{"id":14179,"date":"2015-05-09T07:50:34","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T11:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=14179"},"modified":"2015-05-09T07:50:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T11:50:34","slug":"suddenly-good-bye-to-all-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2015\/05\/09\/suddenly-good-bye-to-all-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Suddenly, good-bye to all that"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Up<\/a>

The west beckons: Lucy and Craig in California last fall.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nearly sixteen years ago, our little family of three moved from Hawaii to Ontario.<\/p>\n

We expected to be in Ottawa for about 5 years – long enough to enjoy exploring new things. We never imagined making it permanent.<\/p>\n

So what happened? Well, we liked it. A lot! Even after my husband’s employer at the time, Nortel Networks, imploded. We liked it enough to become dual nationals. We liked it so much that my\u00a0comment on what might lie ahead was \u201cI’m not<\/em> done with Canada yet!\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way, I picked up a rewarding relationship with NCPR that lasted just shy of a decade. As a part-time stringer I was free to cover pretty much whatever I liked<\/a> – from Canadian politics, to urban Ottawa and its rural surroundings.<\/p>\n

And how did that happen? Well, in the fall of 2005 my husband Craig and I took a station tour in Canton. Both of us had worked for Hawaii Public Radio in Honolulu, so it was fun to go see NCPR. Craig snuck Ellen Rocco aside and asked if she could \u201cdo something\u201d with me. Sort of like the old Henny Youngman joke: \u201cTake my wife! Please!\u201d<\/p>\n

I was mortified. My husband the stage mother. Ambush accomplished,\u00a0the queer request was dropped into Martha Foley’s lap.<\/p>\n

Martha asked what I might have in mind. Still reeling, I babbled off a string of (not even!) half-baked ideas.<\/p>\n

She finally said, \u201cWell, go out and bring me something.\u201d And so it began.<\/p>\n

I’d been a number of things at\u00a0Hawaii Public Radio: studio operator, production assistant, news anchor and program host. But, apart from a few features done as a lark, I hadn’t done much “real reporting”. I’m shy you see. And I hate to offend anyone, as tough reporting is apt to do. Still, it can be healthy to stretch out, now and then.<\/p>\n

\"Legendary<\/a>

Legendary radio coach, the late David Candow<\/a> (seated) leading a 2-day workshop for NCPR and Vermont Public Radio in 2010. Standing, left to right: Ric Cengari, Chris Knight, Lucy Martin, Sarah Harris, Angela Evancie and Melody Bodette.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’d also never worked with an editor before. That proved to be a much-needed learning experience!<\/p>\n

As you should already know,\u00a0Martha is an outstanding news director, a gifted\u00a0editor, and a super nice person. Smart, funny and committed. Her main problem is shoehorning anything more into her busy schedule.<\/p>\n

NCPR turned out to be an excellent place to\u00a0hone different skills. Although I ended up covering many topics, my favorite projects combined audio with slide shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lately I’ve mostly been\u00a0blogging. Because that’s a much faster way to start and finish something\u00a0– it’s possible to go from\u00a0concept to publication in under an hour.<\/p>\n

Slide shows and blogging bring\u00a0me to web guru Dale Hobson. As far as I’m concerned, he’s \u201cthe man\u201d. If it needs doing, Dale gets it done. And anything he touches gets improved.<\/p>\n

Sadly, I have yet to master Martha’s main lesson: \u201cfocus!\u201d (She probably has a different mantra for those who already grasp brevity.)<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what pearls of wisdom Dale would impart. But, reading his posts, I know I am at the feet of a master. Watch and learn, grasshopper.<\/p>\n

It would take too long to sing the praises of all\u00a0the fine folks at NCPR.\u00a0But special mention must be made of Ellen Rocco. She’s a wellspring of vision, smarts and heart. Ellen gets the mission and works tirelessly to make it happen.\u00a0If you think NCPR is a great station – and I certainly do – it all comes down to good people doing their best for a supportive community.<\/p>\n

True, it’s not exactly lucrative work. But it is rewarding. It’s a license to explore and ask… pretty much where ever curiosity may lead. It’s a chance to share and serve. To help make things better.<\/p>\n

There’s no end of fascinating people and activities in this region. Fortunately, NCPR wants to include Canadian content too. It’s a good home base for putting stories from the Great White North on the NCPR\/NPR map. And I really hope someone else – with more ambition than I had – will pick that up and take it further.<\/p>\n

Much as I love it here, it’s time to leave. Fine young son is grown and gone. I have elder care on the horizon. We have decided it’ll be better to tackle that from\u00a0the west coast. Craig and I will be moving to Vancouver Island pretty much as soon as we sell our house.<\/p>\n

Leaving is sad. It’s exciting too, as Vancouver Island is a lovely part of the world.<\/p>\n

I thought we’d be doing this a few years hence. But I am already gone. For the past two weeks I’ve been in California, helping an Aunt who had the bad fortune to break a hip and have a stroke all in the same week.<\/p>\n

Listeners, readers, colleagues and everyone I’ve interviewed \u2026 thank you! Thank you for stories that ranged from important to fun. I guess I owe my husband a hearty thanks too!<\/p>\n

And here’s to\u00a0more adventures ahead. I am ever so grateful for our experiences here.<\/p>\n

Aloha and mahalo nui loa<\/a><\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly sixteen years ago, our little family of three moved from Hawaii to Ontario.
\nWe expected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[880,15671,158,15670],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14179"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14243,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14179\/revisions\/14243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}