Surprise! You are not seeing the gorgeous Arianna here for the weekly roundup because as Huffingtonpost.ca continues to ramp up, we are bringing aboard all sorts of homegrown products --including, now, me.
I have just joined HuffPost Canada as managing editor for blogs. That means it will be my job to assemble a lively, interesting and original group of Canadian contributors to entertain and inform you every day, several times a day.
The funny thing is, I began as a day-one contributor to the U.S. edition of the Huffington Post in 2005. The blogosphere still felt quite new then, in a California Gold Rush/Frontier sort of way. Pioneering Arianna recruited everyone she could think of who would have something entertaining and interesting to say. She didn't care about your politics or your celebrity. Celebrity was a good thing, sure. But what Arianna ultimately cared about most about was: Were you passionate? Could you engage? Could you hold your place at the virtual dinner table? The result was a unique new media model that has redefined content and debate on the internet.
When I entered the Canadian office, I was so excited to see that same enthusiastic frontier spirit in my new colleagues. I am truly honored to join them in this great new adventure.
I grew up in Toronto, and cut my journalist teeth at the Toronto Sun. I wrote about politics and women's issues for Saturday Night and Chatelaine, and then the National Post. Most of my career, however, has been spent south of the border. Much of my later professional life I have spent in New York and Washington. I won't prolong my bio -- you can read it here. But what I have taken away from this experience is a desire to seek out the most informed and engaging minds across the spectrum, and to engage them in productive, enlightened debate.
My job here at HuffingtonPost.ca will be to encourage Canadians from every region and from all walks of political life to talk to each other about the most important issues of the day, in a format only the web can provide. The community we build here will be different from that of the U.S. HuffPost -- because of course, Canadians are different, and not only because of double-doubles and the habit of always apologizing. As HuffPost becomes a global voice and brand (reaching now into the UK), HuffPost Canada will strive to be a unique and distinctly Canadian forum for Canadians.
In that spirit, I wish to open the table to all of you: Let me know if you have something to say. Tell me what/who you want to read. You can contact me directly at canadablogs@huffingtonpost.com.
We've had a lively time this past week. We've just launched a Living section under editor Sarah Kelsey, who wrote a poignant and strengthening post about coping with divorce based on her own (recent) experience.
The ongoing protests in front of the White House over the Keystone oil pipeline was briefly enlivened by the arrest of actress Daryl Hannah. Newly minted HuffPost bloggers Rachel Ryan and Ethical Oil.org's Alykhan Velshi were there to report on the protests firsthand for HuffPost Canada. I've personally extended an invitation to Ms. Hannah to make her case to Canadians in a more substantial way than she has so far on the CBC airwaves.
Next week stay tuned for all the celebrity mayhem that will arrive in the form of the Toronto Film Festival. HuffPost will have its own unique red carpet coverage and takes. And yeah, there will be serious stuff too, but it's Labour Day weekend so just go enjoy your barbecue and these last lovely days of a hot Canadian summer. More heat to come...