time passes in moments

The end.

2007-04-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

I officially finished my masters degree today.

More later when I'm a little less stunned.

Pumped

2007-04-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

Our profs have always told us that we'd have the most fun with stories that we were actually interested in. I had an awesome opportunity to mix business with pleasure when I popped into the LFP for a volunteer shift last week and the city editor asked me if I knew anything about history -- more specifically about Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Currie, and his role at Vimy Ridge. I know quite a bit about Currie, a Strathroy/Kerwood native, through my work at Museum Strathroy-Caradoc, and had a blast talking to sources. So it was a win-win situation for the LFP and I. My boss was even able to get in on the action, showcasing some Currie-related items from the museum collection as the main photo for the piece.

It looks amazing in print, but an online version will have to do.

"Great tactician came from Middlesex roots."

First-run

2007-03-28T23:39:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest things about volunteering for the 4-12 shift at the London Free Press is getting a first-run copy of the next day's paper. Thursday's news is already sitting on my kitchen table. :)

Cough

2007-03-25T22:40:00.000-05:00

Three weeks to go and I'm officially (finally?) sick.

So much for mind over matter.

Reflecting on journalism

2007-03-16T17:48:00.000-05:00

Journalism is probably the most social field you can get into, seeing as how you get paid to talk to people about things they are doing and feeling. Of course, psychologists, police officers and lawyers share the same task. :) But in the words of my radio prof from summer term, Jim van Horne, "Who has more fun than us?"

This week I've interviewed women trying to clinch federal Liberal nominations and high school kids being trained in professional theatre. In the past I've talked to MPs, city councillors, cancer survivors, butchers, 70-year-old runners, doctors and giant mascots (although that wasn't so much an interview as a series of waves). I've talked to many more people, but these are the only ones that come to mind right now. When I was at Global I crossed paths with Julian Fantino, Dalton McGuinty, Elizabeth May, countless healthcare workers, and even the Prime Minister, although he and I didn't actually talk (some day, Stephen... some day).

But it is always the 'everyday' people that stay with me: the elderly man trying to care for his wife who has Alzheimers, the farm woman open about her fight with breast cancer, the young guy who bikes his compost and recycling to work every week because his 22-story apartment building doesn't have green programs. I remember the two guys running a small grain elevator affected by corn mould. I remember a municipal candidate who invited me to her home for coffee and opened up to me about her early struggles. I've cried over stories, but I've also cried *because* of stories.

Admittedly, people were more eager to talk to me when I had a name like "Global Television" behind me. But it's usually the people who are open to a name like "Western Journalism" who make the most time for you, and touch you the most.

Longing

2007-03-14T15:17:00.000-05:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted here, but I'm at a loss as to what to write.

There's just under five weeks left in our program. Five weeks. It's hard to believe. I remember when I first started, I felt so overwhelmed and under-motivated that I didn't think I'd make it. And now we're all frantically finishing our final docs/features and celebrating the near-end of media theory. That doesn't mean the stress-level is decreasing at all. We're still grasping for ideas and interviews weekly, just as we did 10 months ago. Pitch. Chase. Interview. Write. Repeat. But I'm not going to lie, everyone in this program is incredibly supportive of one another.

Yesterday marked the first feeble return of spring--or winter's death knell, as Dan called it. One all-too-short day of sunshine and plus-14 temperatures brought hibernating Londoners out of the woodwork and on to the patios of Richmond Row. A small group of us j-students met at Molly Bloom's to de-stress and debate halter tops. We'll have spent every season together by the time we graduate.

My roomie and I also gave notice on our apartment last week, meaning I'll be moving... again. I'm desperate to settle somewhere, to nest and paint and just have some stability. I've lived in this apartment for nearly a year, which is longer than I've lived anywhere in the last five. I remember when Marie and I moved in, we swore we would never move again. In fact, we joked about living until we were 80 and dying here, so that our friends and family would have to move all of our junk. But life keeps going, and it didn't make sense for either of us to renew the lease. We're both headed back to the A-dot, for the summer at least, or until bigger changes happen...

Do you see them?

2007-02-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

London hasn't received nearly the amount of snow that Hamilton has, resulting in... absolutely no snow days. But that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy a snowy winter scene. Behind my apartment building is a random empty field--an oasis of sorts in the middle of the city. Today the deer came out to play.

