This will probably be a year where SLAS takes another look at the NOVA. What are we trying to accomplish with it? Are we reaching those goals? Does it need to be tweaked after all these years? The main problem with changing the NOVA in any way is that humans are resistant to change. Social scientists tell us that changing behavior or changing a habit is one of the most difficult things we do, and most people never do make those needed changes (loosing weight, quit smoking, etc). Personally, I would like to see our SLAS newsletter used as a marketing tool either to tell the public who we are and what we do, and to recruit new members. In its present form, it will do neither. No one other than us cares about the board and meeting minutes and probably many SLAS members don't even care. And the roster doesn't really belong in a newsletter. It belongs on-line where we login to get member information. Perhaps our meeting and board minutes could be placed in the member-only area on our site. I liked what Tom Sevcik did with the NOVA. It was human and enjoyable. But it took a ton of time, and a bunch of money to mail to SLAS members who wanted a paper copy. We simply cannot do a great newsletter if we have to continue to mail it. Unless we raise the dues, which is a possibility. Would anyone step up to the plate and do some human-interest stories? A get-to-know the members or how we got interested in astronomy. Stories of Bryce and Capitol Reef. Stories about local celebs like Dr. Stacy. That would be of interest and should be free to all who would like to check out our site. We don't need things in the NOVA that we can get from S&T. Some thoughts of mine about the NOVA... -A