A Christmas Communique from DUMOC

The Venue Search Committee is pleased to announce that our bid to locate the premier social gathering for the summer of 2011 has been accepted. We are sure that all the necessary facilities and infrastructure will be completed despite the fact there are only 7 short months left to complete all the work. The exact location will be 2172 Erb. St. W., Waterloo, formerly known as the Foreman's Club. The facility has been the site of a previous Dumont Reunion so it may be familiar to some people. The exact dates of the event will be Friday July 29 to Monday August 1.

Since our last communiqué, several committees have sprung to life. The CPC-ML has organized a blog which they are encouraging everyone to visit, join and post comments. There have been some visits but they are most anxious for many others to join in. For your information, CPC-ML stands for Central Prairies Committee - Machine Literate. There has been some feedback that this is a pretty lame attempt at humour but the authors welcome even more lame attempts if anyone feels up to the challenge.

A Women's Caucus has formed and had a meeting in the real world which seemed to involve a fair bit of wine (and one man-servant). They have subsequently had some virtual meetings and even posted a treatise on the blogspot, ready for critical analysis. It seems their memory only extends so far into the far reaches of time and they need some assistance with events after a certain period of Dumont's existence.

The local DUMOC organizing members will attempt a meeting early in January to discuss more details of the event. Some questions have been raised concerning local accommodation, transportation, sporting and other recreational activities, music, etc. We would like to hear what thoughts people have, whether you plan to attend, whether you need accommodation and the degree of luxury required, etc. etc. We most likely will form many more committees, organize meetings and produce more reports which we can post to the blog.

Merry Christmas everyone. See you soon.

Waiting for the Electrician... or someone like him

Much could be said about this crew, but we'll let you make up your own story...

Remember, you can click on the image to see a larger version. Regular contributors to the blog will know what to do.

Reflections of the Reunionistas... and other Contemplations

Well then, since John Dufort feels the photo contests are too hard and inherently unfair, and Ross Taylor feels the blog is mostly just about the bloggers, and inherently narcissistic, we felt it was time to broaden our scope, to reach out to those old colleagues and comrades with whom we've shared a beer or a joint, a story or a particular adventure, or perhaps just a few late night shifts doing paste-up at the shop before headin' over for last call at the Station Hotel. Accordingly, we'd like to share with you an informal, mid-month, don't-have-a-prize-for-it-yet bonus photo contest:

As always, a small sampling of the usual commemorative questions:

1. So where was all this situated in time and space?
2. Why is everyone looking so serious?
3. Who have we got gathered here at such a contemplative moment?
4. What was for dinner that evening?
5. Who managed to stay up all night tending the campfire till sunrise the next morning?

Remember, you can click on the photo to see an enlarged version. Don't hold back, get those comments and heartfelt remembrances in for the rest of us to validate. Stay warm, be cool!... and when you get a chance, go check out some of Winnie's ideas and suggestions from last month's posting.

Seventh inning stretch

Yes, baseball and the World Series are over for another season, and it's rightfully time to be turning our attention towards more important things... like the Grey Cup, and curling, and next year's social calendar. To that end we are presenting the next in the (recently interrupted) series of monthly Dumont Press photo contests. Here are this month's questions:

1. Where and when was this game played?
2. Who are the five strapping young athletes in this photo?
3. Was Papper safe or out at second?
4. Who was playing third base that day?

Remember, you can just click on the image to see it full-size. Get your correct answers in to the Blog comments by November 28th (Grey Cup Sunday). There will be more cool prizes as soon as we find 'em! Keep those cards and letters coming!

The Search for a Reunion Site

Well, now we're beginning to understand the dearth of communiques lately from DUMOC (the Dumont Reunion Organizing Committee)... They're still out on the road on a quest for the perfect gathering spot for us all. A recent little note from Jane and Michael indicates they have checked out (and rejected) this pristine little glacial parking lot in Alaska... too close to Sarah Palin. Yikes!

