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STORIES
 
by Paul Corman

 

OTHER STORIES

 

Election Notes 2004      Sometimes it's easy to understand why people are cynical about politicians. A recent joke on the CBC summed it up. "An elaction is like a police lineup in reverse. We're picking out the guys who are going to rob us."
 
Just The Truth Please     Is Gee W. Bush really a moron? Do our Parliamentarians really hate those Yankee swine? Is Ernie (Slick) Eves as heartless as he says? Is it possible we've heard too much of the truth from our politicians?
 
Winter Night    It's one of those raw mid-winter nights, when the crystalline snow crunches under your boots like brittle eggshells, strewn on an arctic beach.
 
High Voltage Connection     In the big picture, it's scary to know how vulnerable we are on the grid. Some guy in Tonawanda shoots out a street light and for the next week, half the microwaves in North America are blinking OO:OO.
 
The Counties   At the northern edge of the county a high arched bridge, like a gray rainbow, shuttles traffic north across the Bay of Quinte into Belleville and Hastings County
 
The Camping Trip    Doug, Joey and I strap our canoe to the top of the car and head out to the lake Friday afternoon.
 
Easter Bunnies    Fortunately dogs and cats are not as smart as rabbits and you show the class how one student distracts them by hiding a treat under a stone in the backyard, or beneath the living room couch, while the others slip in and hide the eggs.
 
Lottery Winner     The story is about money. Most stories are these days. Usually with one or more elements tagging along-power and money, violence and money, and of course sex and money.
 
Typecast         One time, in Kingston, I stood outside all day in the blistering sun until a casting person came out and picked out all the hairy guys with tattoos and ushered them in. I heard later they were looking for inmates for a prison scene.
 
Word From the Couch    Sometimes I lean close to them and whisper confidentially that many of my ideas are passed on to me during late night interviews with dangerous looking foreign agents, disgruntled with their day-to-day lives of betrayal and assassination.
 
Crash Test     The people who make those little tin and plastic boxes, we risk our lives driving around in everyday, recently unveiled their latest crop of cars, at the North American International Auto Show, in Detroit Michigan.
 
TV Junkies     In a gesture, typically Canadian I threw a bottle of beer through the monsters glass eye.
 
This is Not the End!   Well we've almost made it through another year. I, for one, am grateful the planet is still here and we've been spared any plagues of locust or Apocalyptic Horses. 
 
Polite Canadians    If hockey really is a Canadian sport, when the referee dropped the puck the players, lacking a door to hold open for each other, would offer the puck to each other. "Go ahead and take it," one would say. "No, you first," the other would respond.
 

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Paul Corman

Paul lives in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.  

 

Most of these stories have appeared in Paul's Saturday column LIFE bytes in the Belleville Intelligencer His work has appeared in NOW Toronto and he has been a regular contributer of sports and fitness stories in The Quinte Sports Review.

 

His column LIFE bytes is available for syndication.

 

Contact Me:    funink@yahoo.ca

 

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SPORTS
 
Sports Writing 101     So you want to be a sports writer. The ins and outs of the game.
 
Canadian Fishing Tour  A good size crowd gathered on the docks at the foot of George Street as time began to run out for the competitors. The sun broke through the clouds and the bay was smooth and slate gray as the boats clustered off shore waiting to land with their catch.
 
OUTDOORS
 
Bon Echo  One of the smaller kids playing at the edge of the water, looking for minnows with a flashlight, was the first to see it. "Look she said." Pointing across Mazinaw Lake. "It's a UFO."
 
Lucy Goes Camping   There were thin gray clouds in the sky, and a cool breeze wiped up small waves on Crotch Lake, the day my buddy Doug and I got a small taste of what those on the Titanic suffered. 
 
HEALTH
 
Couch Kids  The kids are heading back to school, now that summer is over, and some parents might notice that their sons and daughters are looking, well...a bit plump!
 
Terry Fox Marathon of Hope  Twenty-two year old Terry Fox stood on the beach near St. John's Newfoundland on April 12, 1980, as a cold spring rain washed over him.
 
Teen Smoking and Breast Cancer   A recent Canadian study suggests that adolescent girls who smoke have a much higher risk of developing breast cancer later in life, than those who don't.
 
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
 
Paul Quarrington Book Review: 'The Far Side of the River'  Paul Quarrington's latest book, From the Far Side of the River, could easily be called Zen and the Art of Angling.
 
Quinte Cabaret Revierw   The Quinte Cabaret, performed recently at the newly renovated Empire Theatre in the heart of Belleville's downtown Village, was a resounding success.
 
TRAVEL
 
Guatemala Jungle Treck   Just two days ago I was shoveling snow in Ontario. Today it feels like the Guatemalan jungle is a hot vise squeezing the breath out of my lungs.

 

 

funink@yahoo.ca

funink@yahoo.ca