Glenn Kubish

This week’s collection of three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude goes like this:                          1. Skateboard   There’s a vintage Budweiser skateboard on eBay the description of which—”heavily used with lots of signs of wear, but no signs of damage”—applies, on good days, to me, too. I came back with that same model of skateboard after a family trip to southern California in 1976. The board was the closest I would get to the Beach Boys surf scene. The old skateboard resurfaced in my consciousness last week on a patch of pavement at Avonmore School. That’s where skater-daughter-in-law-teacher Aleasha gave me remedial lesson on how to ride. I felt very shaky. I made my first mistake immediately.   You might actually find it better to get going a bit and not just stand still on the board, she said, better for your balance, she said.   Aleasha did something else quite remarkabl...

Speller explains that Hank started as a film camera news shooter. Hank shot on a CP-16 with a supply of film that lasted 10 minutes. Back in those days, most camera guys were frugal with the footage. Shooting more than 10 minutes of film meant you would have to load up a new magazine using the black bag procedure, and that was a pain in the ass. Economy was a way of being, as Fitz says. I got to know Hank in 1995 when I started working in the ITV newsroom. I was the assignment editor. My job was to match all of the incoming stimuli—news tips, scanner chatter, stories that Speller thought were important, reports of stuck trucks in underpasses—with available camera resources. I assigned the shooters. Korbs, 10-6 at 137 Ave and 66 St, go.  Hamish, can you get six shots at the cake cutting, please. Rudzy, golf highlights at the Belvedere. I once sent Chuck to a house fire in northwest Edmonton. It was actually a forest fire in Chisholm. He got back three days later. I think...