| Lancette Arts Journal Founded in 2000 |
Feature Stories From our Archives |
Summer 2002 |
Author
Michael Clarkson
talks about overcoming fear
By Alidė Kohlhaas
When Michael Clarkson joined the staff of the St. Catharines Standard, his reputation had preceded him. It is not everyday that a new reporter at a medium-sized Canadian city's daily newspaper has to his credit an interview with one of the United States most invisible novelists, who inspired a whole generation—for good or for whatever. For Clarkson, it seemed a normal thing to do. Daring to follow a dream, an idea, and overcoming obstacles that journalists of far greater experience would hesitate to take on, that just about describes the tall, lanky 54-year-old.
Interviewing a fellow journalist who has just published a book, especially one whom you worked with years ago, even edited, can be a bit of a minefield. Yet, this failed to worry me when I met him at the assigned meeting place at Toronto's Union Station. I arrived well prepared as I had read his new, very informative book, Intelligent Fear. A book, whose subject came as a surprise, yet on hindsight is what one should expect of its author.
Now a sports writer for The Toronto Star, Clarkson joined the St. Catharines Standard in 1980 during my tenure as the newspaper's entertainment editor. Prior to this he worked at the Niagara Falls Review. It is there that he gained international renown for a story about his pursuit and meeting with the elusive and reclusive J.D. Salinger of The Catcher in the Rye fame. He was even nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, although as a Canadian, . . .
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