The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2005, Blaðsíða 26

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 59 #3
112
How DO you write about Icelanders?
by Sara Loftson
Since I can remember my parents have
told me that I’m Icelandic. My dad’s been
bugging me to write for the Icelandic
Canadian Magazine for years. I’ve been
meaning to, but I’ve just never gotten
around to doing it. I guess it just always
seemed like such a hassle, sitting down to
write about a topic I know nothing about.
Iceland: ice, land, Icelandic pan-
cakes...yum, the Icelandic festival in Gimli,
volcanoes, Bjork. Yup, that’s it. That’s all I
know about Iceland.
Man, I could use some money right
now; I’m a starving university student. I
know, maybe if I write for the magazine
then at least I’ll get paid. Nope, that’s right,
it’s free labour. I think my Dad calls it vol-
unteer writing. Doing something good for
your Icelandic community; but who is this
community anyway? I mean who reads this
magazine? Probably people my Dad’s age
and what could I possibly write of interest
for people my Dad’s age? And they’re most
likely all Icelandic; they probably even
speak the language.
So here I am miles and miles away
from my home in Winnipeg. I’m going to
school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I’m study-
ing journalism at the University of King’s
College. My Dad keeps telling me again
and again to write for the magazine. I
thought maybe if I moved away he’d stop
asking me, but no that would be too easy.
So this time I told him: “O.K. give me until
the end of the week. I’ll have a story for
you.” I’ve used that line before, but for
some reason I think this time will be differ-
ent. Why? I don’t know; maybe because I
need the writing experience; maybe
because I’m physically closer to Iceland so
I feel more of a connection; or maybe
because I want to get Dad off my back!
I don’t know anything about Iceland.
Have I already said that? Where to start?
Humm... well, in journalism school we
learn the art of being nosey; an easy start-
ing point is usually a simple Google search
on the web.
Ideally, I would like to find some real
live Icelanders and interview them.
Searching... searching... ah-ha! here
we go: the Consul for Nova Scotia. His
name is Mr. John Carter Risley. He’s prob-
ably a cool guy; I bet he could put me in
contact with some Nova Scotian
Icelanders. I’ll e-mail him and see what
happens...
Mr. Risley,
My name is Sara Loftson. I am
a reporter with the Icelandic
Canadian Magazine. The magazine
is published in Winnipeg,
Manitoba but I am writing a free-
lance piece from Halifax. 1 would
like to ask you a few questions.
What does a consul do? How does
someone become a consul? What
kinds of interesting people have
you met? Do you like Icelandic
pancakes?
I hope to hear back from you
soon as I am writing to deadline.
Takk Fyrir,
Sara Loftson
In class we also learn how to change
Google pages into different languages. I
didn’t really know why I would ever need
to know how to do this, but I guess this
skill comes in handy when writing letters
to Icelandic consuls in Nova Scotia.
While I’m waiting for a reply I’ll con-
tinue my search.
What do I want to know about
Iceland? What’s the population? What
kind of government do they have? What is
Iceland’s major industry? Wait, the readers
will probably know all that, plus it’s kind
of boring. Umm... I know!