Happy Birthday

2007-02-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to the bravest and awesomest (yes I consider that a word) man that I know. One of my best friends.

I love you, dad.

Rick Mercer Visits UWO

2006-11-28T20:40:00.000-05:00

"Journalism was full."

Trick Question

2006-11-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

In a job interview this afternoon, I was asked to predict the winner of the London-North-Centre by-election, regardless of my own political views. I had to concede that this riding, being staunchly Liberal for the last 18 years, would likely go to Glen Pearson. It appears that I was right.

Hopefully the job offer won't be far behind?

PS. Unbelievable showing by the Green Party. Neck-and-neck with the Liberals all night, besting the Conservatives, the NDP, and three other parties/independents.

a few of my favourite things

2006-11-26T18:18:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by a dear former roomie, but I think I will limit this list to 10 or so things... even though I know that as soon as I post it, I will want to edit/add to it.

- Providence (the doctrine, and my church)
- random weekends with the 204 Sisterhood
- Sunday night hang-outs with the guys
- incoming text messages (especially ones from Sierra Leone, Hamilton, or just across the city)
- my bed
- snail mail
- my Redeemer hoodie
- election nights
- the smell of Tim Horton's
- the reliability of my car
- feeling competent
- my dogs
- knowing that I can always come home... and that more than one place can be home

Fun with the PEBL

2006-11-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I finally left evil Bell Mobility for the friendlier Fido. In addition to the benefits of no longer being lied to or screwed around with, I also got a free phone--a Motorola PEBL, which apparently is a pretty trendy thing in cell phone technology (or so I've been told, since I myself don't really pay attention to these things). The phone is Bluetooth compatible (it can interact with my iBook), and also has camera and video features. This means I can record videos of fights at Sarnia Sting games and take photos of important things like squirrels eating Cheetos. Oh yeah, and the phone has a dialtone. The only thing I really need. :p

Below are a few photos of things I've encountered lately.

Trixie, my Jack Russell Terrier back home.

The shiny hubcap of a 2006 Ford GT. The Ford dealership in Strathroy won the right to display one of these sports cars in a lottery. Price tag? Over $200, 000 CDN.

A squirrel eating a bag of Cheetos in the parking lot of Elgin Hall, UWO.

My car hit 150, 000 clicks on the way to church last week. Here's hoping for 150, 000 more.

Om drie

2006-10-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

We finished radio on Friday, and are moving on to our third and final rotation on Tuesday: print.

Internship!

2006-10-24T23:01:00.000-05:00

It's official! My January placement is with Global News Toronto, at their Queen's Park Bureau. Provincial politics! I couldn't be more excited!!

Don't expect too many posts from me about the inner workings of my job. It'd be kind of dumb to publicly talk about the workplace and my colleagues and I definitely don't want to cross any lines. But I will let you know if I meet any of the more famous/notorious politicians, and if any of the stories I pitch or interviews I do actually make it to air.

I received a nice email from this gentleman today, outlining my possible duties--which could include everything from greeting guests or arranging interviews, to maybe conducting some interviews of my own or shooting footage. By the end of the email I was so excited that I just wanted to screw the documentary due tomorrow, the current affairs show I'm producing the day after, the new media website I'm contributing to, and the entire new course in journalism ethics that was dropped into my lap tonight, and go straight to work for him.

Switcheroo

2006-10-22T23:17:00.000-05:00

I can't think of a better time to be a politically-minded j-student here.

After 18 years in the position, Joe Fontana dropped his federal seat in London-North-Centre to run for the mayor's chair in the upcoming municipal election. He's opposing incumbent Anne-Marie DeCicco Best and he's currently lagging in the polls. Also running are super-mom and "People's Mayor" Cynthia Etheridge, businessman Arthur Majoor, and perennial candidate Ivan Kasiurak, who recently said that he'll keep running for mayor until he dies... and beyond. This race, in addition to permanent debate about abolishing the Board of Control, dead people showing up on local voting lists, and a revamped ward system, would have been enough to keep me entertained. But then on Wednesday the focus shifted to federal politics when...

Former London mayor Dianne Haskett emerged from her home in Washington D.C., hoping to clinch the Conservative nomination for the by-election here to replace Fontana. It's rumoured (but unproven) that Stephen Harper orchestrated the reappearance. Also hoping to nab nominations are Elizabeth May, the new leader of the Green Party, and Megan Walker, a former city councillor aiming for the NDP.

