Michael Atkins

"The stunning and awe-inspiring majesty of our land can be lost on you if you have never seen it, camped on it, or driven it."

I’ve been thinking about Donald Trump again. Sorry. It is the summer and I should be sailing and riding my bike, pretending to be young. That’s what old people do now.

Some 28 years ago, I became the president of a trade organization called the Area Association of Business Publications in the United States.

This month my term as chair of the board of governors of Laurentian University is up. It has been an extraordinary experience. Nothing and everything prepares you for this adventure.

I’ve spent a lifetime consuming and investing in media.

For some reason, I thought it was Mick Jagger who coined the phrase “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” It wasn’t him. It was a fellow named Mark Weinberg from Buffalo, NY.

In the fall of 1972 I arrived in Little Current, Manitoulin Island with an old Volkswagen van (pop-up roof), a motorcycle, a beard, a change of clothes, and a C chord harmonica. I was the new editor of the Manitoulin Expositor.

A new year and a new prime minister. A moment to be thankful for small mercies.

Admittedly, the headline is a fairly cheesy steal from the famous New Hampshire licence plate “Live free or die.” I owned a publishing company in New Hampshire for many years and so spent a little time in that neck of the woods.

Three years ago, my daughter (then 14) competed at Mount Baldy in an Ontario Alpine Ski Race. It was a big deal for me. I don’t get to Thunder Bay as much as I used to and I had a story to tell.