 |
| Me just out relaxing and enjoying the day. |
Like your typical guy, I am bad at observing anniversaries.
I almost
forgot to mark the creation day of this blog. The first post on Stanks’ Sermon
blog came back on Aug. 29, 2014, and it marked my thoughts about settling down
in Saskatoon. I am just over a month late in recognizing the one-year
anniversary for this site, but it is better late than never.
This
will be the 121st unique entry to Stanks’ Sermon, and I just passed
25,000 page views in total, which includes views from a number of high ranking
officials from various sports teams. The fact I would make that many entries or
attract that many page views were both unexpected. I figured this might be a
side project, but it seems to be turning into a focus.
When I
moved to Saskatoon to be closer to family, I figured I would basically be
retired from covering sports after leaving the Medicine Hat News. I expected to
arrive in Saskatoon, get a communications, public relations or an office
administrative position with a company like Cameco or PotashCorp and disappear
into the background of real life as an ordinary person not in the public view.
I know a lot of my friends from
the media field figured I would end up in the communications and public
relations field upon my arrival to Saskatoon. From there, I would figure out
how I would be involved in the sports community.
In real life, plans don’t work
out as cookie cutter like that. Since arriving in The Bridge City, I have
applied for numerous communications positions in town with various
organizations. Going back to the start of August of 2014, I have had only three
career related job interviews. Of those three career related interviews, one
was with an organization in another centre.
While talking to about three
friends similar to myself who are trying to land a position in the
communications and public relations field, they also seem to be running into
the same roadblocks. Those positions seem to be used by organizations or
companies to satisfy unwritten equal opportunity employment ratio numbers. In
other words, you need to be from a visible minority group or female to even be
considered for such work.
If you are a Caucasian male in
your later 30s, it seems like you shouldn’t even try to apply. I have even had
the odd bud from football joke I should look into becoming like Caitlyn Jenner
to get work in the communications and public relations field.
From there, I naturally moved to
find freelance work with various entities as a writer and a photographer.
Becoming a freelance journalist was something that wasn’t in the plans.
I did kick tires sending resumes
to various local media outlets to see if they needed a writer or a photographer.
Even broadcast outlets have former print reporters managing website content,
but in the media’s budget cut era, I wasn’t expecting too much, even with the
fact I have been in media in some form since 1996.
I sent resumes to, in no
particular order, the StarPhoenix, CTV Saskatoon, Global Saskatoon, the
Saskatoon Media Group, CBC Saskatoon, 650 CKOM, Planet S and the Verb Magazine.
Outside of getting an email from a StarPhoenix human resources representative
in June, I didn’t get a sniff from any of them. As I was living with family, I
figured I put myself in position to work under the hometown discount, which would
help my employment chances in the media’s budget cut era.
I have friends who ended up with
positions in mainstream media outlets in Calgary and Edmonton due to the fact
they moved there before applying or they already lived there.
My
disappointment on that front wasn’t too large. I know how stressed the media
situation is in Canada, and I know a lot of great people work at the Saskatoon
based outlets.
The
coolest thing that happened to me on the media front was reconnecting with Cam
Hutchinson, who is the editor of the Saskatoon Express weekly publication. He
was the long-time managing editor at the StarPhoenix, which included the period
I worked there on an internship. I became a regular contributor to the Express.
The
Express contains a number of former StarPhoenix staffers, and they are
spectacular when it comes to looking at my copy.
Hutchinson
had also gone public with his battles with anxiety, and he became a great
person to talk to on that front. I have also long gone public with my battles
regarding issues with anxiety, which started due to workplace mental health
issues that arose during my final years at the Medicine Hat News.
Hutchinson
has been one of two people in the media industry that I feel have really
understood what I have gone through. The other has been Gregg Drinnan in
Kamloops, who is the ultimate veteran when it comes to covering the WHL and
regularly tries to shed light on mental health issues in his Taking Note blog.
In Hutchinson’s case, he has been
great when it comes to offering reassuring words. It is also great to have
someone in town you can go out for a coffee with to talk about mental health
issues.
The fact I have come forward with
my mental health battles does kind of stick somewhat in the back of my mind of
being the reason I don’t get interviewed for communications and public
relations positions. I have often been told by people dealing with their mental
health battles that it is a career and job killer to talk about these issues,
due to the stigma that surrounds mental health issues.
That actually jumped to the
forefront of my mind during one of my career related interviews. Back in
February, I interviewed for a media position with the department of Advancement
and Community Engagement at the University of Saskatchewan.
 |
| Me checking out action at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. |
I had a strategy to talk about
what I encountered on the mental health front in the workplace, and how that it
was a big thing for me to find a way to overcome that challenge. I had a very
minimal idea or education what to do on the mental health front just four years
earlier.
During the interview, a question
came up regarding how do I deal with times that are extremely busy. When I
heard that question, I figured that wasn’t much of a question. If anyone could
see a video of my time at the News, they could see that every shift was hyper
busy during my last two years there and that dealing with the world is caving
in scenario got to the point it was an ordinary, everyday thing.
I decided in my mind let’s stop
daintily dancing around the soft question and get to the hard one. I said that
being busy wasn’t a problem for me, because life was always busy at the News. I
then said the biggest challenge I faced came on the mental health front.