Winnie P. has some ideas

Dear Gary, Bruce, Rosco and Janet: It’s so good to hear that the “Dumont Central Blogging Committee” is back on track and blogging again. In all my working years since Dumont, I have not been able to find a work/life balance that comes close to the one shared at Dumont -- on call 24/7, seemingly endless meetings of the collective (agendas were developed but there was no chair), last-minute text deliveries (by hand in those days) and editorial adjustments at the behest of “friendly” nocturnal print editors, deadline panic attacks, midnight swat teams, trips to the Toronto printers in the white econoline van (no seat belts required), on-site continuous training & learning, and (I almost forgot) no compensation for overtime.Shortly after James and Burko left Ottawa, Jane Harding, Liz Janzen, and I met in Toronto and drove up to Port Severn to visit Lesley Buresh and Bob (her significant other) who live 8 months out of the year on a lovely secluded Georgian Bay island that has been in Bob’s family for at least three generations. For two days in a cabin perched on the humped back of an ancient Precambrian rock (I’m attaching a pic) looking out over the grey turbulent waters of Lake Huron we ate some of the best of the remains from Lesley’s garden, drank some memorable reds and whites earmarked for the occasion and reminisced about the “glory days” of Dumont. As we weaved our way in and out of memories thinned by time we came up with a few questions and suggestions that might encourage more blogging before the 2011 celebrations.(I should interject here that we are eager to do most of the legwork required but will need some technical assistance and/or advice.)

Questions and suggestions:

Has anything been written about Dumont’s history (there is an excellent write-up of Between The Lines on the website but nothing on Dumont).

Is there a way to structure the current blog so that we can organize and solicit stories chronologically, i.e. leading up to Dumont, its first year of operation, its transitions (both political and physical) over the years from typesetting shop to publishing house to photography shop (Where is Brian Cyr?) to soup kitchen.

After reading some of the notes below, perhaps Steve Izma could suggest some dates, since (I believe) he was with Dumont the longest, i.e. 1971 – 1974 (The Early Years) 1974 – 1978 (Years of Transition) etc.

We were thinking too that a QUIZ might be FUN, i.e. where was the first Dumont Reunion held; name 1971’s fastest and most accurate typesetter; the Rolling Stones I can’t get no satisfaction suddenly made sense when and where; who wrote the following and on what occasion, “We hope this brings you down to earth, You’ve always been too flighty, With gratitude we greet the birth of young Hermaphrodite”.

Perhaps too if we don’t have a well-developed history of Dumont, the quiz might be used to supply some much-needed historical fact and colour.

As far as story-telling we were thinking of being as inclusive as possible, including oral and documented facts, stories and memories implicating Dumont directly or indirectly but asking individuals to submit dates, names and places with as much accuracy as possible – a kind of Dumont wikipedia.

How Input might be organized:

Before Dumont (Precursors)

Key collectives, communes, co-ops (Eby, Strange, King, Ahrens, Blue Springs, Sterling, etc.)

Radical Student Movement and Women’s Liberation caucus: their influences

Organization for Social Justice and Reconstruction: Where Winnie first met Lizzie, Randy and Wally and how we became sellers of aboriginal craft at the farmers’ market in downtown Kitchener

“On the Line” (collective free press) makes its debut and other related praxis

Day care at the campus centre: precursor to Klemmer & Married Student Residence daycare

The Early Years

Key players and founders – promoting the idea, selecting the location and the art of collecting building supplies (Eddie will be helpful here)

Midnight runs on campus (Do we dare share these stories)

First Compugraphic Computer, punch-hole tapes, and transition to phototypesetting

Photography: the first camera and long line of talented photographers

First contracts: the Chevron, Conestoga College, etc

Formalizing the “cooperative” (discussions as a collective and with Brian Iler)

One of three worker-owned and controlled typesetting shops in North America

Dumont becomes a CNTU affiliate, the proposal and debate

Early policy development on childcare and work accommodation (e.g. babysitting shifts)

Baking and Dinner Shifts

Workers’ logs and shift work

Mary Holmes’ curried chicken with apple

Steve Izma’s cookie batter

Dumont hot plate

Nickie’s and Winnie’s competitive angle

Jane’s claim to most creative galley identification system

Best shift team – the super seven (or was it five)

Best-priced breakfasts and draft beer

Last minute changes, deadline misfires

Federal support: Number of weeks necessary before UI and Opportunities for Youth grants

Cultural magazines like King Street Works

Years of Transition

We are going to need some help with this section from those Dumont Ducks that worked at Dumont after 1974.

This is also a project that can continue into the Reunion Celebration, making it possible for postings on site. However, we would like to do as much work online before the event so that people can get a feel for what we are trying to achieve and will be excited about adding their story to the Dumont Wikipedia.

