Reflecting the times and getting it right

By Julie Houle Cezer

By nature, a monthly newspaper provides room and time for in-depth articles and features that are magazine-like: essays, reviews, short stories, poetry, travel pieces, photo spreads and artwork. For 50 years it has attempted to inform and enrich our neighbourhood by representing in a fair, balanced and inclusive way the interests of our diverse and vibrant community. Fortunately, the Glebe is home to many talented writers, artists and people with very highly developed skills in every field who have shared their knowledge and experience so generously over the past 50 years.

Although much has changed in the Glebe, many concerns remain the same or have become even more urgent in the past 10 years. Lansdowne Park, traffic, densification, parking and zoning remain problematic.

The Glebe Report has been and continues to be a remarkably stable and strong community builder. Cheers Glebe Report! Thank you to all the staff, contributors and volunteers, past and present.

Ellen Schowalter was editor of the Glebe Report from September 1986 to November 1987.

Reflecting on the time in which I became editor of the Glebe Report is to travel back to a community and a newspaper that were beginning to navigate the muddy waters of disruptive change. By early 2010, the Glebe already faced a protracted and controversial push and pull over the Lansdowne Park redevelopment proposals. Along with OSCAR, the Glebe Report became the paper of record for much of the detailed analysis (from traffic studies to finances, from legal implications to environmental impact) that both challenged unexamined assumptions and seriously considered harms as well as benefits. By late 2011 and 2012, background stressors in the community were further heightened due to the Bank Street Reconstruction, which tied up the main thoroughfare, hitting local businesses particularly hard. Needless to say, there were many different viewpoints to communicate to residents to keep them well informed, and all members of the production team including volunteer proofreaders were extra vigilant about fact checking, clarity and attribution in a concerted effort to “get it right.”

After a requisite learning curve and several months of increasing focus on public business (including the October 2010 municipal elections), I started to really appreciate the need for the Glebe Report to make a concerted effort to create more balanced coverage of both the community’s “centre” and its “periphery.” To do so would entail reflecting diverse viewpoints and interests, and highlighting activities and events organized by individuals and smaller, informal groups in the Glebe.

Penny Sanger play a role to change this? The Glebe Report’s new website has potential. Unlike the monthly paper, it will have 24/7 capacity to notify and inform the community of important events. This is an invaluable option to consider.

Happy anniversary Glebe Report! Congratulations to all who have built and will continue to build your success!

(Originally published in the Glebe Report, June 2013.)

Update from Richard Berg, as Inez is recovering from an illness.

Inez was a very big part of the Glebe Report for many years. It was such a big part of our life for so long, it doesn’t seem like almost 26 years have gone by since she stepped down as editor! There will be a lot of people who won’t have a clue on how integral her contributions were to the success of the paper over many years.

She began writing articles for the Glebe Report in the 1970s and was the editor for 10 years, a fifth of the paper’s 50-year history. As I recall, she also continued to write columns and take photos for the paper as editor. On one “infamous” photo assignment, she went skating on the canal during Winterlude and tried to take a picture of a dog in a sweater that had caught her eye. Some inattentive skater bumped into her from behind, driving her foot into a crack, resulting in a nasty spiral fracture that took months to heal.

I know how much time, work and dedication she put into the paper. As well as the long hours and late nights during publication, there were also several occasions when the pick-up date for the proofs could not be met. To be sure to meet the publication deadline, we drove to Renfrew to drop off the proofs for publishing – I went along just to keep her company.

She was also very active in the community, attending meetings and events to keep abreast of community issues to include in the paper. Inez left the editor’s job in 1997 to run for City Council and won by a large margin but decided not to seek re-election at the end of her term. After leaving the editor’s job, she continued to deliver the Glebe Report to the Sunnyside Library and Old Ottawa South Community Centre until recently.

Inez Berg was editor of the Glebe Report from December 1987 to September 1997. Richard Berg is her husband.

In practice, maintaining balanced coverage still meant keeping my ear to the ground on matters being championed both by “centre” institutions of the community (GCA, GNAG, BIA) and local elected officials. But in addition, it meant making time for outreach, and during pre-production, being physically present in the community. At times, sourcing inspiration for articles simply grew out of attending events; alternatively, story ideas often were pitched during a chance sidewalk chat.

As a harvester of content, I was less motivated to become a reporter or storyteller myself than to function as a talent scout who could recognize and cultivate a working relationship with those contributors who had the passion, skills, experience and determination to share their interest with readers. More than a decade later, I still remember clearly how thoroughly I enjoyed the process of matching writers, photographers and artists to a subject. I found great satisfaction in supporting their process and success in contributing creative content within the operational guidelines of the Glebe Report

I remain grateful to the production staff and volunteers, who through their collaborative efforts and commitment to excellence, actually made it possible to bring inspiring community stories and images to the pages of the Glebe Report.

Julie Houle Cezer was editor of the Glebe Report from January 2010 to June 2014.

Glebe Report Editors

June 1973–July 1974

George Gooderham, Sean Leaning & Clark Johnson August 1974

George Gooderham & Sean Leaning

Penny Sanger

Helen Gooderham

Valerie Hostetler & Jennifer Penny

Helen Gooderham

Toby Sanger

September 1974

October–December 1974

January–July 1975

August 1975

September 1975–June 1976

July 1976

Toby Sanger & Magda Kubasiewicz August 1976

Helen Gooderham

Sue Pike

Alfred Holden

Sue Pike

Alfred Holden

Sue Pike

Alfred Holden

Sue Pike

Leslie Goodson

Leslie Goodson & Ian Mackenzie

Marnie Johnstone

Alfred Holden

Beverley Rix

Danielle Hamelin

Beverley Rix

Margie Schieman & Beverley Rix

Beverley Rix

Joan McConnell

Daniel Sanger

Joan McConnell

Joan McConnell–Over

Pattie LaCroix & Marilyn Smulder

Joan McConnell–Over

Ellen Schowalter

Sabrina Naqi

Ellen Schowalter

Inez Berg

Susan Jermyn

Elaine Marlin

Jeanette Rive

Elaine Marlin

Suzanne Landis

Julie Houle Cezer

Liz McKeen

September–December 1976

January–June 1977

July–August 1977

September 1977–May 1978

June–August 1978

September 1978–January 1979

February 1979

March–April 1979

May 1979

June–August 1979

September 1979–November 1980

December 1980

January–June 1981

July 1981

August 1981–July 1982

August 1982

September–November 1982

December 1982–June 1983

July 1983

August 1984–September 1984

October 1984–August 1986

July 1985

August 1985–August 1986

September 1986–June 1987

August 1987

September–November 1987

December 1987–September 1997

October 1997–December 2002

January 2003–May 2005

June 2005

August 2005

September 2005–January 2010

February 2010–June 2014

August 2014–present