Jan. 12, 2010 Program Meeting 01/01/2010
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“Write More, Write Less: Embracing the Value of Crafted Words and Images”
Presenter: Joe Welinske of WritersUA
Location: TBD
Day/Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Why I Joined STC Houston 01/01/2010
Posted by Managing Editor in Featured Article.add a comment
By Crystal Johnson
Sr. Technical Writer, Litton Loan Servicing
Direct Member Services, STC-Houston
I fell into the Technical Communication field by default. You see, I’m one of those folks that actually majored in the field instead of just “falling into it because of job scope creep,” mostly because I stink at math and logic. Apparently, you need these two skills if you are going to do well as a programmer. I found that my best scores were in English and writing classes, so my advisor suggested I try what was at the time the new Professional Writing program being offered at the University of Houston-Downtown.
Shortly after signing on, I was also pointed towards STC Houston. I even attended a couple of meetings. At the time, though, I wasn’t ready to volunteer for anything, and I thought the fees were too steep, especially for a struggling student like me. Looking back now, I don’t think I really got the point of professional organizations.
Jump forward ten years. I found I was the lone technical communicator in a growing company. I had kept tabs on STC and the Houston chapter, with the growth of the Internet making this task much easier. Suddenly, I realized that even with the freebies being offered over the web, if I wanted to stay fresh in my career I needed to be plugged in to something that would keep me informed of the latest and greatest. Of course, meeting other technical writers face-to-face was also an important thing for me to do. So, this time, not only did I sign up, I also volunteered for the STC Houston Administrative Council. And this was with a newborn baby coming into my home!
So far, I have not regretted this decision. In fact, especially in light of everything that’s going on with the economy, I’m very glad to be a part of an organization such as STC and STC Houston. It enables me to keep aware of the state of my chosen career path and gives me a place to vent! I have also been able to apply what I’ve learned from a couple of the STC Summits to my job.
Admittedly, I was anxious to see how much the fees would go up, because being on the Administrative Council, as early as July, I had been warned that the fees would increase by a significant amount. When the announcement came in mid-October, I noted that, as promised, they were significantly more but, as I posted to the STC Houston Yahoo Groups, in perspective to 2007, the increase was really was not as high as I imagined it would be, and the fees are still more reasonable than for many other professional organizations.
I was a little perplexed about why we were being charged separately for a local chapter. However, it did not change my mind about signing up for the Houston chapter. I like supporting my local chapter to keep the programs and other services going, like the web site and forums.
At the November 10 meeting, this breakup of the fees was explained by Hillary Hart as separating the global services that STC offers, mostly infrastructure and legal support, from the sub-groups and programs. These areas now need to support themselves, which means STC Houston has to become more creative in offering services at the local level. However, STC is there to help the Houston chapter out if we need financial support for a special program. So my $25 still helps STC Houston, even if it‘s not direct help at the moment. And I was really interested in learning about the Leadership Program and Leadership workshop—free services that are being offered to all STC members.
Bottom line: I’m proud to be a member of STC and especially STC Houston, and will continue to be a member for as long as it continues to provide me with a place to call home!
To learn more about the changes to STC, go to: http://www.stc.org/2009/10/answers-to-questions-asked-on-listserves.asp.
To keep up with STC Houston, go to: http://www.stc-houston.org.
DOS Lives! 01/01/2010
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By Robert Delwood
Senior Programmer Writer
The death of DOS has been widely announced or at least assumed. The arrival of Windows 95 formally replaced it.
Technically, DOS lingers on. Windows Vista still has the core files, but they’re accessable only from a special startup disk. Since Windows ME, DOS has been officially known as DOS 8.0. There is even a DOS 2000, published for legal reasons addressing the Year 2000 problem. The command line utility on the familiar DOS screen is available in all Windows versions, although the DOS functions are emulated rather than actual DOS, and the utility is now called the Windows Command Interpreter.
Many users assume that the functions of newer operating systems replace the DOS ones. For the most part, that’s true but not totally so. For example, deleting a folder by dragging it into the trash can automatically delete all the folders inside of it, but those folders are recoverable from the trash. In sharp contrast, the DOS Deltree command removes the files, and they are not recoverable. Dragging a folder to a new location is a simpler version of DOS’ Copy or Replace. Simpler but not completely the same. DOS commands have a purpose; some of the features are not entirely replaced by Windows equivalents and remain more convenient. For example, if service is performed on your computer, the first thing the technician does is open a command window and use IPCONFIG to get the current IP address. The following section gives useful DOS commands.
