The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2005, Page 10

96
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 59 #3
through some very “interesting times” (as
the Chinese curse has it). I was there
through three separate offices, including
the beginning of L-H opening an office in
Gimli.
In all, because the operation was so
small, it was very easy to get wrapped up in
what we were doing -- just a few more
changes and this will be just perfect, we can
still make the deadline. Any editor who
has worked for the paper knows what I am
talking about. There were many days
Lillian said “I’m only going to stay until
one o’clock today,” but she would still be
working at five. Speaking for myself, I
knew that any time we ran a “special”
(read: large) issue, I’d be spending most of
my weekend at work. It was engrossing.
Part of what made it interesting was
the close watch the subscribers kept on the
paper. When we started running an extra
colour — blue — we heard about it. When
the details of a story didn’t give proper
credit where it was due, we heard about it.
And God forbid anyone should bring up
the terms “Western Icelander,” “goolie” or
“Republic of New Iceland” — because we
sure heard about that.
Which, of course, makes for a great let-
ter column, one of the main indicators that
a newspaper is striking a chord.
Part-time work isn’t always the easiest
to accommodate, and when I took on
another part-time position at a different
paper, I realized I couldn’t make both pro-
duction schedules work in a seven-day
week, and left L-H. I continued to write
for the paper from time to time, and still
subscribed — partly because after nearly
three years of involvement I couldn’t let it
g°-
I returned to the fold in 2004, coming
back to the layout position and also the
duties of assistant editor, part of a transi-
tion from Lillian’s tenure to that of
Steinthor Gudbjartsson.
Each editor I have worked with has
provided the paper with a different focus,
and it has become clear to me that though
L-H is not widely known, those who do
know about it have strong feelings about
what it is, and should be. Ailing subscrip-
tion numbers aside, that interest at least is
encouraging.
Of course, you can’t please everyone.
Under Gunnur, the paper featured
more news from Iceland, and the last of the
articles completely in Icelandic (with an
English translation). Since she left, a com-
mon request from readers has been “more
news from Iceland,” or “more Icelandic.”
Lillian’s focus as editor was to open
the paper up to submissions, on a regular
basis, from across the North American
Icelandic community. When it started, we
began including the city and province or
state in the bylines to reflect this diversity.
Steinthor has shown himself to be a
very “on the spot” editor, travelling to
many towns and cities for the high-profile
“Destination” issues. 1 think this has real-
ly opened people’s eyes to what they have
in common through their Icelandic her-
itage. The myriad locations named
Hekla/Hecla/Hekkla/Heckla/etc. alone
Pharmacists:
ERNEST STEFANSON
GARRY FEDORCHUK
CLAIRE GILLIS
642-5504
[pSPHARMASAVE
We care
about your health
Centre and Fourth / Gimli, MB / ROC 1 BO