Star Ratings and Reviewer Stripes

 This Is My Job
May 302011
 

Like many people (especially those in creative fields, I find), I am extremely hard on myself, and on my work. To put it another way: I hate it. And by “it” I mean “everything I have ever written.” So hard do I metaphorically flagellate myself after every higher-profile piece, that thrice in the last year has an editor had to have a sit-down conversation with me about that specific issue. “Melissa, you have to stop doing this.” Today, I finally realized that they were right.  I need to find a better balance, a way to remain self-critical and self-challenging, without being [...click for more...]

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Nothing in Winnipeg? Wait, I’m in Winnipeg!

 This Is My Job
May 272011
 

Holy crikey, did I ever take a long and unexpected blog vacation. You know how it is. You find yourself going to the National Newspaper Awards, and then not winning a National Newspaper Award, and then drinking a bottle too many of table wine at the National Newspaper Awards because you were so nervous, and then the next thing you know you wake up in your editor’s hotel room clutching a glass of champagne in a Betsey Johnson dress.  Then you have a houseguest for a couple of weeks, and — well, you sort of forget you have a blog. [...click for more...]

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Liveblogging My Fear of Flying

 Musings
May 122011
 

The Boeing 737-600 is part of the manufacturer’s Next Generation series. While only launched in early 1997, the series boasted the second lowest fatal-event rate of commercial aircraft until 2010, when a crash in Ethiopia bumped it down to third. Most airplane fatal events occur due to inclement weather or navigational mistakes near challenging high-ground terrain. Flying is the safest form of transportation. You are more likely to die in your shower than an airplane, or something like that. Fear of flying is the fear of losing control. The Boeing 737-600 is part of… The Boeing 737-600 is the last place I [...click for more...]

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My Winnipeg, Personified

 Odes to Winnipeg
May 052011
 

Earlier this week, on a question-and-answer forum I frequent, a question was made that I liked. But in the flurry of elections and dinners and comings and goings of the week, I never got to answer. I want to do it now, and here, on my own e-turf — and invite others to answer with me, on their turf or mine. If your city, state or province was a person, what would it be like? My Winnipeg is an old man in a moth-bitten buffalo coat. He got it from his father, who used to be a police officer here before the [...click for more...]

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Why Stephen Harper Won’t Try To Ban Abortion

 Musings
May 042011
 

There are a few issues for which, when it comes to politics, I draw a hard line in the sand. One of the biggest is abortion. I will not wring out my pro-choice cred here. Just know that I have a lot of it, that I put my time and money where my mouth is, and that I will defend this fundamental right for the rest of my life. But I doubt I will need to in the next four years — no matter what some people think. In the two days (oh, the humanity) since the Conservative Party of Canada eked out a [...click for more...]

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You Know You’re a General Assignment Reporter When…

 This Is My Job
May 012011
 

…you have this text-message exchange with a friend who is due to come over for a visit: FRIEND: I’m going to Shoppers for cat food. I will swing by your place on the way back. ME: OK. Come yell in my window. Winnipeg police are warning that a high-risk sex offender is being released from prison tomorrow. (PAUSE) ME: Uh, sorry, accidentally hit “paste” instead of “send.” FRIEND: LOL weird. — Just a little levity folks, I know we’re all caught up in election fervour. Me? I’m busy picking out an election-night outfit that cannot be confused for bearing the colours [...click for more...]

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