Tagged (The Working Life)
Jeez. This things are like chain letters. But what the hell:
Truckweld mechanics helper, Bakery Workers Union on-call, freelance writer (Georgia Straight mostly), butcher shop clerk, human rights officer (working with Sikh and Chinese youth groups, Quebecois farmworker kids), that kind of thing. First union job - making licence plates at Oakalla prison (the prisoners rioted, refused to do it, so they hired us kids from the neighbourhood).
College, then: Reporter, labour columnist, assistant city editor at the old Daily Columbian, various interregna with the Newspaper Guild; then to the Vancouver Sun as reporter, columnist, assistant city editor, with brief stint in India for the Globe and Mail. Got a buyout from the company, went straight to the track with it. Started writing books.
Various giggage: In Ottawa with the Native Council of Canada (and in Joe Clark's shop, of all places) on the aboriginal self-government constitutional amemendment that went down in flames with the Charlottetown Accord; Analyst, B.C. Treaty Commission; short stints at gillnet deckhanding and working with the Fraser River tribal fisheries authority; Treaty researcher, Katzie First Nation; founding member, Pacific Fisheries Research Conservation Council, misc. research projects with the Sierra Club, David Suzuki Foundation, Watershed Watch and so on.
All the while, writing lots. Straight column, Globe and Mail column, magazine features. Still doing magazine writing and freelancing for the dailies, writing books from home and away, editing my own imprint/series (Transmontanus), occasional Tyee column, and part-time adjunct teaching gig at UBC, MFA Creative Writing Program. If anyone knows of an afternoon shift forklift job in a warehouse, let me know.
I'm tagging Jim, Johnny, Jay and Jonathon, because their names start with the letter "J," for job. And they will hold me in contempt for it, prolly.
Truckweld mechanics helper, Bakery Workers Union on-call, freelance writer (Georgia Straight mostly), butcher shop clerk, human rights officer (working with Sikh and Chinese youth groups, Quebecois farmworker kids), that kind of thing. First union job - making licence plates at Oakalla prison (the prisoners rioted, refused to do it, so they hired us kids from the neighbourhood).
College, then: Reporter, labour columnist, assistant city editor at the old Daily Columbian, various interregna with the Newspaper Guild; then to the Vancouver Sun as reporter, columnist, assistant city editor, with brief stint in India for the Globe and Mail. Got a buyout from the company, went straight to the track with it. Started writing books.
Various giggage: In Ottawa with the Native Council of Canada (and in Joe Clark's shop, of all places) on the aboriginal self-government constitutional amemendment that went down in flames with the Charlottetown Accord; Analyst, B.C. Treaty Commission; short stints at gillnet deckhanding and working with the Fraser River tribal fisheries authority; Treaty researcher, Katzie First Nation; founding member, Pacific Fisheries Research Conservation Council, misc. research projects with the Sierra Club, David Suzuki Foundation, Watershed Watch and so on.
All the while, writing lots. Straight column, Globe and Mail column, magazine features. Still doing magazine writing and freelancing for the dailies, writing books from home and away, editing my own imprint/series (Transmontanus), occasional Tyee column, and part-time adjunct teaching gig at UBC, MFA Creative Writing Program. If anyone knows of an afternoon shift forklift job in a warehouse, let me know.
I'm tagging Jim, Johnny, Jay and Jonathon, because their names start with the letter "J," for job. And they will hold me in contempt for it, prolly.
posted by Terry Glavin at 11:48 AM
4 Comments:
Thanks for the Chaplin clip from Modern Times, a great film (loved the automated lunch feeder that was supposed to save time on the factory floor). Haven't seen the film since 1973, the same year I got film extra work in Bollywood alongside Helen "Queen of the Nautch Girls", which was my favourite summer job ever.
Crikey, Kurt. Should have tagged you.
You're not kidding me, are you?
Helen was the goddess of dance, an indefatigable hoofer, and a genuine sweetheart to all her fans and co-workers. Occupying the same set as her, as humble as my (and my then future wife's) job was, was an honour and privilege. May Helen enjoy her senior years with blessed memories. Helen rules.
Enjoy her taking the piss out of the competition, as talented as Vyjay was, in the '60s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekb1FXXqx4M&NR=1
A classic that bin laden wouldn't like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpGd8OYCPq0&feature=related
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