Bernie O'Neill
June 05, 2007 12:32 AM
By: Bernie O'Neill
I have worked for community newspapers since 1989 and have written a column every week for most of that time.
Columns can make people think, make them angry, make them nod their head in agreement, or just be an interesting good read through to the end. Some columns can even make you laugh.
Whatever I am able to do, I’m hoping as the new editor for The Liberal I can write something in this space that will make you want to come back and read it every week.
I’ll start by saying newspapers are just something I “fell into,” as they say, kind of like a hole that was camouflaged on the path to somewhere else I was supposed to be going and I tumbled into it. (I’m a big guy and when I tumble, it’s quite funny to look at, or so I’ve been told.)
I’ve been putting out newspapers ever since. I may as well do something while I’m down here in this hole, without a ladder, was my thinking.
Like I said, how I got here is a bit of a mystery.
I was born in Toronto but grew up in Sault Ste. Marie and, like most kids I guess my career ambitions spanned as far as being a goalie in the NHL, or maybe being an astronaut, or both (I could always fly to the moon on my summers off — goalie equipment and a space suit look very similar, after all).
Later, I went off to university with a vague notion I might like to be the prime minister someday. So I went to McGill in Montreal to take the necessary courses — mostly economics and political science — which made me think, no wonder most of our politicians seem odd. If they can find this stuff interesting, they are really and truly weird.
I switched my major to English literature and graduated as quickly as I could, then went back to school with the idea of becoming a teacher. (Note to parents: it sometimes takes several years and a couple of different schools, and all your money, before your sons or daughters actually find something they would really love to do for a living.)
I ended up living in a rooming house where there also resided two editors with the school newspaper, who were “always looking for writers”, something I liked the sound of because, well, I was curious about giving it a try, and if what I wrote was awful I wouldn’t embarrass myself too badly, their expectations being so low. Besides, they paid for articles, the sound of which I also liked.
So I tried it and liked it,and was even good at it — liked the idea of always striving to tell the truth about things, look at them from different angles — and was soon off to journalism school instead.
Since then I have worked as a reporter in Wawa, Ont. (yes, way up north in Wawa, which means ‘land of the big goose’, on the shores of Lake Superior, just north of Sault Ste Marie), and in Montreal at the Suburban and later the Westmount Examiner.
About nine years ago, I moved back to Ontario, working for nine years at the North York Mirror as managing editor.
It was a great experience. I met some great people. However sometimes it’s good to have a change. Moving to The Liberal brings me closer to home (I’ve lived in York Region for eight years now), gives me new challenges to tackle and will hopefully give me the chance to learn new things from the new people with whom I am working.
They might even learn a thing or two from me, including new page layout software that is difficult to master that they are using for the first time this week. I used it at my other job for over a year – at least that’s what I put on my resume.
In the meantime, if you have ideas for stories, photographs or events you would like us to cover in the community, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at boneill@yrmg.com or phone 905-881-3373.