Let us know what you think. This could be a lot of fun and in the end we may have a rather interesting living history of the ideals and politics that motivated a rather large group of individuals in a rather timely but very demanding social & political experiment.

Paranoia, or stupidity?...

As I was out for a stroll this morning around the shores of Wascana Lake with my sweetie Lisa Brownstone, she posed an interesting and provocative question:  "Have you ever tried to access your RCMP file through the Freedom of Information Act?"

Well, in fact I had not, though I do remember a number of discussions over the years with various friends, associates and comrades. I'm not sure if any of the rest of the old gang might have, though we all speculated that it would make for interesting and probably amusing reading. On the other hand, we all figured that even initiating the process to retrieve those files would most likely attract renewed attention from CSIS, the RCMP and other even more secretive government agencies.

There have been a number of events in our collective history that undoubtedly prompted some of these surveillance activities, from the Peterborough Examiner strike in 1968 and '69, the alleged assault on the American Consulate in Toronto on May 9th, 1970 during the Vietnam War protests, to the surprise launch of Canada's first cruise missile, hoisted aloft into the rotunda of the Saskatchewan legislature by 81 green helium-filled balloons on March 17th, 1983. And let us not forget some of the other social justice movements, such as the blockades at the peace camps at Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island in the mid-90s protesting the logging of old growth forests or the renewed anti-war protests prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In retrospect, there were hundreds of political and cultural opportunities to gather photographic documentation, wiretap evidence and informers' notes. Who knows what was real, what was paranoid speculation and what was just sloppily and inaccurately interpreted? Some of us may recall the 1970 national convention of Canadian University Press in Naramata where, with government agents lurking about, the legendary band Running Dog and his Electric Lackies, along with the Red Wobbly Chorus, opened their New Year's Eve concert with readings from Chairman Mao's little red book, in Swahili no less, to the tumultuous applause of the young journalists in attendance. What were they thinking?!?! How well did they dance? What did it all really mean?

I've often wondered what might be in Roddy's file. I'm sure he did too. Yes. there was a lot more to him than baseball. Without Roddy's sudden reappearance in Waterloo in the spring of 1969 with a case of fireworks under his arm, we would have had a much more difficult time celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike on May 19th with all the flair, colour and exhuberance that it deserved. And then of course, there was Roddy's critical role in helping to clear a path for demonstrators during the May 9th anti-war rally the following year in Toronto, when he moved a few poorly-placed garbage cans out of the way. I'll bet there's some great stuff in Roddy's file. We all miss him. Always a bit cantankerous and sometimes a pain in the ass, Roddy was a Dumont original, ready to work or play, but not so good when it came to the dishes. He was thoughtful, sometimes moody, he never would have called himself an anarchist, but had very personal perspectives on revolution and his critique of capitalism. There's gotta be some great little anecdotes in Roddy's file, both legitimate and outrageous fantasy.

We all have some interesting colour in our past. After all, we lived through some colourful times. Sober reflection is always useful, and instructive. Rosco mentioned a few months ago in this blog that perhaps we need to embellish some of those tales of our individual and collective adventures. I figure there's no need: others may have already done it on our behalf, and truth can certainly be stranger than fiction. Bring on the poets, and the story-tellers! And remember the words of that immortal sage John Lennon, "All you need is love!"

Recent events...

What with all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the almost unnoticed death last week of a very important person. Larry La Prise, the man who wrote “The Hokey Pokey”, died peacefully at home. He was 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in… and then the trouble started.

Workin' like a dog on the good ol' Dumont blog

Post-Thanksgiving adventures

Okay, so we're done with turkey leftovers, catching up with all kinds of folks all over the country, and lovin' that warm sunny fall which seems to be prevailing throughout most of our fair land. Many of you, no doubt, will have recently hosted Jimmy Allen and Larry Burko on their cross-country junket, accompanied by all kinds of stories and gossip. Some of us were treated to a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat at Brian Switzman's house in Toronto last Friday, picking up a bit of summer news, retirement tales and queries as to the current whereabouts of Fred Kemp.

In the midst of all this (and by the way, Fred has been found alive and well in Olympia, Washington; Elaine Switzman has a new grand-daughter; Mel's son Aaron is in Victoria and had Thanksgiving at Jimmy Allen's house; and Lizzie is finding that in retirement, she's just as busy as she ever was) there was much speculation and anticipation about next summer's Dumont reunion, and when we might expect the next official communique from the DUMOC consortium. Then we tried to remember who all was planning to attend.

