"Where was this @NeilGodbout during the strike?" asked UNBC psychology professor Paul Siakaluk in a Dec. 19 Twitter post. "Neil, this makes 2 bang on editorials in a row."
I'll chalk that one up to the good mood he was in after getting a letter the day before that he had been promoted to full professor, effective this coming July.
Siakaluk was commenting on my editorial declaring the binding arbitration imposed on UNBC and its faculty a "one-sided deal bad for all." He was also fond of my editorial a few weeks earlier declaring that James Moore was simply not up to the calibre of the previous appointments for chancellor.
He was not so fond of me in March.
That's when he was done with my "stupidity" and declared "ur a dummy." He also wanted to know if there was a way UNBC could have back the Master of Arts degree it granted me in 2004.
I'll chalk that one up to the stress he and faculty went through of being on strike for two weeks.
Looking back on my editorials during 2015 about the labour situation at UNBC, my only real regret was getting median and average mixed up and then writing as if I actually understood the difference. In the words of one wascally wabbit: "what a maroon."
"Math doesn't add up" from March 7 definitely makes my list of editorials of the year that I'd like to have back.
Sadly, there are more.
I'd also like to withdraw "Me, myself and back to me" from June 11. In that editorial, I argued that the "Me-Me generation" of children from the original 1970s Me Generation are destroying great community building projects and events with their selfishness. Nope, they simply have different interests and priorities than their parents and are investing their time and energies in those efforts. That was my "you kids these days" editorial argued in the most ridiculous outraged dad voice I could muster.
I'm also not crazy about "Great hire by city" from May 29. Rob Van Adrichem is a wonderful guy who did fabulous work during his stellar career at UNBC, but so far I'm not crazy about his efforts at the City of Prince George. His decision to contract out the building of a new city website for $125,000 to an Ontario company and then to promote the move in a press release made me regret that editorial.
Despite those failures, the worst of my worst editorials for 2015 was "Lawsuit could hurt artists" from May 23. In that gem, I argued that local artist Jennifer Pighin shouldn't have gone after a local auto dealership in court for copyright infringement during the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Instead of praising Pighin for turning to the courts, which is what responsible people do when a business or financial relationship can't be resolved through negotiation, I argued she was poisoning the well for other artists looking to forge closer relationships with corporate benefactors.
Ridiculous. Disagreements of these sorts happen all the time but that doesn't stop business people from signing contracts and working with other parties, including artists, on projects for mutual gain.
The local arts community quickly sprang to Pighin's defence and deservedly so. To her credit and my shame, Pighin stuck up for me online a month later.
Three editorials I am proud of writing this year - "Misplaced outrage," "Why names matter" and "Moving forward" - were in praise of the renaming of Fort George Park as Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park.
Pighin took to Facebook to compliment "Misplaced outrage" and ended with this: "We need to raise awareness and education on many issues of Canadian history and not just with the indigenous population... environment... human rights.... and yes copyrights too lol."
To show that both blind squirrels and editorial writers can find nuts from time to time, I did write a few other editorials I'm happy in hindsight to have signed my name to, such as "We must not let them win" from Nov. 18, in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks.
Looking back on 2015, I feel the best about "White pride," a July 7 editorial rejecting the notion from a reader that the Citizen should do more to foster white pride in Prince George.
Whether you loved, hated, tolerated or had all of the above feelings about my opinions during 2015, I appreciate that you took the time out of your day to read what I had to say and I'm especially thankful to those of you who took more time to share your comments and criticisms in return. I look forward to continuing the journey in 2016.
