Modest Proposals

I spend my Monday evenings at the curling rink instead of at town hall, but I send a reporter, and some of the stuff she hears there is very interesting indeed.

I looked back over the stories in the last year about casinos and to catch you up, here's the briefest of thumbnail sketches of what has happened so far:

-Province offers consideration for gaming in our neighbourhood.
-Clearview says no
-Springwater says no
-Collingwood says no
-Wasaga leaps at the chance.
-Collingwood councillors defer saying whether they approve of casinos for the neighbourhood in general.
-Presentation last night will lead to a vote on approval in principle for a casino within a resort.

*sound of screeching tires*

Was this presentation actually an announcement of a massive new resort development in Collingwood?

If so, I hope it goes better than the massive resort development announced for the waterfront in Wasaga Beach a few years ago. You haven't stayed at that hotel yet? Me, neither.

Cast your mind back to the 'vision' presented to Wasaga in 2007. It was going to be massive. A resort, with an indoor ski hill and hotel rooms and a conference centre with views of the lake. It was going to cost $50 million to build and reveal Wasaga as the jewel it really is! The court cases involving the bankruptcy and fire continue.

If I heard correctly last night from Collingwood, an 'integrated resort' would be massive, too. This one would cost $200 million to build, have a thousand employees, each of whom would be paid more than $40,000 a year. All it needs is 30 acres and support from the town. Is there a 30-acre parcel of land within town limits that could hold such a thing? If so, where?

Here's my modest proposal: put it on top of the terminal building!

How I Met Your Something

If you're a fan of the TV show How I Met Your Mother, you will be familiar with one of their running gags where the characters go around the table making puns and jokes at another character's expense until one of them can't complete their thought and shouts out, "Something about...." and they leave their joke half-told.

I feel like one of the characters today, trying really hard to make a connection with some sort of wit and subtlety after I heard a really really juicy rumour yesterday. But I just can't seem to put it together.

"...something about tennis, bubbles, roofs and rackets... " as Barney might say and then, "Yeah, I dunno.."


P.S.
Thanks to everyone who sent me notes or comments about whether to continue blogging.
I appreciate your input, and as you can see with this post, I'm still here!.

Bloggity Bloggerson

I have a confession to make: My blog has not always been my own. Oh, the words are written entirely by me and the events and my reactions really happened, but I have been paid to write it. Eight columns a month.

More than five years ago, I was approached by an online business and asked to become a contributor to its website. In exchange for a small honorarium, I was to write about my life, experiences and observations of living in Collingwood.

The company I wrote for had only one request: that I avoid local politics. The owners felt no matter what side of any issue I took, the result would be divisive and unhelpful to the work they were doing. I was to be light and funny and thoughtful, but not political.

I imposed a limit of my own, too, figuring it is just smart to avoid trashing any businesses represented on the site where my writing would appear.

For the most part, I have avoided politics and trashing. I have tried in my musings to be witty when possible, and when I couldn't come up with witty, I tried to be self-deprecating. When I can't manage witty or self-deprecating, I have aimed for gently thought-provoking.

At the end of last year, my deal with the business came to an end, which leaves me with a conundrum: do I keep writing when I'm not being paid to do it?

I have developed two lists:

Reasons to Quit Blogging:

I would never ever have started a blog were it not for the money. Like many women, I keep a journal wherein I can and do pour my complaints about my sometimes fractious family and any disappointments in my spouse (hardly any, honey, honest!), so if I'm writing for free, I can do it there.

I have a strong aversion to narcissists and blowhards, both traits which seem rather prevalent in the blogosphere, (local examples excepted, of course!) and I try not to become that which I despise.

I already have a perfectly good outlet for public self-expression in the form of a weekday morning radio show.

Reasons to Continue Blogging:

I am a better writer and a clearer thinker after five years of trying to be succinct in my observations.

I enjoy knowing there are people who seek out what I write. Some of you aren't even related to me! (OK, so that anti-narcissism thing might not be working out as well as I had hoped...)

Now that the writing is my own, I can perhaps write more often and less gently about local politics, which would be a relief, as I have opinions to spare.

Now that the writing is solely my own, I can spill any stories of crappy service and inflated prices at local stores and address why I will never darken the door of some local establishments ever again.

What to do, what to do...

My sweetheart says as long as I don't get us sued and avoid getting us kicked out of restaurants, he has no opinion on the matter.

I read somewhere that the mark of a true writer is that they can't not write; that a true artist can't not produce art, paycheque notwithstanding. I guess I'll soon find out whether I'm the real thing.

Addendum:
I guess I might have mentioned the no politics proviso in my defence during a very short enounter with a town councillor some time ago, but I never got the chance.

After introducing myself, shaking his hand and saying what media outlet I work for, I said, "We have something in common, you and I. I write a blog, too."
"Yes, but mine is about politics." and he walked away.

Since this guy is a self-professed expert in media relations, and this was the first (and so far only) time he had met this particular member of the local media, I remain confused at his sneering brush-off. I don't expect to be fawned over, but there is something to be said for basic courtesy. If nothing else, perhaps in hopes of a vote.

Book Review: When Bad Things Happen to Good People

I clearly remember the pain on my brother's face when his father in law died of prostate cancer in the mid-nineties.

The pain was not just from the loss of a man he liked and admired, but it appeared to me, he was also angry at losing his faith. He said at the time there couldn't possibly be a God if He would, "...do stuff like this to a good man like that."

There are a lot of reasons to be an atheist, but Harold Kushner argued in this book published in 1978 that the visiting of illness and devastation on undeserving people isn't one of them.

I first read When Bad Things Happen to Good People a few years after my brother's pain, and I have briefly owned copies of it several times since. I always end up giving them away. I found one at the used bookstore on the main street in Collingwood this week and wondered if it was still relevant.

Sometimes when I re-read a piece that touched or moved me a long time ago, the book or article doesn't hold up. Bad Things refers to 'retarded' children, so there definitely is a bit of dating there, but the book remains as powerful a defence of belief as I have ever read. It talks about free will and evil and who's in charge of what. I remember asking a very faithful woman I know whether she questioned her faith after a horrible accident her husband was involved in. She seemed genuinely surprised at the question and told me she simply couldn't imagine going through what she was going through, alone.

I might send this copy of Bad Things to my brother, although I somehow think he has lost his belief in reading. Being good Presbyterians, we have never discussed whether he ever regained his faith.

UPDATE: Brother says he's not exactly an atheist, but he can't believe in any diety which would concern itself with the outcome of an NFL game.