Yes, and here we are having a little gathering of the Central Blogging Committee (CBC), which is often just an excuse for me and Bruce and Rosco to drink Cuban rum and feel productive and thoughtful, and sometimes Jan Stoody joins us on Skype, but misses out on the rum, which no doubt explains why she regularly turns up on my doorstep a few nights later, demanding wine. Jan couldn't make it tonight, as she's off sailing with her brother Chuck.

So, a new attempt to produce meaningful content, but then Bruce wrenches the laptop from my grasp (BRUCE WRITING HERE:  I did not "wrench the laptop"... it was passed to me and I was encouraged to add to this post), clicks on a new tab, and loses the whole thing (BRUCE WRITING HERE AGAIN:  Okay, I did screw it up, but Gary found it again right away...). This is collaborative editing at its finest! Fortunately, all has been retrieved (BWH: As I said!!!)  and we can now go celebrate with a joint (or something white and pointy (RJB: Chalk?)), but then who's got matches these days (or chalk?). Pour another shot of good ol' Havana Club...

I chat periodically with a number of folks who have signed on to become blog contributors here, but at this point, Phil is well ahead of the pack (Go Phil!). Lizzie says the lack of participation is because of summer, and now the Toronto election. Bernadine apparently had a hard time finding the Sign In button. John Dufort never has time, even in his new state of retirement. John Koop doesn't think he can make it to the reunion anyway, and the rest of us should all go visit him in Newfoundland (almost made it in July). Bruce is dithering on whether to ditch his PC and go completely Mac. Rosco is caught in a Google abyss and now he and Bruce are trying to make their way home on Google Earth. I wonder what Notes is up to this fine autumn evening?... probably watching a baseball game.

Some of you may perhaps have noticed that our monthly Dumont Photo Contest has missed a few months. Please do not adjust your displays, this photo deficiency is merely temporary, we're just not sure exactly where the archive has ended up. Keep watching this space!

Gary says (SORRY, BRUCE WRITING AGAIN) that he's found a small stash of colour slides of a 1975 Dumont Ducks baseball extravaganza and can hardly wait to scan and show (Ooops,,, I gave away the year, probably the first contest question after the hiatus.). I can hardly wait!

Former world headquarters of On the Line

This is the only photo of the Station Hotel I could find in my computer. I think it will serve as a reminder till better is found. Lunch conversation today turned to the hot beef sandwiches served at the Station Hotel. Dumont staff could often be found there at lunchtime, as could my brother and I. Kae reminded me that her job interview for Dumont took place at the Hotel.

The Hotel burned down about 15 years ago and the site is now a gravel parking lot.

I believe that is Ken on the left and Pete on the right, showing pride in their institution of higher learning.

motorbike

I do remember well going to a warehouse in Toronto ( or near T.O) and picking up a BSA 650 for Cyril, and working on it in the basement with Eddie. I don't think it was a lot of work, we may have just cleaned the carbs. OK OK the details are a bit vague, but when Ed started it without the mufflers, I could see blue flames coming out of the pipes, and it attracted attention of others who were home at the time.

Rosco's Wickedly Biting Riposte

Bruce: You may be on to something insofar as the blog needs something to attract contributions from our old friends. I can’t believe that it has to do with the technology or that people are too shy though. The technology may be confusing but it’s not mind-bogglingly complex (I confess that I occasionally consult my kids when things don’t work they way they should). And I was the shyest person I knew in those days; it hasn’t stopped me from doing the things I wanted to do. As for people being too busy – naah, lots of us are retired by now, the kids are gone (except mine?), we’re thinking about slowing down if we haven’t already, and you can make time for anything if it’s what you want to do. Are people concerned about their privacy? Sure, who isn’t? But we’re not asking people to reveal the intimate details of their lives unless they want to . . . more likely, people are afraid they’re going to have to put up with the intimate details of someone else’s life . . .
So maybe we do need those photos of Corbett and MJ (I’m sure it was ’98 not ’99). Maybe we need better prizes for the photo contests. Maybe we just need more time; after all, the reunion is still a year away.
I’m intrigued by the idea of “Where are they now?” postings and updates. I have one question though – does it have to be true? For example, most people don’t know that you spent six years on a mountaintop in BC before you started your own singles-only tanning salon in Northern Saskatchewan. Or that I was your only customer.
Whatever the answer is (what was the question?), I think it’s too soon to throw in the towel on this project. Simply because I know I’m interested in hearing from folks without having to jump aboard the Facebook bandwagon (remember when you had a face and book and they weren’t the same thing?) I think as long as we continue to keep it alive sooner or later it will flourish. If that means we have to tell people what we’ve been doing for the past thirty-some years so be it.
Now, about that mountaintop . . .

