The National Magazine Award Winning Historicist

We did it...

Being nominated for a National Magazine Award for a second year in a row was a great honour, providing recognition for all the hard work Kevin Plummer, David Wencer, and I put into Historicist each week. But looking at a field in the Blogs category which included major publications (Maclean's) and excellent, long-established writers (The Grid's Edward Keenan), I figured I was simply going to enjoy a nice night out with colleagues.

First, Torontoist's city hall coverage (featuring the talents of Hamutal Dotan, David Hains, Steve Munro, Christopher Bird, and Desmond Cole) tied for a Silver award in Blogs. A whoop went up from our table. This felt good - recognition for the site's mighty fine analysis and reporting on the circus at Nathan Philips Square. 

And then Gold was announced...

"Stunned" is an understatement. It's hard to define what my body experienced at that moment. If it were a mixed drink, you'd shake together shock, amazement, and euphoria. Especially since this news occurred at the end of a trying week. I wished the others were on hand, so that all three of us could go onstage to collect the award.

Photo by Dale Duncan.

But it was just me, so up I went. As one of my editors told me, I accepted the award, started to walk off, then realized I could give a speech. Mind blanking, I briefly thanked everyone, said something about telling Toronto's past stories -- can't remember if it was thanking the audience for reading them or promising to bring more in the future -- then wandered off.

One of our editors promised to keep reminding me about what just happened every few minutes. 

Emailed Kevin and David with the good news. Texted close friends. Called Mom and my sister. Amy said I "sounded giddy." I remained so for the rest of the night, my body being in a state I've heard others describe while high.

***

There were two influential people in my writing career I was happy to see carry award envelopes Friday night. Representing Western Living magazine was Anicka Quin, who was the first editor-in-chief I worked under at The Ontarion. The atmosphere and opportunities she provided that year (1997/98) lit the idea in my head that someday, if circumstances were right, I could be a writer. In terms of Historicist, David Topping (who won for work at The Grid) has to be credited for his help as Torontoist EIC in launching the column six years ago, and for encouraging plenty of work on various sites since then. Thanks to both of you for your guidance then and now -- really appreciated.

Thanks to Hamutal Dotan, for her ongoing support and suggesting many ideas over the past few years that have turned into some of my favourite pieces. And for encouraging gratuitous use of archival photos of diving horses. 

Thanks to you, our readers, for showing there's plenty of interest in Toronto history.

And, most of all, thanks to Kevin and David. It's an honour to co-write the column with you guys. We've shared a lot of stories over the years, and look forward to future tales. 

You're Listening to CFRU, 93.3 FM in Guelph...

PREFACE: Scrolling through Facebook recently, a friend posted a link to a two-decade old video promoting CFRU, the University of Guelph's campus radio station. Based on the date, it was shot around the time of my first spell in a space I knew very well by the time I left the Royal City. Memories good and bad flooded back.

A great topic to write about, right?

Except that I already had. A Google search showed I wrote a lengthy piece about my days at CFRU five years ago, marking the 10th anniversary of the final edition of my weekly music show. Which is now almost 15 years ago. Which is alternately amazing (wow, those 15 years flew by fast!) or frightening (15 years ago? HOLY SH*T!)

So, here's a compromise. Most of what follows is the post from five years ago, with additional images and stories.

Reason #3,421 Why The Internet Comment Is One Of Humanity's Worst Inventions

Image of Maya Angelou and Herry Monster via Sesame Street's Twitter feed.

In the annals of human ingenuity, the internet comment may rank among one of our worst inventions. When used correctly, it can provide a forum to share useful information, fond reminiscences, or enlightened discussion on any topic.

Sadly, that rarely occurs.

The usual result is a gathering space for trolls, especially on media sites. People express outrageous opinions that you know they’d never express in the flesh. Nitpickers latch onto tiny, pedantic mistakes instead of engaging in the topic at home (tip to those of you who love doing this: send a private email. It’s less a-holish than publicly humiliating a writer for a typo). Political partisanship runs amok, even if the story has nothing to do with politics. Regardless of topic, it’s almost inevitable somebody will use the comment section to attack _____ (choose one of: liberals, public broadcasting, teachers, unions, Hillary Clinton, David Suzuki).

(Note that I don't always agree with the tackling dummies I just listed, but the abuse they endure is ridiculous.)

I avoid reading comments as much as possible, which does wonders for my blood pressure. Nobody needs to be exposed to that much manufactured, soul-destroying outrage. But sometimes my eye will slip, catching the first comment before moving on to the next webpage.

Case in point: this morning, I checked out CBC News’s bulletin on the death of Maya Angelou. The first comment listed below the story was posted by a lovely human being named "Juliska Magyar." It reads:

Zero impact on my life. Much ado about nothing.
C
B
Copy American news hype.

Tell you what Juliska. When you die, I'll send a bus of people over to your funeral, who will all demand to speak during the eulogies. All of them will say that you had zero impact on their lives, and that your funeral is, frankly, much ado about nothing.

Also, f**k those graceless souls who use someone's death as a platform to provide their two cents about why they hate the messenger. Criticizing a dead person is one thing—I think there are grounds for that to provide a fully-rounded assessment of their life within a day or two of their death, even if some may find that tasteless. Take the recent example of former Ontario/federal finance minister Jim Flaherty - beloved by friends and associates as a genial guy, responsible for actions that hurt some people. But ignoring the person who died through most of your comment just to rail at the messenger (CBC here) or your personal, barely related pet peeve? Classy. Oh so classy.

