A Mayoral Decision

A number of people have asked me if I plan on covering the “Scott Young Scandal” and were subsequently surprised by my response: no.

I’m not sure why these people are surprised; from the beginning I have made it clear that SomethingCool News is a website dedicated to covering the things the local news won’t cover – ie. Mayoral Scandals. The local community newspapers have covered the story well enough, thank you very much and I don’t think we can really add much to the discussion. I recommend reading the local news reports for the updated information and then forming your opinion based on what you read.

For myself, however, it does pose an interesting question: how do I feel about the Mayor’s arrest? It’s well known that while never endorsing him as such, our website has cast Mayor Young in a fairly positve light and I will go on record as saying he is a man that I respect. That said, if I felt mainstream media weren’t being dilligent enough on this story, I would have no trouble at all tracking him down and asking the hard questions. And, indeed, there may come a time when we will do just that, after the scandal has faded from the front page.

But for right now, I’m content to leave the story in the hands of the big dogs. Once they’ve sauntered off to sniff out the next juicy scandal, we’ll come through and get a closer, more in-depth look at how everything was handled. In the meantime, all I can tell you is, hey another one of our public figures was cast in a negative light. Doesn’t that just make you want to go out and run for public office right now?

The 2007 Quick Flicks

This week I just wanted to take a moment to explain to my readers why I enjoy the Quick Flick Challenge so much. Each year, I make my way down to the Inlet Theatre in Port Moody to watch what local filmmakers came up with over one weekend. The results are always fascinating – I’m always amazed at what can be done in 48 hours, especially considering that’s all the time the filmmakers get to write, shoot and edit their five-minute films.

But maybe more than watching the films, it’s the interactions with the filmmakers I enjoy so much. Sitting and talking with them as they discuss their movie and the challenges that came with making it – I feel part of something greater. These are people that genuinely want to be interviewed and just want to talk about their experiences. They could talk for hours, and watching the excitement in their eyes as they discuss their projects is just another illustration of why I enjoy my job so much.

Anyway, I just wanted to shout out to all the participants in the 2007 Quick Flick Challenge – good work and I appreciate the effort you made to be part of something bigger than yourselves. Your effort was well worth it and I just want you to know that I appreciate it.

My Reason

See, I’ve only been back to blogging for a week and I’m already behind.

I was going to try and update the blog here semi-regularly (like every Tuesday and Saturday), but it only took one week for that plan to fail. Which is odd, considering how much I love to write. Maybe it’s some sort of writer’s fatigue – I don’t know, maybe that’s a subject for another post.

The subject of this post, however, is what it is – specifically – that keeps me at the Captain’s Chair here at SCN. As I’ve written before in my many editorials, meeting some of these amazing people and getting nice email are two of the main reasons I continue, week after week, to publish news and commentary on my site. In the past two weeks, I received more nice email, the personal kind that I don’t normally share with my readers. But for the purposes of this blog entry, I’ll make an exception.

The first nice email came from Brenda Sinser, the homeless woman in Abbotsford we have been profiling for months. She sent me an email to let me know that she had managed to make from the outdoors to the indoors. I’d like now to share with you a small bit of her email:

I have met a wonderful new man that has the wonderful ability, just like you it seems, to put me in a comfort zone to open my soul and let him see in. He has been a lifesaver in more ways than one. Denise truly has been the saviour of me, mind, body, and soul. I cannot express in words what she has done for me, and I believe in my heart that without her coming into my life at the point when she did, I may not have survived at all. You had no idea at the time, but you facilitated what might have been the catalyst to my very survival, as I was not in good shape mentally at that time, and for the first time I was doubtful of my survival.

It’s a nice email from someone who doesn’t mince her words. During my interview with her, she credited me (unfairly, I believe) with saving her life, stating she saw my face just before she drove her bike into oncoming traffic. She says a big part of the reason she turned her life around was because of me, but I tend to think it was because she knew she needed to – not for me, but for her son and, most importantly, herself. Still, her words were nice to hear.

