Dedication to Community Integrity

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Mark Bergin

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EMC Lifestyle - Alec Ross discovered Kingston by accident. Staying here was intentional.

Ross is a freelance writer, editor, photographer and videographer who doesn't like to get stuck in one role. But he's always a storyteller extraordinaire.

"I'm always learning," he said. "That's why I do what I do. I couldn't work in an office forever. Cubicle-land makes me nuts. People who go to office jobs and love doing it, great, but I'm used to being creative and entrepreneurial. It's just in me."

His most recent book, "Kingston and Frontenac County," published in 2009 by Boston Mills Press, is a look at the history and culture of Kingston and surrounding region. It's a beautiful large-format text with photos by John De Visser.

"While researching and writing it, I learned a lot about the city I live in."

Ross also wrote "Walking in Hope" (2007) about the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul. His written and photographic works have appeared in collections such as Voices of the Watershed (2000) and Islands of Hope (1992), and in publications including Ontario Nature, Canadian Geographic, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and The National Post.

Ross graduated from Carleton University with a degree in journalism in 1986. He knows how to tell a story with words and images. He landed a job with a daily in Kingston. He never left town. At least not permanently. In 1987 he left the newspaper and took on a project that many only dream of. Alec Ross decided to canoe across Canadasolo. He followed the lakes, rivers and portage routes of the fur traders and voyageurs of Canadian history. For three years, he paddled throughout the warm months until the waters froze in the late autumn.

"Then I came back to Kingston to work for the winter," he said. "In the spring, I'd pick up where I left off."

He documented his voyage across our beautiful country. His book about his journeys is called Coke Stop in Emo (1995). He still gets letters from readers.

"(I hear) from total strangers who tell me the book inspired them to do some similar long-distance adventure by canoe, bike or on foot," he said. "It makes me very happy, and a bit proud, to think that my little book has had that kind of effect. Some letter-writers send me pictures of themselves sipping a Coke in Emo (a small town on the banks of the Rainy River in northeastern Ontario).

At the end of the third year, he met his wife, Vicki Westgate. They have a daughter, Maddy, 15, and a son, Noah, 11 and settled near McBurney Park.

"It's exactly what a neighbourhood should be," he said. "We're surrounded by fantastic writers, musicians and artists. The arts bring joy."

You may have seen him around town with his video or still camera. He likes to document the past and present. Ross sees video as the wave of the future.

"I'm a person with a wide-ranging curiosity who loves learning about people and places and preferably serving some socially useful purpose at the same time," he said. "Words and images are just the tools, or vehicles, that allow me to do this."

He feels strongly about his community. He's written stories about Kingston General Hospital, and Kingston sustainability. He's on the board of Hearthmakers. He's been on his children's school council for years. He served on the McBurney Park Neighbourhood Association for several years.

"My focus is on Kingston," he said. "It's important to keep the ball rolling on the sustainable Kingston thing."

He was pivotal in getting the highly successful Princess Street Promenade going last year.

"I heard it wasn't going to happen," he said. "So the afternoon I heard that, I created a petition and went up and down Princess Street asking shopkeepers if they were in favour of giving it a shot. They overwhelmingly supported the idea. In the end, Princess Street Promenade did take place and was a huge success. Other people took over and made it happen. I felt good about being involved at the community level."

His next big project relates to S&R Department Store. As a photojournalist, I covered the closing of S&R. It was an emotionally painful day for staff and customers. Many people visited over the final weeks, simply because the store played an important part in their lives, and they felt sadness at its closing. The last photo I took as the store closed at 5 p.m. included two women walking down the stairs toward the exit. Something precious ended with the locking of the doors. Alec Ross was also there that day, filming the final moments. He'd spent many days documenting life at the beloved department store prior to the final closing.

"S&R was just one of those rare places that had become a local institution popular with just about everyone who shopped there, particularly in the downtown, of which S&R was the retail anchor," said Ross. "It had great prices and fantastic selections."

He explained that over time S & R became the only store remaining in the downtown core where people could get such a wide selection of goods in one place.

"But what separated it from the big boxes, and what endeared it to generations of Kingstonians, was its characterthe longtime employees, its corporate commitment to the community, the fact that it used its employees as models in its newspaper ads," he said. "It wasn't just another cookie-cutter place of chain-store commerce. By the time it closed it served a social function as well, which is why so many people were genuinely devastated by its loss. I knew when Michael Robinson announced that he was closing the store that it would be the end of an era in Kingston. I thought it was important to document it, and I'm glad I did."

He's spent the last couple of years searching for photos from S&R's past, but discovered that few exist. If you have some, particularly from the 1960s or 1970s, Ross would like to hear from you. His documentation of S&R is an example of the tenacity he feels when he takes on a project.

You can reach him at alecross@sympatico.ca.

For more information: www.alecross.ca




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