Thursday, June 27, 2002
Five hundred of something - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- I have always been interested in the fields of politics and journalism. A majority of the books in my collection reflect those two fields. Journalistically speaking, the books are numerous. I’ve got a copy of Walter Cronkite’s memoirs, books on or by Canadians like Barbara Frum, Robert Fulford; and by former Canadians like David Frum and Conrad, Lord Black of Crossharbour. I’ve got five Allan Fotheringham books and as many by Peter C. Newman. One fat tome is a book by Andy Rooney, who I’ve watched for years. He’d could be categorised as a humorist. His commentaries at the tail end of 60 Minutes are acerbic and thought provoking. The Rooney book I have is entitled The Most of Andy Rooney. It’s a cull of three of his books, each of which have been a collection of his essays on a plethora of topics. Everything from the miracle of the waste basket to a prejudice diatribe on why calling it an icebox rather than a refrigerator, is the way to go.
I mention this book because in a couple of days it’ll be three years that I started writing “columns” and mailing them out on e-mail. That, coupled with this piece being the 500th tome, the thought crossed my mind that I could come up with my own book featuring ‘the best of me’. Alas, who’d pay me an advance to do it? Even I wouldn’t.
Coming up to the auspicious number of 500 gave me some pause. 500 is a pretty good number, considering I haven’t done 500 of anything in my life. Television shows make great hay upon reaching 100 episodes, as they hardly get to 500. Looking back at this recent season, shows hardly got five airings before getting pulled by network brass.
I am rather pleased with myself that I’ve been able to compose 500 pieces of my mind. One realises that that is a fair amount of text to amass over three years. Every piece I’ve written over the last three years sits in six black binders above a filing cabinet here at the house. I keep them because you never know when they’ll come in handy. Like a couple of months ago when I needed to send in an application for the Journalism Program at Langara College. Along with filling out an online form, I needed to do an entrance exam, as well as submit a selection of my writing. I’ve never had anything published before -- except for a short blurb that appeared in TV Week magazine four years ago -- so rather than writing out stuff exclusively for the application, I decided to send some old commentaries of mine.
I went to the six binders that house my tomes to pick out the ones that I consider my most readable. I came up with 28. Less than 6% is pretty bad as an average, but I really wanted to put my best foot forward. Of those 28 pieces, nearly all had to do with politics. Nearly all had been written more recently, as most of my early stuff is most atrocious. Misspelled words, narrow-minded thinking and just poor editing on my part abound in those early columns. I guess because I don’t get paid for writing here, I’ve allowed myself to get lax on editing and stuff of the sort.
Looking back at my collection of 500 pieces is rather funny. It’s like looking back at a diary of my thoughts and opinions. But in a way it isn’t really a diary. Reading some of my more readable tomes I remember what I was thinking when I sat in front of the old computer punching the keys, watching the thoughts slip out of my fingers. Because I wrote them, I read the mood that I was in when I composed those tomes. Some days I was weary, plunking out a lament at the behaviour of the previous NDP government. Some days I would be acidic and moved to write scathing pieces on the increasingly alienating federal government.
Looking back (or perhaps more appropriately reading back), I can see the gamut of styles I’ve tried to parlay on your screens. Styles, I’ve either borrowed or stolen. For example if I wanted to go for the extremely sarcastic or cocky, I could see a bit of Allan Fotheringham colouring my correspondence. If I was upset at Jean Chrétien, it probably is a little of Rafe Mair’s editorial style. My own style, succinctly put, is really a mix of everyone I like to read. I make no bones about occasionally sounding like Foth or Rafe, because their work has influenced me. I hope I don’t do it too often, and that beyond such deference paid to my favourites, hopefully you’ll see my own two cents, in my own voice.
Another thing I’ve noticed about my columns is that I have been able to write longer. In the auspicious beginnings of this column, most of the pieces have been in the area of four to five hundred words. Now I can stretch into a thousand easily. I guess at times it is better to use two words instead of one, however it’s a bad habit. Orwell would be displeased with my incessant verbosity.
All of the columns I’ve writ are unabashedly my thoughts, meaning what you see is really what I think. And at times it is what I think you should know I’m thinking of at that given moment. For example if something strikes me about the Emmy’s or the Christmas cards I got this year, you’ll probably read about it. I’ve avoided pieces on softwood lumber or Kashmir, not because they aren’t imported subjects, but because I have nothing bright to contribute. At least, not yet.
I haven’t gone to the trouble of counting, but most of the 500 pieces I have written have probably been about politics. Some keep abreast on sport or horses, I keep current on politics. In the past three years it is interesting to see how my political thinking has changed. I think I’ve been better at looking at things fairly, yet I am still able to be a partisan if I have to. My own thinking has gone from being a union-supporting NDPer, to going to the right supporting the Canadian Alliance and voting for Stockwell Day. I guess peculiar is what you could call me politically.
If I were to think on the left-right scale, I’d be on the right, yet I think the left has much to contribute and we should never discount them. I’ve voted NDP provincially, yet the Alliance federally. I think George W. Bush is an inarticulate boob, but I probably would have voted Republican if I were an American. I think Joy MacPhail is doing an admirable job in Victoria, and I think British Columbians might want to vote NDP if only to provide her with more colleagues to continue holding the government’s feet to the fire. However, I think what Gordon Campbell is doing is very much needed in this province. The way he’s going about it though isn’t they way I’d do it. Prominent conservative voices, would also agree that Campbell’s methods aren’t ones they’d subscribe to.
After 500 pieces what more can be said? For the time being, I will still post my tomes to you whenever there’s something on my little mind. I do appreciate those who’ve been ‘subscribing’ over the last three years. It is gratifying to know there are those other than me, who read me. I do not know, one way or the other, how many of you are influenced by my thoughts. However, I would be seriously worried if any of you were.
The mandate of these columns is simple. From the beginning, they’ve been ‘launched into cyberspace’ (to borrow from my “friend” Naomi Ragen) to entertain and inform. If I’ve been able to do either, then good on me. If not, do stay tuned. I ought to get it right one of these days.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .