Mary Lou Finlay and CBC have broken up and made up more times than she can recount. Still, she "couldn't imagine leaving." Then again, you never know
by Nicolle Weeks It's a crisp and sunny Sunday afternoon and I'm standing inside the sparse lobby at the University of Toronto's Innis College. I'm looking for Mary Lou Finlay in a crowd of about 30 people. I don't see the face I've memorized from a small, frosted picture on CBC's website. But I do hear a familiar voice — that low and throaty voice — booming in the hall. Eventually, Finlay materializes from behind a large brick column. With her grey hair set in curls and wire-rimmed glasses resting on her nose, she looks nothing like her website picture. But she sounds everything like the voice of As It Happens, the CBC current-affairs radio program she's hosted for the past seven-and-a-half years. Finlay shouldn't be that hard to pick out in a crowd. Over the past 30 years, she has hosted a number of TV programs — from her first national job in the 1970s at CBC's afternoon lifestyle show, Take 30, to The Journal, the network's pioneering television current-affairs program that she co-anchored with Barbara Frum in its early years. She also spent three years at CTV's Live It Up! in the late 1970s and has a long history as host on CBC radio. Along the way, she's earned a reputation as one of Canada's most talented interviewers. With a resume like that, I'd think her face would be more familiar, like Frum's or Peter Gzowski's. But Finlay never took her turn in the limelight, partly because she has deliberately kept a low profile and rarely given interviews. Being Canadian and a journalist makes her more of pseudo-celebrity than the real deal — a point she herself is quick to raise. To read the rest of the article, go to: rrj.ca
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Vice founder Gavin McInnes on his notorious do's and don'ts and more
by Nicolle Weeks To look at him, you wouldn't know Gavin McInnes is the wealthy head of a "multinational brand." You might mistake him for an average thirtysomething, though — one whose earlier indiscretions are responsible for a few too many trips to the tattoo parlour. Last year, at a book reading in Chicago, he appeared on stage wearing only what looked to be shit-stained tighty whities and, later, a cartoonish turban and Osama bin Laden T-shirt. McInnes was in Chicago to promote Dos and Don'ts, a collection he wrote over the 10 years Vice magazine has been in existence. Vice, a magazine that started in Montreal as a free newsletter called Voice, was originally funded by a Quebec make work program for welfare recipients. Now, ten years later, it's a successful international giveaway magazine based in New York, running everything from fashion boutiques to a record company. Vice is supposed to be subversive and, above all, anti-boomer. As McInnes put it in an interview with the CBC last year, boomers "made us leave our homeland." It is Vice's nature to be controversial — without it, the magazine couldn't survive. Though McInnes, and co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, are often criticized by leftists, conservatives, and hipster New Yorkers, the consensus is that Vice gives an accurate account of counterculture. But it's not necessarily the kind of counterculture many people are familiar with. In August 2003, McInnes wrote a column in The American Conservative, a magazine run by Pat Buchanan. In the magazine, he called young people a bunch of knee-jerk liberals (a phrase McInnes and his cronies use often) who'll believe anyone with dark skin over anyone with light skin. He laments the liberal views of most of the people who pick up his magazine, saying they're "brainwashed by communist propaganda." "The AmCon article was about jolting our readers out of their blind obsession with everything left," McInnes wrote me in an email sent from his Costa Rica home. "The right has a lot of valuable lessons that we can glean." The New York Times wasn't impressed by McInnes's gleanings. It labelled him a white supremacist (he tells me, "I'm proud of being white, but I'm not a white supremacist"). Critics of the magazine loudly denounced Vice and its sardonic wit. Readers started questioning the scathing comments about the homeless, blacks, women, and others in the Dos and Don'ts section of Vice, which McInnes regularly authors. Everyone is fair game in Dos and Don'ts. One blurb underneath a group of boys giving the finger reads: "Look at these fucking douchebags. What are they, Armenian Ginos? Fuckin' grown men who want you to know that status is about holding large bottles of expensive vodka that they won't actually drink, dressing like Lil' Bow Wow if he was a Mediterranean homo and telling society to fuck off. They look like