The Hill Times today has a piece about the 50th anniversary of Carleton University’s volunteer-run radio station. There is a large photo accompanying the article, and I searched its tiny pixels because either or both of my parents could have been in it.
One of my fond memories as a kid was when my Dad took us to his office at Carleton and we would walk through all the radio editing booths – back when you had to actually cut and splice.
They moved the journalism classrooms. They have a proper TV studio now, and there is no need for those editing suites. It’s all in a new building that is way brighter and way cleaner.
(When I was a kid, Carleton journalism was dingy).
Me and Carleton, we’re connected. Both of my parents did their degrees there, and my father taught there. I grew up where I did because my parents bought a house near Carleton. I grew up surrounded by academics and public servants and politicos.
Boxing Day at my Dad’s house was full of conversation about current events – I would look around and tune in and out of different conversations. That is one of the things I miss the most.
I didn’t really think, until a few years ago, about the fact that not everyone goes to school with the sons and daughters of ministers and top-level bureaucrats. Or with parents who worked in politics and stayed engaged in politics. I am currently working in a place where I am probably the staff person most engaged and most passionate about politics and our political system. It’s the first time in my working life I have been in this kind of environment.
Previous jobs where either directly related to political functions or tangentially related, working around people who were also engaged fully.
Now, I know that 99 per cent of the population does not care – certainly does not care as much. This is obvious when I look at Canada’s voting rates. The last Ontario election saw voter turnout “higher than expected” at 45.4 per cent.
It wasn’t until conversation starting swirling around the recent federal budget that I really thought about those wonky conversations I miss having. Luckily I am married to a nerd.