Using the Command Window
To use these DOS commands, click Start‑>Run to open the command window. Enter CMD in the Run screen, and click OK.
In many cases (as in the examples that follow) you will need to specify a path name to the file. The path includes the drive letter and a set of folders, such as D:\MyProjects\MyCurrentProject. If a name contains a space, enclose the entire path or file name in quotation marks, such as “D:\My Projects\My Current Project“.
And yes, the colors of the DOS window can be changed. Click the DOS window’s application icon in the upper left and select Properties. Click the Colors tab. In that tab, select Screen Text and a new color, and Screen Background and a new color. When you click OK, an Apply Properties screen displays. Select Save properties for future windows with same title and then OK.
Help is available for all commands. In the command window, enter the name of the command followed by /?, such as XCOPY /?.
XCOPY
This is perhaps the most useful command and offers a versatility that Windows doesn’t approach, even now. You can use it to copy more than one file, usually by copying folders, but with three main differences. First, it copies source files changed on or after a specified date only. If you do not include a date, it copies all source files that are newer than existing destination files; you can never accidentally replace a newer version with an older one. Second, it allows you to update only the files that have changed, saving time and possibly confirmation screens. Third, you can specify the file names to copy in the first place by using the DOS file name wildcard (such as *.doc? for all Word documents past and present). For example: to copy only the most recent file versions of all the files in a folder, use
XCOPY “D:\Projects\*.” “Q:\My Backup Folder”
To copy only changed .doc files, use
XCOPY “D:\Projects\*.doc” “Q:\My Backup Folder”
To copy files changed since 11/28/2006, use
XCOPY “D:\Projects\*.” “Q:\My Backup Folder” /d:11-28-2006
To see a list of files that would be copied if you ran this command,
XCOPY “D:\Projects\*.” “Q:\My Backup Folder” /s /i /f /y /d /l
The slash commands at the end of the line are options. You can craft precise commands.
COPY and DEL
The main advantage of the DOS Copy or Delete command is that you can specify which files to copy or delete by using file name wildcards. The slight advantage is that you don’t have to manually click on each file as you would if you had a long list of files or used the Windows Find command first. For example, to copy only the Word files, use
Copy *.doc
Or combine types. To copy or delete Word and Excel files, use
Copy *.doc+*.xls
Del *.doc *.xls
DIR
This directory command lists files in a directory, but it gives you much more control over the display. Used by itself, it lists all the files and folders in the directory:
Dir
Or to specify the names, use
Dir MonthlyReports.doc
Use wildcards in the name. The first command lists only Word documents, and the second one matches any letter for the ? symbol
Dir *.doc
Dir Month??2009.xls
Most of these options are presented in the Windows search dialog box, but curiously, even in the twenty-first century, Windows still does not have a way to print files in a folder. The easiest way to do this to save it to a file first:
Dir > filelisting.txt
And then print that file. As in most DOS commands, you can use wildcards:
Dir *.doc > filelisting.txt
If you want a list of only the file names and not the directory path, file size, or everything else included in the default command, use
Dir *.doc /b > filelisting.txt
Batch Files
One important feature not easily replicated in Windows is the use of batch files. Once a mainstay for PC operations, batch files let you store DOS commands in a single location and run them all at one time. In practice, using batch files is the equivalent of typing a series of DOS commands from the command line. For example, if you wanted to use XCOPY to back up files to a safe location and then delete all the files, you use the following commands:
xcopy “D:\Projects\*.” “Q:\My_Backup_Folder” /s /i /f /y /d >>”d:\backup_log.txt”
del “D:\Projects\*.”
Obviously, that is too much typing to do each time you want to perform those functions. So insert those commands as plain text in NotePad and save the file with a .bat extention. To run the file, just enter that file name in the command line. You can create complex scripts and even include basic logic instructions such as IF statements and looping. Although so much more is possible with current scripting technologies (such as using macros in Microsoft Office), those technologies are often seen as difficult and may require formal programming support. Batch files, in comparison, may not be as versatile but are easy to implement and may meet many team needs.
Other Useful DOS Commands (Place this section in sidebar?)
The following commands are also useful.
Comp: Compares contents of two files or sets of files. This is most useful if the two files are supposed to be identical or have minor differences.
Fc: Compares two files or sets of files. Displays the differences between files in a text format.
find: Searches for a text string in a file or files. More versatile than Windows Search.
findstr: Searches for a regular expression text string in a file or files. A very powerful string find. Uses regular expressions to find text. This pattern matching can find hyperlinks and part numbers, for example. No Windows tool does exactly the same thing.
tree: Displays the folder structure visually. Sometimes you want to show the structure of a folder, including each subfolder. There is no matching tool in Windows.
move or copy: Moves or copies files from one location to another. This is more flexible than copy and paste because you can specify the files or wildcards.
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November 2009 Program Meeting: 11/05/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in Chapter Meetings.add a comment
The State of STC as the New Decade Dawns
Hillary Hart, STC 2nd Vice-President, will present an overview of the state of STC at the closing of this year of financial crisis. She will summarize STC’s current financial position, explain the new 2010 dues structure, and describe some of the new benefits and services (the “New Norm”) that are coming online now and in the coming year. (For full details, click on http://www.stc-houston.org/events?event_id=37)
Hillary will also present her vision of STC’s New Norm: the direction she would like to see the Society take in the next couple of years, with the help of its community leaders and members.
As the STC communities become more similar in administrative structure, increased collaboration and synergy across communities of practice and of geography become possible. Increased use of social media and other online communication technologies enables more timely communication between STC and members. These synergies and enhanced communication are great for both STC and its members but necessitate new infrastructure and bring with them responsibilities for consistent, clear, accurate messaging by all parties.
Hillary would really like to hear from Houston chapter members how they see the STC network of communities evolving and how STC and its communities can partner to advance the profession of Technical Communication.
Meeting Details:
Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
5:30pm to 8:00pm (CST)
APQC Bldg. @ The Houstonian Hotel
123 N. Post Oak Lane
Networking Hour: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
(includes light snacks and drinks)
Program Meeting: 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Individual Program Meeting Prices
- Members: $20
- Non-Members: $25
- Student Members & Unemployed Members: $15
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Contextual Misspellings In Microsoft Office 2007 11/05/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in Technical Writing.add a comment
By Robert Delwood
Senior Programmer Writer
Microsoft Office 2007 introduced a new type of spelling error: the contextual misspelling. Noted with blue squiggly underlines, these are words that, although are technically spelled correctly, in their context seem suspicious. The Internet’s now famous poem “Ode To My Spell Checker,” has the lines “Eye halve a spell checker\It came with my pea sea,” making fun of this weakness detecting contextual errors and taking the issue to an amusing extreme. Amusing perhaps, but a serious problem. It’s been estimated that these account for about a quarter to a third of spelling issues. In the work place, these errors range from annoying and embarrassing (such as “Swine flu as a pubic health threat.”) to just plain wrong (“We’re not ready,” for “We’re now ready”).
Finding misspellings is relatively easy. Conventional spell checkers use a word/non-word test. That is, if the word does not appear in a predefined list, then it’s an assumed misspelling. The dictionaries are thorough, too. The Office American English dictionary runs up to 250,00 words and by adding specialized dictionaries such as for legal or medical terms, can reach 300,000. Contextual checking is more difficult. For this, it introduces a newer approach, based on patterns within the language. As an example, for the phrase “the sky is …,” falling or blue are the most commonly associated words. This is not because of any linguistic rule but simply that those patterns occur most often. To continue, if it’s not one of those two words, then it may be flagged, a sort of grammatical reverse Family Feud. Like the dictionaries, the pattern base is thorough. Microsoft analyzed billions of sentences looking for these patterns.
What is the contextual spell checker looking for? In short, any set of unlikely combinations, from variations of closed case words (too for to), or wrongly split (through out for throughout), to malapropisms, homonyms, or eggcorns. Mercifully, as a collection they are called real word errors although malapropism is commonly used, even among linguistic elites. These further divide into fair and unfair malapropisms. The difference is that an unfair one is in a context that automation couldn’t reasonably be expected to identify such as employee for employer, and not for now as pointed out earlier. This also includes unusually obscure occurrences, such as tunning, (the act of pouring wine into a cask or tun) for running, or anything Yogi Berra might say. Unfair malapropisms are excluded from this discussion.
