Today is National Aboriginal Day. It’s supposed to be a day where people recognize the contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people and culture. When it was declared in 1996, Governor General Roméo LeBlanc had this to say:
“Many cities in Canada are less than a hundred years old. But aboriginal people have lived in this land for more than a hundred centuries
“From coast to coast and in the Arctic, they first explored our lakes and rivers, they first mastered our forests and prairies, and they helped those who came later to join them.”
That’s an important sentiment, and one that is still often buried. One of my hobbies is collecting various histories of Canada. It’s fascinating to see how our national narrative has evolved over the past century. In early books, Canada is a barren, uninhabited wasteland before Europeans arrive. Slowly but surely, Aboriginal people work their way into the story as the years progress. But even now, most histories take a cursory glance at pre-contact times. They acknowledge that people were here, but don’t really get much into what they did, before or after the Europeans arrived.
And I do want to point out it’s not as if there isn’t material to work with. Visiting places like Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump or Writing-On-Stone provincial park, you can see strong recordings of history from First Nations people. Similar examples exist across the country. The old narrative, the one of Europeans creating this country, is a pervasive one, despite evidence to the contrary. They had a role, but they didn’t do it in a vacuum, and they didn’t do it from scratch.
I’ll admit to not being well-schooled in the details of Aboriginal histories, but I’m equally unschooled in the details of other histories. I’m more interested in the broad strokes, the narratives that shape the way people think about their country and themselves. And I don’t think that, as a whole, Canadians think of themselves as being shaped by Aboriginal people, historically or today.
Last year I wrote a post called “Stereotypes” that was well-received. It was about my counter to the negative views a number of people have of Aboriginal people. In it, I wrote this:
“In my job, that of finding interesting people doing interesting things in northern BC, I have been privileged to learn about and speak with some amazing individuals. And among those amazing individuals are more than a handful of Aboriginal people.
They are using limited resources to do incredible things. Everything from re-learning and re-imagining traditional culture to creating iPhone apps that teach native languages to negotiating with multi-billion dollar companies over how best to distribute resources. Rappers, politicians, business-people, teachers, doctors, athletes. They are no better and no worse than anyone else, but they are doing it within a system that until recently was explicitly against them and still has more barriers to entry than you may believe. They are having to fight against prejudices and stereotypes. They are not alone in having the odds stacked against them, to be sure, but it has been my own experience that the rest of the country views Aboriginal people with more apprehension than they do any other ethnic group.”
Close to a year on, this holds truer than ever. On a weekly basis I interact with leaders and artists and thinkers of Aboriginal heritage who are doing amazing things. I get to talk with them and learn more about their perspectives. They are varied and flawed and human and shaping what this country is and will be. I truly wish that more people could have the conversations that I get to have. Days like today are an opportunity to do just that.
—
A couple of notes if you are in Prince George. There is a lot going on today– at 10 in front of city hall there’s a new piece of public art being unveiled depicting the culture of the Lheidli T’enneh. From 10 until 9 Carrier Sekani Family Services is hosting celebrations in Fort George Park. And this is the last week to see the very good exhibit “First” at the Two Rivers Gallery, collecting a variety of pieces from Aboriginal artists across the province. Thursdays are free.
Update: I made this walking tour for you to use.
“Kiez” is a German word I like. I came across it in an article about Berlin which reads:
“In Berlin, your sense of identity comes less from the city than from the Viertel (quarter), the Bezirk (neighborhood), the Kiez (your five square blocks of core reality).” (source)
I read that about a year ago, and it immediately struck a chord. I’m not sure of the exact definition, but the way I interpret it is “Kiez” means the places you go on a regular basis– where you live, where you work, where you play.
To me it makes sense to define where you live by these places. More sense than simply where your home is. Much more sense than what city you occupy.
