cktimes.ca Archives for Notes from a Garage


Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Dwarf tossing, building a better community and Chatham-Kent goes to Stratford

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Well, there was a fairly funny story circulating around the local area last week, and while I could see the humour in it, I also found it a bit disturbing. It seems a bar in Windsor was hosting a "dwarf tossing" event. That's right, folks – a dwarf tossing event. Apparently, some people enjoy tossing short people around. Questions about the proper dwarf tossing techniques and where the tossed dwarf might land abounded at coffee tables throughout the land. I probably got the biggest laugh when a friend was telling me about an interview with the alleged dwarf. This little fellow feels he is an "entertainer" and that he has every right to be tossed if he so chooses – in other words, we'd be violating his human rights if we passed a law banning dwarf tossing. Which is what was suggested at Queen's Park last week after the whole thing blew up in the media – seems local people in Windsor were outraged that there could be dwarf tossing in this day and age and wanted to put a stop to it. Very strange affair. Things keep getting weirder every day. I've got to admit that the first thing that flashed through my mind when I heard about dwarf tossing was the Roman Circus that developed during the decline of that great empire. All kinds of extremely weird (and dare I say it) perverse entertainment was put on for the good Roman citizens in the Circus. How far are we from this very type of thing? I mean, I'm convinced that if we'd caught Osama Bin Laden, we'd have drawn and quartered him at Madison Square Gardens in front of a national TV audience. I'm convinced we're living through the decline of a great empire and things are only going to get stranger and stranger. That's what I think.

But enough of that sort of stuff..... I have had a great week this week and cktimes has had an even better week. Numbers have been on the rise for cktimes for quite a number of weeks now and I'm heartened that we're reaching a larger audience each week. I continue to hold firm to the belief that there are enough of you out there who enjoy the type of product I've built here that we can make this thing go. I'm trying to make this a real community newspaper on the net and am inviting all groups and organizations in Chatham-Kent to take advantage of the chance for some great exposure. I'm glad to bring the story of the nurse practitioner program in Tilbury or Al Mann's new book in Wallaceburg to a much wider audience that would have been previously possible. These are honest-to-goodness good news stories that we all need to know about in Chatham-Kent. We can't dwell on the negative week in and week out – I'm concerned about the Navistar closing, but we need to move on and recognize the great things that are happening locally. Groups like the wallaceburg.ca committee and the Tilbury Help and Information Centre, the Arts Enhancement Association in Ridgetown and the Dresden Sports Hall of Fame Committee in Dresden are what make this community a great place to be. Talk it up, people. We need to support ourselves and feel good about what we're doing.

I had the chance to meet an honest-to-goodness celebrity last week at the Dr. Jack Parry Sports Dinner. I'm talking about figure skater Shae Lynn Bourne and what a pleasure to be introduced. I was at the dinner to get a couple of photos for cktimes, and Shae Lynn was one of the guests of honour so I was really hoping to get her in one of the photos. I was thinking that she probably gets asked to be in photos a huge amount and I'm not a very pushy guy for a newspaper scribe, so I wasn't sure if I'd be successful or not. Well, she was extremely gracious and patient and I quickly learned why she has captured the hearts of so many Chathamites. You can see the results of the photo shoot in cktimes. Anyway, a bit of a thrill for me. Thanks to Shae Lynn and Sharon Haycock of the Foundation of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance for helping me line up the photos. And Club Lentinas never looked so good. Great job with the decor and it looked like a first-rate evening.

We do indeed have the Fin and Feather Report for you this week – sorry about the false alarm last week. More good news next week, I hope.

Must give you a week late report about our trip to Stratford last weekend (June 7). First, we're walking down the main street and along comes Marg Senyck and some other folks from the Wallaceburg Historical Society. It turns out they're there with a bus tour that also includes a contingent from Dresden. Then, down by the Festival Theatre, we run into Wallaceburg's M&M Meats owner Gerry Flynn and he's there for a university reunion. And, finally, just before showtime, along comes Keith Koke, the esteemed own of Express Copies and Printing and he's there with a Chatham Rotary bus trip. And every single person there was there to see The King and I. Strange, but true. As I was sitting in the Festival Theatre waiting for the show to start, I had to wonder what proportion of the theatre was filled with people from Chatham-Kent. And wouldn't we like to have the same thing here in Chatham-Kent. Think Capitol Theatre. Think Dickens. It can happen.

Pretty well out of time for another week. Thanks for tuning into cktimes each week. Remember, together we can help build our community through this little product that exists somewhere in cyberspace.

Take care and remember...."Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may."




John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.