So how accurate is Word’s contextual detection? In general, Word’s ability to locate contextual errors is low and can miss up to 70% of the actual occurrences. However, of the terms it does find, it’s almost always correct. On the other hand, it has about a 70% accuracy rate when suggesting corrections. When one is offered, it’s usually, but not always, correct. In the remainder of cases, if offers no suggestions.
Even with these limitations, it still has value. Microsoft will likely improve this record with each release. The contextual error system is closely related to their speech recognition enterprise, which is active and expanding. Nevertheless, understand how the checker works and always be conscientious of this during your own reviews. For example, it’s possible to introduce real word errors into documents by carelessly accepting suggestions. Human editors aren’t obsolete yet.
Words That Only a Logophile Could Love
The following is a brief list of related terms. Not all of them affect contextual spellings.
- A malapropism uses an incorrect word for a word with a similar sound, and the resulting phrase makes no sense. “Alcohol lets down your prohibitions.” (“inhibitions”).
- An eggcorn is like a malapropism except the resulting phrase has meaning that is different from the original, but could still have meaning. “Old-timers’ disease” for “Alzheimer’s disease.”
- A euphemism uses a less intense word in place of a stronger or offensive word. “Pre-owned” for “used”. In the late 20th century euphemisms were used extensively as a form of doublespeak, often to intentionally mislead, or even outright lie.
- Dysphemism (also malphemism, cacophemism) is the opposite of a euphemism in that a strong word is used in place of a weaker one. “Egghead” for “smart person.” Taken further, the dysphemism treadmill introduces harsh or shocking words as existing words lose their impact. A cacophemism implies an intentional offensive use of the word. A Cacography is deliberate comic misspelling, usually for a verbal caricature.
- Spoonerism is the switching of sounds among words. “Let me sew you to your sheet” for “Let me show you to your seat.”
- A portmanteau word is one formed from two existing words. “Brunch” is combined from “breakfast” and “lunch.” “Seinfeld” even asked “How come there’s no ‘lupper’ or ‘linner’?
- Catachresis is a misused word especially in a mixed metaphor. Alternately, it’s using an existing word to denote something that has no name in the current language.
- A figure of speech (or locution) is a word or phrase with a meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words. These include metaphors, similes, or personifications.
- A solecism is a grammatical error or a sentence turned into an absurdity. “I could care less” to mean “I couldn’t care less”.
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New STC Member Benefit: STC Member Logos 11/05/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in Membership News.add a comment
STC has a brand-new member benefit available—a special logo that members can use on resumes, business cards, email signatures, and more to identify themselves as an STC Member, Senior Member, Associate Fellow, or Fellow.
These logos are only for use by STC members. They are available in horizontal and vertical versions, and are high-resolution 300 dpi PNG graphic files, so they are suitable for all types of media.
Please see the Specialized STC Logos page and click on “Guidelines for Using the STC Logo” for the terms of use and then download the logos by clicking on “Specialized STC Logos.”
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OCTOBER’S EVENTS: STC Awards Competition – Call for Entries 10/05/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in Competition News.add a comment
Mastering Communication in an Ever-Changing World
by Jennifer Smith
It’s that time again when the art and science of technical communications come together—as in Leonardo da Vinci’s “Proportions of Man” (aka, Vitruvian Man)—for our annual STC Houston Awards Competition.
Today’s technical communicators work in an environment of constant change and questioning, much like da Vinci faced during the Renaissance. Are you keeping up with the times or, better yet, breaking barriers and inventing new ways to communicate?
Find out how you rate by submitting technical publications, online communications, or technical art for comprehensive judging against industry standards.
Participating in the 2009–2010 STC Awards Competition offers a unique opportunity to
• find out whether your work meets—or exceeds—rigorous standards set at the society level
• learn how to hone your skills even more on the basis of judges’ tips
• understand what it takes to make your work award-winning
• demonstrate your value to bosses, upper management, and potential employers
• potentially earn international recognition (if your entries are chosen to compete at the international level).
For full details about the competition, including guidelines, instructions, and forms for submitting entries, visit the Competitions link on the STC Houston Chapter web site: http://www.stc-houston.org/competitions.html
To compete, entries and entry fees must be received no later than October 15, 2009.
