In early 2007, I was lucky enough to be the first person to answer an ad in the paper (this one) for a job that would wind up becoming the professional road that I would forge.
I continue to forge to this day, and for that, I'm grateful.
I marked my 15th anniversary at this gig a month ago, and in that time, I've taken some time to reflect on what the last decade-and-a-half has meant to me, as well as what it's given me, and the lessons I've learned along the way. No, it wasn't always easy and things didn't always go my way; that's something that I would tell any prospective journalist looking to make a name for themselves and take a stab at this job. Your stories aren't always going to turn out the way you expected. Sure, that can be a negative thing, such as when you're trying to get two sides to a story and one side won't give comment. But in many ways, it can turn out to be surprisingly glorious.
If there's one concrete thing I can tell you about my time as a weekly news journalist, it's that sometimes the best stories are the ones where you have no control. You might attend an event and have an idea of how you want to position a story, or what angle you want to approach the narrative, but then the tone of the event or the subject matter whacks you upside the head and you're left to try and pick up the pieces. When that happens, you just make damn sure you've got your camera, a pen, a notepad, and your recorder, and you document what happens next.
When you strip it down enough and break down all the nuts and bolts, my job is pretty simple - capturing life as it happens in this west central part of the province. It may be local happenings, community events, crime reports, town council highlights, school news, or what's happening on the football field or at the hockey rink. Yes, I wear a lot of hats, and yes, there are only three people at my office. Sometimes I think it's a true miracle in itself at both the quality and quantity of work that we're putting out, but that's just how we're built, I suppose. No one else is going to tell your stories, and I believe they're stories that are damn sure worth telling. They have been for 15 years and change, in my book.
Stories such as the night that saw an entire community come together at the rink in Conquest when it was learned that a very young little boy was stricken with cancer. At a casino night fundraising event in December 2007, the rink was the place to be on a Saturday night. Drinks were flowing, the games were a hit, and money was coming in at the live auction. But it was about so much more than that. It was about a community rallying together to do whatever it could for a very sick little boy and his parents. I was new on the job then, but even then, I knew that sometimes stories just unfold in front of you as humans interact with each other and say what's on their mind. I just took photos, took notes, and reported what I experienced that night. To my knowledge, my article from that night is still hanging on the wall of the Conquest rink. What can I say, sometimes your job is just to document community history.
Stories such as the weekend in July 2011 where we not only celebrated our great country's birthday, but we folks in Conquest celebrated the village's centennial. I'll tell you, that was definitely a weekend for the history books. It was a few days where you couldn't help but be reminded of your hometown's history. Snapping photos and taking notes of all that I saw, I couldn't help but be reminded of the years that had gone by, the friends that I'd made, and the moments that have stayed with me and will continue to stay with me. I've covered my fair share of centennial events in a long list of villages and towns over the years, but for obvious reasons, this one will stay with me for the rest of my life. It was a loving reminder of the Conquest that I grew up with, and the Conquest that was the best version of itself.
Stories such as interviewing a man who I've always held with a great deal of respect and admiration. Many Outlook and area folks know John McPhail as the president of the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, and while that may be true, to me he's always been Mr. McPhail, my high school English teacher who helped open my eyes to new things in the world and guide me toward the written word as a viable employment opportunity. I got to sit down with this man in his lovely home and pick his brain in early 2014 when it was announced that John had been named Outlook's newest Citizen of the Year. In our hour-long talk, I learned new things about him and was reminded of just why I held him in such high esteem. When you get the chance to sit down with someone you know and dig a little deeper, to me that's always a real treat.
So then, with 15 years of stories, headlines, interviews, news feeds and several mountains of photography later, what's next?
Well, I've been floating around the idea in my head about writing a book. A non-fiction book that would serve as something of a highlight reel with autobiographical sections here and there. Let me begin this incredibly rough draft of a "sales pitch", if you will...
I started this job of mine in March 2007, and to give you an idea of how much I've written, The Outlook releases 48-49 issues per year, with an average story count of between 7-9 articles per issue. Now, in reality, the amount of articles does in fact fluctuate, and the truth - especially over the last few years - is that the number of articles is higher than the numbers provided, but I'm going to go ahead and remain modest because we're simply talking averages here. Multiply 48-49 by 7-9, and then multiply any of those numbers by 15.
To say that it's quite a sizable number would be another foray into modesty.
For maybe the last two years or so, I've been thinking about ways that one could "look back" on the years. One way could be to revisit my history, pull down the newspaper collections and pore over my story archives, picking out the best of the best and the crème de la crème and putting together a "Journalist's Greatest Hits" of sorts.
Another way could be to find some of the people I've interviewed and give an update on some of these stories, like a "Where are they now?" type of thing. As well, I could add my own two cents on some of these stories, providing some behind the scenes tidbits and factoids on how some of these articles came to life.
Finally, I could also write about my overall experiences in doing this wacky, topsy-turvy, hold-on-tight job for a living; things I've learned, things I've seen, and how it's shaped my view of our world and the people in it.
At first, I was thinking that I could pursue any of those ideas, and then it hit me like a snowstorm in April - why not do ALL of it in the same book...?
I'd be very curious to know what people think, and whether or not this is a project worth pursuing.
Thanks, everyone. And thanks for reading us every week for the last 15 years.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
