This fall I got myself a subscription to the newspaper from home. The Victoria Standard is the local paper for the whole county of Victoria, which is large geographically but quite small in terms of population.

I now live only a 45-minute drive away from my hometown of Baddeck, but it’s enough distance that I feel disconnected from the day-to-day happenings and events there. So the newspaper, which arrives by mail every two weeks, makes me feel connected still.

I was reading it this morning with my toast and coffee, and it occurred to me how lucky I was to grow up in Victoria County. It’s filled with great people. Reading the newspaper, there are lots of names I recognize. People I adore, for their quirkiness, for their individuality, for just being part of the community. There is an article by Mona Anderson, who is a dear friend and fellow writer. There is a letter to the editor by Clarke Blynn, who is a neighbour and a client at the marina where I work in the summer. There is an obituary for Alistair Watt, another dear family friend, and in the same section, a poem written for Alistair by Aaron Schneider, another fixture on the North Shore, who I’ve known my whole life. There is an article by Alicia Lake, about Jocelyn Bethune and her project to make a documentary of the Silver Dart. I could go on — the election statements of Stemer, the op-ed piece by Chuck Thompson — but you get the picture.

Reading the paper and seeing all these names printed side-by-side on pages together was powerful. I’m grateful for a newspaper subscription to show me that, every two weeks.