By Meredith Kinder, Carolina Communiqué Managing Editor

It seems as though the cost of everything I buy is on the rise. It's not just the big things, like car payments and mortgages, but even the small things like the milk I put into my cereal each morning. And it's not just the luxury items, like a bottle of wine or jewelry, but the essential items in life are costlier.

I consider STC an essential item in my life, and the cost of STC is increasing as well.

Recently, STC's Board of Directors decided to raise membership dues for 2008. The increase is approximately 15% for the majority of Carolina Chapter members, which is about $25. The change does vary according to the category of membership you choose. To help you sort this out, see:

• The Q&A page at http://www.stc.org/membership/duesStructure02.asp
• An explanation of how dues are used at http://www.stc.org/membership/duesStructure03.asp
• To complain, post to the Member Forum at http://stcforum.org/viewtopic.php?pid=4182

As much as I hate a price increase, I've read about the reasons for the hike, and I will pay it. My combat against it is to use my membership to the fullest. I plan to take advantage of every opportunity STC gives me, and make the money I pay them worth it. I will attend more meetings, contribute more emails to the discussion lists, and attend more seminars. I will treat it like a buffet, where the restaurant is the one that loses out because I have chosen to eat so much that I have cost them more than the $7.99 I paid to get in.

Hopefully many of you will take similar attitudes. One way you can get more out of your membership is to either contribute to our chapter newsletter by writing an article or by reading each quarterly issue and soak up the knowledge. This issue contains a variety of topics that I hope will touch on everyone's interests, from broad to specific. It includes:

• A personal account by Simon Bate on how he became a technical communicator
• An interview by Michael Harvey with Heather Hesketh, who explains the creativity behind her web services company
• An editing lesson on emphasis by Andrea Wenger
• A recap of the chapter's annual picnic, which had a luau theme, by Sheila Loring
• An explanation on why (and how) our chapter is using a web-only newsletter, by Rick Sapir
• A review of GUI Bloopers 2.0 by David Dick
• A heartfelt thank you note from John Martin
• A overview of our chapter's international competition entries: all of them won at the international level

Meredith can be reached at newsletter at stc-carolina dot org.