The More Things Change
by George Czerny
What’s that they say about everything old is new again?
Decades ago, David Hasselhoff starred in the television series Baywatch and I set my sights on creating a magazine for the Georgian Triangle area. I registered the name Georgian Bay Watch magazine, but it wasn’t long before my little magazine went the way of the dodo bird.
There were many reasons why my little publication didn’t take off. I was under-capitalized. I tried to do everything by myself. This region was very different then in terms of tourism promotion, and business thinking was different. I can remember when patios on the sidewalks of downtown Collingwood were frowned upon by business leaders.
Recently my wife Nancy picked up the latest edition of On The Bay magazine—the first edition since a new editor, Roger Klein, was installed, joining David Loopstra as publisher. (Full disclosure: David Loopstra once wrote a story about me when he was a community newspaper reporter.)
I can remember when On The Bay magazine started with Collingwood as its epicentre. Now, On The Bay is changing with the times. It is still bringing us stories of interest and terrific photographs. There are familiar names: Willi Wildman, Daniel Vnukowski, Dan Needles. There are also names of people whom I do not know: Edward Burtynsky and Tim Shuff and others.
An overriding thing is that this magazine is locally focused, and brings us a mixture of hard news topics and feel-good features. I hope that trend continues.
It’s said that we learn something every day. It is thanks to On The Bay that I learned the word “interdigitate.”
I looked up the meaning and found: “interlock like the fingers of two clasped hands.”
Roger Klein uses the word in a column which tells, in part, about a new digital video platform that On The Bay is launching. It is called Bay Watch. This “new presence” will “interdigitate with On The Bay magazine and The New Classical 102.9FM,” he wrote.
For me, a fellow who burned his fingertips on hot metal in the newspaper business long ago, I am only awakening to such things as streaming. During the challenges of the pandemic, I have learned to use Zoom, taking advantage of an ever-improving program at the Collingwood Public Library.
Change continues. David Hasselhoff’s Baywatch has gone. My Georgian Bay Watch has gone.
I enjoy watching the landscape of change in my life. I have known people who remembered the horse-and-buggy days, and living in log cabins. Man landed on the moon. The Internet was invented and exploded around the world. Today, I keep in touch with friends and family, almost instantly, in such places as Poland, France, England, Cuba, Myanmar, and even China, with taps on my keyboard. Amazing!
Coming years are going to bring even more change. My hope is that as change happens, more and more people will become part of the process on such topics as health care, education, environment, politics, planning, and development. We should all be concerned about the kind of community our ever-skyrocketing changes are bringing us.
In Defence of Classic Skiing
by Len Bevan
Congratulations to Laurie Stephens on her great article “High by Nature” and for taking on the very physical challenge of skate skiing. I’m sure she didn’t mean to put down classic cross-country skiing when she described it as “a walking motion” using “one pole at a time.” Unfortunately, most beginners think that if you can walk, you can ski. That’s fine if all you want to do is “walk on your skis.”
In fact, classic technique is even more technique-driven than skate skiing as it encompasses many more skills: the very basic kick and glide, double pole, skate, herringbone, side step, snow plow, step turn, stem christie and, if you want to push it, parallel and telemark. Laurie’s description of the long, slow strides of the speed skater applies as much to an accomplished classic skier as to a skate skier.
I hope that Laurie’s example of seeking instruction from a pro will inspire others to make their outdoor winter experience more enjoyable by doing likewise.
A Word of Congratulations
by Joanne Nijhuis
Congratulations on the new look, contributors, and departments of this wonderful magazine. I’ve been an avid reader of On The Bay since the beginning in 2004. After all these years, this publication continues to be a must-read for visitors, weekenders, and those of us lucky enough to call Southern Georgian Bay our home.
Kudos to everyone who is working so hard to put together this entertaining, informative, and well-written magazine. I hang onto past issues, as they serve as a guidepost to the important challenges facing our area, as well as a directory to who is doing what in the region. As a big fan and supporter, I cannot wait for the next issue to hit the stand. Looking forward to Spring 2022 and many years to come.
706 Days: A Pause to Reflect
by 706, by Anisha Holden-Bensdira
At the annual Mayor’s Levee on Feb 27, 2022, Anisha Holden-Bensdira, a Collingwood human rights activist, was asked to present a youth’s perspective on the pandemic. She shared her poem with On The Bay.
I’m not much of an athlete, but I’d like to illustrate a scene for you.
You are a runner.
Breath, rapidly following
after breath.
Short and shallow.
A rhythmical pattern of thuds pounding out of your chest.
Step, after step, each getting heavier and more reliant on the willingness to continue.
Thoughts buzzing, mostly thinking about all the things you have to accomplish today, and how terrible that blister on your heel is getting.
Are you almost done?
Is it almost over?
With an abrupt halt, you are forced to stop, you are out of breath, and all of your negative thoughts that you have been fixated on now cease to exist.
It is a pause…a pause like
never before.
You stop and evaluate, stop
and appreciate, stop and regenerate, and simply stop
just to love.
You take a moment to notice ALL OF THIS, when usually you’d just be running.
The irony is that the things in life we cherish the most are the same things we seem to ignore, the same things we run right past.
A WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC has brought many fatalities, destroyed businesses and created immense political uproar. A pandemic that unrepentantly strikes us again and again with difficult challenges….
BUT
706 DAYS AGO, on March 23, 2020, we as a community,
among many others in Ontario, stopped running.
This date marks the first province-wide lockdown.
During this time, The Town of Collingwood found collectivism over isolation.
And I for one have never
been prouder.
Fast forwarding from 2020 to this past year of 2021, we bounced back stronger than ever before.
Do you remember the sweet sounds of bagpipes that echoed in our streets?
Do you remember the colourful signs that painted our windows to honour our healthcare workers?
Do you remember the online community chat forums constantly buzzing?
This was collectiveness,
beyond businesses finding new routes, entrepreneurs developing new ideas—we as a community came together.
Collectiveness will always overrule isolation, because togetherness has always been, and always will be, the foundation that drives any positive change.
With that being said, I acknowledge that each of the 706 days has not been easy. If anything, it has been exhausting.
Exhausting for healthcare workers in this community, for business owners, for parents, teachers, students, and so many others. It has tested each individual in its unique ways, but since having to challenge ourselves by working behind a pandemic, we, together as a town, not only overcame but grew from this obstacle.
With that pause, where we all seemed to regenerate by that abrupt change, it was then that everyone became more appreciative of what they had before it was gone. So, as our town began to open up once again, we became more eager, passionate, dedicated, and inspired towards our projects.
This pandemic took so much from us, so let us take something from this pandemic.
Let us acknowledge that the act of living is not a routine, that we mustn’t forget to stop and recharge, to nourish our souls with the things and people we love most.
As you continue to navigate your own trail, I challenge each of you to the 706 rule—to always be grateful, to always stop, pause, and regenerate. And lastly, to
be collective.
I am so proud of how far we have come. It is because of each and every one of you!
You are this community.
You are Collingwood.
