{"id":46,"date":"2015-08-13T16:25:10","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T16:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tegemaitsolutions.com\/?page_id=46"},"modified":"2023-08-18T17:48:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T17:48:07","slug":"columnists","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/columnists\/","title":{"rendered":"Columnists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our contributing columnists cover a wide range of topics that are important to both themselves and a wider audience. Their coverage lets readers form their own opinions on the issues that matter to their daily lives. Our columnists are engaging, sometimes witty, and always insightful as they delve into the issues that capture our attention, evoke our emotions or simply make us laugh.<\/p>\n

\"\"TED BARRIS – The Barris Beat<\/a><\/strong>
\n For most of my professional life, I have been in love… in love with words and in love with applying the best descriptions those words can deliver about the people, places and events I encounter in the stories I write for print, media and online publication. My column, <\/em>The Barris Beat (coined by my late father, Alex, when he wrote a column for the <\/em>Globe & Mail\u00a0in the 1950s) demands that I never stop searching for vivid ways of putting a human face in words to community, service, colour, memory and innovation around me. As a new or regular reader of my weekly column, you can\u00a0expect that I’ll keep trying to bring that love affair with words and life to each column.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"ROGER VARLEY<\/strong> – Am I Wrong?<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nI began writing for\u00a0The Cosmos<\/em>\u00a010 years ago when I retired after spending most of my working life in the news\u00a0 business.
\nI began my career with\u00a0The Canadian Press<\/em>, the best training ground for journalists, and spent almost 30 years there. I worked for a few years with\u00a0The Uxbridge Times-Journal<\/em>\u00a0until it was acquired by Metroland and then worked for York Metroland, where I was a co-winner of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association\u00a0‘s feature writing award.\u00a0 On joining\u00a0The Cosmos<\/em>, I brought back my\u00a0Am I Wrong?<\/em>\u00a0column\u00a0and my\u00a0Cup of Coffee<\/em>\u00a0interviews, both of which started when I was at the\u00a0Times-Journal<\/em>. For the last 10 years, I have reported regularly on Uxbridge council and the Uxbridge Bruins and have covered the local candidates in every municipal, provincial and federal election in that time.\u00a0 In my time I have interviewed prime ministers, party leaders, cabinet ministers, entertainment stars and sports notables. But my 10 years at\u00a0The Cosmos<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>have been the most enjoyable.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\"\"NANCY MELCHER – The Nature Nut<\/a><\/strong>
\n I AM the \u201cNature Nut\u201d. After more than four decades of environmental education and with an ongoing love of the outdoors, I have a wealth of information to share about the natural world around us. As a result, I often get assignments for the paper that are related to the environment. I welcome questions about things you\u2019ve seen or heard, smelled or touched, or even tasted in the great outdoors and on local trails and roads.I am also active in local community theatre, and you might find me acting on the stage, or perhaps working behind the scenes helping to build sets and stage-managing. I\u2019m in touch with the wider arts community, and through \u201cArt-y Facts\u201d I try to keep Cosmos readers in tune with upcoming concerts, exhibitions, book readings, plays, and special events. I moved to Coppins Corners in 1983, and shortly thereafter my husband and I moved into town: we\u2019ve lived here ever since. We\u2019ve raised our son here, and enjoy the vibrant lifestyle that this community offers. It is definitely the centre of our universe!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"LISHA VAN NIEUWENHOVE – A Blonde Moment<\/a><\/strong>
\n \u201cA Blonde Moment\u201d was how I first found my words on the pages of The Uxbridge Cosmos. Former editor Conrad Boyce and I were doing a play together, he discovered I had a background in journalism and writing, and he asked me to write a column. A few short years later, I found myself at the helm of the best little newspaper in Durham Region (in my opinion). I still like to take off the editor hat, every now and again, and write a \u201cBlonde\u201d column because it lets me give voice to things that I love to write about but have no place anywhere else in the paper.\u00a0 And just to note \u2013 my hair is naturally blonde.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"CONRAD BOYCE – Wandering the Cosmos<\/a><\/strong>
\n I’m a native Albertan, and lived many years in both B.C. and the Yukon before emigrating to Ontario in 1995. I became involved in the Uxbridge arts community almost immediately, but was obliged to work elsewhere until I became the founding editor\/publisher of the Cosmos in 2005. Among the other local writing projects I’m most proud of are <\/em>Maud of Leaskdale, the one-woman play I created for the LMMSO in Leaskdale, and <\/em>Jewel on the Hill, the book about the Thomas Foster Memorial I wrote in 2014. I now live in the Ottawa Valley, where I babysit grandchildren and am finding other things to keep me busy!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"JOHN CAVERS (Freelance Photographer)<\/strong>
\n Freelancing my images to The Cosmos has allowed me to visually document\u00a0many special events and to meet so many new people. It is a real privilege to promote what a terrific town and newspaper we have.\u00a0 I appreciate The Cosmos being truly a \u201clocal\u201d enterprise…so that whatever function I attend it has to focus on the people and happenings of Uxbridge.
\nI also do wildlife photography and have four galleries selling my work around the province. I have the honour of working with the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame and now the World Baseball Hall of Fame.\u00a0I even have my work posted on the Canadian and National Geographic Websites. However, nothing brings me more satisfaction than getting that \u201cSpecial Shot\u201d of someone in town and creating a lasting memory when they see themselves in the Uxbridge Cosmos!\u00a0 Watch out, you could next!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Our contributing columnists cover a wide range of topics that are important to both themselves and a wider audience. Their coverage lets readers form their own opinions on the issues that matter to their daily lives. Our columnists are engaging, sometimes witty, and always insightful as they delve into the issues that capture our attention, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":30,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"content-sidebar-sidebar","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":61,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16806,"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions\/16806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.thecosmos.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}