More on Gabe and the cops

I just noticed Ken’s description of our 1975 encounter with a cop on the way back from the West Coast (I think we were somewhere around Dryden) in his comment to the pic of Gabe’s grave. I tried to post this as a comment to the picture, but the system won’t allow comments with HTML tags and, as an unrepentant typographer, I hate it when I can’t use real quotation marks and paragraph breaks. So here’s another angle on that event.

Since I was the driver of the car at the time, the cop seemed to be giving me the most hassle. He found the bag of oregano in the back window and immediately asked me what I thought it was (he must have mistaken me for a botanist). I declined to be precise and replied “Garbage,” with an innocent shrug of my shoulders. It wasn’t, apparently, the answer he preferred, and he thought I’d have a better one for him if he could find a bigger sample.

Assuming there must be a whole lot more in the trunk, he demanded, impolitely, that I open it. The trunk was crammed with our stuff as well as countless precious copies of various commie rags (that’s newspapers, not our clothes) that we were retrieving for posterity. Fortunately, he wasn’t a quick reader, so didn’t arrest us for that. However, the thought of sifting through all that stuff for a bigger payload of oregano put him off a bit. Obviously trying to make things easier for us, he asked me, “Have you got any more in here?”

“What, more garbage?” I asked.

That didn’t go over too well, but fortunately, just as he was losing his temper, Gabe raced by, as Ken has pointed out. The cop, torn by conflicting obsessions (fast cars vs. drugs), dumped out our last (visible) supply of oregano and took off in pursuit.

Oh, and while that had been going on, Gary was getting grilled about the fact that the car’s back window also contained a credit card with a name on it that didn’t match any of ours. Remember that, Gary? And the name on the card?

More on the Dumont Archives

I’ll briefly give some background to what’s happened to various artifacts of Dumont Press Graphix.

While actual commercial operations finished in April 1987, Brian Cere, Paul Hartford, and I continued renting the space until sometime around 1995, mostly for photography projects, although I continued to do a little bit of typesetting for various non-profit groups. At that point, we moved all the leftover Dumont stuff (camera and darkroom equipment, two presses, at least one VIP, shelves, desks, and all the archives and records) to the Waterloo Community Arts Centre (the Button Factory) on Regina St. in Waterloo.

Alan Rimmer and I then started to plan to set the printing and camera equipment up as a kind of graphic arts workshop within the Centre, but the basement space allotted to us ended up unuseable after the Fire Department declared it too dangerous (insufficient exit opportunities) for people to work in.

Everything stayed there for years, mostly dormant, but every so often Alan, Roddy, or myself would go down to either to clean and sort things out a bit and to retrieve something we thought important. Both Roddy and I fished out most of the historical records, such as payroll books, legal papers, and logbooks, and took them home. Rych mills also took an interest in the material and tried to encourage archivists from the University of Waterloo Library to accept the records and many of the publications into one of their collections.

Then one day about four years ago, Alan, rych, Roddy, and I went down there to do a major move of the material to space offered by the Waterloo Historical Society — only to discover that almost all the archives, cabinets, and shelving had disappeared. Something of scene then ensued when I confronted the guy in charge, who admitted they had recycled most of the magazines and newspapers on one of their weekend volunteer cleanups.

Two years ago, after Roddy died, we retrieved the records he had been interested in (mostly logbooks from the time he spent at Dumont). Last year Alan, rych, and I moved all the remaining printed materials to the WHS storage space, except for a couple of boxes of business records, including the logbooks, that I’m keeping at home.

I hadn’t looked at the logbooks in years, even though I never forgot the original entries that I quoted in my earlier blog. The first book, dated January to April 1972, not only reminded me of who was working that first year, but also fairly clearly describes the difficulties experienced by largely unskilled typographers who refused to let responsibilities migrate away from the collective to individuals. This meant, fundamentally, that when things didn’t get done or were done poorly, it became a public issue. The logbook no doubt reflects the details and tone of the “criticism/self-criticism” struggles within production meetings.

