Touring small town journalism and finding the Koots
Journalism: The Decline of Local Newspapers
Big city papers are nowhere to be found in B.C.'s Kootenays, but you can still find a local weekly with birthday announcements, the lost and found, and reader mail damning CBC Radio for just about anything.
By Rod Mickleburgh
The first of two parts. (Be be still your beating heart.)
I spent two rewarding weeks last month travelling the highways and communities of BC’s historic West Kootenays. As I always do when on the road, I looked for local newspapers to give me a sense of what was happening in the places where my squeaky sneakers touched down. At the same time, I still wanted to keep up with events in the rest of the province. Unfortunately, and I’m not sure I should have been surprised, I could not find a single, big-city daily east of the Okanagan. No Sun, no Province, no National Post (yay! oops….), no Globe and Mail.
I could not find a single, big-city daily east of the Okanagan. No Sun, no Province, no National ...
Telefilm Canada Announces New Executive Director
News: Canadian Film
Christa Dickenson named Telefilm Canada’s new executive director, replacing Carolle Brabant as keeper of Canadian entertainment’s purse strings.
By Ex-Press Staff
(June 26, 2018) — Veteran marketing executive Christa Dickenson will replace Carolle Brabant as the executive director of Telefilm Canada, the public administrator responsible for funding the vast majority of Canadian audio-visual content.
Heritage Minister Mélanie Jolie made the announcement today via press release, which cited Dickenson’s years of experience in the entertainment industry, as well as excellent language skills, as central reasons for the hire. Dickenson will leave her job as president and CEO of Interactive Ontario to start the five-year mandate on July 30.
“To say that I'm excited to be named the Executive Director of Telefilm Canada is an understatement,” said Dickenson in the release.
“I cannot wait to be part of an organization that has put Canadian ...
Lisa Beare nods to #metoo in new funding announcement
News: BC Politics, Gender Equity
Minister Lisa Beare puts up $175,000 to promote awareness of systemic bias and announces new “bully-free workplace” requisite as Oscar-winner Geena Davis drove the message of gender equity home at recent Women on Top Conference.
By The Ex-Press
VANCOUVER, BC -- British Columbia’s coalition government is putting some money where the #metoo movement is by funding $175,000-worth of new initiatives to improve workplace safety and awareness regarding abuse, discrimination and harassment.
Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture made the announcement at Whistler Film Festival’s “Woman on Top” Vancouver luncheon Friday. “The #MeToo movement has elevated awareness that abuse, discrimination and harassment are serious problems globally,” said Beare. “Our government is deeply committed to ensuring that the people working in B.C.’s creative industries are protected. That’s why I’m implementing new measures to promote ...
Lisa Beare nods to #metoo in new funding announcement
News: BC Politics, Gender Equity
Minister Lisa Beare puts up $175,000 to promote education and awareness of systemic bias, while Oscar-winner Geena Davis drove the message of gender equity home at recent Women on Top Conference.
By The Ex-Press
VANCOUVER, BC -- British Columbia’s coalition government is putting some money where the #metoo movement is by funding $175,000-worth of new initiatives to improve workplace safety and awareness regarding abuse, discrimination and harassment.
Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture made the announcement at Whistler Film Festival’s “Woman on Top” Vancouver luncheon Friday. “The #MeToo movement has elevated awareness that abuse, discrimination and harassment are serious problems globally,” said Beare. “Our government is deeply committed to ensuring that the people working in B.C.’s creative industries are protected. That’s why I’m implementing new measures to promote safe, respectful workplaces for workers in the ...
Welcome the Warrior Generation
Popular Culture: Generation Shift Hits the Fan – #marchforourlives
The March for Our Lives is a mission millennials have been training for their whole lives. Just look at the last 20 years of young adult fiction, says movie critic Katherine Monk. Whether it’s Harry Potter fighting the Ministry of Magic or Katniss Everdeen overthrowing President Snow, the next generation grew up with deeply moral role models who courageously confronted power.
“If desperate times call for desperate measures, then I am free to act as desperately as I wish.”
– Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games
By Katherine Monk
They were expecting under half a million, but by the time the last bus emptied onto the mall in D.C. last Saturday morning, “The March for Our Lives” to end gun violence racked up more numbers than the Million Man March in 1995, and the 1963 protest led by Martin Luther King Jr -- making it the largest march in the capital’s history.
Commentators on the ...
Dave Barrett Broke Down Walls of Government
* In light of Dave Barrett's recent passing, we took the opportunity to republish Rod Mickleburgh's thoughtful look at the quiet, yet revolutionary, BC Premier.
