Back at Toronto city hall

By Kris Scheuer

I started a new job in Media Relations with Toronto Public Health for the City of Toronto on Monday, April 30. It’s combining my background in communications at St. Joe’s (St. Joseph’s Health Centre) and 12 years as a journalist with a decade of that reporting on Toronto politics.
It’s fast paced, fun and very fulfilling so far.

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Good night and good luck

A new journey for me starts now
Kris Scheuer

Kris Scheuer (me).

The above headline Good Night and Good Luck was the sign off of famous American radio journalist Edward Murrow.
Well friends, after 13 years in journalism and 10 of those reporting on news, politics and city hall, I am signing off from reporting.
At least for now.
I said goodbye to my colleagues for the last 8.5 years at the Town Crier, and hello to a new team in public affairs at St. Joseph’s Health Centre
On May 4, I started an exciting and challenging new career with a one year contract as a communications associate at St. Joe’s hospital in Toronto. After just over a week on the job, I am already learning a lot and am busy writing for our website http://www.stjoe.on.ca. Some of my articles (two so far) will appear sans byline under the What’s New section. I will be writing monthly features for Hospital News, articles  for biweekly Connections newsletters , three editions of In the Community publication and website stories.
So far, I also attend hospital events and write about them, interview surgeons, nurses and other health care staff for profiles on them, new procedures, advances in health care, about teaching medicine for the next generation.
I will be helping with events around the hospital’s new wing Our Lady of Mercy opening later this year and our annual report.
Our department does internal communication to all staff in the hospital on any changes of procedure, policy, legislation, equipment, etc. And we handle external communication for every department in the hospital in coordination with the CEO.
At some point, I will be a spokesperson for the hospital and share the 24/7 on call role with my boss.
I remain a lifelong Torontonian and when appropriate can comment on life in Toronto from my perspective.
Keep you comments coming on anything I have written, will write or any of your observation on news and life in Toronto. I look forward to posting again soon.
After my contract is up in May 2012, I will either continue in communications at the hospital, elsewhere or venture back into journalism. We shall see what the future holds. I will of course keep you posted.

Kid reporter inspires me in Toronto

Nine year old reporter Brennan LaBrie started his own newspaper
This youngster renews my passion for journalism and my job
By Kris Scheuer

I have been a reporter and editor for 11 years and I love journalism.
But I have to say I have good and bad days like everyone else when it comes to feeling inspired.
My focus in on Toronto politics, people and news but I just had to tell you about nine-year-old Brennan LaBrie who lives in Port Townsend near Seattle in Seattle in Washington State.
It was a joy on Sept. 5 to come across a posting on the National Public Radio site about LaBrie’s hand written, self-published paper The Spruce St. Weekly.
I read the story by Ned Wharton about this young journalist LaBrie who interviews people, writes their stories and includes a section called This Day in History, plus fun facts and a hand drawn comic strip. He photocopies his weekly 2-page paper and sells it for a quarter to over 100 subscribers.
But it is watching the You Tube Video of LaBrie talking in his own words about why he enjoys being a reporter that really made me smile.

Words of the day

By Kris Scheuer

As a Toronto professional reporter and journalist, I am always trying to vary my written vocabulary. I am referring to words that sound great, but also have everyday meaning in society and aren’t too removed from how we speak.
Here are my three words for the day:

A new word for me today is inamorata meaning a person with whom one is in love, a lover from Latin amore or amor.

A fun word that I like is loquacious an adjective meaning a tendency to talk a lot. I first remember coming across this word in a headline “Why Lord Black is loquacious no more ” by Ian Brown describing how former Canadian media baron Conrad Black was not too talkative during his trial.

A commonly misspelled word is affidavit (not how it sounds affidavid) a legal term meaning a declaration in writing made upon an oath that something true.

I have several good vocabulary, spelling and grammar books but one of my favourites is Build Your Power Vocabulary published by Random House, that I bought in the city about two years ago.