NQ in style

We've been working on our first ever styleguide, an engrossing and exciting task. We'll be posting it on our website in the next while . It's a living document, it will evolve - but make a note to check out Bert Riggs's special section on Newfoundland-and-Labrador-specific terms (with its particular attention to dates and rankings for WWI). This blog will be quiet for the next few weeks, but we'll still be posting to Facebook, and if you check back here in early July we'll pick up our conversation! (Image: a few other styleguides of some reputation, winepressofwords.com.)

MagNet & Mary Pratt

And we're back from four days of seminars and sessions, meet and greets and exchanging business cards. Lots of energy and ideas out there in magazine-land, which is, of course, more and more synced to social media-land. Also had the lovely opportunity to see Mary Pratt's new Toronto show, and we'll have imagery and a review in the Fall Issue (publishing September 5). And note this exhibition comes in advance of her major retrospective at The Rooms next Spring. (Image: Poppyseed Cake, Glazed for Calypso, collectionscanada.gc.ca.)

Heads up Toronto

Tomorrow we hit town for the Magazines Canada Conference - a fine organization we belong to, as you can see. We'll also have a chance to hobnob with MUN Alumni at the Irish Embassy tomorrow evening, so if you're in the vicinity of Yonge & Wellington, stop by. (I'll be sending some photos to our Facebook page, snappy updates through the week.) (Image: chuckmantorontonostalgia.files.wordpress.)

48 hours to press time

(Image: warpedrealitymagazine.com.)

One thread of Newfoundland diaspora

We're proofing our first pdf of the Summer Issue today, a holiday for many - though not for MUN students (they were surprised, too). And we have a happy problem - too much material. While our designer genius (Granite Studios) works some magic with placement, here's the gist of one piece that may be living here (it's all about the multi-platform these days, isn't it?): The Lebanese emigrated to Newfoundland between 1890 and 1914. They became one of the two most visible

minority groups – the other being the Chinese. Lebanese was a bit of an umbrella terms, as it included Syrians, but these were mainly Maronite Christians from Mount Lebanon (Lebanon being founded in 1920). They were feeling the religious strife of the last days of the Ottoman Empire – so many left that the population of Mount Lebanon dropped by one quarter during this time. They came mainly from Hadeth El-Joubbeh, Baalbek, and Beirut. Many went to the eastern United States and Canada, as well as Brazil and Argentina. The chain of emigration that brought them to Newfoundland often started in New York and went through Montreal or Nova Scotia, then across the Strait. They often started work as pack-peddlers, then saved cash to start up more mainstream firms, across a spectrum of commerce – fishing supplies, hotels, dry goods and readymades, and, famously, the Majestic Theatre in Corner Brook, while Anthony Tooton acquired the rights for the Kodak franchise from George Eastman. Businesses were linked by family ties and families also intermarried, in fact it was not uncommon for two brothers to marry two sisters. They had political influence as well, for example Michael Basha became a senator, and Fonse Faour NL’s first federal NDP representative. The Lebanese faced some prejudice, for example being dubbed “tally-man”, a derogatory term implying a swarthy Mediterranean (Italian). But they assimilated quickly. They worshipped as Roman Catholics, and boys often boarded at St. Bon’s. The Arabic language was largely lost within three generations, the only words remaining are largely associated with food – kibbeh, kouskous – and some endearments, and the odd profanity. There are over fifty family names associated with the Lebanese, largely in St. John’s (with many settling on the North side of New Gower Street) and Bell Island, Windsor and Grand Falls, and the Bay of Islands from Curling to Norris Arm. In these places families named Basha, Noah, Moakler and Suffidy lived and worked. Some anglicized their names, as Suliman became Solo, El Teen Alteen, and Karbaj, Carbage. Others took their father’s name as surname – Noah, Michael, David, Joseph. Sometimes an official seemed to rename a whole family: Gaultois. Others were place names mistaken for family names – Duma (which is near Baalbek) – and further misspelled – Tuma. Much of the Lebanese culture faded, but the cuisine remains – eggplant, flatbread, yoghurt, black olive salad, lamb – and, especially, hummus and tahini on Good Friday. (Image: www.heritage.nf.ca.)

A timely book

OK, the illustration is a little off topic - we're 21 hours or so and counting from our deadline, so of course a clock image seemed required - but then I saw this cover, and, really, who can resist Nancy Drew? The fearless, roadster-driving detective, ably supported by loyal friends Bess and George, not to mention boyfriend Ned and father Carson, not so much in the picture but always there to lend a helping hand or parental advice, respectively. And this is a book and we're creating a "book", kind of a trade term for magazines.

(Image: wikimedia.)

Our theme is moving away from us

A week and a day until copy deadline, and the articles are ebbing and flowing through the editing process, as their circumstances demand. We'll meet on the field of disapora, a provocative and compelling notion, as this video conveys.

(Image: Pushthrough, courtesy www.heritage.nf.ca.)