Friday December 22, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC
NOTE from Editor and Publisher Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Hello Island Social Trends readers, subscribers, contributors and advertisers! Wishing you the very best of the Christmas holiday year-end season.
Please visit IslandSocialTrends.ca during the holiday season for articles about Newsmakers of 2023 (link to come), and a preview of Insights for 2024. Visit daily at IslandSocialTrends.ca for news and editorials.
Island Social Trends ENews bulletins were few this fall as I got busy shifting gears… more reporting about the Legislative Assembly and the Bank of Canada, as well as a broader reach about municipalities (always the west shore, but also more on Saanich and View Royal this fall season) and many other important topics like housing, cost of living, education, climate and environment, and food resilience.
My biggest publishing discovery of 2023 was learning that even folks who are active online still like a full connection to the physicality of printed news. With the crisis phase of COVID behind us, people seem to thirst for reconnection with the physical world around them.
New print edition:
- I am very excited to (re)announce that the print edition of Island Social Trends will launch in the new year.
- There have been a few interruptions, but the time is right for a January or February launch.
- The bi-weekly 11×17 print format will be very similar to the previous West Shore Voice News which ran weekly during 2014-2020.
- A PDF of each print edition will be emailed to paying Premium Subscribers and advertisers. More on all this in the new year.
- Advertisers, contributors and subscribers welcome.
Thinking about things:
These are challenging times for households, communities and governments, and for democratic societies overall. As a long-time thinker about the things that make communities tick and people productive and resilient, I am excited to be continuing to deliver insightful journalism in the years ahead. | Editorial insights and op-eds.
The series continues:
Thank you *so* much to everyone who has supported the many years of journalism that have flowed from my pen and desktop (MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, West Shore Voice News 2014-2020, and Island Social Trends online 2020-present).
- Your subscriptions, ads and especially your ‘eyes’ on the pages are greatly appreciated.
- The print editions of 2008 to 2020 are already archived in the permanent collections at the Sooke Region Museum; Island Social Trends will be as well. I am humbled to have this opportunity to contribute to the history of this region through the work of journalism.
- This year I was honoured to have been nominated for a Jack Webster Journalism award for contributing to community through journalism.
Regardless of what or how people celebrate at this time of year, there seems to be a pause for peace to seep through. This can be felt by anyone.
All the best of the Christmas and holiday season to you all.
Mary P Brooke, Founder, Editor & Publisher