Oz Report

Thu, Apr 17 2003, 3:00:06 pm EDT

Paul Dees|photo|Sue Bunner|tail

Paul Dees <av8rpaul@attbi.com> writes:

My sister Sue saw the caterpillar photo in v7#102 and she says it is a Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar just getting ready to pupate, so its color changed from green to orange. It wanders looking for a place to form a pupa, when it changes into a swallowtail butterfly, the ones that have an extra tail- like part to their hind wings.

Discuss "About the caterpillar" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Sat, Nov 30 2002, 6:00:06 pm GMT

Aaron Swepston|Angelo Mantas|GPS|Hang Gliding Magazine|Paul Dees|USHGA

I wrote:

Gil was the highest paid “employee” of the USHGA (25 years of experience, after all), but there was considerable conflict after Aaron Swepston was brought on board last year as the art director. I’ve published some of Aaron’s comments earlier (OzReport.com/Ozv6n213.shtml) about the new publication process. It is my understanding that it is the conflicts that came about implementing this process that led to the decision to drop Gil.

Tontar <tontar@mindspring.com> responds:

You sure know how to compel people to write for the Oz Report! Just name names.

(editor’s note: Aaron named his own name. He wrote an Oz Report article about the magazine publication process and numerous others on the hang gliding mailing list. All this is public information and I certainly have license to use this information.)

What I have written in the past has been very cautiously written, out of respect for the many people involved in the magazine business. It is a business, after all, and it is also an environment with considerable depth and breadth. Noting can be said to characterize this business in just a few words, and without writing a really long and involved essay. But since you posted this teaser that minimizes the depth of the situation, I’ll try to add something of value to it.

(editor’s note: I am quite sure that I am not fully informed of the depth of the situation, so I can only write about what I do know. Aaron is known for very long and involved correspondence and I’m quite sure that he can supply more information in depth.

I don’t know if what I have written correctly summarizes the situation – although from Aaron’s comments it does seem to be correct, but there is certainly nothing wrong with publishing a short notice that makes it easier for the reader to quickly get a sense of things.)

Yes, a certain number of conflicts arose during and after my joining the magazine staff as Art Director. But when you say that it was the conflicts that existed between Gil and myself that led to the decision, you don’t paint a very clear picture, and in fact misrepresent what can only be referred to as a much longer history that existed between Gil and the USHGA before I entered the picture. What has happened in the past I can’t really comment on, but the difference between the past and what happened after I came on board is that I provided a means for those deficiencies to be corrected. Previously, there apparently were no solutions to the problems that existed.

(editor’s note: Of course, as is obvious from above, I didn’t write that. I wrote that the conflict was about the publication process as can be seen from above. The process changed when Aaron came on board, and I assume that those changes were for the better.

I am not now criticizing and did not before criticize Aaron, and in fact he points out the fact that it is his actions, in clearing up deficiencies in the publication process, that brought matters to a head. I have no problem with him doing that.)

The way that the magazine was being produced previously was incomplete, costing approximately $10,000 per year in additional fees at the printer to complete the magazine before printing it. Starting with the May 2002 issue, my first one, the magazine was provided complete and ready to go, thus saving the Association that approximate $10,000 per year. Figure that amount over 10, 15 or 25 years. And yes, that change was a relatively small one to implement in the scheme of things, could have easily been made without me coming on board, but it wasn’t, and it was wholeheartedly resisted, and only by me being brought on board for the May issue could it be introduced and implemented. Understandably this would create a conflict, when a much needed change is persistently requested by the printers, a change that would save the Association a significant amount of money, and a relative outsider is needed to come in and make that change, against the wishes of the Editor.

(editor’s note: So far I don’t see any conflict with what I wrote.)

I really don’t want to air dirty laundry, I don’t. It’s not good for anyone. Your note demands a response in a way, but I’d just like to say that the Executive Committee’s decision to move to a different editor for the magazine was based on many things that really shouldn’t be talked about in a public forum like this. They did what they felt was necessary for the future of the sport and the Association, and I am in support of that decision 100%. I’m sorry Gil lost his job, but he wasn’t willing to do the job that they wanted him to do

(editor’s note: Again, I didn’t write that these things shouldn’t be discussed in public. I wrote just what I knew and left it at that. You actually seem quite willing to discuss the issue in more detail, and because you have the details, I appreciate you doing so.

