First off, I am now feeling better from my illness of yesterday and Friday night for those wondering... I am recovering nicely... which is sad as I have to go back to work tomorrow and being sick on the weekend is the pits.

As a caveat, this post features a lot of audio. I've done my best to make it not-so-stressing on your computer... taxing your RAM and CPU... but it's necessary...

If you ever wonder where my writing style comes from, let me start with my first brief audio clip...

If you clicked play above, and you're a Canadian over the age of thirty-five who, like me, had the radio on a fair bit, you may recognise that theme... but let me explain why that theme is important to me and this post...

When I write a blog entry, most times, I have a voice in my head.

It was a voice I most often heard when my mother and I were together when I was younger... she would listen to the radio while going about her morning... all of this starting when I was fifteen, and right through for many moons.

The voice on the radio never left... I picked it up when I was no longer home and listened to that voice religiously every morning... right up until 1997 when it was gone... and I honestly wept a little when, in 2002, I heard that the voice had been stilled.

Peter Gzowski was a unique individual. Although in and about broadcasting an publishing since the 1950's, his radio program, Morningside, was a staple with many Canadians on The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

While many of my contemporaries and friends were listening to rock and pop stations to start their day, I was listening to Mr. Gzowski interviewing people or reciting one of his (almost) famous five-minute essays.

Gzowski was infamous for asking questions that were longer than his interviewees answers... he had an easy, laid-back voice that had the wonderful sound that, unfortunately, smoking seventy-five Rothmans a day will get a person... by mellowing the vocal chords. He came across, on air, somewhere between a "learned friend" and a "favourite uncle" telling stories and news that otherwise, we may not have known about.

For me, he was fascinating... he was a morning window into what was being talked about in Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Yellow Knife, and yes, of course, Toronto.

He made me care about the whole of Canada... and see it's intrinsic politeness and hominess... to appreciate the whole country, not just my little corner of it.

He shaped, in many ways, the way I try to write... I write like you would hear me speak... in my tempo and in my own voice's tenor. I try add the emphasis when needed and try to make you feel what I see as important... in order for you to share my passions and to maybe care about what I care about... even if it's for just a short time while you're reading my entries.

Gzowski interviewed with equal weight, prime ministers...

...and school principals who had to eat worms.

He had a national forum and used it to simply tell stories, interview people, and introduce the nation to each other, and often himself...

Even though he died in 2002, I was reminded of him recently with the news report about author Stephen King being accused, in an Australian bookshop, of defacing books. They didn't recognise the famed author and were very disturbed to see a man taking a pen and writing in the books... he was signing them.

Many heard that and thought, How nice! Stephen King was pre-autographing books!... I, being a cynic, remembered a letter read out at Gzowski's memorial about him doing something similar... and you SHOULD listen to it...

Hmm... what exactly WAS Mr. King up to, eh?

...Anyway...

I wish I could share more, but a friend at CBC kinda warned me about going too far... like playing interviews of Gzowski with a thirteen-year-old Wayne Gretzky... or John Diefenbaker... or W.O. Mitchell... or countless great Canadians...

Suffice to say that, if you're interested, the CBC has many "archived" on their site at http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/gzowski_peter/

My Blessing is Having Been Able to Listen To and Read Peter Gzowski's Work.

At a young age, he made me care about Canada... and people... even when they were "out of sight" and no where near me.

This blessing was originally going to be about people that can convey passion... and as I was on the CBC remembering Justin Trudeau's eulogy to his father... which is another must see... I came back to Gzowski... and hence what you read above...

Honestly, Pierre Elliot Trudeau is both hated and loved here in Canada... but he is STILL, even after his death, not ignored... and no one can deny that he loved this country... the one he ran for so long... and although many didn't agree with HIS vision, it was undeniable. Even the true intellectual Conservative pundits hate his legacy as far as policies and governance... they will defend him as a Canadian... and I've heard some of the most "right-wing" Canadians jump to his defence when people who don't know and don't understand him try to take a "shot" at his politics.

Only from some very "polarized" people have I heard anyone say he hated Canada... and they are wrong... and I know the people that those folks venerate as their saviours know this too.

Justin has just entered politics... and if you watch that eulogy, you'll agree... Canada is apt to have King Trudeau II... he's as amazing a speaker as his father was.

Click here to see that eulogy.

I admit, and perhaps it's because I lost my own father at an early age, when he ends with the words, J'taime, papa.... I got and get bleary-eyed.

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