Have you hugged a journalist today?

Whether it’s good, bad or ugly, the public has a right to know and a civic duty to be informed. But who can be everywhere all the time? That’s why we have journalists.  They are our eyes and ears. That’s how democracy works. It’s a sacred trust but there are legitimate fears, that the growing populist movement is threatening that trust.  Social media is a double-edged sword.  It has brought the world together and made a lot of our jobs easier but without the role of trained journalists to ensure accuracy, objectivity, fairness and context, misinformation is born and spreads. 

Journalists’ stories inform and educate but also spark conversations, inspiring citizens to work together for change, or pay forward an act of kindness. This past weekend, I discovered my i-phone was missing. I rushed through my shopping at Lime Ridge Mall, knowing I would spend the rest of the day re-tracing my steps. When I returned to my parking spot, there it was. It had actually slipped out of my coat pocket and fallen beside the car.  Some kind soul spotted it and tucked it into my driver door handle. It’s powerful moments like this that remind us why we must share and celebrate feel-good events.

While it’s important for journalists to cover the “good” news, let’s talk about the “bad” and the “ugly”.  Not as easy a job when there is controversy but it’s essential. I know how hard those jobs are covering tragedies, crimes and injustices and dealing with the backlash that can ensue.  However, journalists must keep their eyes on the higher purpose, something I teach my students.  Get the facts, check them, then find the doers, the helpers, the people doing something about it and move the narrative forward for the greater good.

So, when I hear of elected representatives at any level of government refusing to speak to journalists, I feel a gnawing at the pit of my stomach. Whether a person associated with a crime or controversy is a doctor, a lawyer or a community leader, it’s in the public interest to know who they are, as many facts as possible.  It’s part of the 5W’s journalists live by and the criteria for judging newsworthiness as Spectator Editor-in Chief Paul Berton has explained. At a time when transparency is the battle cry and journalism’s raison d’etre, how frighteningly ironic to hear of attempts to muzzle a free press.  Clear-thinking individuals in touch with what’s happening in the world all know the chaos that will lead to.

I implore readers to trust, support and embrace journalism now more than ever. Sometimes it prickles, angers or saddens and sometimes it makes you smile but at least know dedicated reporters are on the job, working for you, checking their facts in search of the truth. 

Read the full article here: https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/2022/11/10/we-need-journalistic-honesty-more-than-ever.html

When home ownership remains just a dream

Too many youth feel they will never own a home.

It’s sad when a young person in Canada resolves that owning a home one day will always remain just a dream.

For the past few years, I have been teaching a course through Mohawk College to Grade 12 English students at an area high school. It’s an exciting yet challenging program in partnership with local school boards called dual credit. As the name suggests, passing this course gives students the credit required to graduate from high school plus a free credit toward the first year of applicable college programs. I co-teach with the high school instructor which makes for a very engaging experience for students and teachers alike and when you add a tour of Mohawk College to the semester, gym, pub and all, well that added-value has been the icing on the cake. Then came the pandemic.

I used to write and speak about the dangers the digital world posed to us; texting, emailing one another rather than meeting and talking face to face. Futurists feared we would eventually lose the ability to empathize. Then we welcomed the technological advances allowing us to work, study and stay connected to friends and family; that same digital technology that fast-tracked the global collaboration that led to vaccines. But we all know the virtual world is not the same and it’s been disheartening to witness the impact on our students: the depression, lack of motivation, loss of self esteem and confidence. Assignments are late, if handed in at all, many don’t or can’t turn on their cameras, some don’t even get out of bed. Teachers try to reclaim that youthful energy playwright George Bernard Shaw lamented is wasted on the young. We stand,and stretch to wake up the body when we start every online class. We breathe to fill-up the lungs and power up the brain. We learn that smiles release endorphins to energize and move us forward.

Yet still the malaise is there. The news is full of grim numbers about spiralling housing prices and young people who are supposed to dream big are talking about being realistic and settling for “attainable goals.” It was Benjamin Disraeli, former British prime minister and author who declared, “Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.” Where will we be if young peoples’ plans for the future are so stifled that as one student wrote in a personal reflection, it’s so stressful thinking about what’s ahead, “that’s why it’s called just a dream.”

Famous writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau tested himself by building his own modest cabin at Walden Pond and mused longingly about the zest of young people. “The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.”

As we hope and plan for a more peaceful, prosperous and joyful post-pandemic world, I congratulate the high school classes of 2021 everywhere. You were forced to sacrifice the typical joys of graduation but I urge you not to give up on your dream, including owning a home one day, whether it’s building, “a mediocre-sized house in a huge forest by a lake but not farther than about a 20- minute drive from a supermarket/grocery,” as one student wrote, or perhaps building that bridge to the moon.

Click here to read the full article on the Hamilton Spectator website