design

Dear Diary is the collection of one-page columns by Steve Whitehouse. They were printed in the unofficial staff-produced irregular monthly newsletter Secretariat News of the United Nations. In the form of a satirical diary, by a purported mid-level bureaucrat in the United Nations named Stefano Casablanca, the columns describe in diary form the day-to-day activities of him and his colleagues as they weave their way through the Byzantine procedures of the United Nations bureaucracy. The 106 columns cover the 13 years from 1989 to 2001. The entries are notable for their lack of concern for international affairs which are never featured, except by accident. The diary is preoccupied with a staff obsessed over their per diems, their office locations and whether they had a view, the cafeteria food, how to secure their next promotion and the discussion of personal relationships. The cartoon line illustrations, except for one, are by Steve Whitehouse.
 
Hardcover limited edition of 18 copies, 224 pages, 11"×8¼", 105 line illustrations, with a foreword by the editor, Roy Murphy. Privately published by Phoenix Story Publications llc and printed on recycled wheat straw paper. The books were designed, printed and handbound by Roy Murphy.