A long, strange trip: Veteran Sask. reporter Dan Zakreski looks back as retirement begins
CBC
"So what do they teach you in university?"
I remember city editor Tom Loran asking that question after slicing and dicing my latest attempt at writing a news story. The printed copy lay face down on Mount Olympus (what rookies called the city desk at the front of the newsroom) and I could see the red slashes bleeding through the paper.
Zeus was not impressed.
I was 22 years old, a student in the first class at the University of Regina's School of Journalism and Communications. Less than a month into a four-month internship at The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, it was not going well.
"This is sheep shit," Tom explained. "You do know 'it's' means 'it is,' right?"
Pause.
"Right?"
It was shaping up to be a long year.
Tom sighed.
"You've got an uncle Julius, he's in insurance?"
My dad's first cousin, I clarified. Julius Zakreski. He worked as a broker with The Co-operators in Saskatoon.
"Give him a call, ask him about what's up with wall calendars. I'm not seeing as many."
It so happened that the old-style wall calendar was on the way out, a victim of rising paper costs and new advertising methods. Julius put me in touch with a local printing firm, a specialty advertising company and a local trucking firm.
On Jan. 12, 1981 the story appeared in the paper, page 8, above the fold.
The cost of road construction projects paid for by the Newfoundland and Labrador government has nearly doubled in just six years.
As 1,000 or so Algoma Steel workers prepare to get laid off in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., this March, many of them will be focused on finding new employment in the region.
A Halifax sex offender who was sentenced to 4½ years in prison last month in a case involving a four-year-old girl has been released on bail as he awaits an appeal.
The new transitional housing project on Forest Hill Road in Fredericton is two weeks away from completion and some residents have already moved in to their new spaces.
When Gilbert Hajj walks through his family home in Baie-D'Urfé, Que., these days, he moves like someone navigating a maze — pointing to walls that are staying, those that are going, and spaces that will soon serve new purposes.
A former acquaintance of Elston Bostock says the disgraced Winnipeg police constable had a reputation for being a "hookup" and would routinely "fairy dust" partiers with white powdered drugs.
"So what do they teach you in university?"
Between central Alberta’s freezing winter temperatures and the recent closure of a drop-in centre run by a local harm-reduction group, Red Deer Public Library CEO Shelley Ross has seen an uptick in the number of homeless people spending time at the branches.
As Ali Marsman walks through the aisles of a newly reopened 80-year-old cinema in Hope, B.C., she tears up and laughs with happiness.
Diane Bouwman, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, said the disease can make you lose your confidence.
Fireguards are designed to protect people and communities by clearing land to slow the spread of wildfires.
Former CBC host Cathy Alex is being remembered for her resounding laughter, love of the outdoors and commitment to the communities she served during her 33-year career.
Toronto's morning commuters are facing challenges yet again this week due to another temporary service stoppage on parts of Line 1 on Friday.