PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2011

Greetings FM Members,

As your new President and fellow lover of all things mineralogical, I welcome the opportunity to serve you. If you would like to know a little bit about me, there is a brief bio on MinDat, under "Users' Photo Galleries." I am pleased to announce that we have recently filled vacancies in some very important positions at the National level, including Newsletter Editor and Treasurer, and now have the full complement of officers and directors. The goals and objectives of the Friends of Mineralogy are of critical importance to the hobby that we so enjoy. I view our role at the National level as one of both leadership and support for the local chapters and, while I have some ideas regarding how we may further the objectives of FM, I also encourage you to make suggestions to me or other officers and Board members in this regard as well. I promise you that I will be responsive to your letters and emails. And finally, please help our new Editor, John Lindell, to make our Newsletter as informative as possible by contributing articles, symposia and field trip reports, etc. from your respective chapters.

For those of you who were fortunate to attend the Tucson Experience this year, welcome back to reality. After months of anxious anticipation it seems that show week is over much too quickly and, if you are like me, then comes the letdown. But cheer up, there is always another mineral show around the corner. In talking with some of the dealers at the show, it seems that the mineral specimen business is improving overall after a slowdown in previous years. I spent the first couple of days at the show with a dealer friend of mine going through tent after tent along the strip and at Electric Park. In all the years that I have attended the show, I had never done this before, and I was astounded at how much specimen material there was for sale; tons of it. Where does all this stuff go? It must eventually find a home somewhere. There are evidently many more people out there who enjoy minerals, albeit on a casual basis, than I ever realized.

Your National FM recognized a number of well-deserving authors and exhibitors at this year's Tucson Show banquet, and the recipients of these awards are listed later in this Newsletter. It was a particular pleasure to make one of the Best Article awards to 12-year old Jessica Simonoff. As we all know, we need more young people in the hobby, and I applaud her parents for encouraging and supporting her interest in mineralogy.

On a precautionary note, the collecting season is almost upon us, and many of us are making plans for summer field trips. The tragedy that occurred recently in Nevada, where an individual was killed by a fall down an old mine shaft, is a reminder for all of us to be especially careful in and around old mines. Safety should always be our number one priority.

Finally, I would like to thank those individuals who helped out with the FM functions at the Tucson Show. These include Nelson Shaffer and his volunteers who staffed the FM booth throughout the show, Julian Gray for organizing the joint TGMS symposium, those individuals (you know who you are) who helped judge the Best Article and Best Educational Exhibits, Marty Zinn for his continuing support of the general meeting social, and Regina Aumente for making the arrangements for the general and board meetings. Regina has recently turned over her Treasurer duties to Carol Smith after several years in this position. She has been a tremendous asset to the FM organization, and a special thanks goes out to her for all her hard work.

Allan Young, President

Previous Leters from the President

• January 2009
• August 2008
• May 2008
• January 2008
• May 2007
• December 2006
• May 2006
• December 2005