Interviews Bucket-list

When journalists get talking, inevitably they start to drop names to put a Hollywood agent or socialite to shame.

From talking to mayors about their kids to Members of Parliament about hockey and party leaders about travels; from Jimmy Herman (from Dances with Wolves) about addictions, to George Stroumboulopoulos about moshing at concerts; and from Canadian astronauts, veterans and engineers to more musicians and great artists than I can keep count... I've had my share of chats with charismatic people who made for an engaging interview.

It's the sort of conversation that you just don't want it to end because it's just a completely invigorating battle of wits or enlightening and hilarious or sad stories that really challenge a writer to get it right.

So when I hear of a great story, like a great man and his dog, like Roosevelt and his Scottish Terrier, Fala or Mackenzie King and his Irish Terriers, Pat and Bob. Or when I read a biography like George Carlin's outspoken critiquing and critical thinking on social issues. I think, would I love to have been able interviewing them. Not to say that normal people aren't interesting, yet a witty mind like of someone like Dr Seuss would be fun to pick through and quote.

Maybe I'll just do that from these people's speeches and letters -- could be fun. Of course, like most writers, I have a bucket list that gets longer as I try to get through it.

Here's a short list with whom I'd love to sit down if they were still around:

Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Jane Goodall, and Alexander Bell -- a few of the heroes of science.

Mark Twain, Hunter S. Thompson, Margret Atwood, and Ernest Hemmingway -- writers with long conversation over drinks.

Dorothy Lange, Yousef Karsh, Ted Grant, and Henri Cartier-Bresson -- amazing photographers who I admire.

Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, and Janis Joplin -- voices of a generation before my own came into existence.

Fidel Castro, William Churchill, the Dali Lama, and Mohandas Gandhi -- leaders in peace and freedom.

Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela, and Helen Keller -- saints of tolerance and patience.

Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, the Wright Brothers, and Alan Shepard -- flying off on adventure fearlessly.

Babe Ruth, Larry Bird, Johnny Bright (CFL running back) and Maurice Rocket Richard -- breaking sports records and striving in life.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Princess Di, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn -- charm and grace embodied.

Julia Child, Jamie Oliver, the Iron Chef, and Gordon Ramsey -- masters of one of my favourite subjects, cooking.

This list is hopefully not missing anyone incredible, and I know I've likely missed Olympians and other great speakers and leaders.

But more so plenty of those 'ordinary' people who became heroes by their actions. Those great local people who deserve 15 minutes of fame.

One great source of those stories are indie magazines and weekly newspapers. Those people were the most fun and rewarding to talk with like this young teacher who was awarded a top honour for making a difference in her class and caring about her kids.



Or this guy who had hunted down a speedy, shy and elusive jackalope. Sadly I was unable to have enough room in the newspaper layout to print this photo. So as usual, it was the tall tale that got away. The guy was really neat to talk with about hunting and the camaraderie out in the woods.

It's just as hard to get those shy people to open up, but once they do, it's awesome.

The real question is who do we miss hearing the real story from? Those who are those unsung heroes from all walks of life; those who are old and feel they are forgotten; those who are the local wise-crack or just plain wise; those who do all kinds of amazing things and are humble in their talents or contributions.

Take some time to listen, for those who need to tell their story too.

No gripes with newspaper

There hasn't been much activity on my site for the past few months and for good/poor reasons. I've been going through what is called slow fuse but total burn-out. Working 10-14hrs a day with few off will apparently do that and yet I had few complaints.

Despite the bizarre work schedule and writing time-lines, I enjoyed it and come out with no regrets. I put so much time and effort into my articles that it was occasionally depriving me of sleep and sanity. It didn't drive me crazy, just made me wonder why I tried so hard if next week it was going to be in the recycling bin or buried online. Completely worth it though to find and break my limitations and find out what I didn't care for or really enjoyed about the business of writing.

Short list of non-good times:

Fire & collision scenes = Not excitement or drama, only cold, icy & scary to hope it wasn't someone I knew.
County meetings and local politics = more interesting than I'd think and straight out of Leacock's writing.
Local swim meets = splash zone and worse on a cold camera lens and CMOS sensor, but 200 kids -- track a dozen?
School/community fundraisers = nice philanthropic attempts, but came up disappointingly short sometimes.
Economic development committees and a conference or two = exceeded my expectations entirely, but still dry.

Worst part, interviews going hostile or confused, or not even happening for lack of call-back leaving me with half/no article to write on a subject that needed sources to fly.

Most unfun was sleepless nights, away from my lovely lady and close friends, finishing up articles for a few days before deadline. There was always one with notes from a source didn't make sense, or wouldn't be good to quote as questionable facts, even less fun to salvage.