Ali G teenagers in a line up of rape suspects. No wonder we're at war with them." About a month after the AmCon column was printed, McInnes wrote a letter to Gawker.com, a media gossip website that published criticism of Vice. The letter denied the authenticity of the American Conservative letter, stating that it was the fact-checker's fault for not doing enough research: "I did it for a laugh. ?In the AmCon piece I made totally bullshit claims.... Any of these things could have been easily disproven, but everyone from The New York Post to Newsweek ran with them. Shocking really. I guess it's time to switch to a new gag. "?I am sure there will still be some skeptics out there that will ignore the AmCon untruths I just clearly spelled out and will still think I'm just backpedaling [sic]..." When I contacted McInnes, I'd been warned by Dave Fielding, who wrote a feature on Vice for the Ryerson Review of Journalism in 2001, to watch out for being lied to. Obviously, this was a concern, as McInnes's letter to Gawker states, "I've made a full time job out of antagonizing the media." If you look at Vice's recent "Worst Issue Ever," it acerbically pokes fun at North America's preoccupation with celebrity culture. (Some unlucky readers, later called "FUCKING idiots" by Vice editor-in-chief Jesse Pearson, were upset that Vice had sold out.) "I have a lot to say about that [Gawker] letter. I feel kind of bad about it. Truth is, I was scared," says McInnes, "Shane and Suroosh were really pissed at me for talking about white pride to the NYT and I backpedalled." To sum up, McInnes writes about his "new" conservative views, then denies them in a letter sent to a website his readers are likely to read (it's the No. 1 hit when you Google "McInnes"), then tells me he was "scared." McInnes tells me he uses loaded words for comedic purposes: "People say, 'You might write the word nigger but you'd never walk up to a black man and call him that.' True, but I don't walk up to old ladies and scream CUNT in their faces either. It's called swearing — get over it." When I ask him about the gay bashing in Dos and Don'ts, he calls me a "Canadian LUG" (lesbian until graduation). It throws me for a loop and is amusing in a stupid way — which is part of McInnes's appeal. This odd kind of inclusiveness extends to Vice's fashion coverage as well. Looking through back issues, a distinct phenomenon is noticeable: the magazine doesn't use regular models, but rather ethnically diverse, regular-looking, and elderly people. For all the feel-good-about-yourself mumbo jumbo most women's magazines dish out, they generally use stick-thin fashion models of a certain age and, usually, ethnicity. Vice, in its goofy way of mocking political correctness, backhandedly redeems itself in the eyes of conscientious readers by saying, "Hey, we just called you [insert racial slur here], but you're represented in our magazine." Originally, McInnes didn't possess the qualities of the people he lauds in Dos and Don'ts. He stumbled upon this new version of cool — not by dumb luck or a twist of fate ("How did two drunks and a junkie come to own one of the most successful magazines in America," as the Vice founders like to quip) — but through a welfare scam and shrewd business sense. He made some money, bought some hip clothes, "flew some chicks in," and built a moat of coolness around him. Lo and behold! Thus reborn, here was the self-made guy columnists could gush over — in a cerebral, ironic way, of course. Vice doesn't hesitate to post positive commentary about itself from such sources as Nylon, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone — exactly the type of magazines they poke fun at in the "Worst Issue Ever." Being called a LUG might be amusing in a stupid kind of way, but still, it bothers me that McInnes is so quick to resort to gay-bashing humour. He emailed me to explain, saying, "For better or for worse, 'gay' references are an integral part of good comedy." I asked if he uses words like "homo" and "fag" as fallback gags when he can't think of anything clever to write. "The only group that gets shit on is the poor. It's all about class. Not race or sexual preference," McInnes wrote, sending a link to The Redneck Manifesto, a book by Jim Goad, which laments the unfairness that burdens the white lower class. McInnes continues, saying, "All this PC fascism has made it very difficult to do normal, uncensored humor (funny humor). Maybe that's why our writing seems so blatantly racist, homophobic, etc. If this was 1978 we would sound mundane. I kind of like that. "When I said to Bill McGowan, 'There's so much funny and interesting shit out there people are scared to go near it's like our job has become too easy,' he replied with, 'Carpe Diem. It's a great time to be a journalist.'" While McInnes makes some fair points — a lot of liberals admittedly get their information from shallow sources like the internet, most of celebrities are lame and detached from real life, and North America is strangely "politically correct" though it hates on the same people it's out to "protect" — his flippant racism and homophobia doesn't really inspire change. So what's the point? Maybe the point is that there isn't one. Originally published on rrj.ca Your job interview survival kit
