Mark Skeffington
After more than 20 years in daily newspaper journalism, I’m ready for fresh and challenging adventures.
I haven’t completely closed the door on newspapers but, after seeing my work as an editor outsourced, I have little interest in being in the game.
Amazingly, even in this painful recession with widespread unemployment, I’ve been able to tap into some exciting opportunities.
Here’s what I’m up to:
- Teaching a second-year journalism course on municipal reporting at Wilfrid Laurier Unversity’s Brantford campus — hence the link to this blog.
- Taking public relations courses, including social media, at McMaster University to earn a Diploma in Public Relations Management.
- Starting a new job as a project/communications officer for a not-for-profit agency that does labour market analysis.
- Pursuing my interest in mediation by sitting in as an observer in cases. I hope to resume part-time studies in alternative dispute resolution in the next year or so in hopes of eventually becoming a mediator.
- I still have half of the Canadian Securities Course to complete. I’ve been able to use some of the knowledge to invest sucessfully in the stock market.
- And I’ve learned to start a blog, join twitter and LinkedIn, and become an active participant in the modern Internet-social media world.
I’m busier than ever, meeting lots of neat people, learning new things, and growing as a person and a professional.
Really nice to see some decent reporting of stories. The Expositor is so trashy it’s beyond belief. You might want to consider a connected story to the SS Colborne debate, which is the chastisement of Dr. Lisa Wood for daring to speak out against the demolition. This has become a national issue in academia.
Thank you for your comment David.
I’ve been mulling over writing another piece on the South Side of Colborne Street.
You may not agree, but in general I support the demolition, although there may be a couple of buildings worth preserving. My objection has been more against the rush to do the job without doing proper assessments, not having a firm plan for the future, and how some politicians — particularly Mark Littell — are trying to set themselves up as men of action to get elected, sweeping aside all objections or differing opinions.