Last night I had a couple of meetings downtown. I walked between them in the evening, a time when I’m rarely downtown. I saw people taking their dogs for an evening stroll. They were passing Connaught Hill and City Hall. In contrast, I live right by Moore’s Meadow, an undeveloped park. While they’re walking on downtown streets, I’m on dirt and swatting mosquitoes. We both live in Prince George, but our experience of the place is very different.
When I worked at UNBC it was part of my daily experience. But I know other people who go there once a year or less. It barely factors into their lives. Likewise, it wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I spent any time in the Hart, even though it’s a major part of the city I lived in all my life. For people who grew up there, it defines what Prince George is. For me, it wasn’t even a reality. Somone who lives in College Heights and works at the mall would experience something completely different.
We get so used to the idea of defining ourselves by cities that it’s easy to think if I live in the same city as you, we see and experience the same things. But depending on where you live, work, and play, where your friends are, where you shop and eat, things can be completely different. I think that’s important thing to keep in mind. We may live in the same city, but it’s far more interesting to find out about each other’s Kiez.
I’ve written before about why I think Foursquare is a worth using. Mostly because it pulls in data to help you find good places to go in cities you aren’t familiar with. But I also find it useful for keeping track of places I’ve been, and there a few third-party tools that create cool visual histories or a service Timehop that emails you a list of where you were a year ago.
But getting the full experience requires you to constantly pull out your phone to check-in– and this can be annoying if you’re going multiple places, or if you’re going to the same place again and again. Enter Simple Check-In. As the app description itself says:
“Sometimes you just want to check-in to foursquare and move on. Simple check-in allows you to do just that. It opens directly to the venue list, then one-tap and you’re checked-in. It’s very quick, and very simple.”
It sounds small, but I’ve been using it for about a week and it is a dramatic improvement. I’m able to check-in in seconds– about the same amount of time needed to check the time or read a text. Highly recommended.
Last year’s summer was cloudy and wet. Every month either set or came close to setting records for dark and rainfall.
Unfortunately, this summer is starting to look like it might go the same way.
Last year, I spent a bunch of time waiting for the weather to get better. This year, I’m just starting to get used to it.
If the weather forecast says rain but it looks like you have an hour-long window of sun, get out there.
If there’s scattered showers, head out as if there’s no rain, but grab an umbrella just in case.
If it’s lightly raining, act like it’s not raining at all.
I’m pretty sure this is how they do things in Vancouver. I have to adapt.
UPDATE: Pogo is not adapting. I took him for a run this morning, and partway through he just stopped and looked at me like he couldn’t believe I wanted to keep going. He’s the tiny speck in this picture:
This week is father’s day, as you probably know, and it also marks my mom’s birthday. So I thought I’d share a few things that I learned from my parents above and beyond the time, money, and sweat they put into raising me and my siblings. There are many, but here are three that spring to mind:
1. Explore your own backyard.
Growing up, we would go for a week-or-more-long vacation every summer. Not overseas, mind you, but within driving distance for the most part. We would take a trailer and go camping in various locations around the province– seeing mountains and lakes and rivers that many people who live nearby don’t even know about. I learned that you don’t have to go to big cities or exotic locales to discover amazing places, people and stories– and it’s served me well in my personal life and in my professional one.
2. Master new things.
A lot of people will quit learning new skills at a certain point in life. Not my parents. My dad grew up playing hockey, but when his kids showed interest in soccer, he learned about that and became a coach. He continues to play in a league (unlike me). He also started learning karate while I was in high school and now has a black belt and co-manages a dojo. My mom is constantly at classes for some new thing or another, and started in a singing group while I was in school, that she now helps run. It taught me that there’s no point where I can’t decide to take up a new hobby– and get good at it.
