Where do I start?

Pardon the cliché but the last bio I wrote was in third person. Not because I make it habitual to talk about myself by my given name. No, I’m not big on writing in the first-person for biographies — seems less creative and more pretentious.

In my journalistic ideology, “I” is a four-letter word. The industry I am a part of should only see the first person when a column is being written or a personal experience is being shared.

The reporter is arbitrary to a story. There is no editorializing. There are three sources: the pro, anti and neutral. Call me old fashioned, or prudent, but sometimes I find the ego takes over the steering wheel from the people the news piece is about.

However, the writer’s way of telling the story is important. Ensuring the W5 and how are expressed is essential. That doesn’t mean you blow your load in the lede and then sputter along the rest of the way.

Enough about my philosophy, you’re probably asking where I fit in the journalism race? I’ve been reporting for eight years. I fell into it via university extra-curriculars.

I got involved in one of the many newspapers at UofT, New College’s The Window, and in my year as editor-in-chief (2002-03) I parlayed my experience into getting elected to the Ontario Bureau Chief position at the Canadian University Press.

The brief CUP stint and writing my entry exam for the RCMP was done while dealing with aplastic anemia. I graduated UofT with an Honours Bachelor of Arts (specialist: archaeology, minors: English & geography).

Writing’s always been in my blood. Literally. My mother had a yen for the pen, taking a few courses in journalism. My writing stemmed from an overactive imagination. I write fiction and poetry in my free time.

It does help. Like they say, some people can report well, but write like, well you know. Others can write well but report like the subtlety alluded to in the prior clause.

From grade 2 and up, I wrote. Most of the words I taught myself, going through the thesaurus. I knew places before they taught them in class because I’d crack open the atlas and say that’s where my story’s going to take place.

Most of the time, writing was a form of escapism. I had a lot of health problems — haemolytic anemia, ITP, Common Variable Immune Deficiency. I was also bullied – the worst being through grades 5 to 9.

In a way, my writing led me to become more confident, and more outspoken. Some people are turned off by my blunt opinions but I’m not stating them to convert others, I am standing up for myself when so often I was told to shut up.

I will never give up writing. Nor will I give up journalism. You learn more about the world around you by talking to the people directly.

At present I am a sports editor at the Town Crier, Toronto Today and Vaughan Today. I’ve been at that post for two years. I also freelance for Urban Male Magazine. I do photography. I can do online work too.

Versatility is key, especially in this transition period where print media is an industry in nebulous times.

Enough about writing, there’s a man behind these words. I live in Toronto, am married to a wonderful woman, my Goldfinch, and look to live life to fullest.

The aplastic anemia I mentioned before has gone into remission, as of September 2010. I still get treated for my Common Variable Immune Deficiency — the inability to produce enough B cells (antibodies) on my own, and I am epileptic. I wasn’t born with the latter, one of health battles was against encephalitis at the age of 16. Nearly killed me, but I’m a fighter. The epilepsy came thereafter. I haven’t had a seizure since May 1999, knock on wood.

If you find I use too many pop culture references in some of my articles, it’s because I seem to absorb that information better than some of the more important facts of life.

I love music — preferably classic rock. My CD collection has hit over 700. I’m not big on downloading music. I need the tangible representation of music in my hands.

Since moving in with my wife three years ago, when she was my fiancée, my expansive DVD collection was soiled by Rom-Coms. Admittedly I’ve grown to enjoy them, just don’t tell her that.

I do love watching movies though. Not for artistic reasons, but to escape and be entertained. It takes a helluva lot to make me stop watching a movie but there have been a few: Vanilla Sky (Tom Cruise remake), Mamma Mia! and Sucker Punch.

In addition to flicks, I read the occasional book here and there: very rarely CanLit, and more commonly genre fiction. I write in the horror-fantasy field, so I need to see what’s out there. As much as Canadians take a shining to Margaret Atwood, my preference is Stephen King. You can include Hunter S. Thompson, Neil Gaiman and Carl Hiaasen in that pool as well as classics, Joseph Conrad, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Franz Kafka.

Finally, growing up my parents were my greatest educators, and rocks when at a young age Death was doing recon. If I could pick two people I look up to the most, it’d be them. They’ve been together for 33 years, and every bit the example of how the world should be.

Other sources of inspiration for me have been Tom Selleck, Humphrey Bogart, Paul Molitor, Mats Naslund, Eric Davis, Gregory Peck, Nelson Mandela and Charles Darwin.

And Cindy Crawford will always have a warm spot in my heart — my teenage celebrity crush that adorned my walls with her sultry stare.

So that’s me, in a not-so-abridged bio.

I almost forgot, the puffin. The small bird that inhabits the East Coast of Canada. I started drawing it in grade 6 and haven’t stopped. On occasion, when I’m doodling it will come back. It’s become a touchstone for me, and a bit of a calling card.

Anyone who’s met me, will walk away with puffin affixed to my name.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the site.