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•T he IF P• H al to n H ill s •T hu rs da y, J ul y 4, 2 01 3 8 Ken McDermot, Chair Interested or have questions? Please contact the Georgetown Hospital Foundation: Campaign Assistant, Jennifer McNally 905-877-0111 ext 8241 jmcnally@haltonhealthcare.on.ca Ken McDermot, Chair Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? Interested or have questions? I would like t o personally c hallenge the s mall business community o f Halton Hills to join m e in supportin g Investing in Care - Close to Home, the Campaign for Georgetow n Hospital wi th a minimum pledge of $5, 000 contribut ed over the next three to five years. Your donation at this level w ill help to bui ld and sustain the best qual ity, advanced hea lthcare right here, close to home. The C ampaign has already raised over $5 millio n but we need your help to get us to our goal of $6.5 m illion for the most imp ortant hospit al expansion i n more than 50 years! Many corpora te recognition opportunitie s are available . Donations o f $5,000 or more are p ermanently r ecognized on the Campaig n Donor Wall in the new ER and the M ain Donor Wa ll in the hosp ital lobby. Th e Hospital Fo undation is also pleased to recognize our corporate donors in soc ial media, in t he local newspaper, an d on the large TV monitors throughout t he Hospital. You can even use the Hosp ital Campaign logo and our mascot Harv ey in your own promotio nal material t o align your b rand with exc eptional hom e-town care at the heart o f your commu nity. Thank you to the following local busines ses who have already accep ted the small business chal lenge: Bratin Auto Brooks Heati ng & Air B2C Colin & Jeann ie Brookes, E dward Jones Buttle & Tava no Profession al Corporatio n Ray Chesher, Your Home T oday Realty The Cornerst one, Women's Professional Group Mike Francis, State Farm I nsurance Generations P hysiotherapy Centre Georgetown C hrysler Dodge Jeep Fiat Ltd . Gresswell Fam ily, Alta Elect ronics Marc Henein, ScotiaMcLeo d Jill Johnson, Johnson Asso ciates RE Ken McDerm ot, PuroClean Property Res cue Red Lemon H air Salon Shoeless Joe's Georgetown, Isa & Brenda Mehemiti Now is the tim e to accept th is challenge a nd inspire oth ers to follow y our lead! Ken McDerm ot Chair, Georg etown Hospi tal Foundati on The Local Sm all Business A mbassador Gr oup: Ken M cDermot (Ch air), Nathalie Brooks, Colin & Jeannie Br ookes, Trevor Buttle, Mike Francis, Marc Henein Now is the tim e to accept th is challenge a nd inspire oth ers to follow y our lead! Are you a Harvey Hero? Okay, I have a confession. Last week I made a faux pas ('mistake' to those who aren't remotely bilingual.) I screwed up a quote in my column about forecasting the weather. It was the part about our native Ab- originals and how they observed the grass before it rains. It should have read "If the grass is dry in the night, the clouds will weep before morning." However, when I wrote it, I typed 'wet' not 'dry.' I'm so embarrassed. News editor Cynthia Gam- ble caught it-- naturally, after approximately 23,000 news- papers were on the street. Thankfully, it didn't go on- line that way. I did briefl y consider go- ing out with a pen and track- ing down all the newspapers and making a change-- but then I thought that wasn't very practical... In this business, these things do happen and we simply have no other resolve but to say 'oops' and carry on. Years ago, in the 1980s, I read a col- umn by Toronto Star columnist Joe Slinger. He wrote about journal- ism, and put together that column just minutes before going out the door to talk to some journalism students at Ryerson. He said that was the wrong way to write. He stressed the importance of writing, rewriting, a second rewrite, and all the little tricks of the trade that he used to hone his writing style. And the one thing that he said in that column has always stuck in my mind. He said your mind and your eyes are like an old married couple-- the one doesn't always communicate what he means, but the other knows what he meant anyway. When I proofed last week's column, my eyes saw 'wet' and my mind read 'dry.' In his column, Slinger suggested that reading a column/story aloud was one way of catching those little 'mistakes' that the mind and eyes have missed. He suggested (jokingly I think) tak- ing it into the bathroom and reading it aloud might be a means of catching those 'oops'. I'm not sure I could do that here at The Independent & Free Press. I would probably receive some funny looks if I was heard reading to myself in the loo. He added having another set of eyes read it is also a good idea‚ but of course, having said that, it's best if that other set of eyes reads it before going to press, not after. Slinger also talked about writer's block, and ways and means of getting over it. After writing a column since 1990, I know about writer's block. It's a fact of life. Any journalist who says he or she can 'turn it on' is not being 100 per cent honest. Yes, there are times one can sit down and simply write, but at the same time, more often than not, the writer has to work at it a bit. The key is to not work too hard. Slinger suggested if one became blocked with a story, the best way to counter it is to walk away from the story and read or do something totally unrelated to what you're working on. I've done just that, and miraculously, when I return to my computer, the ideas and copy fl ow like water over a dam. I clipped Slinger's column decades ago, and stuck it up on the wall in my darkroom at home. I know it's still there, but I'd have to move a pile of junk out of the way to get to it-- when not in use anymore, old darkrooms tend to collect 'stuff'. However, after all these years, I've somehow retained many of his sugges- tions, and in doing so, hopefully it made me become a better writer. So like the old married couple, my eyes and mind might need to be remind- ed to check up on each other once in a while. Hopefully, I'll manage to NOT miss items of that nature again. But I don't expect I'll be taking it into the bathroom at work to read it aloud. I'm just not sure my co-workers are ready for that. A Ted Bit Oops, how the heck did that one get by me? TED BROWN --Ted Brown can be reached at tbrown@theifp.ca When I proofed last week's column, my eyes saw 'wet' and my mind read 'dry.'