3. Be self-reliant.
They weren’t (and aren’t) frugal, but my parents taught me the value of money– and mostly, not spending what you don’t have. As kids, we would want this or that thing and they would explain why we wouldn’t get it. We didn’t do without– we got a Nintendo, sports lessons, etc. But we didn’t spend money just because we could. A lot of friends would go on regular overseas trips, whereas we went on two my whole time growing up. Most of my life, we didn’t have cable, which was pretty much unheard of among my friends. They knew how not to spend money they didn’t have. As small as that seems, I see more and more just how important a lesson that is to learn. All the time I see people complaining about not having money for this or that thing and going into debt, and yet they still have the most expensive data plans for their phones, premium cable packages, and regular trips overseas.
Further into this, we didn’t eat out or get takeout as often as a lot of other families did, because we would cook at home. House repairs were done in-house, where possible. And so on. By no means did I do without growing up– we were comfortably middle class– and I don’t do without now– but I know how to prioritize finances because I saw my parents do it all the time.
As I said, there’s many more things, but those are three that come to mind this morning. They’re lessons I’m glad I learned.
Last night, we went to the launch party for Skylab. This is a new portion of the Bob Harkins (downtown) branch of the Prince George Public Library. Essentially, they took the top floor which has a huge amount of ceiling space and added as an extra level to a portion of it. This allows them to increase their floor space without actually expanding.
Beyond that, the space is focused on the technical end of libraries– computers, etc. There’s also some very nice chairs and some very nice views. I think I might actually take advantage of it as an extra working space once in a while.
Here are some pictures from the event:
Read more →
The Polaris Music Prize long-list was released yesterday. It’s to go to the best Canadian album based on artistic merit alone. You can check out the list as a whole at CBC Music.
It’s a good one. Of course, it’s hard to go completely off base when choosing 40 albums rather than just 10 or 1, but still, the Polaris long-list is a much better place to get an indication of where the best Canadian music is than the Junos.
There are a number of bands that I haven’t heard on the list (and will be checking out), but of what I have heard– well, I’m glad to see it on there.
Of my Best of 2011 eligible albums, only one didn’t make it (Dan Mangan, Handsome Furs, Fucked Up and The Weeknd all got nods, Mother Mother is the not-that-surprising exception), and in my running list of 2012’s best we see Bahamas, Cadence Weapon, Japandroids, Leonard Cohen, John K Sampson and Patrick Watson making it.
The omission that really surprises me is Islands– A Sleep & A Forgetting is still sitting at the top of my favourites list this year. I get that it might not be boundary-pushing, blockbustery enough to claim number one on the Polaris, but the fact that it was ignored while Feist’s (let’s be honest) lacklustre effort with Metals got a nod is unfortunate proof that name-brands go some distance.
In the less-surprising but still disappointing category is Boxer the Horse being ignored for their excellent French Residency, which aside from Islands is probably my most-listened to Canadian album of the year– possibly beat by Sampson and Bahamas.
Quibbles aside, it’s an interesting list with a number of worthy winners. So who do I think will take it? No idea. One thing about the Polaris has been that it’s consistently hard to call. I expect Cadence Weapon, Leonard Cohen, Feist, Fucked Up, Grimes and the Weeknd to breeze into the top ten, but the other three is anyone’s guess (I suspect Coeur de Pirate, Patrick Watson, Drake, Japandroids and Bahamas to all have a decent chance of being there, but who knows?)
For the winner, it depends which direction the jury goes. The melodic progression of past winner Fucked Up? The genre-bending mystery of the Weeknd? The victory lap from veteran Cohen? The Billboard-topping sensitive rap of Drake? The indie “It” girl Grimes? Any one of these choices makes sense– and it could just as easily be one of the artists I haven’t even heard yet. The only thing is guaranteed is that whoever wins will probably raise a lot of eyebrows and then make a lot of new fans for a previously-ignored musician (even if it’s just getting Drake accepted in more indie circles or Cohen into the ears of more young people). That’s what makes the Polaris so great.
You can see the full list (and listen to a number of artists) on CBC Music and the Polaris Music Prize website.
