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Newspaper scribes tend to be demure, to a fault.
Maybe it’s because we don’t have the looks to work in television. It might be related to a belief that our voices aren’t even good enough for radio.
At any rate, while our TV and radio colleagues have no problem boasting about all that they do, posing for billboards, smiling for marketing campaigns, we tend to keep our heads down and let our words speak for themselves.
I’m going to change that narrative tonight by shining the spotlight on two of our writers who have plenty of reasons to boast.
The first is John Longhurst, our longtime faith writer, who was in Ottawa last week for a posh ceremony at Rideau Hall. John’s induction into the Order of Canada was in recognition of the role he has played in promoting “interdenominational relations to reduce hate and to help readers see humanity in every person.”
Freelance writer John Longhurst is invested as a member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Mary Simon during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa last Thursday. (Patrick Doyle / The Canadian Press)
True to his demure hardwiring, here’s how John described to me the experience of joining the ranks of the over 600 Manitobans who have earned the honour.
“Like other recipients I spoke with before the ceremony — nervously milling around hoping we wouldn’t forget the protocol instructions — I was genuinely surprised to be on the list of those who were being recognized for ‘outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.’”
The second is Ariel Gordon, named this week as the Winnipeg Public Library’s writer-in-residence for 2025-2026.
In addition to being one of our copyeditors, Ariel is also an expert on trees, the subjects of her recent books. (I’m going out on a limb here, but editing for our dead-tree platform hasn’t prevented her from lively writing in Treed: Walking in Canada’s Urban Forests and Fungal: Foraging in the Urban Forest.)
Ariel Gordon will be the Winnipeg Public Library’s writer-in-residence for 2025-2026. (Mike Deal photo)
“I really believe in community — that we’re stronger when we’re together, when we work together,” Ariel says of the role she will be performing at the library. “Writing is such a solitary task, but launching books, doing readings and attending workshops and supporting each other can help us be not so lonely in that work.”
The writers and editors in our demure newsroom generally prefer not to make ourselves the story. But occasionally the work we do, especially when we make news, deserves a boastful headline.
Congratulations to both John and Ariel on their newsworthy accomplishments!
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