Just a Gal from Glidden: Will 2021 get better? You bet.
By Kate Winquist
kate@yoursouthwest.com
As we turn another page on our calendars, we are getting a little bit closer to spring. Let’s face it, 2020 wasn’t a banner year for the majority of us, and the beginning of 2021 has not been a heck of a lot better! I’m hoping spirits will be lifted with the days getting longer and the temperatures getting warmer.
I’ve had a case of the January blahs for, well, pretty much all of January! December’s excitement with my husband and oldest son moving up to Kindersley, Christmas and all its deliciousness, and adding another newspaper to our media business, January just seemed to pale in comparison. Not that I want every month to have so many life-changing adventures. I’d like the pace to slow down just a tad while still being able to enjoy day-to-day life.
I genuinely believe most of life’s misery lately has been caused by the media. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Kate, you run not one, but two newspapers. Your business is called Your Southwest Media Group!” That is very true. I have never beaten to the same drum as your typical media outlets, and I never will. Trust me!
There is a reason that I live in my own little bubble. I like to be in the background, minding my own business while exploring the outside world on my terms.
What really got under my skin this past month was the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6. I do not want to get into a political argument with anyone on this. Whether you believe that the riot and violent attack against the United States Congress was called to action by President Donald Trump or not, it was just a sad, sad day for America and the rest of the world. You couldn’t turn on your television without seeing the horrific images. The mainstream media was lapping all of it up. Between the coverage of that and the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s a wonder that we all haven’t been driven into madness.
Thankfully, I do not watch a whole lot of TV.
Newly elected President Joe Biden was sworn in, and to no one’s surprise, he killed the Keystone Pipeline the same day. Alberta premier Jason Kenney referred to Biden’s move to cancel the pipeline as a ‘gut punch.’ I think it was more like a kick to the groin.
I picked a fine time to take over The Oyen Echo, I thought to myself. The community was going through a mini-boom just last year. Now business owners and residents are bracing themselves and preparing for life without the Keystone construction’s added benefit.
It will be my fourth edition of The Echo this week and the twenty-ninth for Your West Central Voice. The one thing that I can promise you is that there won’t be a whole lot of gloom and doom on these pages. I will continue to do what I have always done and that is to provide the news and photos that I believe you want to see.
My Mom called me up last week, expressing her disappointment that I once again missed my “Gal from Glidden” column. “That’s your bread and butter,” she said. I guess she is right. My success has been built on giving a part of myself to my readers. Through my words and my photos, you have gotten an inside look at my world. Keep reading. Keep looking. Keep positive. 2021 will get better. I hope I will take you on many more adventures.
It really is a small world! I graduated from Kindersley Composite School in 1987 with (I believe) 67 classmates. One of those classmates was a girl by the name of Denise Holyoak. I had not had contact with Denise until just recently. She is now Denise Hogan and she lives in Oyen with her husband Don. Guess where Denise had been working for the past 9 years? That’s right. The Oyen Echo! Denise was kind enough to send me a photo of when she and I played softball together. Ah, yes! The good old days.
The photo was taken at a ball tournament in Eatonia, back when we were in Grade 7, so I was probably 13 years-old. Thank you to the TD Bank for sponsoring our team. What lovely pom-pom hats we had!
One of my best friends at this time was Tracy Derr. I hadn’t thought about Tracy for years and wondered where she had gotten to. She moved from Kindersley when we were in Grade 8 or 9 and we lost touch.
I’m happy to say that through the magic of Facebook, I was able to find Tracy on January 17, which just happened to be her 52nd birthday! It turns out that she has had a great life, is happily married and has two grown children. Her daughter just got married last summer.
If I hadn’t taken over The Echo, I never would have found this out!
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY DENISE HOGAN
Kindersley girls softball team at a tournament in Eatonia (circa 1982). Back Row (L-R): Tracy Derr, Katie Drummond, Karla Longmire, Denise Holyoak, Jean Torrens, Debbie Bachman. Front Row (L-R): Janice Cote, Chris ?, Tammy Fritz, Terry Wolfe, Sherry Senn, Tara Yates.