By Hugh Kruzel
Do you already know who you are voting for in the municipal election? Maybe you are still searching for one thing that will tip your decision. So do you know who they really are? What makes them tick?
Maybe it is time the Off the Shelf series helped you figure out the inner workings, thoughts, personality, and values, of those hoping to be mayor.
Using the City of Greater Sudbury certified candidates list of address, emails and websites, contact was attempted with each person listed. Despite the detailed coordinates in the official documentation, it did not result in success; some did not respond, and unfortunately others did not seem to have working phones or message systems. Even if prompted by texts there was no reaction. Multiple attempts were made to ensure all were given the opportunity to share.
The question asked was “What one book has shaped your life, your perspective, your beliefs, your philosophy, you! What was the title, and who is the author?” Follow-up included asking how the book affected them, and when they read the book?
While it would be idyllic to give you the entire response from each some answers have been shortened for time and space constraints.
Presented in no particular order, here are the results:
Bill Sanders
I was trying to think of any other novels that affected me as greatly as this one but alas I kept coming back to this classic. The name of the book is ... drum roll please ... “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens. I read “Great Expectations” because it was there ... on the bookshelf. I didn't go searching it out.
In my younger years I spent a lot of time in the library at Brock University. The title just caught my eye I suppose. I was already familiar with Dickens having read “A Tale of Two Cities” as most high school students had. I loved the way Dickens could finish a book right down to the very last sentence. But for me “Great Expectations” had it all. Dickens carried me away and I never clued in or "expected" anything. He duped me. He enthralled me and I loved every minute of it. That book was for me what keeps me reading to this day. It was a catalyst ... that hidden treasure that drives me to find other literary hidden treasures.
Bill Crumplin
“The” book that I feel has most shaped my life, both personally and professionally speaking is “Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs published in 1961.
This book was introduced to me by a professor in my second year of university in 1982-83 during an Urban Development course in Geography at the University of Western Ontario. It was the first academic book that I could not put down! Each page spoke to me and clearly explained what was going wrong in our cities.
This book awakened in me my social conscience in a way that had not happened before. It also resulted in me deciding that my major would be Urban Development instead of Biology. I was amazed at how many of her ideas rang true for me, but were absent from the urban development I was seeing around me. And she also provided real life examples showing that a community could organize itself and influence top-down decision making that did not reflect the social, cultural and economic needs of the neighbourhood. She was a champion of true participatory planning and she was opposed to developments and decisions that focused on automobiles instead of communities and people.
My decision to investigate housing issues in the context of a third world country, for my Ph.D., was shaped by my growing concern that marginalized citizens had little to no say in local decisions. Again, my interest can be traced back to “Death and Life.”
Dan Melanson
Obviously, selecting a single book is not as easy as it first sounds when one pauses to reflect on all of the material that they have consumed over the years.
But that having been said one book that has played a role in shaping my life is “Memoirs of the Second World War” by Winston Churchill. It was originally published in 1951 and is a fascinating window on the inner workings of a world at war and a legendary war time leader.
I’ve read it a couple of times the most recent being a couple of years ago. This book affected me in many ways. Icame away with a number of insights that I use in my everyday life. Never give up no matter how desperate the situation seems; the only way is the way forward and to press on without regard of the sacrifice. Regardless of your current situation or status if you know you are the right person to get the job done, and you believe that you can make the difference step up and accept the challenge.
And once you have accepted the challenge give it your all until you have succeeded. And one final way that this book has affected me is to recognize that a true leader needs to be able to project confidence and unwavering belief in achieving the goal, while acknowledging the contributions of everyone to the collective cause, do that and motivated people will follow you regardless of the cost.
Patricia Mills
“You Learn by Living” by Eleanor Roosevelt. Why that Book? It spoke to me when I was looking for information on role models who overcame adversity to live a better life. One of my favourite quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt is "Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, 'It can't be done.'"
