This week I wrote an op-ed for the Toronto Star about the sudden closing of the Ontario Science Centre. This was a major personal accomplishment. as in the past I’ve usually felt nervous writing opinion pieces. There are many reasons for this, mostly based out of fear and lack of confidence. While I’m fine with my regular writing, I worry whenever I share an opinion that I will sound like an inarticulate simpleton compared to other writers who might tackle the same topic (imposter syndrome!), that I’ll miss some vital point that would help my argument (perfectionism!), or an aversion to excessively opinionated people who believe everyone has to hear their viewpoint.
How nervous have I been about writing opinion pieces in the past? When I was a section editor for a university newspaper, there were several opportunities to write editorials. I passed, mostly out of nervousness, partly to keep the low profile I maintained amid a highly divisive office environment. While others wrote about campus issues, politics, and other issues of the day, the only editorial I penned was a gripe about obnoxious entertainment PR people.
But, as I’ve been working on building my confidence over the last year, the offer of pitching an op-ed from the Star felt like another personal dragon to slay. It helped that I had started to process my feelings about the ridiculous decision by the provincial government to swiftly shut the Ontario Science Centre by writing a piece for TVO about visiting one of my childhood landmarks during its (final?) hours. I had rage to burn, and the op-ed provided another opportunity to vent in a (hopefully) constructive manner.
And you know what? It wasn’t a terrifying experience.
I think it has helped that, after many years as a professional writer and formulating my thoughts about the sorts of things I cover, I’m more comfortable with my thoughts. The imposter syndrome still strikes when things aren’t going well, and occasionally I fear people may hate what I write, but that’s life.
We all have our own thoughts about the world around us. Not everyone is going to agree with you.
(I will say I’m relieved that comments weren’t an option for the online version. Because if there’s one rule about modern newspapers, it’s never read the comments!)
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If either piece has any impact, I hope it’s to play a small part in raising public awareness and anger about what happened to the Ontario Science Centre. The good news is many other writers and organizations are on the same wavelength. While this feels like an issue the Ford government will dig its heels into for as long as possible to preserve their ridiculous plans for Ontario Place, maybe, just maybe, this will be reverse in some way like many of their other blunders.
What’s New?
Kitchener-Waterloo Record, July 23, 1974.
Besides my pieces about the Ontario Science Centre, two other articles appeared online this week, both for TVO. First up: marking the 50th anniversary of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s defection to the West via Toronto, I looked at how it happened, and what the dancer’s first moves were once he was able to stay.
Toronto Sun, November 1, 1977.
To mark Pride Month, I looked at one of Toronto’s less admirable annual habits during the 1970s: hurling eggs, ink, and insults at drag ball attendees along Yonge Street on Halloween.
Curio Collection
With the British election nearly upon us, I flipped through my historic newspaper resources to see what their election ads of the past looked like. I found very little until the first 1974 election (there were two that year!). Before that, I suspect advertising was handled through editorials and articles boosting whichever party a paper supported.
Daily Telegraph, October 7, 1959.
Or you had pieces like this, on the novelty (in the late 1950s) of gathering friends to watch the election results come in. Which, given how long it took for all the results to come in, might have been a very long party. For those of you who might want to simulate such a gathering, check out a four-hour sample of the BBC’s coverage of election night in 1959.
Daily Mirror, February 27, 1974.
An ad for the Liberal Party, which hadn’t formed a government since the First World War. While they didn’t change the face of the country in either 1974 election, their seat count hit double-digits for the first time in ages. Jeremy Thorpe led the party until 1976, when…well…let’s say things got a little messy. The party evolved into today’s Liberal Democrats.
Daily Mirror, May 3, 1979.
Sometimes, the ads were short and blunt, such as this one that worked for Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in 1979.
Evening Standard, May 1, 1997.
I barely missed viewing the 1997 British election firsthand, having returned to Canada a week or two earlier after a university semester in London. The feeling I sensed was that after two decades in power, the Tories were toast, though not in a 1993 Canadian federal election toast way.
Evening Standard, May 1, 1997.
This ad was published on election day. I wonder if any furniture stores or movers are planning similar ads featuring Rishi Sunak this time around?
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That’s all for this edition. See you next time!