Re: ATM demise

[JoAnn Nanof <jnanof@yahoo.com>]

Jeff Medkeff wrote in part:
> 
> Only one of the groups I have spoken to makes an active effort to
recruit
> young people (by my definition this is from the age of speech to,
say, 25
> years) into the club. (That's one out of about forty.) Only two of
those
> groups make any active efforts OF ANY KIND to boost club membership
(in any
> age group), or to get the club exposed to the local community on a
regular
> basis. Only about 5 or 6 of those clubs have a member working in
Project
> Astro or a similar activity that reaches youngsters.
> 
> So in addition to light pollution, I am rapidly concluding that
another
> important factor in the lack of youth interest is the comfort and
apathy of
> those presently in the hobby.

Do not judge a book by it's cover! It has not been my experience that
this apathy is prevalant. Many will agree that the most dedicated club
members go unrecognized in the magnitude of their efforts. Many will
also agree that in any club there are usually only a few members who
do most of the work. That's just the way things are. But these are the
members who go to the schools and give talks, arrange star parties for
youth groups, donate their time to teaching ect...These efforts become
characteristic of these members and it is easy to overlook their
value. I don't think you can poll an audience and expect to find the
true measure of its value. 

I am 32 and when I first joined my club 6? years ago there was no one
my age or younger. Now I would say that 50% are under 40 and many got
started by the insistance of their kids. Every club will have its own
point of focus. Some have a strong observing flavor while others may
have strong atming. Ours is strongly social with an emphasis on public
outreach. Whatever the focus, I would guess that most clubs have a
decent record of community service. 

As far as the propagation of ATMing, I would venture a guess that
those who have responded that ATMing is Not dead has probably
encouraged and helped at least one other to make a telescope, thus
doubling the population . It is a highly contagious disease! There is
a woman at work with whom I least get along with, who now wants to
make a telescope! In Jan , we will start. Funny. And none of my
co-workers are unaware of bad outdoor lighting!

To be fair, astronomy and ATMing are somewhat obscure hobbies and in
the US a lot of amatuers tend to be loners and therefore not reporting
to any countable organization. How can you measure ATM's growth
accurately? by pvc sales?

Sorry for the ramble, I was going to stay out of this!

Kindest regards,




==


Searching for Parabola,
JoAnn.

See The Adventures of ATM Woman! @
http://members.tripod.com/nanof/atmwoman.htm
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