I’m sorry that you took what I wrote as a slam on you, but I didn’t slam you. I realize that these are emotionally highly charged issues for you, but for me they are just interesting.)

Angelo Mantas <Angelomant@aol.com> writes:

I couldn't disagree with you more about the importance of Hang Gliding magazine. For most pilots, it is what ties this country of HG pilots together. Most of the flying sites and places I've flown, or want to fly, I learned of through the magazine. The development of hang gliders from floating x-bars to no keel pockets to topless. Tech. developments like GPS and flight computers. And the occasional good story to boot.

(editor’s note: “And an occasional good story to boot.” Well, if that ain’t damning by faint praise, I don’t know what is. Hang Gliding Magazine has been out of touch with hang gliding for years now. Its editor was off in the different world, seemingly indifferent to the sport, and lacking in almost any passion whatsoever. The BOD and the USHGA office were for some reason unable to stop the drift of the magazine into complete irrelevance.)

You would like to drop the magazine and see more emphasis on competition? You and about 3 % of the pilot population. 90% of the pilots in this country could care less about comps, just because you live with the comp. community doesn't mean all the membership feels that way.

(editor’s note: I wrote, “…encouraging more competitions around the country.” I made four suggestions about how the USHGA could improve and indicated that there were many other ways that there could be improvement.

I feel that there is a lack of emphasis on local competitions, which are really get togethers that encourage a feeling and reality of community. If the USHGA could help encourage local competitions, I feel that this would do more to build the hang gliding community than the magazine.

The USHGA has limited time and resources. I want the USHGA to concentrate on the issues that build a strong organization and a strong hang gliding community. Maybe a print magazine is an important part of that, but that just seems to be an assumption, that isn’t really tested.

I understand that USHGA members feel that the magazine is the number one benefit. Well, it certainly is a visible benefit, so it is likely to be perceived as such, but I wonder if suddenly the insurance was cancelled and 400 sites were closed, whether the USHGA membership would feel the same way.

Perhaps a house organ, the magazine, is a requirement of a membership organization. Certainly most, if not all, membership organizations have something similar, but this should not blind us to its costs, to its decreased relevance in the twenty first century, to its weaknesses, and to the alternatives.

Both the Oz Report and Hang Gliding Magazine cover the competition stories. You’ll even find articles by me in Hang Gliding about competitions. You’ll also find that over the last ten years I am one of the most published authors in Hang Gliding Magazine.

I cover more competitions and to a greater percentage than Hang Gliding Magazine, but the percentage is not that much greater in the Oz Report. I suggest looking at the last year’s issue of both publications to see that we are in fact similar in our competition coverage.)

HG magazine has a much broader scope, both in aspects of HG and viewpoint, with many more writers.

(editor’s note: I’ll make a small bet that I have many more contributors, including yourself, in any given month, than you’ll find in Hang Gliding Magazine. ☺ )

Paul Dees <av8rpaul@attbi.com> writes:

So please do not think you speak for all of us by saying that the magazine is a waste. As you ponder ways for USHGA to get even better you should be more thankful on this Thanksgiving Day for what USHGA does do for all of us.

(editor’s note: Happy Thanksgiving to you all – they don’t have the celebration here, so I kind of miss out on it. I certainly don’t think that I speak for everyone on any issue. I am quite certain that many pilots feel the magazine is important and necessary for the USHGA. There are even some that like it.

None the less, I feel about the existing survey of USHGA members showing that the magazine is the number one perceived benefit, that this is equivalent to the recent survey that showed the French as self reporting themselves to be the ones that engage in sex the most often.)

Discuss "USHGA – the magazine" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Thu, Jun 8 2000, 5:00:03 pm EDT

David Glover|Larry Bunner|Paul Dees

Paul Dees, «PWDCrash», writes:

I have really enjoyed your reports of Illinois hang gliding. The Chicago area pilots have been really good about sharing their flight successes with the HG community at large. What many Oz fans may not know is there was activity downstate as well. I had my first flight in the summer of 1974 in a bamboo and plastic Batso off of a 30-foot hill near my hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Before towing got big, we used to drive 4 hours from the Univ. of Illinois to fly the 180-foot high dunes along Lake Michigan in the late 1970's. And there were some great tow flights at the river bluffs in Valmeyer near St. Louis with XC's of around 40 miles by Jim Matush and Tom Pruitt in the late 80's. If I remember right, Larry Bunner was flying much further than that in Northern Illinois by then.

Staff photographer: David Glover