—
Update: if you have an Rdio account, user Adam Rolland has put together this playlist that has every nominated album available. It’s below, and I’ve provided links to the artists not included on the list:
Nominated artists not on Rdio:
A Tribe Called Red, A Tribe Called Red (free download)
Marie-Pierre-Arthur, Aux alentours (bandcamp sampler)
Avec pas d’casque, Astronomie (bandcamp)
Azari & III , Azari & III (soundcloud sampler)
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Kings and Queen (soundcloud)
Cannon Bros., Firecracker/Cloudglow (bandcamp)
The Slakadeliqs, The Other Side of Tomorrow (bandcamp)
The Weeknd, Echoes of Silence (soundcloud)
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN, YT//ST (bandcamp)
Here’s something kind of cool. Earlier this year, I had a quick Q&A about music with the site Exfm. Exfm is an internet music tool that I’ve written about before, and it has a cool community feature on it’s blog, as well, where they talk to different bands, users, etc. This week was me. I’m especially glad I was able to plug TWO Prince George bands (it has some of my recently “loved” tracks at the bottom, which includes a song by the Statistics, another Prince George group). Here it is:
“This week’s User Spotlight comes from The Great White North, Canada. Andrew knows music inside and out as well as music platforms, so we were stoked when he agreed to be featured. He’s a great member of the exfm community and it was wonderful to to chat with him.
What is one of your favorite/most magical musical experiences?
I’ll go with when I was listening to the campus radio station in town here and an amazing song came on. I thought it must be something from the indie scene down in the States or maybe Vancouver or Toronto, but then the DJ came on and said it was from a local group — here in Prince George, population 80,000. That made me realize good music could come from anywhere.
If you had to pick a favorite artist(s) who would it be? (tough one I know)
Intellectually, the Beatles, viscerally, the Clash. Modern day, so much good stuff happening it would be tough to choose. Whatever I’m listening to at the moment is a good representation — and hey, my exfm favourites is a good place to see that.
If you had to share one artist right now who would it be? Why?
Beach Velvet. The artist behind this project has been making a ton of great music for years in Prince George and this album (released earlier this month) is actually getting attention outside of the city. In fact, he was in the band that I mentioned in my “favourite musical experience.” Fantastic lo-fi stuff that shouldn’t be limited by the geography of not being in a big city.
What genres of music are you into most?
Well, I describe my music blog/radio show as delving into “electro-pop, Canadian indie rock, and hip-hop, but not really”, so I’ll go with that.
Anything else music related, hobby related, or whatever related you’d like to share?
I already plugged my music blog and radio show, plus the local music scene here in Prince George, so I’ll just encourage people to keep listening — the internet is a great tool for discovering music from around the world, but it’s truly magical when you support the stuff that’s happening locally, and help take it global, too.”
Now go use exfm. Seriously. It’s great.
I enjoy browsing the internet for new music. And I like to keep track of songs I especially like. I do this in the Hype Machine, exfm, Soundcloud, last.fm, CBC Music, Rdio and This Is My Jam. For the most part it’s easy– just hit the “love” button in whichever service you’re listening to.
But when I’m working around the house or in the yard, I listen in wireless headphones. So the like button isn’t right there. So here’s what I do:
I know all these have nice mobile apps, but my phone has this habit of not playing music through an internet connection if you turn off the screen– and if you don’t, you wind up pressing all sorts of buttons you don’t want. So this is a good solution for me.
Astute observers of this site, of which there are none, may notice a few changes over the last little while. Here’s another one of those annoying posts explaining what I’ve done. I know there’s no point to these, but I like to keep a little log of what I’ve done.
Read more →
If you missed it, I’ve started a new blog. It’s a mixture of longer writing and short statements and links about the city of Prince George. If you live or care about the city, you may find it interesting. You can read the introduction here, or follow the posts on Twitter.