After I said what had happened to
me, the four woman panel that interviewed me gave me this stunned, shocked
look. My first reaction to that was I should have never brought up my mental
health story.
My mind then drifted into
thoughts about educated stereotypes. My mind started thinking if a four woman
panel interviewing me for a position at a major university can give me this
look I am really screwed, because women traditionally are a little more caring
and emotional than men and major universities are supposed to be forward
thinking places.
In evaluating that whole
interview, I felt I didn’t perform well enough on an overall standard. I
believe I was good, but I needed to be great, spectacular or impressive. One of
my former media colleagues from another centre got that position, and I do have
to conclude that was an extremely good hire.
Even with that in mind, the
reaction to when I brought up the mental health issues sticks in my mind.
Looking back, I just should have answered the question about how I deal with
being busy.
To supplement the income from
freelancing and money that comes in from this blog, I have been working
temporary contract positions through Kelly Services. I started off with mainly
office work, but have doing more warehouse assignments lately, which means I
have put on steel toed footwear for the first time in about 19 years.
All the work environments I have
encountered through Kelly Services have been positive ones, which have been big
in helping me. Since my mental health problems started due to troubles in the
work environment, it was important for me to regain the experience of feeling
safe leaving my place of residence and going to a work site.
In these positions, I also met a
number of other people who dealt with troubles in other work environments where
employers hired outright street creatures to letting unthinkable things get
overlooked like personal theft between employees or theft from the company as two
examples. They were happy to find a better environment as well. On a side note,
I applied to some of the companies my temporary co-workers talked about, posted
the highest score on an employee assessment one company had ever seen, but
still didn’t land a job.
During my ups and downs on those
fronts and feeling like I am being left behind in the game of life compared to
my friends, I always had this blog. I used it to document cool stuff regarding
in random order the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the Saskatoon Hilltops,
the Saskatoon Blades, the Saskatoon Valkyries, a UFC card and a couple of NHL
exhibition games.
It would be cool if creating this
blog could become a full-time thing, and with that said, I eventually need to
put in work on the advertising front. Actually, if I averaged getting a dollar
for every page view that occurred, I could get away with writing this blog and
relying on freelance work for income.
The highlight moment with this
blog so far has been writing about the Saskatoon Stars of the Saskatchewan
Female Midget AAA Hockey League, whose roster contains my young cousin Danielle
Nogier. Nogier’s presence on the team is honestly the only reason I discovered
the Stars and their talented young and energetic bunch. Last season, they won
the female title at the Mac’s tournament, their first SFMAAAHL title and bronze
at the Esso Cup national championship tournament.
During
my life, I would consider myself not to be the greatest family guy. Heck, I
lived 13 straight years in centres that didn’t contain family before moving to
Saskatoon.
I was able to be at the Agriplace
Arena the night the Stars won the league title, and the big personal highlight
was getting to snap a picture of my cousin skating around the ice with the
championship banner. I have covered and lived through a number of highlight
moments in sports, but I can count on one hand the number of times those
moments included family members. As sports is my passion, it was cool, special
and different in a very good way for me to see one of Danielle’s big moments.
One of
the reason’s I came to Saskatoon was to experience a moment like the Stars
winning a league title, even if I didn’t know that when I made the move here.
I have
to remember I arrived with the goal to live in Saskatoon. I believe I am a
community minded person, which comes from the influence of former University of
Regina Rams head coach Frank McCrystal, and my university days involved with
the teams at the University of Regina. Thinking about those years and the old
rivalry between Regina and Saskatoon, I don’t think McCrystal could imagine
anyone going to Saskatoon to try and have a positive impact there. Lol.
While
my living is a modest one since arriving in the Bridge City, I have been able
to buy my own $1,000 ticket to the One Voice Fundraiser, attend the Dogs’
Breakfast, take part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, give to the Canadian
Cancer Society, donate money to the late Cody Smuk in his battle with cancer,
support the scholarship fund for the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey
team, attend the Saskatoon Hilltops PotashCorp Pitchfork Fondue and pass money
on to the Hilltops scholarship fund.
 |
| My young cousin Danielle Nogier and the SFMAAAHL title banner. |
On the out of town front due to
longstanding links I have made, I have made small donations to Dorothy
Drinnan’s participation in the Kidney Walk in Kamloops and to Medicine Hat News
sports editor Sean Rooney for his participation in the Extra Life fundraiser in
Medicine Hat to supports children’s hospitals nationally. Of course, I am still
making donations to the Rams scholarship fund, which is something I have been
doing since leaving Regina in 2001.
The One
Voice Fundraiser to support the Neural Health Project at the U of Saskatchewan,
which looks to find a more complete approach to treat mental illnesses, was the
one big night I felt like I was an on top superstar again. I wrote a blog post
to advance that fundraiser telling my mental health story, and I felt from the
people I met that night it was really well received. The warm feeling I had at
TCU Place that night was something I wish I could constantly carry with me.
I thank
all of those who have invested in me in some way and have followed this blog,
so that I can give back.
My goal
is to remain in Saskatoon, and hopefully, continue to be more of a positive
influence. For now, this blog isn’t going away and neither am I.
I hope
you will continue to follow what I write. I enjoy writing stories mainly from
the sports side of this community, and I will continue on as long as there is
an audience that checks out what I do.
If you have any comments you want to pass on
about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
