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THE FUTURE

2/2/2012 7:03:20 AM

My new best friends: the graduating class at Humber College’s Radio Broadcasting program. I love talking to students. They are so keen and enthusiastic and fired up about the future. Whenever I give these talks, I’m reminded of what a great job I have, and what a privilege it is to do what I do. I remember Valerie Pringle coming to talk to us when I was a student at Ryerson. I was there hoping to score a job in advertising, but after hearing Valerie speak (she was working at CFRB at the time, and had yet to move on to Canada AM), I got all fired up about being a broadcaster. You never know whom you are going to inspire, and who will then be motivated to climb the ladder, show up in your office one day, and steal your job. Kidding. Sort of.

A BASSET FOR RONAN

1/31/2012 8:08:45 AM

I need reading glasses, but not desperately. John, on the other hand, can't manage without them. Witness this exchange between us as John reports from Ronan's basketball game:

LETTING GO

1/31/2012 6:57:40 AM

My eldest, my first born, my newly minted adult son is downstairs, getting ready to go. He has a train to catch in 40 minutes, heading back to school to write an exam. He’s not the healthiest specimen I’ve ever seen, as his visit home was a pit stop on the way back from a party weekend at Mt. Tremblant, where he seems to have left his voice, and he’s been coughing up a storm. Is he packed? Barely. Has he studied? Not enough. Before he goes, he reminds me that I need to top off his meal plan, as he has eaten his way through the first installment. That much I can do. A quick hug – still can’t believe how tall he is – and he’s gone. Yes, you were right, you parents of college aged children. You do get used to it. In fact, you begin to ...

EVERYTHING COUNTS

1/30/2012 6:20:27 AM

I ran into an old friend not too long ago. He mentioned, among other things, that he was in a band. A band with his sons. And he said there is nothing like making music with your children. I can just imagine. Because we bring our children up with music from the get go, don’t we? How many times have you sung Itsy Bitsy Spider to your toddler, or Raffi’s Baby Beluga? My kids were raised by me, their father, and Sharon, Lois and Bram. As time went by, they moved on to Great Big Sea, Sara McLachlan and Avril Lavigne (we love our Canadian artists). As teenage boys, they have of course ventured on to more urban, lyrically explicit fare, and the electronic stylings of DJ’s who spell their names with numbers. Which is fine – more than fine. Every generation should have its own music. But they still ...

I SWEAR

1/26/2012 7:32:21 AM

I was at a restaurant last night, waiting for John and Ronan. I got there early, ordered a glass of wine, and settled into Words with Friends. Couldn’t have been happier, had there not been a trio at the bar spoiling the mood. Not a jazz trio. A swear trio. Two men and a woman. Hipsters, from the looks of them. One guy had one of those long snoody toques on the back of his head. The other had ironic facial hair and a messenger bag. But I judge not. Not on the basis of appearances, anyway. I judge on the non-stop stream of F-bombs emanating from their talk holes. Now don’t misunderstand me. I appreciate a good curse as much as the next person. No, more. I think a properly deployed swear word adds to one’s vocabulary, like scatological punctuation. The F-word alone is remarkable in its flexibility: it ...