In My Opinion: Many fond memories reporting for Beach Metro Community News, but it’s time to say goodbye

By AMARACHI AMADIKE

A Letter To The Beach:

Driving west, meandering through the mountainous roads that tie Ontario municipalities together, it’s almost impossible to focus on anything other than the vast nature of this land.

Although during this journey I was a slave to Planet Fitness locations that I could shower in – because, let’s face it, there’s no way I was staying at hotels in this economy – I was perfectly happy to be guided down a path that introduced me to the empty skylines that hovered above Lake Huron.

“This place is so beautiful, and big,” I must’ve repeated at least 20 times during a five-day journey.

Subsequently, I was in awe at Lake Superior’s revelation as my car dragged itself up the hills littered between Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay.

All I could think, each time the world opened up before my eyes, was that “this lake was perfectly named.” It was superior to anything I’d seen.

But with each turn came the awareness that I was inching further, and further, away from a place I’ve called home for so many years.

The last three years – years in which I’ve been associated with Beach Metro Community News – brought me a plethora of knowledge surrounding the intricate system that keeps this province functioning.

However, nothing, I thought as I drove with that lake as my passenger, teaches one about the land. This must be experienced.

It dawned on me that I have so much to learn.

So often, I’ve reported on issues from a perspective that served Toronto. But speaking to strangers at local coffee shops and convenience stores in small towns across the province, I got a first-hand education of the needs of individuals who reside outside Canada’s most populous city.

I fell in love with the rest of the province. Ironically, this happened as I departed.

Come the following evening, I expected to be parked somewhere in Winnipeg, desperate for a shower from the nearest Planet Fitness before returning to the road.

But first, I needed to survive the unexpected Thunder Bay traffic that my fatigued brain was ill-equipped for after having become so well acquainted with the freedoms of an open road.

The traffic, however, reminded me of my many trips to the Beach Metro Community News office on bustling Gerrard Street East.

Here, through the countless stories shared with me by community members, I learned about what it really means to be a Torontonian. The joys, the plights.

Now, it’s time to broaden my perspective as a Canadian.

My time at Beach Metro Community News has now reached its end, but I’m proud to have had the opportunity to report on local issues which awakened me to the complexities of Toronto politics.

I’ve carried this experience across Canada with me, like a badge of honour.

And as I continue on my journey, learning about the various lives lived in other parts of this land, I feel eager to compare my findings with methods practised in Toronto with an aim of continuing my duties as a public servant – seeking information, clarity, even from afar.

That being said, it’s time to say goodbye.

During my time as an honorary Beacher, I’ve garnered nothing but fond memories. I was only accused of being an agent for Justin Trudeau one time. That’s pretty good.

The accusation, coming courtesy of a skeptical commenter, was due to the fact that I was hired as a reporter under the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) program – a federally funded initiative from which Beach Metro Community News was not included in during the last round of approvals.

Although I’m not privy to the reasoning behind the LJI denying funding for such a locally important paper, I have hope that, long after I’m gone, local residents will continue to fight for Beach Metro Community News’ survival, just as they have done for so many years before my time here as a reporter.

Sincerely,
Amarachi