The comments section often reflects the divisive attitudes we’ve allowed to get in the way of constructive debate and generally being respectful to our fellow humans. Physically and symbolically, we could use a little more of the action Maya and Herry Monster demonstrate in the photo atop this post.

On The Grid, ROM Edition

Source: The Grid, March 13-19, 2014.

If you pick up a copy of The Grid this week, not only will you find this profile, you'll also read the infographic I wrote to mark the Royal Ontario Museum's centennial. I do not take responsibility for any write-in campaigns supporting the inanimate carbon rod for mayor of Toronto.

Presentation Time: Writing About History

Last Friday (March 7), I gave a lunchtime presentation on writing about Toronto history at the Arts & Letters Club. The following is the text of my talk:

Canadian Authors Dinner at the Arts & Letters Club, 1930s. Photo by George W. Latta. Toronto Public Library - see their website for a larger version.

Looking up “history” in my desk dictionary, the first meaning listed was “tale, story.” It’s a meaning sometimes lost when people discuss history. To some, our past is little more than facts and statistics. That’s fine under certain circumstances—compiling appendices for a larger work, refuting the claims of politicians, cramming for trivia night. But having piles of factoids and numbers lodged in your head isn’t helpful without the contextual stories behind that data.

There was a point in my writing career where I fretted about being called out by online commenters who harped on minor facts I overlooked in an article, or nitpicked about obscure details. My girlfriend at the time, who often proofread my work, asked who I was really writing for: the nitpickers, who will complain regardless of what I write, or the wider audience, who is more compelled by colourful stories and engaging storytelling? The answer was the latter. She knew that while historical accuracy is important, so is finding resonances with readers.

This Week's Social Media Experiment

Employment seekers, Canadian National Exhibition, 1920s. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 1360.

The experiment: use social media to seek out work opportunities, to uncover possibilities I'm unaware of, to put it out there that I'm really - REALLY - looking for work to keep myself solvent these days. Utilizing Twitter and Facebook, I would focus the day's postings on attracting attention to my work quest, and the skills I bring to potential employers. 

7:00 A.M. Ready and willing to work for living wage.

8:00 A.M. If you're hiring today, follow ABBA's advice and take a chance on me.

9:00 A.M. Looking for a writer/researcher/communications person? Check out my LinkedIn profile. Then, let's talk!

10:00 A.M. Some old dogs can't be taught new tricks. This one can. Let's talk work opportunities where I can use old and learn new skills.

11:00 A.M. Research and writing aren't easy. They require skill to clarify any subject. I can create accessible content for your audience.

12:00 P.M. Lunch break. Because job hunters need to catch their breath.

At this point, I figured my Facebook followers required an explanation.

In case you're confused by my sudden tidal wave of posts, I'm running an experiment today involving hourly updates on social media to see if they result in any job/freelance work leads. If they are annoying the heck out of you, I apologize - sometimes experiments do that. It looks like I may have driven off some Twitter followers, though those may have been spambot accounts.

Sometimes you just have to try every trick you can think of.

This has been spurred by one of the worst bouts of existential angst I have ever experienced - last night my brain explored really dark places. Call this an attempt at a positive countermeasure that, fingers crossed, results in something. After all, as pointed out at this weekend's Toronto Park Summit, a positive approach works better than pure complaining/whining.

Maybe. Possibly. Who knows?

1:00 P.M. (Twitter version) Looking for freelance or contract help for your next project? Here's an award-winning example of my work.

On Facebook, instead of posting the 1:00 P.M. noted,  I wrote a thank you note for the feedback on the explanation note. All the comments were really appreciated and did wonders for my psyche. I know a lot of wonderful people, and hope to repay them by helping out if they find themselves in the same boat someday.

2:00 P.M. You require a short, snappy column for your site. Let's say words and images from your archives to dazzle readers? I can help.

3:00 P.M. The news cycle never sleeps. Neither does the need for historical context for headline stories. I can help.

4:00 P.M. Pinched for time for that personal/work research trip to the archives or library? I can help.

5:00 P.M. End of business day. Thanks for reading (or putting up with, depending on perspective) today's work-hunting tweets.

The results? Several job postings were passed my way, which I'll work on the rest of this week. It doesn't look like I drove people away - my Twitter feed lost three followers, but those may have been commercial/spam accounts. If any work opportunities present themselves in the next week or so because of this experiment, I'll mark it down in the lab report as success.

It's a tough market out there, but I'll muddle my way through if only through grizzled persistence and getting over my occasional bouts of pitchophobia. Fingers crossed.

Retiring One Toronto Municipal Election Gauge, Launching Another

After weeks of murmurs regarding his candidacy and debates over his decisiveness (especially when it comes to buying milk), John Tory officially entered the 2014 Toronto mayoral race this morning. Still counting on a last-minute flip-flop, I set the unofficial “Tory-o-Meter” (introduced during the 2010 municipal election) to just short of running. I didn't believe an honest-to-God Tory campaign was alive until the filing was made. I may not be convinced until Tory turns up at a candidates debate as participant instead of moderator.

Now that Tory’s in, we’re still waiting for Olivia Chow to abandon her unofficial candidate status and jump into the fray. Which inspires a replacement for the Tory-o-Meter…

 

Any bets on how long the needle rests in this position?