I also got another letter this week from a supporter of Tim Felger’s. This is part of that email:

Just read your article on Felger that's posted right now. Please let Tim know that I actually care. It is very unfortunate that people tend to dismiss Tim as a crackpot or what have you.At any rate, if you could let Tim know that he's not alone and that I actually appreciate the dialogue he creates, even if it isn't always recognized as such.

This is the kind of email that proves that, however small, we are making a difference. Not that I need some sort of validation that what I am doing is right or worthwhile, but it’s always nice to see some results after so much work.

So when people ask me why I still create new issues of SCN week after week even though I make no money from doing so and have surrendered a lot of of my social life and spend a lot of time in front of my computer alone in my room – my answer remains the same: there’s nothing else in the world quite like what I do and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The Purpose for Pwning

One of the things I enjoy most about running SCN is the challenge of coming up with something different each week. Believe me, sometimes it’s not easy. It can look easy enough, but coming up with something I think the majority of our readers will find interesting is one of the toughest aspects of my job as SCN editor.

Remember, my goal with each issue isn’t just to write about whatever I feel like (although that is how things generally get started), the goal each week is to publish something I think everyone can enjoy. Which, as a general rule, means I have to come up with features, editorials and opinion on subjects that cannot be the same. That’s why the three main features on SCN are rarely about the same thing.

Take this week’s issue for example: The main feature is about a Memorial on MySpace; the Secondary Feature is about the World Pub Poker Tour and Section X tells the story behind See Something/Do Something Day. Three very different topics – at least one of which just about everyone should have some interest in. Throw in a commentary about climate change, an editorial about insulting people and some actual insults and you have a pretty versatile issue.

The insults are the most controversial thing week and not everyone approves of Brian W.’s Pwns of the Week. One reader commented to me, “That section is not very good. It makes your site look amateurish.” And maybe it does, but it is also another opportunity to explore the issues and opinions that some people care about and, if nothing else, can inspire some interesting discussion. Already, as a result of Brian W.’s Pwns, I have already had conversations about police procedure and homelessness in Victoria with some of our readers. These are conversations that would not have happened if it had not been for Brian W.

I see this a good thing and validates my reason for allowing Brian W. to mock the opinion of others (so long as he does so semi-respectfully). The purpose of SomethingCool News is to instigate discussion and give our readers something to truly think about. Sometimes writing a story about someone’s death or about someone’s passion is the way to do that. Other times, it’s as easy as “pwning” someone. As long as the end goal of inspires some conscious thought, I’ll take either method.

The New SCN Blog

Okay, Okay, I know I tried this once….but I am going to do it again, just ’cause I am such a sucker for punishment. (And I like a lot of extra work.) Actually, the only reason I am blogging again is because, having considered this at great length, I think some added insight to the website each week can really enhance everyone’s experience at SomethingCool News and gives our readers an insight into the website they have not had before.

I also want to use this blog as a chance to get other people involved – which has been one of my major frustrations during my time as SCN editor. When I started my majestic little website almost four years ago, I never thought I would be doing it solo four years on. Perhaps it was naive of me, but I really envisoned I would have a team of talented psuedo-journalists (like me) working together to create a really unique little website. Instead, I have been doing the vast majority of the writing myself – which I enjoy, but the truth is, it’s not good for the website.

 What any publication – real or not – needs is diversity. While I can write all the articles I want, they are still my articles and contain all the biases and thoughts that are inherently attached. What would be better for the site is for several people to be contributing articles so a wide array of topics and issues can be discussed and written about. There are those things in the world I think are important, but if I am the only one regularly contributing, the website can suffer from a form of tunnel vision that prevents the website from reaching its full potential.

So this blog is my attempt to change that while giving our loyal readers (now numbering around 11,000) the chance to learn more about what goes into creating it week after week. This post represents my first attempt at that – sharing my frustration at having to continue to to this solo. Don’t get me wrong, though: I love my job and I love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s just that it would be nice to share that enjoyment with more people. Hopefully, this obscure little blog is a step in that direction. But, as is the case with all things, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.