The good parts? When I was told I made a difference in someone's life or non-profit cause, it made up for the rest of a long haul. I wrote about exciting local sports and fun hobbies, tournaments and charities drives. It was an intrinsic reward to hear that I got it right about little known subjects like fur trapping, medical sonar technician, or martial arts training.


Free local sports games and fun concerts, more than I could race between the arenas, pools and community halls on a weekend before Monday deadline. Meeting and interviewing intriguing people was amazing -- more than a few of them shy/humble, but really interesting once they uncorked their hidden passions.

It was half frustration in getting let go because I finally admitted I wasn't cut out for the long hours, short deadlines of a small weekly newspaper, and hard to get to that point. It felt like I had no life even though I was doing an amazing amount of work out in the community and adrenalin high. Yet if I went out for a beer, someone would frown on it.

If I said something controversial, ignored a lobbying interest, or wrote unpopular truth, I would hear about it loudly.

What I did learn the most and enjoy was when an interview turned into something more than the 15 minute special news spot and a feature worth profiling something out of the ordinary. Those were the best parts when I could pitch something to my editor that was more than basics. For the record, editors have a wry sense of humour, wealth of experience and seem to love still learning new subjects.

When what I was writing clicked and I got a rare great response. When what people were doing was out of the ordinary and they didn't realize it until they read the article and went wow, that was too kind of you to paint us in that light, but thank you.

After writing nearly 250 articles and three car oil changes over the last six months, I saw my share of action -- moments of disbelief that I was having so much fun, or there lack of. Going through articles for scrapbook and portfolio, I had grown as a writer. So I can only hope writing independently and freelance will be just as amazing a journey.

If I get another shot at a newspaper? Great.

But the best part? My own desk and a press badge. Mission complete.

return to blogger?

The eagle has landed and it's one small step to a small town newspaper but a giant leap for Phil's kind of adventure.


After a few months of madness busy beyond belief -- both from combination of finishing my internship up in Whitecourt to moving my life yet again and into another job as a full-fledged journalist in Ponoka.


I'll explain in a follow-up soon why I'm standing on a cat-walk over a bunch of cows, but for now, here's the article.


Six weeks in I'm loving even the high pressure nearly daily deadlines just to try to keep up with the flow of the new assignments hitting my desk. There's so much happening in town and as my role as roving reporter dictates, I've been everywhere between Red Deer and Edmonton and a lot of the time in little towns I'd scarcely heard in passing. All I know is I handed in 1,000 on my out-of-town mileage in one month.


It was like lifting weights and then realizing I picked a heavy one, requiring so much more concentration and effort, but totally worth it when I can finish the set of reps. I'm happy to report I'm starting to raise my writing stamina and even though I wrote four articles today and did half a dozen interviews, I'm still going strong.... almost.

Broke down and finally started texting twitter thingies and started to log some of the fun and insight I was having. As much fun as blogging was, I was doing over a dozen articles every week and my editor here in Ponoka is helping me to top that. I was excited to have my own desk when I was an intern, now I feel a tiny bit of cabin fever I spend so much time in my office. Not complaining because I get to write a ton of fun articles and photo assignments for whatever I can dream up and keep newsworthy.

So far, I've been nearly making par. Check-it if you want an time-line of how exciting my days got over the last few months. Don't worry, I rarely wrote more than one a day. It sounds odd that I finally tried out twitter, I just had heard such terrible repercussions with slander and job-dismissal over comments, that I went slow. Plus it takes a moment to come up with something that isn't lame.

Word of advice, avoid over-doing the caffeine. Withdrawal sucks without some ibuprofen and yoga does wonders too ^_^ Then again, yoga seems to work for everything.

It's just the Christmas special which has kept me busy since I managed to get through Remembrance Day special with a dozen articles extra to write in a week over my usual ten assignments. After this, it quietens down -- not until after I get through another dozen fun articles with way too much cuteness and Christmas joy.

Anyhows, here's a search result link to my three dozen articles that were posted on the website, I'll try to link a bunch later of my favourites over the past few weeks. Enjoy.

It's been quite an adventure and I wish I thought to twitter some of the more cool moments I've had. Such as culture shock of hanging out for assignments on the Hobbema reserves near Ponoka. Who knew it's possible to put up a stop-sign with a Cree translation on it. Learn something every day ^_^

As part of my return, I'll start rocking the cooking experiments. Admittedly, I've collected up a few over the last month and haven't had sufficient time to post them. Fun times for all. So time to sleep and I'll write the next time I slow down after production day, which I have a bunch of them coming up pretty quickly. Meh... fun times.

Glad to be writing too much to be able to write my blog. Working the writing lifestyle and still loving it.

Goodnight and stay classy or whatever.... Brain stops with a zonk.

-- plr --