THE NEXT CHAPTER
Islanders have plenty of updates to share after their stories first appeared in The Guardian
One of the benefits of being a reporter is getting to meet hundreds of people each year.
With notebook, camera and recorder in hand, reporters tell their stories by asking questions, gathering facts and taking pictures.
Sometimes the complete story is told the first time it appears in The Guardian. In other cases, there can be updates to come down the road.
As 2018 begins, it’s time to revisit some of these fascinating and talented Islanders who still have some more tales to tell and see what has been happening in their lives since their story appeared in The Guardian.
FACT TO FICTION
James W. Macnutt has enjoyed a prolific year.
The Charlottetown lawyerturned-author produced three new books in 2017, including “A Century of Service of Rotary on Prince Edward Island” and “Historic Furniture of P.E.I”.
His latest volume, “On Five Dollars a Day: An Innocent Abroad in Europe - Summer 1965” is his first foray into fiction. It’s the story of Will MacIntosh, a 22-year-old Canadian and his escapades during a grand tour of Europe.
Among his adventures, Will is spied on in Demark, he attempts to discuss politics with some polite Neo Nazis in Germany, he has a run-in with East German guards at Checkpoint Charlie and he joins a deadly
demonstration in Athens. Although fictional, there are autobiographical details in the text that parallel the author’s life.
“I have been telling stories about this trip I took in 1965 to family and friends, particularly people at the office. And, one of the assistants there said, ‘why don’t you write a book about your travels?” says Macnutt who accepted the challenge.
He already had a box filled with material from each of the more than 70 countries he had visited. In addition, he had his travel journal and financial ledger that kept track of every penny he spent on his five-dollar-a-day budget.
Realizing he had much of the research done, Macnutt decided to wrap a story around his adventure. But, after several tries, he discovered that the only way he could do that was to turn it into a work of fiction.
“As soon as I went into the third person and created a character, I was up and running,” says McNutt. “I could be as judgmental of myself, 50 years ago, as I chose. Besides being critical, I was humorous.”
Now, in the early days of 2018, he’s working on his next novel. Set in 2005, it deals with the transition from the Cold War to the War of Putin.
“The story is about traveling from Berlin to Moscow, by road. It’s something I’ve done.”
SETTLING DOWN
After taking a break from their high-pressure finance jobs to travel the world over the past year or so, Trevor Davis and Christine Healy have written another chapter in their travel journal.
Since spending time in P.E.I. this past summer, they have been on the move again.
The couple drove through New England to Boston where, after sampling local cuisine, they determined that “lobster rolls on P.E.I. are much better than in Maine.”
Next, they drove across the United States to Ohio to attend a tennis tournament outside of Cincinnati. Then, after returning to Ontario, they drove to British Columbia where they settled down for a couple of months to consider various business opportunities and options for where they would like to live permanently.
“Due to family and professional reasons, we decided to return to Ontario,” says Davis, whose drive back through the northern United States included a stop at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
Then in December they flew to Halifax to spend the holidays with his family. “My brother lives in Halifax and my parents and sister came over from Charlottetown.”
They returned to Ontario in the new year, where they continue to explore business possibilities.
“We would love to find something tourism-related and/or seasonal that could bring us back to the Maritimes, although we are also looking at opportunities in Ontario.”
DOING HER PART
Ever since Carla Wilson MacKinnon first shared her story about starting a wig exchange for cancer patients, this past November in The Guardian, her telephone has been ringing off the hook.
“It’s been fantastic. People keep dropping them off and people keep coming for them. We have over 40 wigs now. There’s never too many wigs,” says the Charlottetown hair stylist, enthusiasm ringing in her voice.
Along with collecting wigs, she’s collecting stories.
“You never know who is going to come through the door. You grow a friendship with some people, and others you never see again.
“One woman who came to receive a wig recently told me, ‘I just want to look normal. And I can’t afford the price of the wig, along with everything else.’ ”
Besides servicing P.E.I. clients, MacKinnon has shipped a couple of wigs to people in other provinces.
“The only thing that I ask is that the person receiving the wig covers the postage. And they have no problem with that at all because of the value of the wig,” says MacKinnon, adding some hair pieces cost as much as $1,400.
The owner of Dreams Come True Hair Salon was inspired to start the voluntary service as a tribute to her mother, Patricia Wilson, who died of ovarian cancer seven years ago.
“I know she’s looking down and I think she’s feeling pretty proud.”