So, for example:

[Monday morning shift, 24 January, unsigned] Let’s talk about who works at 6AM -> this is a shitty shift & why is it always the same people. Discussion -> responsibility of shift to finish their work. Layout shift should do layout not proofread, corrections etc.
LOTS OF HASSLES!!

[12:30 p.m. Monday shift, 24 January, unsigned] (1) Some proofing was not done — there was a hassle about proofing & the proofing was very disorganized and we had a lot of corrections to do after paste-up.

[2:30 a.m.(?) Tuesday, 25 January, DM] [various details about Chevron copy] If Dumont ever works as a co-operative David [Monoogian?] is going to will his first million to it that he saved out of his salary.

[6:40 Feb. 16, EH] Everyones left. I just got off the phone ready to leave but first I had to turn of one computer, two perferators, one headliner, one camera timer, close up one camera back, turn of darkroom lights, etc. Really now — isn’t this a bit ridiculous!

Cleanliness was another big issue:

[Feb. 18, unsigned] Thurs. shifts didn’t clean up their dishes after their shifts and its really a drag to come face to face with 3" of sludge!

Does anyone remember what this was about?

[Mar.7/72 6:00 p.m., Rod] As of now I am on strike!

It wasn’t a joke, apparently, as this note followed immediately:

[TC] I suggest you write down the reasons why and talk to people as a group soon probably before the next meeting.

But the vast majority of entries express relief at getting work done (often at 6:00 a.m., which was the deadline for getting negatives to the printers), and more-or-less cheerfully passing on details of the work waiting for the next shift.

Road Hockey Warriors!

Okay, here we go with the Dumont Reunion Photo Contest for the month of May! Hopefully, this one will be a bit easier, but who knows for sure... Here are the key questions:

1.  Who are the five people in the photograph?
2.  When and where did this friendly little competition take place?
3.  Who else was playing that afternoon (pick two out of a possible four other players in attendance)?
4.  What was the final score?

Entries should be posted by May 25, but the Comments page is open now for rampant speculation. The entry with the best possible answers will receive a lovely print from the 1991 Dumont Reunion. No restrictions on this one, everyone can enter... even Philip and Bruce! By the way, you can click on the photo (or any photo on the blog) to see a larger version.

Research in the Archives

The following table reproduces the first three entries of the first log book used at Dumont Press Graphix in January 1972.

Date	Time	Int
Jan 18	6:45 pm	EH	Set up the logbook. Everybody better use it!
	6:59 pm	SI	I REFUSE to use it!!
approx	9:00	MC	How about a clock so we can put down the right time.

Such data raises the question of whether this “dialogue” demonstrates typical behaviour or psychological needs on the part of the individuals involved, which may have plagued them further into their adult lives. Would anyone else care to offer a diagnosis? (E.g., that the third person implied that the first two lied about the precise time of their entry?)
If this strikes your interest, please let me know if you would like to see a transcription of pages two and three of this log book, wherein a Saturday night shift collectively express concern about the difficulties of co-ordinating production (without the hindrance of bosses), and wax philosophical about the relationship between efficiency and communication. Also included in their epistle: details of the now long-forgotten technology under which these poor workers suffered.

I'm a lover, not a fighter

As we all know, the civil rights and women’s liberation movements had a tremendous effect on changing attitudes and behavior throughout the 70’s and were influencing other aspects of society like gay rights and the environment as well. By the time I worked at Dumont (1973-76), change was also coming for people with disabilities. I remember at the time that the major players in shaping attitudes about disabled people were organizations like Easter Seals. Though well-meaning, they tended to be quite paternalistic with a ‘we-know-what’s-best’ approach that emphasized charity and sympathy for people with disabilities but little in the way of actually empowering us.
One year, Easter Seals launched its annual fundraising campaign around the slogan “Back A Fighter”, as if disabled people were all engaged in this great struggle with their infirmities. Never mind the fact that most people with disabilities sooner or later come to accept their limitations and just want to get on with life. The real battle was with other people’s attitudes. Anyway, one day this letter arrived at Dumont from Easter Seals with the Back A Fighter logo prominently displayed in the corner. I recall finding it in the incoming mail box and before anyone had a chance to open it, I took a pen and (ever the editor) crossed out the word Fighter and wrote in the word Lover. Then I put it back in the mail box. I think the phrase Back A Lover was (is) much more evocative of the real struggle disabled people face.
I don’t know if anyone else even noticed what I had done; at least no one ever said anything about it. But it was one of those little personal-is-political actions that’s stayed with me over the years and as we all slowly sink into various states of decrepitude I offer it again as a slogan that expresses an eternal truth about the human condition.

