All Psyched Up: Time marches on
By DR. LINDA HANCOCK on November 27, 2021.
When I was in high school in the 1960s, I was the newspaper correspondent for the Indian Head News. I remember entering the news office for the first time and being quite impressed by all the equipment necessary for printing as well as the strong smell of ink. My responsibilities were to report the “goings on” at the school for each weekly publication. I was paid by the inch and so my columns were fairly long! After graduation, I moved away and have not lived in Indian Head since then. In 2006, I was appointed as the Medicine Hat coordinator for the annual honouring of Psychology Month, sponsored by the Psychologist Association of Alberta. This led to my new column and publication of the first article of “All Psyched Up” on March 3, 2006. Later that winter, a friend of the family, Marion Heaslip, was visiting in Medicine Hat and obtained copies of some of my columns. She told me that she thought they would be a positive addition to the newspaper in our “hometown” of Indian Head. So she took them to the editor, Ken McCabe (who interestingly enough had been an elementary student in one of my mother’s classes when he was young). Ken liked the idea and history started repeating itself. I was again a columnist in my hometown newspaper! It is now almost six decades since I started the original high school column and 15 years since “All Psyched Up” began. In June of this year, I moved to Calgary and wasn’t sure if the Medicine Hat News would like the articles to continue. How surprised I was when her sister paper The Lethbridge Herald asked if they could also publish them on a weekly basis! Over the years, many things have changed, and I have tried to reflect those changes in my writings. Today I acknowledge another significant change. In mid-November, I received an email from Jodi who is the current publisher of the Indian Head News. She advised that as of December 1, 2021, she is handing over the newspaper to Grasslands News. We don’t know the future, but I believe that the residents of my hometown owe a sincere thank you to the McCabe family who have kept this newspaper alive for so long! Yes, time marches on… but over time some things remain the same. Will I continue to write? Absolutely! Will I be grateful for the readers and their emails that give me feedback and encouragement? Without a doubt! And time marches on… Dr. Linda Hancock, the author of “Life is An Adventure…every step of the way” and “Open for Business Success” is a Registered Psychologist who has a private practice. Visit http://www.LindaHancock.com or email her at office@drlindahancock.com 15-14