Yesterday was a beautiful start to bike to work week. Today…. not so much. Last year, I wrote a post called “Biking to Work.” It ended with this:
“If you want to sleep in a bit more, or the days get shorter and it’s kind of dark, or you have a late meeting after work. All of those can make you go back to your car. But stick with it long enough, and eventually you’ll get to a point where you see some dark clouds, put on a rainjacket, and bike anyways.”
It’s true. So much so that by the time winter came along, I just kept on going.
As I get older, I find the single most important thing I can do to make my life better is form new habits. This includes building time for exercise into my morning, making sure I take proper breaks during the day, and biking to work. These are things that are easy to put off, but if you manage to make them habits, it pays off in dividends. You feel better, you work more efficiently, and (uncited studies show) you live longer. And for the record, I find biking is the easiest habit to form– you have to get work somehow, might as well use the way that is good for you and saves you money.
Stick with it. Don’t backslide. It will get easier. Good luck!
This Monday is the start of Bike to Work Week.
I have been biking to work in good weather for three years now. For the last year, even weather hasn’t been a factor. I biked in the winter, even when my shift started at 5 am. I’ve pretty much become the definition of a hardcore bike commuter. And I want you to know something.
I don’t know anything about bikes.
I think this is important to share, because I believe one of the biggest reasons people don’t bike to work is because they’re scared of their lack of knowledge. They think they need to know a bunch of stuff and have a bunch of gear if they ever want to be able to get from point A to point B twice a day, five days a week.
I’m here to tell you don’t.
Let’s start with knowledge of how to fix and maintain bikes. I have none. You want to know what I can do? Inflate a flat tire and put the chain back on. I don’t count either of those as knowing about bikes, because, seriously, they are the easiest things in the world to do. Have you ever inflated an air mattress or a basketball? You can inflate your tires. Have you ever put anything on anything? You can put a chain back on.
I can say that you can do this with complete confidence, because I am one of the least mechanically, technically inclined people around. Ask my parents or my wife. They’ll tell you. But I can deal with these basics of bike care. Everything else you can go to a shop for.
Which brings me to gear.
A lot of cyclists like to talk about their bikes. They like to talk about gears and brakes and suspension and stuff that I sort of get, but only in the vague sense that I “get” physics or conversational Spanish. Which is, I might fake it for a minute or so, but then I’m completely lost.
These people have their $1000 rides or their lovingly restored vintage bicycles. You know what I have? A Sears special my parents bought for me when I was in high school over ten years ago. You could buy a bike this good for $20 in just about any garage sale you go to. There is absolutely nothing special about it. And yet it has gotten me to and from work successfully nearly every day for the past two years– rain, sleet, sun, snow. I’ve taken it in to be fixed up something like three times. Aside from the initial purchase price, it’s cost me maybe $500. This includes tire changes, new chain, and headlight. Again, I’ve had it for over ten years. And I ride it on a near-daily basis.
And while we’re on the subject of gear and costs and knowledge, here’s a complete list of clothes I have bought specifically for biking:
That’s it. This year I got a balaclava and goggles to share between winter biking and skiing.
Most of the time, I wear jeans and a t-shirt. The same ones I wear to work in. When I had to wear a suit and tie to work, that’s what I biked in. In the winter, I put on a toque, gloves and coat. In the summer I wear shorts. If it’s particularly hot, I might throw a different t-shirt in my bag so I can change it. That’s it.
Biking to and from work is not just for biking advocates. It’s for everyone. Advocates are great, but without knowing it or meaning to, I think many of them scare non-bikers off by making biking seem more complicated than it is. The people who are most likely to bike to work are also those who are likely to bike recreationally. They go up mountains and on tours and in races. And those things are complicated and require specialized gear. These bikers then take all this knowledge and gear and use it go to and from work, and then it looks like if you want to take your bike to and from work, you need a bunch of knowledge and gear.