Her advice for leading fulfilling life are outlined in 11 key areas:
- Learning to Learn
- Fear - the great enemy (my second favourite book is “Feel the Fear and do it Anyway”
- The Uses of Time
- The Difficult Art of Maturity
- Readjustment is endless
- Learning to be useful
- The Right to be an Individual
- How to get the Best Out of People
- Facing Responsibility
- How Everyone can Take Part in Politics
- Learning to be a Public Servant
The first time was more than 30 years ago, after my husband died and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. It was a very difficult time for me. No one expects to be a widow at 28. All the plans we put on hold in our lives seemed meaningless. I wanted to do more with my life and I wanted to make a difference in my community. This book was the first in a series of books I came to rely on to guide me forward. I have read it four times.
It taught me that we can all make a difference in our own lives as well as others by being true to ourselves and opening up more to humanity. Life can be hard, it can be tough, it can be difficult, but it can also be very rewarding, inspiring and fulfilling. It all starts with you.
J. David Popescu
J. David Popescu was reading The Bible when he picked up the phone for this interview.
“He [God] came into my life 44 years ago during a very traumatic time and gave me peace.”
When asked why he runs every time in all elections, Popescu said his interest in running isn’t really about politics or governance.
“I want to encourage people to hear the word of God, warning them of all the negativity in the world,” he said. “I would insist on one hour Bible study by council before turning to the challenges of the day. “
Jeff Huska
I’ve read many and enjoy all types, but some of my favourite books are — and continue to be — about people we think are, or should be, heroes. Let me say that heroes come in different forms to different people. The obvious question of course will be what is the name of the book? Well, if I could remember the name, I’d tell it to you, but unfortunately, I don’t.
When I was in bantam hockey, back in the 1970s here in Sudbury, I played right wing and thought I was having the time of my life. Then one day a man named Jim Hofford, who I have the utmost respect for and was one of the team’s managers, asked me to read a book of individual stories from some two dozen NHL hockey players. He gave me this book to read because the coaches felt I wasn’t being physical enough in my play and they felt I needed some type encouragement.
Mr. Hofford felt that this book might inspire me to improve my play. He wasn’t wrong, because not only did that book change the way I saw the game, it changed the way I lived much of life.
One particular chapter was about John Ferguson of the Montreal Canadiens, who was my hero growing up. His story did not inspire me to become a fighter that many saw him to be on the ice, but it spoke more to me about relationships with team mates and the loyalty of friends. He spoke at length about the respect he had for his team mates, the importance of the friendships they made and the loyalty amongst the players that should and did last beyond the game itself. That is what I took away from reading the book.
Although I don’t use my fists, I will stand by my friends and always be by their side in good times and bad. I work hard at being dependable, reliable and trustworthy.
Cody Cacciotti
Cody was the subject of an article in November of 2017. An excerpt from that story appears below.
“I tend to lean toward non-fiction and favour biographies or anything with a link to historical studies,” he said. “(It) probably explains why I ended up working for a museum.”
Cacciotti has an interesting take on books that have influenced him. As a museum guy, naturally his focus is often on the past, but not always, and he has strong interest in local writers and historians. A takeaway from our chat with him: Don’t discount what you might find in your own backyard.
“There has been some great work published here, and I'm sure the same can be said for other communities as well,” he said. “Half the fun is stumbling across something new and then sharing it with friends and colleagues.”
One book that really stood out for Cacciotti in the vein of local authors and local history is Frank Pagnucco's “Home Grown Heroes: A Sports History of Sudbury” (Miller Publishing, 1982).
“I really enjoyed reading about local sporting history and must have signed the book out of the Mackenzie Branch at least a dozen times, to the point where I knew exactly where it was located in the library.”
When it came time to complete his MA (History) at Laurentian University years later, Cacciotti knew he wanted to focus his thesis on the history of the Sudbury District Football Association (now the Sudbury Regional Competitive Soccer League). Something he said you could likely thank Pagnucco for.
“Frank [Pagnucco] had provided a good starting point with his chapter on the local soccer loop, but I really wanted to dig deeper and investigate the shift from the company-sponsored teams of the 1920s and 1930s, to the ethnic clubs that dominated the scene in the late 1940s and 1950s,” Cacciotti said.
Now that he is fulling immersed in local history, particularly railroading and Capreol, Cacciotti said his work has certainly influenced his reading habits.
Hugh Kruzel is a freelance writer in Greater Sudbury.