Eight Microsoft Word Tips 10/05/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in Technical Writing.add a comment
Review by Robert Delwood,
Senior Programmer Writer
By now, Microsoft Office 2007 users should have adapted to the new interface. There are new features that are well documented, although how practical they are remains to be seen. I find that the biggest annoyance is locating those functions that I know exist but have been moved.
Yet, like any pervious version of Office, there are also plenty of hidden features or features many users just don’t know about. Microsoft does a disservice to the community by not documenting these better than they do. It’s been joked that unless you double-click every pixel on the screen, you haven’t found all the functions. That’s not far from the truth. The following are some lesser-known Word features that may be of interest to users. Not all of them are new to 2007, just under-documented.
Switching documents. If you have multiple documents open, you can switch among them by using Alt-F6. As a note, the early keyboards, those from the 1980s through the mid 1990s, had the F keys on the left side, next to the Shift. This allowed one handed operations, such as Shift –F5. I wish they’d bring that back. Moving the Tab key, and removing the Caps Lock altogether. However, I digress.
Sticky Formatting. The Format Painter, the paint brush icon, allows you to apply a style and format by sweeping over the intended text. Put the cursor in text with the style to be copied, click Format Painter (the icon will change), and sweep over the text to change. If you double click that icon, it retains that formatting so you can reapply it multiple times. In general, Format Painter is not a new feature, but properly done this time. Word 2003’s Format Painter would eventually corrupt a document, since Word didn’t handle copied styles elegantly. That doesn’t seem to be a problem with the new XML format (.docx).
Finding Your Way. In large documents, it’s easy to get lost, or at least lose where you had been. Clicking Shift-F5 moves the cursor back to the last location that had the cursor, usually an edit. Keep doing it: Word remembers up to the last four locations. It’ll even remember if one of the last four places was in another open document.
Moving Paragraphs. If you have to move a paragraph, you can use cut and paste, although there may be times you don’t want to lose you clipboard. You can also click and drag the highlighted text to the new location. Alternatively, you can use Alt-Shift and the Up or Down arrow key. This moves the entire paragraph in which the cursor is located in that direction. Be careful not to use the left or right arrows, which change the style. Of more concern is that using Alt Shift changes the keyboard from English to Russian, if you have that installed.
Easy Find. If you’re looking for a term, the annoying Find dialog tends to cover up part of the document, or in some cases, the very term you want to see. A better way is to close the dialog after the first find and use the quick find (the double arrows below the left scroll bar). Clicking up or down finds that occurrence in that direction. That feature is even more useful. Click the circle and additional options can be selected, such as finding tables, fields, or previous edits (see Finding Your Way above).
Finis. Prepare feature is new to 2007 and performs several useful checks on document. Ostensibly to ready them for release but it’s convenient to make sure a document is clean. Located in the Office button, select Prepare (under Print). Properties, Encrypt, Restrict, and Digital Signature are similar enough to the Word 2003 versions. The others are new:
Inspect. This helps locate information you may not want released. Specifically, it locates comments, hidden text, track changes, comments, or document properties that might include e-mail addresses or names.
Mark as Final. This locks the file for changes. This is not a security feature and should not be considered as such. Rather, it lets users know it’s a final candidate and this is a convenient way of preventing changes.
Compatibility Checker. This checks for items that might be problems in earlier Word versions. If your organization or clients still use Word 2003 or earlier, this makes sure the document can be easily opened by them. It would note any features that those versions do not support such as some embedded ActiveX controls, themes, equations, and citations. Along this note, Office may impose additional restrictions. For example, if working in Excel 2007 and you create a spreadsheet with more than 65,536 rows, you will not be able to save it in the old .xls format since it can’t support the excessive number of rows.
Jack Molisani: Job Hunting Secrets That Might Surprise You 09/01/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in Chapter Meetings.add a comment
September 2009 Meeting
Submitted by Stephanie Donovan
Secretary/Education & Outreach
Have you ever submitted a resume for a job but were never called for an interview? Don’t miss our September meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 2009!
In a follow-up to his popular “The Top 10 Mistakes Writers Make When Looking For Work” session, returning speaker Jack Molisani will present little-known facts about resumes and the hiring process that may be hurting your chances of landing a new job.
