Thursday 29 March 2012

Journey for Justice

Journey for Justice

What works in this book? What does not Work? Why?

The book is easy to read and follow. McIntyre provides the reader with an abundance of background information about the case and the people involved in the case. I enjoyed reading the facts and learning about the Derksen family. This allows the reader to feel connected with the family adding to the overall experience.

Sometimes the book seems to drag on, especially with the actual court trial of Mark Grant and when Doctors diagnosed him. This was a bit lengthy at times and more work than leisure.

What can journalists learn from the book, the presentations or the case in general?

Journalists can learn a lot from McIntyre’s presentation. He talked about taking chances and that it never hurts to ask when you’re trying to get your hands on a story. He spoke confidently about what he did and was obviously content with the final product. He showed that journalists can help tell a larger story in the form of a novel and that this can be quite rewarding. It also teaches journalists that writing a novel is something you can do on the side of your regular journalistic duties and how the two of them can be combined in some cases.

How does this book compare to another non-fiction work in any medium?

I find this question a little tough to answer. I’m going to compare it to March of the Penguins which is narrated by Morgan Freeman. March of the Penguins is a video documentary that provides its viewers with everything they could have possibly wanted to know about the species of penguins. Not only are you amazed by the grueling life these penguins endure year and year out, but you come to garner a certain amount of respect for the species. As for Journey for Justice, the readers learn a lot about what happened to Candace Derksen and how the community initially reacted and continued to react over the years. Both are similar in that they are full of details, both have a beginning, middle and end. In both cases you gain respect for characters involved in the story and in Journey for Justices sake you gain distaste for Mark Grant.

I bet that if done right Journey for Justice could turn into a great movie.   

How does it compare to other work by McIntyre, e.g. his stories in the Winnipeg Free Press?

Well I am not all that familiar with McIntyre’s work but after reading a few of his articles I can say that his story although professional is much more conversational. The opportunity he has to tell a story in a novel is greater than in a newspaper publication. His newspaper publications are heavily fact based and don’t seem to have the same human interest aspect that Journey for Justice has.

What was your reaction to the book and the presentations?

I was very happy to hear Wilma Derksen speak. She is a very upbeat and positive lady. I found McIntyre to be very passionate about his work and quite serious in nature. Wilma has a very soothing voice and said just the loveliest things about her daughter Candace. Hearing Wilma speak was refreshing because she demonstrated grace, sophistication and humbleness all at the same time.

The book was okay, I didn’t mind it but I generally don’t read much outside of the sports and political world. Crime stories have never been my thing; I do however enjoy the old episodes of Law& Order.

It was nice to read a story that I was familiar with its settings. It really adds to the experience because I know this community and understand where everything actually took place. This helped me visualize what I was reading.

The book was good and it was nice to hear the author and mother of the victim speak. 

Friday 23 March 2012

Feeling Groovy

Knowing what you like and don't like usually takes some trial and error. I have error'd many times in my day and with experience have discovered the beauty of finding things that I enjoy in this simple existence I call living.

So if you apply the above rules to Twitter like I have many a times you assume because you like someone in real life that you will like following them on Twitter. This is not always the case as I'm sure you know. I like following sports stars, funny guys and people who have some influence over society only to find that their Tweets are Boring yes with a capital B.

However if you're like me and enjoy thought provoking Tweets, I would suggest you follow John Winsor.

https://twitter.com/#!/jtwinsor

This guy seems like a real nice guy who is interested in promoting creativity and sharing ideas that make you think. His Blog is also kind of neat.

http://www.johnwinsor.com/

So if you have a moment and feel like checking something out that I think is cool,

here you go.
    

Friday 2 March 2012

The broken vase

Dear blog,

SMASH

Was all I heard late Wednesday evening when I returned home from my hockey game. I was bumbling in through the doors of my apartment when my hockey stick tipped over the nice vase on the counter.

OOPS

I should mention that this vase was a gift to someone who lives in my building, a nice lady who is always pleasant to bump into in the halls or laundry room. She had decided to place a vase on a table right at the entrance with a nice little bouquet of flowers.

Yes it looks nice. No I wasn't be careless, I was just being a little bit thoughtless.

As I gently tapped the vase with my hockey stick, I noticed the vase had started to make its plunge to the unforgiving tile floor. I tried desperately in a panic to stop the vase with my leg, and pushed my leg up against the table that the vase was sitting on, and circus balanced it back and fourth for a few seconds before the lovely decoration met its fate.

CASH$$$$

That's what the moral of this blog post is, if you break it you buy it. When I talked with the lady who owned the vase she explained to me that the vase was very precious, and that she had received it as a gift. This sentiment never makes you feel good about yourself, because no one likes being the barer of bad news. We made an agreement that she would go vase shopping this upcoming weekend and find a suitable replacement for her prized possession.

I can only hope and wait that this ladies taste in vases isn't expensive. How much can they really cost? I guess I will soon find out. But from the research I have done they can range from over 100 bucks to less than 10.

Fingers crossed