cktimes.ca Archives for Notes from a Garage


Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Just a whole bunch of stuff about being five years old........

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Tory MP Bev Shipley and cktimes' publisher John Gardiner talk shop at the Wallaceburg Museum's Traditional Gathering. cktimes is five years old this week and an accepted part of the local news media. Partway through a huge uphill battle!

Well, well, so here we are – five years into the great cktimes' project with some successes to report and also some failures. On the success side, we're still here and we've been growing year by year. The paper was started as a sort of experiment. The media are always telling us it gives us what we want – that good news won't sell. I have, quite frankly, proven that that is not true. I have "sold" good news to the market for five years. I am averaging over 250,000 hits per month by making available only good news – of course, there is also a strong line-up of local writing talent. Still, I tire of the constant barrage of bad, negative news and continue to feel it is poisoning our social environment. I feel there is a whole lot of international good news going on around the world, but that most of it gets ignored, while a myriad of news reporters seek out the bad stuff. With all due respect, what are the Canadian soldiers doing in Afghanistan? I keep hearing whispers about schools being built and women being able to participate in society, but mostly on the evening news the media concentrates on the bombs and battles and the fact that most Canadians don't support the war on the home front. No, the media are responsible for creating the sea of negativity and cynicism in which we now dwell. cktimes represents the first backlash against all this negativity, but more will follow. More people will start to realize that we've got to think positive to do positive. Yes, I'm passionate about cktimes and its good news message. I want the world to be a better place for my children and grandchildren and it ain't going to happen if we keep travelling down the road we're on – think about that!

Philip Shaw, Jim Gilbert, Blake Mann, Pastor Brian Horrobin and myself, I think, are the folks who have been here in cyberspace for the entire five years – and all of our efforts are there for you to see in the archives of cktimes. Really, I owe a huge vote of thanks to these people, as well as Mary Ellen Herder and Cherie McGuire, Terri Dent, Greg Foster, Kevin Blake and a whole list of people who have made a big difference in the life of cktimes.ca. Greg Hetherington, John Weese and Jeff Wesley have all written for cktimes and helped it along the way. I have been blessed to have had so many people "buy" into my plan to try to make a positive difference in the world. Each week, I am blown away by the absolutely amazing talent that appears on the pages of my little publication. And while other media sources are relying more and more on syndicated stuff from the so-called experts in the big city, I have sought out hidden treasures right here in Chatham-Kent – folks like Terri Dent, Blake Mann and Philip Shaw – people who are so very passionate about what they do that they want to tell the world. I am honoured and privileged to have had you grace these pages. I can't offer enough thanks.

And while newspaper mergers are the order of the day and your local paper gets gobbled up by some huge company that doesn't know your community or really care about it, cktimes does nothing but care about it. For five years, I've driven the lonely road. Sometimes, I think I must be nuts. Driving to Highgate to cover the minor baseball awards, off to Clearville Park to watch the Women's Institute plant a memorial tree, up to the Rutherford Fire Hall to cover the final meeting of the Lambon Kent District high School Reunion Committee. And the only thing that's the same about all these events is that I'm the only media person there. Most nights, I drive a lonely road while my wife sits home by herself. And I can tell you that the people at these events are what makes it worthwhile. All amazed that someone in the media still knows they're there. You know, I've been told a thousand times that I'm ahead of the curve with cktimes – that I'm on the leading edge. And what makes this a truly unique experiment is that I'm running the paper like it was back in the 1950's. Trying to cover many of the social events in the community that don't get covered these days. So, I may be using leading edge technology, but I'm really producing an old-style community newspaper right here on the net. Strange, but true......

So, it's five years of producing cktimes.ca. I've not missed a week. Must be crazy. Each Tuesday, I sit in my garage, get a tremendous headache, get incredibly dizzy from sitting in front of the computer all day. Really put myself through a very bad day. But I've gotta make this happen. I've got to keep at it. For the good of my grandson, Isaac, and all the other kids in the world. Because i may be the good news guy, but I'm also the guy who reminds you regularly that 27,000 children die from preventable causes each day and 2/3 of the world's population goes to bed hungry each night. Remember that stuff when you read cktimes – remember, that this is what it's all about. Making a better world – and how can you argue with that. How indeed......

Out of time for another week. Five years and counting – enjoy the fall 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.