Reclusive Rockers Revealed

For those sceptics in the crowd who mused and wondered if there was really a fifth Lackey in the concert/contest photo (as elusive, perhaps, as the fifth Beatle), let us assure you all that it was our pal Bruce anchoring the band on percussion, and David Papazian (aka Papper) adding harmonica and vocals on that sunny Sunday afternoon in mid-July, 1975. Also in that second photo is the omnipresent Rosco Bell, who hasn't changed a bit over the years, except I don't think he still has that red guitar.

Winner of the first Dumont Reunion photo contest is Susan Scott of Victoria, who gets a lovely print of the 1994 Dumont Reunion. Keep on the lookout for the May Dumont Reunion photo contest, appropriately themed, Road Hockey Warriors.

One Knight at the Waterloo Hotel

News that fire recently destroyed a plaza at 140 University Ave reminded me of something that happened when 132 still occupied that very space. One fine evening the group of us wandered down to the Waterloo Hotel for a few beers. This was probably in 1968 when beer was 15 or 20 cents a glass and I could tell the difference between ale and lager just by the colour. It was a slow night, nobody else in the place except us and after a couple of hours the bartender said that's it, he was closing the bar for the night and told us to leave. Now this sort of thing never happened. I mean who ever heard of a bar closing before 10 o'clock? In those days, things were just starting to happen at 10:00. Anyway, we left the hotel and went back home – to a house full of smoke! Seems one of us had left a cigarette burning in an ashtray perched on the arm of the couch and it had slipped into the cushions where it had been smouldering since we'd gone out. We rushed inside, grabbed the burning couch and quickly tossed it out onto the front lawn. It was a close call but other than the couch, the smoke and a couple of very frightened pets hiding in the basement, there wasn't any serious damage. It may have been a coincidence but I still have to thank that bartender who had better things to do than watch a bunch of careless hippies drink themselves silly.

couple of pics

hey, here are a couple of old pics. sue

Reunion rumours rampant as Running Dog retrieves raft of R-words

Yeah I know, it's a pretty lame attempt at creative alliteration. It does, however, introduce our first monthly contest leading up to next year's Dumont Reunion in Waterloo. There will be prizes! Here are your contest questions:

1. Who are the five musicians in this photograph?
2. When and where did this performance take place?
3. Who was the sixth musician joining the band that day, but who, tragically, fell off the stage and missed being in this concert photo?

Get your answers in to the blog comments section by April 25! Contract employees of Dumont World Enterprises and their immediate offspring (legitimate or circumstantial) are ineligible, unless, of course, nobody else gets it right. Winners will be announced after the judges figure it all out.

A return to the Roots

Three pilgrims from the East visit the grave of Gabriel Dumont on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River near Batoche. What insights did they seek? What questions did they ask? What inspirations did they draw from this tranquil, almost spiritual homage? How did they get there in the first place? What's for lunch?

hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil and unidentified photographer

No Notes "studies" the TV Guide

Meanwhile, back at the shop...

And of course, if we're thinking about a reunion, it would be appropriate to recall our roots together, worker-controlled cooperatives, long nights doing paste-up at the shop, all those meetings, all that copy, all those deadlines, all those publications, all those parties and potlucks.

Early daze

Gary contemplating... I don't think there are many photos of the interior of this old house and perhaps that is just as well.

