An introduction of sorts

It's been almost four years since I last had the opportunity to submit my monthly column to the West End Chronicle. Unfortunately, it has been about five years since "traditional" community newspapers started disappearing one by one. Newspapers that had been started by individuals or community associations have been replaced by publications run by corporations (some bigger than others) whose goal is to make as much money as they possibly can.

The effect? Some local activists, small-time journalists or columnists who were lucky enough to have space given to them on a monthly basis lost their "home". I am one of those people!

For-profit community newspapers are not all bad. As someone who helps run a charitable organization that provides services to seniors who live independently in their homes, I certainly have come to appreciate our local editor. We have established a partnership that closely rivals the one we had with the defunct Chronicle. We are one of the lucky ones, though, as one of the "good guys" is the editor of our community paper and he has been and continues to be one of our biggest supporters throughout what was a somewhat lengthy transition period.

What will I be writing about? Usually the topic of the hour in Ottawa's west end. I am not one to beat around the bushes, I try to tell it like it is. My personal philosophy comes from the right, but I do have a big social conscience as well. While I once had fun poking at Glabar Park residents for their incessant fighting against the development of the property at the corner of Carling and Fairlawn, I also have worked very hard on behalf of seniors, and more importantly, veterans. More on that another time - you can read my old columns on my old website - www.ncf.ca/~an956.

That's it for the intro - this will be interesting to see how many, if anyone, starts reading the new incarnation of my old column. What will be even more fascinating, in the new world of instant communication, is what kind of feedback is thrown back at me, now that I don't have a telephone, an office and an editor filtering telephone calls and letters to the editor!!!

Thanks for reading - I'll be back soon!

Michael "BullDog" Mason