Which is nuts. No one thinks they need to have the knowledge of a NASCAR pit crew to drive to work, so why would you have to know anything about the Tour de France to hop on a bike? Biking is not difficult. That’s why whenever people want to describe how easy something is, they say “It’s just like riding a bike.” So biking to work means you do something really easy to and from work. Biking is the healthiest, most sustainable, and– dare I say it? — most enjoyable method of commuting ever dreamed up by humankind. And it doesn’t belong to just the specialized few. It belongs to everyone.
See you on the road.
Elsewhere on the internet, singer-songwriter Aidan Knight is getting Facebook debate-y about streaming music services. Specifically, he’s wondering about Spotify (though this applies to Rdio and whatever else is out there). In the thread he writes:
“I’m not a mathmetician [sic] or claim to know anything about how Spotify runs their business, but here’s what it looks like to me. (Again, this is a debate. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong)
“Spotify premium users: $10/month
Artist share (amount Spotify pays per play): $0.00022/play
Song plays needed to utilize $10/month: 45,454
“If the average person listened to 1000-3000 songs a month (60-100 songs per day) they would be paying artists $0.22 to $0.67. Sixty. Seven. Cents. Not just one artist, but all of them.
“Out of $10. Every year, you’d be paying Spotify $120 and the artists that you listen to would receive around $8.”
“I hope that everyone can take a look at 45,454 and realize that it means that you (roughly) would have to operate 3.9 computers constantly streaming music for 24 hours, all month, for it to pay artists that $10. Which is to say: It’s impossible.”
A couple of comments later, he writes.
“I think the thing that I mainly disagree with is that Spotify (“The Company”) is standing to make a profit on the idea that the consumer thinks that they are supporting the artists by using this legitimate service (so hard to not throw a pair of quotes on legitimate) but actually are paying Spotify around 80-90%. Spotify, after all, is supposed to be part of this new wave of re-imagining pirating and online music.”
Here’s the problem: I’m a huge fan of musicians. I’m also a huge fan of music-streaming service Rdio. But the things you can pay musicians for are often the exact opposite of what you pay services like Spotify and Rdio for.
What’s the use-case for cloud-based music services? Access to the music, yes. But mostly access to music without any physical product to worry about. The ability to listen to whatever music you want without owning it.
This doesn’t just apply to not wanting physical space taken up by CDs and records (though that’s a big part of it). It’s also about the MB or GB of space it can take up on your devices. Even if I torrent an album, I still have to put it somewhere. I have to eat up precious memory on my computer. If I want to listen to it while jogging, I have to connect my iPod and have it take up (the increasingly little) space left on there. If I find myself pressed for space on these devices, I have to delete something else. It’s a first-world problem, yes, but it’s still more of a hassle than simply going on Rdio, hitting “sync to device” and being on your way. Not enough space for that new album? Take something off, it goes back into the cloud, and if you want it later, it’s just a click away. Nothing is deleted permanently. You have easy access to tons of music precisely because you don’t own any of it. That’s what these services are for.
Which doesn’t the solve the problem of how you pay musicians. If we’re handing cash to internet companies for how we store (or don’t store) our music in a digital age, how do we go about paying the musicians. There’s the obvious go to a show or buy a product. But if the goal is to have less stuff, translating songs into t-shirts sales won’t necessarily cut it. And as much as I think the touring musician model is likely the future of anyone who wants to make it as a pro, there has to be a space for supporting the Brian Wilsons or White Album-era Beatles of the world.
I can already see a few models emerging as to how this might happen. Things like Kickstarter and Indie Go-Go let fans donate to bands for various products– you can get perks like album credits, but you wouldn’t necessarily have to get the physical album. Just the knowledge that you gave the group you like money, directly. I see no reason why that couldn’t be applied in smaller increments. Let somebody like Aidan have a “tip jar” on Rdio. If I’m listening to a song that I think is just fan-freaking-tastic, I hover over it and alongside “add to playlist” and “share track” there could be a “pay this artist” option. Click on that, and you can make a donation of whatever size you choose using your credit card or Paypal account (I should note that Rdio does have a “download this album/song” option, so a payment system of some sort is already in place. I’ve never really looked at how this works).
