Series: Fall 2008

Teenaz Javat, 39, came to Canada in 1997. She had accumulated five years journalism experience in her native India and in Pakistan. She has a masters in economics. But when she came to Canada, because journalism is not a nine-to-five job and her kids were young, it was her personal choice to put her journalism… Continue reading Back to School

Fashion journalism hopes to help transform the “fashionista” into a “recessionista,” as a recent New York Times article put it, by highlighting the recent trend towards staying stylish on a tighter budget. Here in Canada, for example, the cover of Fashion‘s November issue features a big, bold pink-and-white sell line that promises, “Luxury for less— when to spend,… Continue reading Out of Style

It was a simple assignment: when the third in a string of pipeline explosions shook the northern British Columbia community of Dawson Creek this Halloween, Tamara Cunningham was sent out to cover it. A former reporter to the Dawson Creek Daily News, Cunningham realized as she drove up to the site that access wasn’t going to… Continue reading Taking Cover

It’s hard to maintain Canadian English. Even that paragon of virtue, the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, is flagging in its efforts to uphold the language’s integrity. Faced with competition from free online dictionaries, Oxford University Press laid off all four staff members in its Canadian dictionary division in October, including esteemed editor-in-chief Katherine Barber. Fortunately, Judy… Continue reading The Gatekeeper of Grammar

Bob Rupert saw it coming. In mid-October, the Carleton FreePress editor knew his time with the paper would soon be over when he discovered the company was having trouble paying its printing bills. Sure enough, the next Monday afternoon, owner Dwight Fraser walked into a story meeting and revealed that the New Brunswick weekly would… Continue reading Feuding with the Family