Someone suggested that the TSA was better back in the good ole days. In my opinion, the TSA is like a waterfall. Sometimes it flows beautifully and sometimes it trickles, but due to many factors, the water table is lowering and the creekbed appears to be drying up. It is not the waterfalls fault. It will rain again, so don't worry.
A lot of cavers from the good ole days have moved on to other things. One was an editor for Playboy magazine, another flys bi-planes, many have passed away, one has alzheimer's, one makes space-suits for NASA, another drives locomotives, some are grandpas and grandmas, others are great-grandpas and great-grandmas. Some have family with health issues. Some drifted away from caving or left the state for a better life elsewhere. Some were only here temporarily to begin with due to job transfers. Many have climbed the career ladder and are too busy for caving. There are other factors to consider. There are less access to caves than there used to be. There are possibly less caves to discover - at least the easy ones have all been found, probably. There is also the phenomenon of the "professional caver" which may not have existed back in the good ole days. Their activities can not be easily published in the TC. Then there are the activities which compete with caving as a hobby - rock-climbing for example. Many young people get active in rock-climbing and only go caving a few times. Look at all the climbing gyms. Where is the caving gym? If you look at some of the old TC's, you will see some simple trip reports that may not seem worth printing by today's standards, so people who would have written such an article, may feel it is not worthy enough to send to the TC now. Then there is the internet. Many people get enough arm-chair caving just on the listservs, and so they don't need a printed newsletter. Then there is the competition for dues. Back in the good ole days there was no TCC or TCMA or BCI and the AMCS didn't have dues, etc. Now there are several organizations wanting dues, personal commitent, donations, etc. which theoretically could be going towards the TSA. I think it is o.k. for someone to analyze the mission of the TSA occasionally and see if it is performing that mission. Here is my take on that, In my opinion, the TSA is not a caving club, like the UT Grotto or the GHG. It is not the Texas Caver's Asssociation or the Texas Caving Association or the Texas Spelunker's Association. It is the Texas Speleological Association. Its only mission should be to promote speleology. Do we need a TCA and let them do the Texas Caver? No! That would just be another confusing organization to pay dues to. I propose we rename the TSA to TASC - the Texas Association of Speleologist and Cavers and do this in memory of somebody we all loved. David Locklear caver in Houston _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list Texascavers@texascavers.com http://texascavers.com/mailman/listinfo/texascavers_texascavers.com
