UPDATES

I will be co-moderating Inuvik’s all candidates municipal forum. Super excited.

Here are the rules.

UPDATED EBATE RULES in RED:

Once again, we will ask a series of four questions, two for each candidate. Candidates will have two minutes to respond followed by a three minute open debate period. Please keep responses and debate during this open debate period short. Moderators will be stick handling the conversation during this open period in order to give as many candidates a chance to expand, respond or raise other issues.  

The beautiful thing about my job is that I get to visit communities most people will never get to go to.

Last week, I spent four days in Paulatuk, an Inuit hamlet on the coast of Arctic Ocean.

About 300 people live there.

Even though it was their 50th anniversary, Inuvialuit have hunted, fished and trapped there for years.

But last week’s celebration marked a half-century since they came off the land and set up a permeant community.

One of the most touching activities that happened during the weekend was the renaming of the community’s health centre after elder Sadie Sukayaaluk.

Paulatuk quick facts:

• Paulatuk or Paulatuuq means place of coal. Pau means coal in Inuvialuktun.

• The Inuvialuit who settled here came from Alaska, Kitigaaryuit, the Eastern Arctic (Kugluktuk). Non-inuit such as trappers also came in on ships, schooners and by dog team.

• Paulatuk was initially inhabited in the early 1920s following the whaling crash, as Inuit searched for good settlement areas that had good access to resources. But the settlement in Paulatuk didn’t last long as fur bearing animals became scarce in the area in the late 1930s

• They returned to Paulatuk from settlements nearby around 1965.

“Today, the Inuvialuit live in Paulatuuq for the same reasons that drew people there almost 100 years ago, it is an area rich with caribou, fish and other animals to hunt; it has access to both the sea and to fresh water; it is a good place to anchor boats; and is a friendlier land to build homes and travel on than the peninsula.” Paulatuuq Oral History Project, Volume 2, March 2009, Parks Canada, Western Arctic Field Unit

First live hit ever for CBC News Network. Surprisingly I wasn’t that nervous and was able to do the whole thing without any notes. HERE’S A LINK.

Initially I had my script in my hand and then I folded it. And just tried to have a conversation.

I was the reporter assigned to do Tuesday’s obligatory “Selfie” story. You can watch it online HERE.

Yes, you news snobs can argue that it’s hardly news.

But you can also argue the Oxford Dictionary’s decision to elevate “Selfie” as the word of the year makes a profound statement about the age we live in.

Of course let’s not take ourselves too seriously. It’s hilarious that “selfie” is a word in the dictionary and the word of the year. And with a story like that naturally as a reporter you have fun with it and I did.

But on a more serious note, in preparation for my report I spoke with NSCAD photography instructor Adrian Fish and he reminded me that a “Selfie” is nothing new.

Photographers have been taking them for years, Fish says. It’s really called a self-portrait.

Nevertheless, it’s hard to deny that self-portraits have exploded because so many of us have smartphones.

And yes, this trend reeks of narcism, shallowness, immaturity and self-publicity, but, as Fisher explained, this fad also defines how we interact with media.

We photograph ourselves and by ourselves. No need for an experienced photographer.

We broadcast our own stories on Facebook and Youtube. Who needs the New York Times or the CBC?

Heck, even legacy media has hoped on board. As a video journalist, I shoot my news reports by myself; including my stand-ups (that part when the reporter appears on camera and talks).

We generate content of ourselves by ourselves.

We are a “Selfie” generation.