Most people nowadays become a journalist because they have an issue in mind that they want to tell stories about. That’s not how it happened for me. Instead, I grew up in a newsroom, back in the days of the pica ruler, glue sticks and film cameras, because of my mom, your Kimberley Bulletin editor, Carolyn Grant.
I have fond memories of visiting Mom at her first newspaper office, the Red Lake District News, and watching her lay out the newspaper using scissors and glue. She even let me cut a few columns out and paste them into their spaces. Could I really do a job that involved a craft everyday? When we moved to Kimberley in 1997, my mom got a job at the Kootenay Advertiser.
I remember phoning her all the time at work: “Mom Eric hit me!” “Mom I’m hungry!” “Mom I hit Ally and then she hit me back!” Eventually Mom moved to the then Daily Bulletin. She immediately loved her job and was immersed in this community like never before. The phone calls eventually began coming not from us but our teachers — like the time Selkirk Principal Terry Oscarson called because my brother wouldn’t stop bouncing a ball against a locker and disrupting a math class.
After sorting that one out, I imagine deadline was tight that day. During high school, Mom was always dashing out to photograph events or cover city council meetings. I’d drop by her office to say hello and she’d send me down the Platzl to drop off her negatives or pick up her prints while she stayed behind for a.