Dumont World Enterprises

Trouble Looming

I remember the time Jim Hunter built a loom for Charlotte von Bezold. This was when we were living at 132 University Ave. Jim was one of the smartest people I'd ever met but he also did some of the stupidest things too. Anyway, he decided he was going to make this loom even though he'd never done it before and didn't have any instructions, not even a book to go by . . . just his own head. Before long he's built a frame for it and has started to insert the wires that would keep the threads in place. Now 132 was not exactly set up as a wood-working workshop so Jim built it right there in the front room. One day he was sitting there with this contraption on his lap. He was threading the wires through these narrow holes that he'd drilled in one of the wood cross-pieces. He would push a wire into the bottom of the hole and when it came up out the other side he would grab it with a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull it through the rest of the way. Only one of the wires was giving him trouble going through the hole so he grabs it with the pliers, and reefs on it real hard, pulling it up towards him. Except the wire suddenly slips through the hole and he can't stop the momentum of the pliers which end up coming right toward his face. In fact, there's about a half inch of wire sticking out the side of the pliers facing him and he actually pokes himself in the eye with it. Ouch!
Well, he did go on to finish the loom and it worked just fine. I was always amazed that he could make something like that without any drawings or plans. I don't know whatever happened to that loom. I just know what happened to Charlotte.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Okay then, here's the original call to action and invitation that we all received in the closing glow of the recent Winter Olympics:

VANOC passes the Torch DUMOC

DUMOC (more affectionately known as the DUM Organizing Committee) is announcing that the next DUM gathering will take place in the Greater Kitchener Waterloo area, on the long weekend of July 30, 31 and August 1, 2011. The first five members of DUMOC, brains befuddled by beverages, best buddies and unbelievable banqueting while celebrating Mel Rotman’s 65th, somehow thought it would be fun to organize a gathering to similarly mark Dumont Press Graphix’s 40th year.

New Left hippie veterans Jane Harding, Doug Epps, Murray Noll, Steve Izma and Mike Canivet have put their names forward and what remains of their brains together in a preliminary effort to make this fantasy a reality. We welcome both local and non-local fellow travelers and organizers to help out. We will be looking for federal, provincial and municipal funding to build our venues but may have to resort to private hedge funds or grants from socialist Venezuela, given the present financial climate.

Our event will be totally inclusive – no Para-event for us. We welcome the infirm and the previously firm, the mentally competent and those who just can’t remember but think they might still be. Please spread the word by whatever means you wish and to whomever you wish. Let us know what you think about the time and proposed location. We are willing to organize the weekend if there is sufficient interest.

LET US KNOW!

Steve Izma:   sizma@golden.net

Murray Noll:   mnoll@rogers.com

The Epps:   eppskenneth@gmail.com

Jane Harding:    jami@golden.net

Mike Canivet:   jami@golden.net

So there we have it... The torch has been figuratively lit. Perhaps in following this Olympic model we'll have to build our own torch, something cobbled together out of the abandoned Bic lighters hiding out at the back of the kitchen drawers of all those former smokers in the group. It could be quite the Torch Relay, wending it's way from the fabled hills of Batoche, across the prairies and the muskeg of Northern Ontario, pausing perhaps briefly in Bruce Mines of pay homage to those great reunions of the '80s and '90s, before it thrusts southward into the heart of Upper Canada and across the back roads of Waterloo County, arriving triumphantly at a local farmers market for provisions and munchies, then out to wherever this legendary gathering might be taking place. Whew!...

...in the wind

My back yard in Regina sends many best wishes for a 2011 reunion into the wind.

tricky biz

An exploration:
If you click on 'new post' in the upper right hand corner, you will arrive at the blog spot, which is not the same as commenting on someone else's post/blog. Thanks to Gary, Rosco and Bruce for initiating this initiative. It's late; after visiting on skype they have asked me to be a test case to see if this works and if I could navigate it. I guess that is yet to be seen.
Learning curves appear to be endless in my life, at pretty much every level...good night....sweet dreams...the geese are back...

The Dumont Ducks

So of course there will be baseball stories, and some great plays. . . and Roddy figures prominently in most of them... By the way, Rosco would really like to know who the other two people were in this photograph... I figure it's just part of the other team.

Joint exercise!

So Bruce wanders in the front door as Gary's making supper and says, "Is this the night we're getting together?" And Gary says, "Yes . . . tonight, but you're an hour early." Bruce happily accepts the invitation to join in for leftovers and Rosco shows up an hour later. . . right on time.

We've gathered to come up with a plan . . . to invite folks to share stories and photos and songs as this little corner's contribution to the Dumont 40th celebrations. Yes, it's a meeting we're having . . . though sometimes its hard to tell. It's a freewheeling, wide-ranging discussion . . . even on point at times . . . and a collaboration from the get-go. Here's your invitation . . . let's see where it takes us.