By John Chenier
One of the things I learned in my role as Editor of the Echo was that our community is home to many talented people. Some were the subjects of the stories we printed, and others got involved in the production of the newspaper over the years. However, none were more important to the final quality of the Echo than the copy editor, Patricia (Pat) Balcom. Now, after six years of correcting text and ensuring the accuracy of what we published, she has decided it is time to pass the task on to someone new.
I asked Pat to reflect on her time with the Echo.
Q. How did you learn that the Echo needed a copy editor?
When I first moved back to Ottawa after 26 years away, I began attending Lowertown Community Association meetings. There was an announcement about the Echo at a meeting, and I went to speak to the editor afterwards.
Q. Did the “job” turn out to be what you expected?
I had years of editorial experience working at the Canadian Journal of Linguistics (CJL), the Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, and Linguistica atlantica. One thing I learned over all those years is that in publishing there are always surprises.
The Echo was my first foray into local news. A local newspaper is very different from a scholarly journal, but the editing skills involved are transferable. I also found that my 40 years of teaching writing proved very useful in helping me to maintain the voices of the wide variety of writers who submit texts to the Echo while ensuring their texts were clear, organized, and accurate.
Q. Were there any surprises along the way?
One very pleasant surprise was the high quality of submissions to the Echo. Another pleasant surprise is how the Echo is truly a community newspaper, with regular articles from the Lowertown Community Resource Centre and Shepherds of Good Hope, among others. One thing I did not expect, however, was the amount of fact-checking required.
Q Like many volunteers at the Echo, you travelled a lot, yet you carried on from wherever you were. How did that work out?
I have edited copy from different places in the southern U.S., including Houston, TX, Jacksonville, FL and Las Vegas, NV, though to be precise – and as a copy editor I must be – I am currently editing from Paradise NV, an unincorporated town in Clark County which includes most of the Strip. As long as there is strong, fast, reliable internet I can work from anywhere.
Q. There are several diverse sections in each edition of the Echo. Was there one where the stories interested you the most?
I really like the Heritage section. I love reading the articles and then walking around the neighbourhood and seeing a building with new eyes. I particularly enjoyed Nancy Miller Chenier’s 2018 article about the Major Building on York Street (“Marie Corinne Lebel Major,” Issue 9-4) because I always love a story about a widowed woman who takes over her husband’s business, just like La Veuve Cliquot. Coincidentally, another favourite article of mine was in the same issue, Liz MacKenzie’s “Environmental and cultural costs of demolition,” which taught me so much about the restoration versus demolition debate.
Michel Rossignol’s well-researched and wellwritten articles are always a pleasure to read, in both official languages.
Q. In addition to copy editing, you also wrote articles from time to time. What prompted you to do that?
A quick search of the Echo archives and my own memory showed that I wrote 12 articles over the years I served as copy editor. Most dealt with the arts or the environment – two of my passions.
Writing articles was sometimes prompted by a suggestion from the managing editor, for example “Meet your neighbour: Rev. Ernie Cox” (2020, Issue 11-3) and “Even in a pandemic people need art: How private art galleries are doing in the time of COVID” (2020, Issue 11-4). Otherwise, I just wanted to inform people about issues important to me, sometimes related to the theme of an issue, for example l’École Ste-Anne’s designation as an “éco-école” and the convenience of using Vrtucar (now Communauto) as an alternative to car ownership.
I wrote my most recent article – “A Moroccan bazaar in the ByWard Market” (2023, Issue 14-5) because I was so excited after my first visit to Marrakech Crafts. When I took a few paper copies of the issue to co-owner, Mohammed Echchaji, I was thrilled to learn that one customer told him they had visited because of my article.
Q. What aspect of your involvement with the Echo did you find the most rewarding ?
The most rewarding aspect is the great people I worked with. I enjoyed the meetings, especially the in-person get-togethers at John Chenier and Nancy Miller Chenier’s home and later at Ideal Café. These helped cement the team spirit needed to get an issue from Word documents and e-mail messages to final electronic and paper versions.
In the now often-used phrase, “We thank you for your service,” Pat, and sincerely hope that you will continue to contribute articles to future issues of the Echo!