Re: FW: Aroideana - and help to get it

**&* <m*@hctc.com>**

> Dear correspondent, 
>  
> I am very glad that this has reached me [an interesting
> letter on the contents of Aroideana - ed], and I have to
> say that, as editor I cold not be more aware of the fact
> that Aroideana has very little to offer much of the
> society's membership. How to correct this is another
> matter. 
>  
> The Newsletter is getting
> better and better, I think, while in Aroideana we remain a
> place of good quality taxonomic material and very little
> else. 
> So, is your
> sharing of experience on either topic actively in your
> computer even as we correspond ? Bashful about writing? I
> can do it for you if you give me an article in rough form.
> Not interested in these topics? Well, what the hell are
> you interested in, and why I haven't I been told about it
> directly, with an offer for a contribution as part of the
> communication?

Well!

I don't know who's been complaining about what, but I
maintain my membership for professional reasons -- to stay
abreast of Aroid research in ANY line of enquiry, taxonomic
and otherwise.  I always assumed the main purpose of
Aroideana was precisely to be an outlet for this kind of
specialized work; otherwise we would publish in BioTropica,
Actum Botanicum, or any number of more generalized journals.
 To me, the newsletter is just icing on the cake -- it is
fun to read about collecting expeditions; but the point of
those expeditions is to find the new species described in
Aroideana.

And I must say, when I contributed my first article 5 years
ago, I was pleasantly surprised I did not have to pay a
per-page printing fee.  I learned at university that most
journals charge the authors.

Nor am I sure I know what you mean when you say "taxonomic
material and very little else."  In the most recent issue,
there were 17 articles, of which only 3 were taxonomy; 4
were about floristics, 3 were about horticulture, and the
remaining 7 about a variety of other topics.

It seems to me those with a serious interest in some
particular subject, are already doing work on it and writing
about it.  So if there is something some reader wishes to
see covered, the best advice I could give would be to start
by writing about what you yourself have learned; someone
else reading that article may then be inspired to jump off
from there.

Jason Hernandez
Naturalist-at-Large
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