Thomas,
On a recent cave trip we had some new younger members help us in a cave
dig. (They joined the PBSS Grotto later), They not only made me feel young
through their exuberance, but I thought one of them was going to fall on the
ground and start hollering "we're not worthy"!. It made me feel weird to have
young cavers admiring me because I have been caving for a long while.
I am glad to see the new young people get interested in caving. I have
been a member of the NSS since 1981. I can honestly say that the PBSS has
always made all new comers feel welcome no matter what their experience level
is, or their age. We have never had the luxury of so many members that anyone
could ever be selective or splinter off into niche groups. I also think it is
important that every caver go on a cave trip at least once with a group of
cavers that he doesn't know or just met. It can give you a better perspective
of how other groups go caving. >From the tone of the trip, expertise, to the
techniques used, and to how people interact. I have done this before and
besides being interesting, it can be fun.
I know what you mean about feeling out of place in a different group. I
just persevered and eventually as they say..."They have no choice but to accept
you, cause you won't go away"
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Sitch
To: Cavers Texas
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 5:54 PM
Subject: [Texascavers] On the value of outreach
Okay, a little background. I’ve been caving since I was 7 or 8, when
my dad and brother and I explored lava tubes we found by the road or sea caves
along the coast in California. Around age twelve I convinced my dad to join
the NSS, and we became part of the SoCal Grotto that met at CalTech in
Pasadena. I’ve been a casual (but registered) caver ever since, some 20 years
now.
Please understand that what follows is the most constructive of
criticism. I love cavers, I enjoy hanging out with my fellow cavers, and many
of the best adventures I’ve had or seen have been part of going to, returning
from, or exploring a cave. I also love grotto meetings: I’ve seen slide shows
of cavers treed by jaguars (looking down), stalactites shot through with silver
and precious minerals, and ancient caves in the Philippines with aboriginal
dugout coffins piled up.
I (very courteously) disagree with Mixon’s point that there’s a clique
for everybody. That’s not really how it looks from the outside.
It was very hard to “break in” and feel welcome at the UT Grotto.
There were some people who went out of the way to do so (such as Jean, or
Aimee) and I will always feel incredible gratitude to them for that. Now I
know lots of people and count many friends and it’s a good time, but I see a
lot of new people show up and sit largely excluded. Despite the fact that UT
is the largest public university in the country, I believe our current number
of actual current students can be counted on two hands; maybe just one.
We can do better than that.
Cavers have a common frame of reference. We’ve had adventures
together, and that makes a camaraderie not unlike being old war buddies. That
makes it very comfortable to sit with your friends and talk about old or new
trips, and uncomfortable to look to new faces.
Also, some cavers have very strong views on politics and religion, and
this makes for a “self selecting group,” since some people feel unwelcome. As
much as I think sacrifices to Oztotl should be mandatory*, being respectful of
a diverse set of viewpoints is a better way to go.
The tough stick it out, sure. Once people go on trips and gain the
trust of the Old Guard they, too, have a common frame of reference. But we
lose a lot of good people long before that, and we lose the other good people
that they would refer to the world of the dedicated adventuring caver.
My point here is that for the good of the caving community we should do
more to seek out and welcome new blood. If everyone makes an effort – a
conscious effort- to engage new people, we’ll grow and be better for it as a
community.
Best Regards,
~~Thomas
* Joking
--- On Fri, 12/12/08, Mixon Bill <bmixon...@austin.rr.com> wrote:
From: Mixon Bill <bmixon...@austin.rr.com>
Subject: [Texascavers] county cavers
To: "Cavers Texas" <texascavers@texascavers.com>
Date: Friday, December 12, 2008, 2:56 PM
There's an expression for the problem people have just pointed out with
Ediger's outreach idea. "You can lead a horse to water but you
can't make him drink." What fraction of people who show up at one or
two grotto meetings do we ever see again? And at least the UT Grotto is large
enough that there should be a clique for anyone really interested.
A lot of the "county cavers" are just high-school students out for a
bit of adventure with their buddies. Next week they'll be floating down a
river and the week after that trying not to die rock climbing. (The frustrating
thing to me is that you know the owner's son and his buddies can go into
that closed cave any time they want to.) Or they're a couple of good ol'
boys who just thought they'd check out that hole on Joe's place, for
want of anything better to do that day. As long as we do make an effort to
provide some training and beginners trips for those who track us down, I
don't see what more we can do.
I'm sure there are a few real cavers who just aren't joiners, but
there's not much we can do about it. I know one guy who was a hard-core and
very active caver and grotto member for thirty years and would never join the
NSS. Finally he did, but only because he hooked up with a woman who insisted on
dragging him to NSS conventions.--Mixon
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