Politics: Looking back at the first BC NDP victory in 1972
Rod Mickleburgh remembers the day the "socialist hordes" stormed the gates of Government House and Dave Barrett took the oath of office. There was no ceremony, no dancers, no tweets, but British Columbia would never be the same.
By Rod Mickleburgh
Watching the joyous, almost giddy swearing-in of the province’s new premier and his gender-balanced cabinet, I couldn’t help thinking of BC’s very first transition of power to the NDP, so long ago the Vancouver Sun had two full-time labour reporters. That historic ground-breaker took place way back in 1972, or five years before David Eby, the province’s new Attorney General, was born. July 18 was only the third such right-to-left tilt in BC history. Of course, that’s three more than the zero Stanley Cups won by ...
Aloha A-bomb! A Postcard from the Edge of Armageddon
News Comment: Nuclear Scare in Hawaii
A seasoned reporter faces the End on holiday in Kauai as locals either shrug off alerts or hide behind palm trees
By Rod Mickleburgh
KAUAI, Hawaii -- It’s a while since I’ve been caught up in a world-wide news event, especially one where I MIGHT HAVE DIED. But there we were, after a five a.m. wake-up call by Kauai’s ubiquitous red roosters, on the first day of our holiday, groggily sipping our coffee in the Saturday morning sunshine. All of a sudden, the island quiet was pierced by an urgent loud buzz on our cellphone. It sounded like an Amber Alert on steroids. “What the heck was that?” I said out loud to other breakfasters gathered on the patio of our inn. No one looked up from their buttered toast. Thinking it was just some sort of glitch, we didn’t investigate further. Then, my companion reported back from the office. The woman behind the front desk had said something about a missile threat, as she busied herself with the ...
NFB offers early gifts
Brief: Canadian Film
The National Film Board of Canada wants you to unwrap your present of Canadian presence, offering 20 award-winning movies on-line for free, starting today
By Katherine Monk
(December 7, 2017) -- Naughty? Nice? No matter. The National Film Board is giving everyone a gift by posting 20 award-winning movies on-line — for free. Starting today, Canadian film fans can take in an assortment of documentaries and animated films, including Sarah Polley’s The Stories We Tell, a timeless portrait of her own family and its secrets, as well as Mina Shum’s Ninth Floor, a documentary about racial tensions at Concordia and the scars that linger decades later.
Perhaps best suited to the Christmas season is Payback, Jennifer Baichwal’s big screen take on Margaret Atwood’s Massey Lecture outlining the unspoken balance sheet that exists between humans.
“We all have these scales of acknowledged or unacknowledged balances in our heads. Some are family things. ...
Canada’s Sundance 2018 Delegation: Sexy and Animated
News Brief: Canadian Film
Three NFB shorts and four Canadian world premieres selected for the prestigious independent film festival founded by Robert Redford
By The Ex-Press
VANCOUVER — A sexy wolf washing repairman, epic girl crushes and a Croatian co-production about a hedgehog’s quest for home will be heading to Park City as part of the National Film Board’s Sundance Film Festival delegation.
Accepted into this year’s short film competition are Diane Obomsawin’s LGBTQ-themed I Like Girls, Chintis Lundgren’s Manivald — a howling take on the Maytag man, and Eva Cvijanovic’s Hedgehog’s Home, a stop-motion story of hedgehog domesticity.
According to the news release issued Monday, the three films have already pulled in more than 40 international awards before heading to Utah in the New Year.
In addition to the three NFB shorts, the following Canadian projects will also be taking part in the recently announced feature program with several world premieres, ...
Swearing in a new BC Premier Brings Back Barrett Memories
Politics: Looking back at the first BC NDP victory in 1972
Rod Mickleburgh remembers the day the "socialist hordes" stormed the gates of Government House and Dave Barrett took the oath of office. There was no ceremony, no dancers, no tweets, but British Columbia would never be the same.
By Rod Mickleburgh
Watching the joyous, almost giddy swearing-in of the province’s new premier and his gender-balanced cabinet, I couldn’t help thinking of BC’s very first transition of power to the NDP, so long ago the Vancouver Sun had two full-time labour reporters. That historic ground-breaker took place way back in 1972, or five years before David Eby, the province’s new Attorney General, was born. July 18 was only the third such right-to-left tilt in BC history. Of course, that’s three more than the zero Stanley Cups won by the hapless Canucks, and just enough to keep politics interesting and a semblance of two-party democracy alive in BC’s polarized environment. No wonder John ...
