What a job!
by Roger Varley
Since this edition of the Cosmos marks the newspaper's 20th anniversary, our publisher/editor Lisha Van Nieuwenhove asked her team to explain "what writing or working with the Cosmos has meant to you." I asked her if I could take up three pages, but she said no.
Actually, Lisha has said "no" to me only a couple of times: to the above-mentioned tongue-in-cheek request and to one column I really want to write. I wanted to write a glowing tribute to Lisha, who has become the best friend I ever had. (Okay, so I managed to sneak that little bit in.)
Since I joined the Cosmos three months after it first came out, I have written a regular column called Am I Wrong? My editors — first Conrad Boyce and then Lisha — have never turned down a column, regardless of the subject matter.
I joined the Cosmos on Dec. 1, 2005, less than 24 hours after I was forced to take mandatory retirement by Metroland. In its beginnings, the Cosmos focused a great deal on theatre and the arts. Given Conrad's well-known passion for theatre, that wasn't surprising. But I might have surprised some with my first column, which warned the readers that this space was not going to court a friendly, neighbourly, over-the-backyard-fence chat.
Uxbridge Cosmos publisher Lisha Van Nieuwenhove and Roger Varley at Frankies, Uxbridge. Cosmos file photo
I consider it a privilege and an honour to be allowed to write a regular opinion column. Not many people have the opportunity to publish their opinions on a host of subjects and so I attempt to make my columns interesting, sometimes provocative, sometimes controversial
The idea behind the column (originally started when I worked at the Uxbridge Times-Journal) was to encourage debate and dialogue, hence the title and the closing line. I think in that respect I have been successful, although some of the debate and dialogue has left scars. But that's okay: I ask for it every week.
I have been a newspaper man for almost 70 years. My first job was as a copy boy at the Canadian Press. And, for the most part, I have loved every minute. But I have never been happier than I am at the Cosmos. I'm writing for my friends and neighbours, not some faceless, anonymous crowd out there somewhere. Not only that, but I have the chance to interview all kinds of people around town. A few years ago when the Cosmos ran my Cup of Coffee interviews, I talked with a wide spectrum of Uxbridge residents, from retired farmers to map makers to ministers to actors and on and on. I estimate I had a cup of coffee with about 200 Uxbridgians while that feature was running.
When I joined the Cosmos in 2005, I already knew Conrad and his wife, Lisa, having worked with them numerous times in the theatre. I also knew my fellow columnist, Ted Barris. He had written a weekly column for me when I was editor of the Times-Journal. We both were fired when Metroland took over the newspaper (but that's another story,) I also knew cartoonist John Wood because he provided me with a cartoon each week.
Now, after a short while, along comes Lisha to join the team and — surprise, surprise! — Lisha and I had worked together as servers at Frankie's Ristorante. And we'd also worked with each other on several theatre productions. Nancy (the Nature Nut) Melcher, another friend from the theatre, is also part of the team. The only one I hadn't met before was Sue Galle, our ad producer, partial receptionist and sometimes our conscience. A bunch of old friends and a new one. What could be better?
How could I not be happy working with this crew and also being among the people I'm writing about and for? On top of that, I've covered our local council for the last 20 years and I've also attended almost every Uxbridge Bruins home game in the last 20 years. Politics and hockey! How great is that? My life is practically perfect!
It seems to me that, despite my age, this job is keeping me alert: so that's what it has meant to me.
Tell me, am I wrong?
Roger Varley is a veteran newspaper journalist and Uxbridge’s man-on-the-street.