cktimes.ca Archives for Notes from a Garage


Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

It's really not that far.

Tuesday, October 1, 2002

Well, it's been another exciting week here at http://www.cktimes.ca. In fact, we got our first real "numbers" on how many of you have been visiting the site over the last month. Wow! It seems that over 20,000 guests visited the cktimes site during September and that is wonderful news. Also, I know from the number of e-mail I'm getting, that a lot of you are reading various things within the Times – and that is good. We're working hard to try to bring you a good cross section of news and events from across this community. One thing I have learned is that Chatham-Kent is really not that big. I mean, I've been criss crossing the community for about a month now, and I've discovered that there's really no place you can't be in fairly short order. Whether you're heading to Ridgetown, Bleinheim or Bothwell or Wheatley, it's not that big of a trip. And, man, are you a friendly bunch. I have been welcomed with open arms at every stop I've made and it's been very heartening. Thanks for that. We'll keep trying to earn your trust and support. Send us your stuff and we'll print it We want to make this a true forum and information exchange for the citizens of the community of Chatham-Kent, but can only do it with your help. Give us a chance.

If you have interest in reading my ramblings each week, you'll have to do it right here in this space, because this is the only place you can find me these days. I had been writing a weekly column for the Wallaceburg Courier Press and had been doing so for some time. Last week, I got the call. It was explained to me that the Courier was dropping my column because I was now regarded as competition. Yea, right! So far, I've sold exactly one ad. I'm huge competition, eh? Also, I'm not exactly sure what my column in the Courier really had to do with cktimes.ca. I had no plans to even mention one in the other and thought the two venues were about as far apart as they could be – the one strictly a Wallaceburg publication, the other serving all of Chatham-Kent. In any case, I've been axed in the Courier. As one fellow said to me, "I guess they already own 98% of the market – they must want the other 2% as well." By "they", he meant the large media conglomerates that own pretty well every media source in Canada. I'm trying to offer an alternative to the mainstream media's regular dose of negative, sensational news. Don't even call me a journalist – I'm a community newspaper person - the two are not the same. I believe it's important for our local media in Chatham-Kent to be owned and operated locally. That way, it has a stake in the local community and isn't just a profit centre that funnels money down the road to Toronto or Montreal. If you think I'm not keen on the mainstream media, you'd be right.

So, my wife's daughter takes her 3-year-old son to see a Disney move a couple of months ago. Now, she's very careful what her son is exposed to, sometimes even going to the lengths of previewing a movie before she takes him. But she's going to see "Return to Neverland", the Peter Pan sequel, so what can go wrong? Well, how about the previews? Seems there were several very inappropriate previews for upcoming features before the main feature. She marched to the back of the theatre to talk to the manager, but her comments seemd to fall on deaf ears. I'm telling you, folks, that the people who operate the theatres are doing this sort of thing on purpose – they know full well what they're doing. And it's completely and blatantly wrong. Program children to accept as normal all the violence and sex and profanity that have become regular fare in most movie houses. That's what it's all about. Strange, but true.

I'm finding I'm having trouble watching TV these days. I mean, I'm only good for an hour or two a week in any case, but even then, it's turning my stomach – literally. And it's not the content of the shows that's making me queasy - it's the way they, and the commercials, are being made. The creators of these shows have decided that they have to flash as many images at us as they possibly can within the shortest period of time – it really is like sitting in front of a strobe light back in a rock band in the '60's. Likely some other brilliant marketing strategy – likely designed to speed up our rate of consumption so the economy doesn't collapse. Also strange, but true.

I need to say another thank-you to Internet Kent for the great job of web design they're doing on cktimes.ca. Way to go to Mike Perry and the crew! Don't forget to read some of our excellent columnists – and I mean excellent.

Get in touch with me at any point if you like. Many of you already have. I need to hear from you if I'm going to make this thing work.

take care 'til next week 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.