Remembering Jack

I think one of the neat things about being a reporter is you get to be (somewhat) a part of history. I don't necessarily mean that reporters change the course of history or that sort of thing but we get to see things as they unfold and be a part of the absorption and understanding process. What I'm trying to get at is that our documentation and observations are often the first draft of history.

I think that is why I love my job so much. I can say that I've been to different events and talked to certain people and been a part of something. I wasn't part of the news team covering Jack Layton's funeral but I did get to cover the local angle of it.

I did a story on the local memorial for Jack Layton that was being held in Kelowna on the day of his funeral. I thought Jack was a cool dude, he had pizazz that Harper and Ignatieff don't so he was compelling to watch. To be filming the local ceremony and then talking to local people about the type of person Jack was and why they cared so much about him was just so interesting. And then to be watching his funeral as it happened and capturing people's responses to what they were seeing and hearing...I don't know if I can fully explain it, but it's why I find journalism so consuming: you're there are something unfolds.

From the orange and green balloons taped around the room to the poster size picture of Jack on display to people scribbling down well wishes for his family to the cartoon of Jack on the table pictured above...there was so much to see and talk about for this story, I hope my final story did the it justice.