Awards, EN, etc.

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


Jim Holland wrote:

> It costs $35+ to fill my truck tank with diesel fuel.  I think my AERC
> dues at $65 are a bargain.

The reason that I will not join the AERC if it raises single membership 
dues is not because I cannot "afford" another $X per year.  It is 
because I don't think that the AERC spends the money it already gets 
from me wisely, so the last thing I am going to do is give it more money 
to mismanage.

> I totally disagree.  I LIKE the EN color, particularly the ride photos 
> of Tevis, OD, Outlaw Trail, etc.  This publication is a major source 
> of information and publicity regarding our discipline.  There is one 
> thing I learned well during 30 years in the corporate world:  If you 
> are the CEO, but dress like the janitor, people will think you ARE a
> janitor. Maybe some of you remember John Malloy's book on "Dress for 
> Success"? 

I like the EN in color just fine too; however, the organization should 
not bankrupt itself for APPEARANCE any more than an individual should 
bankrupt him/herself buying clothes to look like something s/he is not.

> I would like to see more articles with a broader content.  For
> example, the Ridecamp post by John Ayers on driving.  That got me 
> excited about trying that with my little guy.  This could be combined
> with an article by a knowledgeable authority on the benefits of
> cross-training in Endurance.  In these articles point me to
> organizations and web sites to give me more information.  How about
> an article on the town of Front Royal, VA by someone who lives and
> rides there?  Tell me about the little towns on the Tevis Trail.  How
> about the post by Frank on his last place award at the Big Horn 100?
> Great story!  Got tears from some of my friends I sent it to. Angie's
> interview with Otis was great.

Notice how none of these things that he is suggesting have anything to 
do with the cost of the color format.  John Ayers and Frank Solano 
provided their stories to Ridecamp for free.  They (and people like 
them) could provide them to the AERC in the same way, and the AERC can 
publish them in the Endurance News.  There is lots that can be done to 
improve and broaden the content of the Endurance News without printing 
it on glossy paper in color (there was no glossy paper or color in the 
Ridecamp versions, yet they still brought tears to people's eyes). 

There is LOTS of available information that can be coordinated and 
published in the EN for no extra cost.  The membership and other 
contributors could be motivated (and no, I am not talking about with 
money) to provide extremely valuable information for publication.

> How about going to a Bi-monthly publication with more content?  That
> would be preferable to going back to a black and white newsletter.

A bi-monthly publication with more content (and glossy color pictures, I 
might add) is called _Trail Blazer_  Are you suggesting that the EN 
should go into competition with them?  And if so, do you really think 
that the AERC is a more competent publishing house to be able to 
successfully do so?  _Trail Blazer_ has its problems, but at least 
publishing the magazine is the ONLY thing they have to do (and what 
makes you think that the AERC IS more competent at magazine publishing 
and won't encounter the same pitfalls that plague _Trail Blazer_).  The 
AERC has problems enough taking care of all the other membership 
services, it doesn't need to go into the magazine publishing business 
too.

And, are you suggesting that the EN should abandon the ride calendar? 
The ride results? The points standings? The President's message?  In the 
monthly format, the information is already lacking in timeliness.  In a 
bi-monthly publication it would be even less timely.

As I said, the EN has the makings of a great publication. But, I 
contend, one of the first steps necessary to accomplish this is to 
acknowledge that it is NOT a glossy color magazine, but rather an 
excellent forum for disseminating relevant information to what is, 
realistically speaking, a very small segment of the population.

Some people seem to be under the mistaken assumption that I am 
suggesting that the EN be printed on newsprint.  I am not.  Newsprint 
does not archive very successfully (and there is no reason that the EN 
cannot successfully be a publication worth archiving).  There are a lot 
of different paper types between newsprint and the over 100 lb stuff 
that the EN is currently printed on.  28# to 32# "laser" paper makes for 
a VERY nice publication and is easy to come by.  During the (admittedly 
short—about 10 years) time that I have been a member, the EN has never 
been printed on newsprint, but I have seen little improvement in its 
content since it made the change from b&w to color and to glossy paper 
(and any improvement in content I may have seen has nothing to do with 
the color production and the glossy paper).

When I spoke of the difference between a "newsletter" and a "magazine" I 
was talking more about publishing philosophy and intent.  By my 
definition, a newsletter is a publication disseminated to the membership 
to provide current information/education (like the calendar, the 
results, reports from the president, VP, national office, trails 
committee, vet committee, BOD meeting minutes, etc. and EVEN the 
education committee) and the content/format is dictated by what best 
informs the membership; while a magazine is a commercial publication 
(sells subscriptions and/or advertisements, etc.) and the content/format 
is dictated by what can increase circulation.  It is the delusion that 
the AERC could be getting into the magazine publishing business that I 
am opposed to the AERC taking with respect to the Endurance News.

If you want to refer to a very good book about how to run a successful 
business (rather than one that just tells you how to dress), I can 
recommend _In Search of Excellence_ by Peters and Waterman.  Where one 
of the traits that they ascribe to "excellent" organizations is that 
they "stick to their knitting."  Which is another way of saying, don't 
try to be all things to all people, but rather focus yourselves on your 
primary line of business, mostly because these are the things that you 
have a tendency to know how to do (and you don't spread your resources 
to thinly).

Let's face it.  The current staff of the AERC is incompetent to publish 
a high quality, fancy color magazine; bankrupting the organization in an 
attempt to get into the magazine publishing business is hardly an 
appropriate thing to do with the membership's funds--especially if, as 
Steph suggests, that funds are short.  

