Thanks, George, for confirming my similar suspicions. I've
never thought of the Texas Caver or even the NSS News as particularly
science oriented. (The NSS has the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies
for that.) Perhaps instead of science the perception is that
publications are too heavily biased toward expedition and project
caving. I certainly find those articles most interesting because
that's the kind of caving I've been doing for over 40 years, but I
generally read every article in the Texas Caver, even if it is about
a newbie trip to Airman's. I also enjoy keeping up with activities
like TSA Conventions and TCR, which I am too far away too
attend. So, I join the chorus of those encouraging everyone to write
about their trips, even if they are sport trips with no new
exploration or science.
I also agree with Ben Schwartz about almost all caving being
fun, whether it's science, mapping, digging, whatever. We wouldn't
do it otherwise. Expedition and project reports also generally
mention the great camaraderie and fun times had around the campfire,
hiking to the caves, etc. I've even been on cave rescues (all
successful, fortunately) that were fun. So write about your trips,
even if nothing new is discovered. Tell us how much fun you had, and
let us share in it.
Keep the faith, Mark, and keep up the great work as editor!
Mark
At 11:06 AM 5/17/2012, George Veni wrote:
Reading this e-mail exchange and the perceived focus on too many
science articles in the TC made me think that I didn't recall any
recent science articles. So I took a quick at the table of contents
for the last nine issues through the start of 2010 and found a total
of 60 articles listed. I found an abundance of reports on surveys,
projects, and generally lots of "fun"
(non-project/non-survey/non-sciency) caving Texas cavers are doing
in Texas, with a small number of reports on caving in Mexico. I
found reports on TCRs, TSA conventions, equipment reports, and news
I expect most cavers would be interested in. I only found one
article that could be classified as "science," a nice 1-page report
by Jerry Atkinson and Butch Fralia on bad air in Texas caves.
Considering how many Texas caves have bad air, I'd also expect this
would be of interest to most cavers who generally aren't interested
in science articles.
Please reply to mmin...@caver.net
Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org
