family history

Here's a poem from my great, great, great, great uncle Archibald Lampman, who was said to be the "finest 19th-century English-language poet."

I think he's pretty cool.

Winter Evening: Westward the sunset is waning slow, A far torn flame on the silent snow And dies, as the vast night waxes higher, In scattering lines of stormy fire. The piled clouds are sinking dreary and dun
On the red wild track of the setting sun Westward the fierce winds gather and fleet Mightily down the frozen street. Like the work of the painter's hand are pressed
On the pale clear brow of the yellow west, The pointed spires and the dark and still Towers of the town on the western hill. Far through the firmament, misty fair,
Veiled and dimmed with their golden hair, The moon and her chorus of sweet stars whirl In their white torn mantles of cloudy pearl. The hard snow shrieks on the beaten street —
Under the tread of the hurrying feet, Sharp and shrill, like a thing in pain, Bound in the winter's Titan chain. Westward away the wan day sinks;
I see, as I pass, through the shutter chinks The bright ruddy lips of children prate Round the red warm hearth and the blazing grate. Ah, bright bitter winter, I love thee still
For thy strong bright wine to the strong man's will: For thy stormy days of tempest and moil, And thy calm sweet peace that follows toil; For thy bright white snow and the silver chime
Of bells that gladden the bitter time; For the laughing lips and the children at play And the long mirthful hours that sweeten day For more, check out the Poems of Archibald Lampman.

winter gloves

Check out this fantastic video from the Winter Gloves.

age old question

Why does it seem men get all the breaks?

Not only do they get the better jobs, make more money, take on less home responsibility, avoid menstruation and pregnancy, are less emotionally complicated, they also stay younger longer.

OK, much of that is an oversimplification, but the latter is true, according to Eastern medicine.

A phone call with my younger sister, who is studying for her doctorate in Eastern medicine, has left me even more miffed at the seeming myriad breaks those of the opposite sex have fall into their laps.

In asking my sister if there were any ancient Chinese herbs or creams I could take to essentially speed up the onset of menopause to avoid having to think about getting pregnant (Random, I know. This is a topic for a future post), she nicely tells me no but, don't worry, because I'm getting old.

Humph. Thanks.

I think she's getting cheeky with me — after years of sibling abuse, I deserve it — but, she explains, women's and men's life cycles differ.

For women, their body's change every seven years: At age seven, they have all their primary teeth, age 14, they have started their period's and ages 21 to 28 are the prime years for having children.

After two more cycles — the seventh cycle of seven years — at age 49, is when menopause starts to kick in and, according to the East, the woman's "essence" diminishes.

Or, in other words, she's old.

However, for men, the cycle is every eight years: At age eight, he has all his teeth, at 16 is considered at man and his prime lasts two eight-year cycles.

As a woman's essence is seven, seven-year cycles, a man's is eight of eight years, which means his "essence" lasts until age 64.

Well, la-tee-da, that explains a lot.

It could be why men cheat on their spouses, remarry younger women, and are described as handsome as they age, not old.

It's not their fault — it's their essence.

on writing

Poignant and concise.

This seems to be the mantra for newspaper writing these days. Coming from a print-centric background, instinctually I thought shorter meant worse.

But, when it's done well, it's a joy to write and to read.

For a few tips, check out the succinct list by Roy Peter Clark from the Poynter Institute.

In it, Clark stresses to omit needless words, cut the weak, shorten sentences, revise, polish and focus.

He also says, "Read, study and collect great examples of short writing, everything from the diaries of Samuel Pepys to the tweets of your favourite twits."

However, a number of legacy media people — including my editor and other former editor — have deemed the 140-character social networking site the reason behind the death of the English language and the very tool that is making people stupid.

As an avid Twitterer, ouch.

Short doesn't necessarily signify rubbish — albeit, tweets about a meal or depths of sleepiness are crap.

In terms of journalism, short can be a beautiful way illustrate a moment in life that often go unnoticed.

A prime example of this is the 300 words series by Brady Dennis, who was a night cop reporter in the Tampa bureau of St. Petersburg Times.

A personal favourite is After the sky fell, which was published in January 2005.

As a reporter, it's difficult to switch out of the inverted pyramid, five Ws and how, but, once in awhile, there are stories that lend to this style of writing, like a story I did about a man who had a stroke and just wanted a hot dog.

As papers get thinner and page space gets tighter, this literary journalism approach could very well be the model for the future.

keeping on court

As some of you already know, I'm covering Kamloops court as part of my beat at Kamloops This Week. Although I've been tweeting most of the stories, I'll be posting all-things criminal on this site in the event you missed a post or the paper.

Right now, I'm covering Allan Schoenborn's murder trial. He's the man accused of killing his three children in their Merritt home 18 months ago and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. Tuesday marks the third day of the trial and it's expected Darcie Clarke, the mother of the slain children, will take the stand.