Another thing I’ve actually started doing is buying albums digitally, but then never downloading them. When you purchase music through Bandcamp, you don’t get the link immediately. Instead, you get an email with the information on how to go about downloading the album. I don’t. I just keep on listening to it for free on the Bandcamp site or Rdio. But I know that if I wanted to, I could download it. The possibility of physical ownership is there, but not the necessity. There’s probably a smart way you could turn this into an actual feature through a new or existing site– buy albums, but don’t download them. Stream them at will, but if you ever want to burn a CD or throw it on your iPod, you have that ability, too. Maybe even labels (!) could let you stream their collection for free, but once you listen to an album or song more than x number of times, you’re asked to buy. Who knows?
Ultimately, music fans want to support musicians. But increasingly they don’t want to do this through the purchase model. Not because it’s cheaper to stream, but because it’s easier. More elegant. I know $10 a month for a premium subscription is cheaper than buying all that music through iTunes, but I would probably pay extra if I could choose to distribute that money to the musicians I listen to the most, directly. As it stands, I try to go to live shows, get some merch, and even buy a dozen or so CDs a year. But when I buy them, they rarely come out of their plastic wrapping. That says something.
P.S. Aidan Knight is a very good musician. You should buy his CD “Versicolour” for whatever price you want on his Bandcamp page.
Ad nauseam
twitter
tumblr
linkedin
facebook
flickr
medium
instagram
google +
foursquare
quora
pinboard
* Views expressed in this blog are my personal opinion, and do not reflect the views of any of my
employers,
clients,
or pets.
Full Disclaimer→
Original content is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.
For more information visit https://andrewkurjata.ca/copyright.
Powered by WordPress using a modified version of the DePo Skinny Theme.
June 13 2012 | ∞
Here’s a post where I criticize my ability to do my job.
For the last little while, a project I’ve been building towards was a story on a breakaway scouting group in Prince George. In the past, the city only had the Scouts Canada, but recently one of the troops left that organization and joined the BPSA, which says it focuses more on traditional scouting.
When putting together a story we’re always looking for the “focus.” In one sentence, what is this story about? Normally, it’s somebody doing something for a reason. Person, action, motivation. Just like anything, really, be it a movie or a thesis statement.
So for a couple of weeks I was planning on doing this story and in my mind it was “they are joining a new organization because they want to get back to the roots of scouting.” There was potential for conflict, differing philosophies, the over-protective nature of our society– all contained in a four minute clip.
Here’s the story: http://www.cbc.ca/daybreaknorth/interviews/2012/06/12/breakaway-boy-scouts/
As you can hear, I did get into the motivation with the two leaders, both of whom were great chats. But the part that anchors it, for me, is the kid. All he wanted to do was play Wii. Now he’s sanding down trees to make staffs that have morse code written in them and making plans on how to survive on his own. I edited other stuff out, like how he wants to be a leader of the troop in the future.
Part way through editing the tape I thought “I should just get rid of everything and make this story about the kid.” But I didn’t, because I had all that other stuff, and I had my idea of what the story was– the whole troop breaking away. And it’s a good story, don’t get me wrong. But I should have split it up. I should have done that story separately. Then I should have done the story of the kid forced out of videogames and into the wilderness and loving it. It’s not about the politics of scouting or the overprotective nature of modern society. But it is a clean, compelling focus with a strong centre. I don’t dislike the story I put together by any means. But I think if I had been willing to get rid of what I thought the story was about and then tell the story I found, it could have been a lot stronger.
Photo: Members of the 1st Prince George BPSA salute the flag. More, including the awesome staff, on Flickr.
Filed under: journalism, radio | Discussion