Today, Harper set the date for the by-election: November 27, 14 days after the municipal election.

Two elections in one month, with numerous seats to be filled, campaigns to be run, and gaffes waiting to happen. I think I'm with former Ontario premier and MPP for London Centre, David Peterson, when he says, "Holy smokes," in response to it all.

50%

2006-10-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

This weekend marks the exact half-way point in our journalism program. And this video pretty much sums up what it's been like for us:

Unlike the hamster, we hop right back on and keep going. We love it though. Not one of us have dropped out.

I alternate between not believing that we've only been at it for six months ("Did I really not know any of these people just six months ago? Nor used an Avid suite or prepped a radio broadcast? Because it's everyday life now") and realizing that it's gone by way too fast. Before I know it, this program that I spent years preparing myself for and dreaming of will be over. One year seemed so long at the beginning, and now it actually seems short.

I re-read that paragraph and think, WOAH, six months. Where on EARTH did they go?

(The answer to that is, they went to die in the newsroom of NCB, alongside most of my nights and weekends. Heh.)

Fall Returns

2006-10-19T10:20:00.000-05:00

Last weekend two future teachers and a future social worker joined an accountant, a residence advisor, and a future journalist here in the L-dot. Life has taken us all on different paths since graduation, and its nice that life still allows us to meet up sometimes. Thank you, life.

We took in some of the fall colours on Sunday afternoon.

And at the end of the day I found someone had arranged the random words of my fridge magnets to voice an opinion that I seconded:

Thanksgiving Weekend II: the non-firey parts

2006-10-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

A few people have asked me if the picture from my last post was taken in North Korea. I guess that means our fire was pretty big?

Here are a few photos snapped back at the homestead over Thanksgiving break. Within four days of these photos being taken, I emerged from another late night at the school needing gloves and an ice scraper to clean the snow off my car before driving home. Absurd.

Thanksgiving bonfire in my back field

2006-10-09T12:21:00.000-05:00

B-dawg: "Do you ever hit a point where you think, 'These guys are totally crazy?'"

My dad: "Oh, I'm long past it."

Picture taken on a camera phone b/c my dig cam pooped out on me. :(

What a newscast looks like

2006-09-30T10:54:00.000-05:00

My last 4 weeks in pictures. Sort of. I took on a lot of roles, but we only have pictures from the 30-minute newscasts we put together. I could use those pictures to show you the entire process, but some of my colleagues may not appreciate being posted to the internet. So I did my best to use only photos of myself, though its inevitable to include others in some shots. I apologise in advance for any tense-changes in my writing and the amount of brackets I use. It's Saturday. I'm entitled to a day off!

This is the Avid suite, where all the magic takes place (I promise you, the magic is in here, not the studio!). This is where tape stories, features, documentaries, etc. come together. All footage is downloaded to this computer and all editing, sound mixing, and graphic design happens here. Footage that comes in from Reuters (or anywhere, for that matter) is recorded here too, which is what I'm doing in this picture.

For the first 30-minute cast I was the feeds person, meaning I kept an eye on all incoming feeds (Reuters, etc.), recorded them, and shot-listed them, so the writers would have footage to work with. It's more stressful than it sounds, especially when a UN conference bumps back all scheduled programming and the poor writers are diving in and out of my little room, desperate for footage that our wires *say* is there.

Outside of this room, the producers are finding and assigning stories to the writers, who are researching wire copy and making edits to the footage. A line-up editor is tentatively making the order for the newscast. This is a very optimistic job because stories sometime break 10 minutes before air and everything changes... again. Also, two field reporters are running around the city interviewing and filming for local stories.

Once all the pre-work is over (writing, shooting, editing), we theoretically go to air (although all 3 take place up to and throughout the cast, especially if we have a breaking story). So later on in the day I was an anchor for the 'cast. Here, my co-anchor and I meet at the table with the producer, assistant producer (or ass prod, as we lovingly refer to him/her), and the lineup editor to go over the show and pick out any stories we may stumble over while reading. The technical producer also sits in, carefully marking out cues. In this picture is one of our TV profs, Cliff Longsdale. He's a former producer of CBC's The National, and I have a huge amount of respect for him. I've spent the last 4 weeks learning to think like him.

An "aerial" shot of us anchors at the desk.

