Some members of Team Mainstreeter brandish their favourite community newspaper outside of Lady Evelyn School. L to R: Lorne Abugov, Mainstreeter Editor; Meredith Newberry, former Mainstreeter Editor and Reporter; Bonnie Wepler, Mainstreeter Board Member and Reporter; Cynthia Dwyer, Mainstreeter Board Member and Accounts Manager, and Ron Rose, Mainstreeter Board Member (ex officio) and Advertising Manager
By Lorne Abugov
Readers of the Mainstreeter will notice a few changes to the newspaper over the next few editions, beginning with this issue.
There will be some engaging new content, including the first instalment of our new Mainstreeter interview series, “Sharing Lunch With…”. All of our planned 2018 interviews, which will feature a wide range of individuals, topics and issues, are listed in this edition of the paper. We invite readers to send us any questions that they would like us to pose at interviews@mainstreeter.ca. We’ll try to get you some answers.
You may also notice that a number of our stories in this edition of the Mainstreeter, including this one, conclude with what we’re calling an “engagement button”. The engagement button allows readers to get more deeply involved in the news, providing information on what’s coming up next, or who to call or email to “plug in” to the issue or the event.
In the months ahead, we’ll work to beef up our coverage of neighbourhood news, including stories about the development of the community, the newcomers to Old Ottawa East and many of your friends and neighbours.
On the volunteer side of the newspaper, there are some wonderful new recruits to the loyal band of talented folks who bring you the Mainstreeter, and these newcomers are already starting to leave their mark on the paper’s look and feel, and its content.
The layout and the design of the Mainstreeter continue to evolve as we move closer to full-colour production under our “nearly-new” layout editor, Michael Shaw. Shaw brings a love of layout and design and a wealth of daily and community newspaper experience to his new role. This is his second issue of the Mainstreeter, and the clean lines and layout of his work are already evident!
Also in this April issue, we welcome a new Photo Editor to the Mainstreeter, Peter Fowler, who will share with readers some of the many striking visual images in his extensive portfolio. Readers will enjoy Fowler’s photos taken both locally on walks throughout Old Ottawa East and internationally on many of his professional and personal travels around the globe.
Fowler’s neighbourhood photography will be featured in each edition of the Mainstreeter. His favourite travel photos will also be showcased, in each case describing the context, or explaining how the photo came to be, and why it stands out as one of his personal favourites. In this issue, you can learn the story behind his striking photo of the masked apparition he encountered in Venice’s Plaza San Marco.
In our upcoming May issue, we look forward to welcoming a new subject matter editor to the newspaper, Keltie Robertson. Robertson, who is already a Mainstreeter mainstay, writing stories in both English and French and translating our editorials each issue, will take on the new role of Interview Editor and will produce our Sharing Lunch With…interview series.
And finally, we extend a Mainstreeter thank you to our two most recent editors, Joe Paraskevas, who was at the helm of the paper between 2013 and early 2017, and Meredith Newberry, who stepped in as acting editor for the past four issues of the Mainstreeter. Under their respective leadership, the Mainstreeter grew, evolved and flourished into an authoritative and professional community newspaper, a voice that was always diverse and trustworthy, a paper that always delivered a good, informative and entertaining read. During their respective tenure as editor, each of them made their mark on the Mainstreeter, leaving it in rock solid shape, both financially and editorially. All of us at the Mainstreeter sincerely hope that both of these fine journalists will continue to contribute to the pages of this newspaper.