What's tucked away in that smart tote you're carrying can help you land your vocational dream. By Nicolle Weeks The job interview can be one of the most stressful situations you'll come across in modern day life. Not only can one 30-minute meeting determine whether you'll get to do what you love for years to come; it can also cause sweaty palms, heart palpitations, and the occasional inclination to blow half your savings on a few new suits or dresses. The one thing you can do: prepare. After learning about the company's annual earnings, you're going to need to look like you deserve the job. Read on to figure out what you need to carry with you on the big day. Three copies of your resume Don't assume that the person interviewing you is the person that first looked at your resume. Even if it is the same person, he or she may not remember what's on your resume, so bring three copies with you. Why two extras? There may be more than one person interviewing you. Makeup bag Smudging your eyeliner across your face isn't the worst thing that could happen but it could distract your interviewer. Remember to stock your bag with these items to keep you looking your best: lipstick, cover up, an eye shadow, some cotton balls, tissues, makeup remover, and a small package of baby powder in case of sweaty hands. "I can't stress enough that grooming is important," says Gerlinde Herrman, president of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario, "Also, women re-entering the workforce should update hair and wardrobe -- they'll be competing with younger, well-groomed people. Get your nails done, have your hair groomed." Black marker and pantyhose You should be wearing comfortable and shiny shoes, but if for some reason, your shoes get scuffed, a simple Sharpie will help you put your best foot forward. You should also pay attention to your legs. If you've chosen to wear hosiery, don't panic if you have a run. Change into your fresh pantyhose, and voila! Your legs are good as new. Breath mints/strips Don't feel uncomfortable during your interview because you think you might have bad breath. Gum chewing might be crass, but sneaking a breath mint or breath strip before you go in to the interview is inconspicuous and helps ease your suspicions of halitosis. Examples of your work Just because you're not an artist doesn't mean that you can't have a portfolio. When you're talking about the amazing PowerPoint you prepared a year or two ago, it would be a lot easier and more impressive to whip out a copy than to just talk about it. This shows that you're equipped to do a great job and that you put a little extra effort in. Just make sure that you've asked your previous employer for permission to show it, says Herrman, or the interviewer might think that you are inclined to show confidential work to anyone who wants to see it. Remember to bring work that makes sense in today's market, rather than five or 10 years ago. Your walkman, discman or MP3 player On the way to the interview, rather than thinking about how important this interview is, listen to music that relaxes you. Concentrate on being calm and think about how great you are for the job, rather than all the things that could go wrong. Many people use music to set a mood and motivate, including athletes, public speakers, and talk show hosts. Questions, questions, questions Chances are, your interviewer won't want to be met with a blank stare when he or she asks if you have any questions. "Having questions ready shows that you've done some research," says Herrman. This demonstrates that you're interested in the company and want to learn more about the position. A smile and some confidence OK, your smile and self-esteem won't fit in your portfolio, but a positive attitude and a relaxed -- but professional -- demeanour go a long way. If you're having trouble, watch what the interviewer is doing. Is she leaning back? Then lean back, too. If he's crossing his legs, cross your legs too. Just remember to avoid defensive mannerisms like folding your arms. Rev yourself up and remember, keep all your options open -- you never know what's around the corner. Lastly, don't forget to send a thank-you note! Originally published on homemakers.com |
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