PLANET S BIDS GOODBYE TO FOUNDING FAMILY
by Stephen Whitworth

We’re losing two members of the Planet S family. Earlier this month publisher April Bourgeois and advertising consultant/editor emeritus Mitch Diamantopoulos—both founders of this irascible publication—punched their last time-clock here. Sniff!

Mitch and April have been with Planet S since its launch in September 2002. But their involvement with Planet S has its roots in the founding of another magazine, namely Planet S’ sister paper, prairie dog—the Regina magazine I now edit.

Back in Regina, in the summer of 1992, a motley bunch of community activists held meetings to discuss founding a locally-owned alternative newspaper.

It’s not surprising someone felt the need to launch an independent local news publication. The ’90s were interesting times for Regina, Saskatchewan and all of Canada. There was a lot to talk about—and write about.

In Saskatchewan, Grant Devine’s Tory government was chased from office in the 1991 election, replaced by a New Democratic Party that—to the surprise of many supporters—seemed to have misplaced its trademark commitment to social democratic values. Roy Romanow’s NDP brought in severe spending cuts and a pro-business swagger that alarmed and divided much of their base. (Their approach to governing somewhat mirrored the later behaviour of the federal Liberals—who, after running on a platform of social investment, cut provincial transfers, dismantled unemployment insurance and embarked on a free trade agenda more aggressive than anything Brian Mulroney had pushed for, though in Saskatchewan’s case the cutbacks were partly a response to the crushing debt incurred by Devine’s Tories.)

The ’90s were also the decade when Conrad Black reigned as a full-fledged Canadian media baron. (Black, as you are no doubt aware, has subsequently become a defledged media baron.) His 1996 purchase of Saskatchewan’s two major dailies—notorious for the sacking of 173 Leader-Post and Star Phoenix employees at Queensbury Downs and the Delta Bessborough—set the tone for discussions on the dangers of media concentration throughout that decade and into this one.

It was a time of resurgent activism, as well. There was a lot to protest. Wars over oil, controversial trade agreements like the FTA, NAFTA and the scuttled Multinational Agreement on Investment (MAI), escalating environmental degradation and growing poverty—this was after all the decade of the food bank—meant that activists had a lot to occupy themselves with. And, since many of them were essentially frozen out of the economy—the Baby Boomers were still in their 40s and had all the good jobs locked down—young rabble rousers like Mitch and April had the time to devote to their concerns. If you recall, both Canada and the U.S. were slouching their way through a recession that left many young people pessimistic about their job prospects. It was around this time that a lot of them left Saskatchewan for places like British Columbia and Calgary.

Mitch and April, being the loyal sort, stayed.

There’s more. The country was also still reeling from the stand-off at Oka—a watershed moment in relations between aboriginals and euro-Canadians. Internationally, the United States launched its first invasion of Iraq, a country run by one of the world’s most despicable despots, ostensibly over “freedom” but obviously over oil. That invasion was perhaps the first hint that life after the Cold War would not necessarily be safer or more peaceful.

These were some of the events community activists, trade unionists, politics nerds and dissolute academics were talking about in the early ’90s. I mention them because these events shaped many twenty-something progressives like April and Mitch.

Not all of them founded indie Saskatchewan newspapers, though.

April and Mitch guided that early prairie dog from our magazine’s first issue—published in February 1993—to the fall of 2002. They organized the fundraisers, co-ordinated the volunteers, scrounged the used furniture, developed sketchy business plans and found inventive ways to pay at least enough of our bills to keep the lights on and the office doors open. They built prairie dog into a quasi-reputable publication that balanced progressive and feisty news and opinion with arts and lifestyle articles. They hired core staff who are with the business still. In short, they built this biz. If you like it, thank them.

In the summer of 2002 Mitch relocated to Saskatoon for our biggest expansion to date—the launch of Planet S, prairie dog’s sister paper, and the fine magazine you’re reading right now. A few months later April followed. For the past four and a half years they’ve worked to build for that publication the same kind of success in Saskatoon that prairie dog has enjoyed in Regina. This was not an easy job, to say the least, but the fact Planet S will be around to celebrate its fifth anniversary this fall is directly attributable to their commitment and the strength of the team they built.

For many years I worked closely with Mitch on the editorial side of this business. I am going to miss his intelligence, his quick wit and his near-indestructible optimism in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. He taught me that if you’re stubborn, good natured and persistent you can sometimes accomplish the impossible.

The feel-good gurus always drone on about the power of positive thinking. I was stunned to learn it’s actually true.

Mitch was always upbeat whenever things were bleak. “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will,” a saying made famous by the Italian political thinker Antonio Gramsci, is an aphorism he lives by.

I will miss him.

I am also going to miss April, one of the most supportive bosses I’ve ever worked with. Editors inevitably create trouble for their publications—whether by angering the powerful and litigious or simply running a negative review of an advertiser’s restaurant. But even when I’ve been at my most reckless, stupid and pigheaded she’s always, always supported me—and our writers, and our vision for our magazines. That kind of support is rare. And special.

So, what’s next for this dynamic duo?

This summer, Mitch and April, and their kids, Ari and Zoey, will return to the Queen City, where Mitch will assume the helm of the University of Regina School of Journalism. April, meanwhile, will continue her involvement with the Canadian worker co-op movement, helping employees take control of their working lives through forward-looking, innovative business models.

And the two of them will doubtless join us on many a Friday to tilt a glass to triumphs and share a laugh at failures. A good thing, too. Someone has to drag us away from our desks.

Goodbye, friends. Best of luck, and welcome home.

Stephen Whitworth is the editor of prairie dog magazine in Regina, and an associate editor of Planet S.