“For years I have resisted speaking about resumes, thinking that everything that could possibly be said about resumes has already been covered. But after seeing candidate after candidate rejected based on what they had—and didn’t have—in their resumes, I realized that it’s time for me to step up and share what I have observed over the years: Job hunting secrets that might surprise you.” — Jack Molisani, President, ProSpring Technical Staffing
About the speaker:
Jack Molisani was a Project Officer in the Space Division of the USAF before starting ProSpring Technical Staffing, an employment agency specializing in engineers, project managers and technical writers: www.ProspringStaffing.com
Jack also produces The LavaCon Conference on Professional Development. The seventh annual LavaCon will be held October 25–27, 2009 in New Orleans in partnership the GNO PMI chapter: www.lavacon.org
Jack is also offering a spectacular door prize – a free entrance to LavaCon – so bring your business card for the drawing!
Note: Meeting Location CHANGE! This is a different Mustang building and location than our last chapter meeting:
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Mustang Engineering
17000 Katy Fwy.
Houston, TX 77094
President’s Message: The Fiduciary Responsibility of STC Houston 09/01/2009
Posted by Managing Editor in President's Message.add a comment
By Rick V. Sanchez
President, STC Houston
STC Houston pledged to send $28,000 to our parent STC organization to help deliver STC from its current financial circumstances. That pledge is vital to the survival of our parent organization and will be used to resolve STC’s deficit problem announced earlier this year.
In May 2009, during leadership day of the annual STC conference, the directors of our parent organization described a financially disturbing situation. They predicted a possible shortfall of $1.3 million, which would potentially bankrupt the organization if corrective actions were not taken. At that time, approximately $1.2 million were stored in the collective coffers of all STC chapters.
The STC directors explained that the projected shortfall was based, in part, on the STC economic model. STC spends approximately $250 per member but, on average, receives under $200 in dues per individual member. Thus, according to our parent organization, STC was spending more per member than it received from membership dues. The dues shortfall and the bad economy were cited as reasons for the financial distress of the parent organization. To cope with this situation, STC has cut back on office costs, employees, and other expenditures. To raise additional funds, STC has contracted with professionals that will help identify new revenue streams. In addition, STC has acquired a line of credit that has reduced the originally projected $1.3 million shortfall. All of these steps lessened but did not eliminate the shortfall. While the amount of the adjusted shortfall is uncertain, it is clear that STC needs the help of each local chapter in order to stay solvent.
Without the support of each chapter, the parent organization would not be able to meet its financial obligations—in which case, both the parent organization and the local chapters would eventually, perhaps after costly litigation, cease to exist. Therefore, the parent STC organization asked each chapter to produce an 18-month budget that identified what it would cost for each chapter to maintain the level of service it has offered in years past. In essence, no new initiatives would be allowed unless those initiatives could be proven profitable. Moreover, any initiative that caused a negative cash flow must be thoroughly reviewed and justified.
Houston completed its budget well within the proposed deadline, thanks to the many hours that our local directors and committee managers dedicated to the effort. However, because a portion of Houston’s revenue comes from member dues, and because the parent STC organization will be keeping those dues entirely, STC Houston is in search of replacement funds.
In past years, the Houston chapter functioned under a $2,000 per year deficit without harm because of generous donations and the hard work of its dedicated members. This year, the loss of membership dues has exacerbated our small annual deficit. But due to our chapter’s resourcefulness, STC Houston is in a position to help our parent organization regain its financial footing. We have the capacity to assist because of a financial cushion that we accumulated by hosting a Houston-based STC conference, which produced a surplus.
The efforts of those who labored to raise those funds from the Houston-based STC conference have not gone unnoticed; in fact, some of the current STC Houston administrative council resisted sending funds to the parent organization because those funds were gained solely through the wit and hard work of the STC Houston chapter volunteers. In the end, however, council members realized that STC Houston, like other chapters, would literally have to close its doors unless it helps sustain the parent organization, through which all chapters are incorporated. Due to the incorporation, all funds held by an STC chapter are, by law, owned by the parent organization. Thus, any chapter not contributing requested funds would not be following corporation guidelines. On the contrary, STC Houston is a supportive chapter with a proven track record of generosity, prudence, courage, and perseverance; therefore, in keeping with that spirit, we have pledged to be magnanimous and fulfill our mission.
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