That Silent Phone
One of the negative byproducts of the decline of magazine and newspaper journalism in Vancouver is that my phone does not ring anymore. There are many reasons for this. A most obvious one is the virtual disappearance of landlines and Yellow Pages.
Another and the most obvious one is that if you are not seen you do not exist. Exposure in local and international newspapers and magazines was crucial for phone popularity.
While I have my own magazine, my blog, those who look at it are far away or like me are obsolete, redundant& retired.
The importance of the web has almost killed the physical trek of writers, actors and directors to our city. The inability of our local film festival to want to compete with the international one in Toronto, also means that the likes of Charlotte Rampling will never show up here and that would cement my union to my wife for many more years.
Consider the photographs here. I am being very careful not to show the face of this very famous novelist. During a Vancouver Writer’s Festival she noticed some of my pictures in the Georgia Straight. Her publicist called me up to set up a meeting to take photographs (undraped) of her client.
I look at these photographs which are superb (it was a good day for me, perhaps) and I wonder if the phone will ever ring and take me away from my present slump.
I have my doubts.
Originally published at blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com.
