I spent the better part of Thursday deep underground, in a cave under a limestone escarpment near Albany. <\/p>\n
We crawled for a couple of hours through the darkness, shimmying on our bellies at times. <\/p>\n
There were two brief patches where we could stand upright. I never thought I’d feel so grateful for a few extra inches of headroom.<\/p>\n
Complicating matters was the fact that the cave is also a creekbed. We were sloshing through snowmelt that was sluicing down from the woods in daylight up above. <\/p>\n
The objective was to inspect and tally bats, part of “white nose syndrome” research that continues around the Northeastern US.<\/p>\n
I’m telling this story with a very particular motive: to remind you about our upcoming pledge drive. <\/p>\n
How do these two thing connect?<\/p>\n
Put bluntly, there are very few public radio stations in the country that can afford to have a reporter spend a day underground rooting around after sick bats.<\/p>\n
It’s too expensive, too time-consuming, and (yes) too risky. <\/p>\n
(Did I mention that I’m so sore this morning that I keep startling my dog Sara with my groans?) <\/p>\n
When I do in-depth work like this — or when David Sommerstein spends a day working on a story up on the St. Lawrence River, or when Todd Moe and Joel Hurd orchestrate a complicated instudio music event — it’s because of you.<\/p>\n
Even $20 or $40 a year can give us that extra bit of freedom to really dig after a story. <\/p>\n
You provide those extra few inches of headroom that let us stand up and look around and sort out what’s really going on.<\/p>\n