All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.
Bobby Knight
At the age of 29 I returned to school at Red River Community College and added a diploma in Creative Communications to my resume. I graduated in 1990 with experience in both journalism and public relations and a knack for feature writing. The experience with cameras was doubly valuable.
My first job as a journalist was at a rural newspaper north of Winnipeg. I was a summer student for the Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times where I covered rural issues such as agriculture, local business and politics. I wrote about and photographed all manner of things. I met a group of World War Two paratroopers who greeted the last flight of a Canadian Armed Forces DC3. I covered the RCMP Musical Ride when they performed in the fairgrounds in Stonewall and I profiled a Manitoba fencing champion who was a building contractor just outside the town.
I’ve been freelancing ever since. The lion’s share of my work has been in the agricultural trade press dealing with the science and technology of farming. Since farming is really a form of managed ecology it’s suited me very well and I’ve won three national awards.
I’ve also written copy for agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Growing Forward and the Canadian Council of Academies. One of my more exotic assignments was a press trip to Barbados and Grenada for one of the local newspapers.
I’ve written for radio as well including two variety radio programs for CBC at both the local and national levels. This came about from several years of writing and performing on the western Canadian Fringe Festival circuit where we traveled from Winnipeg to Saskatoon to the biggest North American Fringe in Edmonton. Samples of my work may be seen at Agricultural Publications and Other Publications.