This was cool. There was a time years ago when all we heard in the house was country music, thanks to one of my then-little sons being completely hooked on Vince Gill, Shania Twain and others. There was this Canadian country singer, Paul Brandt, and his hit at the time was My Heart Has A History.

I thought the title was My Heart Has A Disco Beat. Honestly. And to this day, my hubby makes fun of it — and a Who song I also misheard.

So, I mentioned that to Brandt when I was talking to him and he said he’d had others tell him the same thing. Go figure. Even his wife Liz has misheard a song title, he said, thinking the Adele song Begging You For Mercy was Begging You For Birdseed.

Definitely cool. He’s at Interior Savings Centre this weekend.

Boy, the NDPers must love this one, with their favourite lobbyist, Patrick Kinsella, appearing to cast his shadow on the decision to issue an RFP to privatize liquor distribution. Lots of media are covering this; I did a column on it.

This column wasn’t as hard to write as I thought it would be. Talking with Susan Lambert, the head of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, made it easy.

This is the woman leading teachers through their job action as they try to negotiate a new contract.

This is the same woman who readily admitted she knows nothing about the international baccalaureate program that is in danger at NorKam secondary because teachers — through their job action restrictions — have said they can’t be registered for the training necessary for the program, which is scheduled to start in September.

Lambert didn’t know the school district doesn’t provide or control that training so it has to conform to an outside body’s schedule.

She didn’t know a dozen teachers have already had that training for a program that might not happen.

And she had the gall to say that teachers can create equally challenging programming so maybe the baccalaureate plan isn’t needed. The woman obviously didn’t have a single idea what she ws talking about.

When told the decision meant students would be affected because their education they have enrolled for and planned to take won’t happen, Lambert went with rhetoric — the BCTF is fighting for “all students” in an “underfunded system.”

Gee, Susan, are you saying some kids should suffer in the job action you said wouldn’t hurt students so that you can maybe convince the government to make wholesale changes to that underfunded system for every bum in a seat in a school today?

It was a frustrating conversation — and sad, as well, because I grew up in a union household where, before my trade unionist dad spoke, he at least knew what he was talking about.

So far, I’ve had one personal visit at the office and one angry phone call about the column on Time magazine’s choice about The Protester as person of the year. Apparently someone called my home, too, and was greeted by a husband who wasn’t about to listen to the rant but, instead, suggested that person call me at work.

The lightning bolt seems to have been including Kevin Millership in the column. So, for those who are upset, let me explain:

It’s an opinion column. It’s not a list of people you all think should get recognition. It clearly states it’s not a complete list; instead, it’s about an avid protester, the late Dick Dickens; a single-issue protester, the aforementioned and definitely flaky Millership; a mom who decided to take action about something she’s deeply concerned with (Tara Pastro); and, despite the insistence of my office visitor that it’s about Denis Walsh, the fourth, the somewhat vaguely defined Occupy Kamloops group.

(Walsh is mentioned only because he wanted to thank them for being so good in Spirit Park.)

It’s not a column about fluoride,  the Council of Canadians, the NDP, the right-wingers or any of the other issues. It’s about acknowledging that there are people out there who stand up for their beliefs, whether you agree with them or not. Some are a big weird about them — hence the self-deprecating anecdote about my obsession with never eating California grapes.

Yes, there are many many more people just like them.

It’s just nice that they might be able to feel part of that group Time — a decidedly corporate medium that is likely read frequently by the 1% — recognized as having value in society.

Been a busy little entertainment reporter recently, somehow surviving four concerts in seven days, including Johnny Winter, Moody Blues, the Zombies and Avril Lavigne (didn’t do a review although I should have done something on the way the teen set there trashed Interior Savings Centre and what an awesome job the security staff did that night.)

And now, a theatre review. That’s it. I’m zonked. Look for a review from Marty the Reporter next week on 54-40.

One of these days, a student is going to walk onto Ninth Avenue up by the school board office and get hit by a vehicle.

It’s bound to happen because way too many of the kids attending the two secondary schools there seem to feel they can saunter — or skateboard — out into traffic and some mystical hand will protect them from all evil.

I feel for that driver-yet-to-be-there because he or she will be mortified, scarred, possibly even charged when the inevitable occurs.

Apparently I’m not alone in my concern too many teenagers these days simply don’t get the fact the rules of the road apply to them, too.

Should journalists professionalize?

It’s an interesting issue some of us have been discussing for several years.

Recently, the issue picked up some steam when the Quebec government proposed creating the title of professional journalist and giving those who have it special access to the government, something the Canadian Association of Journalists — for which I am chair — has opposed.

That doesn’t mean the issue should vanish. Rather, it’s something that needs to be discussed before governments throughout Canada decide to follow Quebec’s lead.

As part of the discussion, here’s this week’s column.

Stephen Ward, former chair of the ethics committee for the Canadian Association of Journalists, expresses his view on an area most journalists find a bit tricky — covering suicides.

I’ve always thought we’re wrong to do it; we need to make wise decisions on covering suicides but we shouldn’t shy away from them because we help perpetuate the stereotypes applied to mental illnesses.

Go here to read it.

Okay, took a lot of the summer off from the blog but, with the arrival of September comes the determination to be more regular about posting here.

And, frankly, I liked today’s column, probably because the wisdom in it isn’t from me but certainly resonated. I thank colleage Linda Bolton for sending me the obituary. I’ve seen similar ones online but really liked this one.

You can find it here.

It’s all about the death of common sense.

I’ve been remiss. I didn’t notice the truly lovely things the keeper of the blog bcreporter.wordpress.com said about me in April.

Please don’t think this is a self-congratulatory post; far be it from that. It’s just nice to know that words I spoke at an event in Richmond back then resonated because that’s what I wanted to happen.

So many thanks. Yes, it was an emotional moment but it was so because it was gratifying to know that a story I told about someone who did so much good for Kamloops — at a cost to his own soul few knew about — was appreciated.