Remembering a peer, a friend
by Michelle Minnoch

As a journalist covering events for a community newspaper, there is always someone else there with you gathering the same story. Whether you are covering council, Pitch-in Day or a groundbreaking, there is always the same group of us gathered together, looking for the same story, but maybe with a different edge.

Since I started in the summer of 2005, the same foursome would usually show up

Miriam (Bradford Times), Ian (Innisfil Examiner), Carol (Innisfil Enterprise) and myself. Although we were all going to get the same information, we got along - there were never hard feelings harboured towards the competition. For the past couple of months, while Carol had been battling with her health, Lynda jumped on board to help out her friend (and might I add, quickly fit in with our sometimes offbeat sense of humour).

Although we were a group of four again, not seeing Carol every week was a reminder of what she was going through and how frustrated she must have been not to be able to come to those grueling council meetings. She loved to do her job and she did it well. It was her passion.

Although we are all have a job to do, we all became fast friends. I could tell you when Ian was shooting hockey in Stroud, or when Miriam was going to visit her kids. It's like we have this clique, and new members are always welcome, but we generally actually do get along and although my friends are my competition, they are first and foremost my friends, and my peers.

Whether you are a journalist, student, welder, baker, or candlestick maker, everyone on this planet learns something new everyday. It may be something you read, a song on the radio, or a new word in the latest spy novel you are reading. Coming into this job 10 years after graduating from Journalism at Sheridan, I had a lot to re-learn really fast. Without the support of my peers, my friends - Carol, Miriam and Ian - that experience would have been extremely difficult and frustrating. I took it in stride and more importantly, I took advice.

I have learned a lot from going to events and talking to my comrades. Although my boss had offered to come to council with me the first time, I went myself and it was then I saw whom I would be competing with. I had my back up, as I thought the competition was meant to be that only - I wasn't there to make friends, I was there to do my job. After I opened the blinders and realized how naive I was, I realized my luck. Here I was, green at the game, and I had seasoned journalists sitting with me at the same table.

My guard came down and I was in awe - wow, these people do this day in and day out, just like I am going to be doing. I was inexperienced, and Carol, Miriam and Ian understood that. When I had questions and was confused as to what was going on, they took the time to explain it to my. It can't get any better than that.

Competition makes us strive to do better - its human nature. Like an athlete, you want to outplay the next guy; like a stockbroker, you want your portfolio to make more money then the guy beside you. But with my competition, you want to know when someone is free so you can get together for lunch or have a beer.

Sometimes you are rushing from one event to the next, and don't always have time to catch up.

What I have learned from my competition is something that will always go with me, no matter where my path takes me. Whether it's the angle of a question or the amount of sunlight in the photo, my fellow journalists have always taught me something new.

I never had a chance to say thank you to my peers - so here's to you. I know somewhere out there, Carol is watching over us, checking our spelling and punctuation.