one of the most profitable years
in its history. The continued growth
of Publishing led HSA to seek more
spacious real estate and reexamine
the nonprofit status of the enterprise.
In November, HSA selected the third
floor of 1 Story St. as its new location
President Robert Frost ’92, Lisa Bolanz ’91, Tracy Pun ’93,
MBA ’97, and Jody Dushay ’89, EdM ’91, MD ’99, MMSc ’09.
for expansion. In January, the Board voted to create Let’s Go, Inc., a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary of
HSA. Officially separated at the beginning of FY93, the new corporation initially housed Publishing and
Sales Group.
In the dance of agency nomenclature,
Direct Sales transformed into The Campus
Store, and Text Processing metamorphosed
into Type and Graphics. Travel included its
first hip, happenin’, four-page glossy catalog
of travel goodies in Let’s Go: Europe.
Fifteen bookteams squeezed into the
basement of Canaday G for one final
subterranean summer hurrah. Let’s Go:
Washington, D.C. and Let’s Go: Germany,
Austria & Switzerland joined the fray as 80
RWs took the field in total. The New York
Times proclaimed Let’s Go: Europe to be “the
granddaddy of budget guides,” while the
new, busy, but still-orange cover announced
the book’s status as “The #1 Bestselling
International Guide.” The Unofficial Guide
tipped the scales at 340 pages.
WHERE THEY ARE NOW...
Mary Louise Kelly | ’93
JOBS AT HSA: Researcher-Writer, Let’s Go: France, FY91; Researcher-Writer, Let’s Go: Europe, FY92.
JOBS SINCE HSA: Started her career as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and BBC; joined National Public Radio
in 2001, where she was a longtime national-security reporter and now anchors the daily news show All Things Considered.
WHAT’S A FUNNY STORY FROM YOUR TIME ON THE ROAD FOR LET’S GO? “I was so excited when I got to Brussels; the
Grand Place was breathtaking. I thought, ‘This is the life. I’m going to splurge and buy coffee and a croissant at the nicest cafe on
the Grand Place.’ They brought out my coffee and this huge basket of all different types of croissants and rolls, and I said, ‘Ah! No
wonder it’s so expensive.’ … The guy brings me the bill, and it turns out you were only supposed to eat one! … So I had eaten my
entire food budget for the week.”
HOW HAS LET’S GO HELPED YOU BECOME A BETTER JOURNALIST? “One, so much of being a journalist is chutzpah —
being willing to walk in somewhere you don’t necessarily belong, but acting like you belong and asking the right questions. …
Having the courage to do that when you’re a young journalist isn’t easy; you get in situations that are intimidating. … Writing for
Let’s Go, I think there’s a certain type of confidence you build — not from knowing the situation will go according to plan, but
knowing it certainly won’t go according to plan and having the experience to deal with it. … [Two,] you take away some lessons
about copyediting and about writing fast. … I lived in terror of those deadlines. I didn’t know what would happen if I missed them,
if lightning would strike me down or something, but I’ve carried that with me — I do not miss a deadline.”
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR CURRENT STUDENTS? “Try anything, particularly the first few summers of college. Junior
summer, you have to do something that looks respectable for grad school or job applications, but to me the summers after freshman
and sophomore years were truly about exploring. I felt so lucky to go to a college that gave me the opportunity to do that. I got to
backpack across France, taste the croissants on the Grand Place, and someone paid me to do that! There are a million opportunities
like that at HSA and Harvard.”
LET’S GO TITLES
• Europe
• Britain & Ireland
• France
• Italy
AGENCIES
• USA
• Greece & Turkey
• Israel & Egypt
• California & Hawaii
• The Pacific Northwest,
Western Canada & Alaska
• Spain & Portugal
• Mexico
• New York City
• London
• Washington, D.C.
• Germany, Austria
& Switzerland
OTHER TITLES
• The Unofficial Guide to Life at
Harvard
• Linen
• Publishing
• Catering
• Travel
• The Campus Store
• Harvard Student Resources
• Union
• Harvard Distribution
Services
• Sales Group
• Type and Graphics
58 HSA 65th Anniversary History Book 59