I got a Texas Caver in the mail today. That in itself would be something to go out and celebrate.
However, this issue was quite a surprise. I bet it ranks high on the best- of-the-issues-list. ( But is it in the top 10 ?? ) Who can be the 1st person to tell us where the hidden Stenlight is in the Texas Caver? [ owner of Sten-light not allowed to comment, until after winner announced ] Travis Scott did a great job on the cover photo. The layout of the cover was done very nicely. Peter Sprouse's back cover shot is awesome. And the content contains interesting articles, and interesting news. There is even quite a bit of information about TCR. There are even some advertisements from speleo-vendors and an announcement about the ICS. I will give this issue an A plus ( 97 out of 100 ). I assume Mr. Alman gets a lot of the credit for that. Can I explain why I don't give it a perfect score without hurting anybody's feelings? The TSA emblem could be located on the cover in color on one of the right corners. Where the emblem is, could be something else; possibly a group photo of the TSA officers, or some graphic art such as a salamander or bat. The map of Sotano Culebra should be a tad bigger, so you don't need a magnifying glass to see that it is a frickin deep pit. The caver on rope in Sistema Huatecan does not appear to be enjoying themself. One of the photos on the map was split in half at the page divide. There is a girl in a muddy bikini top in the Cobb Cavern article. That would have made a good pin-up centerfold had she been wearing a caving helmet. Jacqui Thomas' painting should have been in color. [ I have been using it as my desktop background for the past month ] IMO's advertisement is great, but the printer seemed to be low on toner. In 3 places, words somehow got spread out to the width of the paragraph. It is important to have a caver bio in each issue. Lots of caving newsletter's do that. If you look at the old Texas Caver issues, I believe it was called "Spelean Spotlight" or something like that. Mr. Minton certainly deserves a caver bio in a Texas Caver. The picture is good, but I can't distinguish his face. How can one criticize the awesome photo on the back? I guess some huge flashes up the pit maybe, but then it would have been a different style of photo. Maybe a mock rescue with a caver on a stretcher? Probably not. I think all it needs are little oztotl symbols on the corners of the photo angled at 45 degrees, set to sort of frame the photo. I am going to store this issue in a safe place, where I keep my finest caving books. David Locklear --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
