As a youngster growing up in Palmerston, I had multiple dreams that I wanted to chase.
The first, like any Canadian kid growing up in the early ‘90s, was to be a professional hockey player. However, as I got to my teens, it became evident that was not going to happen.
To quote Terry, Happy Gilmore’s ex-girlfriend in the legendary 1996 film, “There’s a problem: you’re not any good.”
The next dream was to become a professional golfer. This sport was one that I was, in my mind, pretty good at. I was a low handicap player in high school, and thought if I worked at it I could, one day, qualify for the Canadian Open and maybe make a go of it professionally.
However, I then played in an event against some of the province’s top-ranked amateurs, and quickly learned that while I was a good golfer, I wasn’t good enough to go anywhere with it.
In the background, there was one more dream that I wanted: to work in newspapers.
When I was a kid, I was quick to pick up that week’s Palmerston Observer or that day’s copy of the Toronto Star and read everything I could – local news in the Observer, and the sports section and cartoons of the Star.
When I got to high school, I did the co-op program twice. Why? For one, I was a lazy student and looked at co-op as an easy two credits. Secondly, it was so I could work at the Minto Express for two terms while earning four high school credits.
After high school I was left with a difficult decision: attend college for journalism, or business administration with a focus on golf course management. I had been accepted at multiple schools for both programs, but was unsure what to do.
I remember sitting down with my parents one night at the kitchen table to talk about this.
“Well, go to school for golf. If it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to school,” my dad said.
To make a long story short, golf didn’t work out. My career path took me on an unconventional route – agriculture, a grocery store in Nunavut, and back to agriculture – before landing at the Mount Forest Confederate in March 2015.
Like a duck to water, I found my way in the world of community newspapers. In my first year at the Confederate, I won three Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA) awards and things were going well at the paper. I moved up to editor of a handful of papers in the area, including the Listowel Banner and Wingham Advance Times.
There have been ups and downs throughout the years, but at no point did I think there would be a time where community newspapers would not be part of my career.
Until now.
Friday, Feb. 2 is my last day as editor at Midwestern Newspapers – a choice that I did not make easily or lightly. Beginning next week, I will begin a new chapter in the municipal world.
When I got into this industry, I wanted to have a hand in telling the stories of the community and covering local events. I wanted to be part of the group that recorded history – the good and the bad – and do my part in keeping residents informed with “news you can use,” as the old Confederate slogan went. For the past nine years, I have been fortunate that so many folks have answered the phone, welcomed me into their homes, or reached out to me and asked that I tell their story.
However, now it is time for someone else to tell these stories.
As fortunate as I have been to work in community journalism, I have been even more fortunate to do so with the group of people here at Midwestern Newspapers.
To those I have worked with over the years – it takes a great team (award-winning, in the case of Midwestern Newspapers) to produce a newspaper each week – thank you for nine great years. This group of individuals is one of the best in the province at what they do, something which I am sure will be reinforced later this month when the OCNA announces the 2023 Better Newspaper Competition finalists.
The hardest part about the coming days will be the realization that I will not be seeing these people every day.
Writing this final chapter in my journalism journey has also been difficult, only topped by the day I told the staff here that I was leaving.
Finally, I want to thank each and every person who has read any of my work over the years. Some of it was met with great fanfare, other pieces not so much. However, if you took the time to read it and let me know how you felt about it, I do appreciate it.
With that said, it is time to wrap this up while it’s still considered a column and not a short story.
While this may be the final instalment of “From the Editor’s Desk” – a column title I borrowed from the late Jonathan Zettel when he left the Walkerton Herald-Times five years ago – just remember that someone else will sit at this desk (who that is, I don’t know) and they will do their best to make sure the communities served by Midwestern Newspapers receive the news coverage they so rightly deserve.
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Mike Wilson is the editor, for a few more days, of Midwestern Newspapers. For now, he can be reached at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com. He also dives into the cesspool formerly known as Twitter from time to time; follow him @__MikeWilson.