The AERC should leave magazine publishing to magazine publishers.  And 
if some of the members of the AERC want to get into the magazine 
publishing business, they can put together a business plan and go out 
looking for venture capital from people (some of whom may also be 
members of the AERC) who want to risk their money in the magazine 
publishing business rather than co-opting the funds of people who pay 
their dues because they want to ride endurance and have no interest in 
putting their money into a risky business venture.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

> I have ONE horse and have spent many hours training him and I know 
> every inch of him and every thought that passes thru his sometimes pea 
> brain. He gives his all for me and yes, I want awards..to remember him 
> and our hard work and the dedication of my friends who crew for me. 
> Awards let you remember

I can remember just fine without an "award"  And sometimes you don't get 
an "award" (as in any token) at all for the things that mean the most 
and that you want to remember the most.  As an example, last year I took 
my horse to the USDF Breeders Championship series and won a very nice 
ribbon from an imported German judge (which also hangs in my bathroom), 
but as nice as it was that the German judge liked my horse's 
comformation and way of going; the best memory I bring back from that 
show was a comment from Hilda Gurney (who was not the judge she was an 
exhibitor with two horses in the same class) who was standing on the 
rail.  I will treasure that comment (for which I have NO award, NO 
token, NOTHING but the memory) long beyond when the ribbon from the 
judge (whose name I cannot even remember) may disappear.

> and in some cases, keep you from forgetting and I display
> my awards prominently.  One of the best "awards" on my wall wasn't
> "wanted" either.  It's a picture of my Dad behind a 50 caliber 
> Browning Automatic Rifle on Guadalcanal...along with the USMC battle 
> ribbon "awards" he earned for "Service, Honest, and Faithful". I'm 
> sure he would have rather have had his eye back.  So don't say "awards 
> don't mean anything"

I WILL say that the award itself, doesn't mean anything.  Your dad would 
(presumably) still have performed honest and faithful service even if 
they hadn't taken his picture and given him a ribbon.  The picture and 
the ribbon in and of themselves mean absolutely nothing.  If they had 
given him a toothpick and a rubber band for it instead, then the 
toothpick and the rubber band would have the same "meaning" as the 
picture and the ribbon do now.

..and I am presuming that your father would still have done the same 
things as he did even if they had given him nothing.  If he fought 
bravely, risked his life, and lost an eye so that he could bring home a 
picture and a ribbon...well...he was an idiot.  Whatever it was that 
motivated him, it wasn't the "award" that he got when it was over.

And if he had wanted to bankrupt the country so that he could have a 
nicer award, it is unlikely that very many people would think very well 
of him for it, no matter how bravely he had fought.

And presumably, were your house to burn in a forest fire and the picture 
and the ribbon were to go up in smoke, that would not change one whit 
the meaningfulness or the memory of what your father did at Guadalcanal.  
You cannot take away an achievement by taking away an award.  And you 
cannot cheapen an achievement by cheapening the award.

If you have earned a regional award by your riding this year, there is 
absolutely nothing anybody can do to change that accomplishment.  What 
that accomplishment means to you is your business and yours alone, and 
there is nothing anybody can give you (or not give you) that will change 
its meaning.

I am not saying that we should not, as endurance riders, pursue 
excellence in our chosen sport.  It is, in fact, the excellence that we 
should pursue, not whatever the AERC chooses to hand out as a prize.  
The true gratification comes from the achievement itself, not from the 
token that is stuck in your hand afterwards...or even in how it is 
presented to you.

There is an excellent treatise by Ralph Waldo Emerson (I think) called 
"On Compensation" which addresses this topic very eloquently.  The 
reward of labor is the labor itself. (When I first made this statement 
to a friend of mine at university he told me that it was very 
Thoreauesque, never having read Thoreau I didn't know it at the time...I 
have since read some Thoreau.)  

The fact is, the true reward of an achievement is the achievement 
itself.  And the great thing about this is that NOTHING can then cheapen 
it or take it away from you.  You earn your reward for riding well by 
riding well.  You earn the reward for properly taking care of your horse 
by having a properly cared for horse.

Maybe the reason that I have so little regard for "awards" IS because 
over my lifetime I have gotten so many of them (although I haven't 
gotten that many for endurance riding).  But perhaps another reason I 
have little regard for them is that I have gotten so many for things 
that meant little or nothing to me, and I haven't gotten awards for 
things that meant a great deal.  If I can only get gratification from my 
efforts by getting the right prize from somebody else, I am setting 
myself up for some horrible disappointments.

And maybe I don't really want to display them because I have no more 
desire to have people judge me by the awards I have received than I do 
for them to judge me by the clothes that I wear.

There are a great many endurance riders (and other people) who I admire 
and respect that have (to my knowledge) never won an AERC award.  The 
fact that they have not been presented with awards does not mean that 
they are not worthy of admiration.  In fact, some of the people I have 
the most admiration and respect for are those who will sacrifice the 
winning of the award to "do what they think is right."  And there are 
also some endurance riders (and other people) who consistently win 
awards, for whom I have little or no respect (and, I might add, neither 
do the people who are bestowing the awards).
 
If the AERC wants to give me a patch that I can put on my dining
room table and maybe someday sew onto...something, that's fine
with me.  If you give people little things they can display them
(or not) however they want.