In front of us: two cameras and camera people, the floor director taking cues from a headset, and someone operating the teleprompter.

Behind them is another room of people who take care of the technical stuff: operating, switching, audio mixing, etc. There's a lot of people behind the scene. If you look closely, you'll see the anchors in the monitors.

For the second 30-minute 'cast I was the field reporter and the switcher. So in the morning a colleague and I hunted down a local story, shot it all around the city, and edited it together for the broadcast (the process took us days last term, now we've trimmed it to just a few hours). There are no pictures of this b/c we were, well, out in the field.

During the broadcast I operated the switcher. The job basically involved pushing buttons at EXACTLY the right time--whenever there's a camera/anchor change on the screen or a tape story rolled, there's a switcher making the switch. It's all about listening to the cues. And having the right cues in the first place. Also in this room is the audio mixer and the operator, who loads the "tape" stories on the computer. Again, it's up to the switcher to switch from the anchors to the rolling tape of a story. The producer is in here too, overseeing things and making decisions right to the end. Dave Mills is our second TV prof and he's in this picture, making the whole show run. Hands down, Dave is the world's most patient man! I'll miss working with him everyday. And by working with him I mean ducking my head into his office saying "Dave I have *another* problem" in what is probably a really whiney voice. I bet he'll miss me too. :)

So that's a brief glimpse at TV. I start the second radio rotation on Monday.

Night Owls

2006-09-26T02:22:00.000-05:00

One unique thing about this program--aside from the fact that it's the only MA Journalism program in the country that can be completed in one year--is that, at the eve of an end of a rotation, no less than one-quarter of the class is holed up in the broadcast studios of North Campus Building at 2am on any given night. Why the studios are dead at 2pm and rowdy at 2am is beyond me, and I'm one of the guilty parties. Grad students and journalists alike (double-whammy) are just plain weird.

It's no fun working alone, so it's nice that we keep similar hours (later than most drunken frosh and a heck of a lot more productive). It's cool how after just 5 months of intense, break-neck work we've formed into a little family... one that has both close siblings and odd cousins, who you'd miss equally if they just didn't show up at the reunion.

G'night.

Ps.

2006-09-18T13:41:00.000-05:00

I am still trying to reconcile myself to the fact that I am now 22 years old.

Blessings

2006-09-18T12:12:00.000-05:00

21 years.

17 years.

14 years.

6 years.

4 years.

Over the course of my 22 years, I've gone to five different schools, lived with 25 different girls, faithfully attended 3 churches, and lived in 3 different towns. And through it all--the schooling, the summers, the moves (mine and theirs), and life changes, I have a large number of friendships that have lasted across time and varying distances.

I'm always aware of the amazing, long-term friendships peppered throughout my life and how blessed I am that those long-term relationships are still some of my strongest. In fact, most of these people I still see/keep in touch with every week, every day, or, uh, live with. Of course, not everyone is pictured here... each photo represents a group of very special people in my life. And dates (especially the early ones!) are approximate.

But how cool is it that some of the relationships that have lasted the longest are represented by pictures taken just two days ago?

I've been very blessed with (and by) these people who stick around. :)

Alberta (ish)

2006-09-10T17:48:00.000-05:00

Alberta sunrise (Innisfail, Monday August 21)

Alberta mountains (Banff-ish, Thursday August 17)

Alberta grain mills (somewhere between Edmonton and Calgary, Tuesday August 22)

Alberta badlands (Drumheller, Tuesday August 22)

Alberta glacier (Columbia Ice Field, Jasper National Park, Friday August 18)

Alberta construction (everywhere, everyday)

Alberta mistake (Golden, British Columbia, Friday August 18)

The number of radio stations available to us on drive to the Columbia Ice Field (Banff National Park, Friday August 18)

Alberta ranch (Innisfail, Sunday August 20)

Alberta history (Johnston's Canyon, Thursday August 17)

Alberta tourist spot (Lake Louise, Thursday August 17)

Alberta driving (Banff National Park, Friday August 18)

Alberta attitude (Wheatland County, Tuesday August 22)

Alberta peace (Lake Morraine, Thursday August 17)

Trixie Makes a Point

2006-09-06T23:24:00.000-05:00

Why you should unpack your suitcase as soon as you get back from a trip:

Yes, she did make that heap of clothing on the right to make a bed for herself on the left.