Hello Smithereens, my name is Michael Grace-Dacosta and as of Nov. 10, I’m the new reporter with The Interior News.
Most people leave their small towns for the big city to chase their dreams — I did the opposite. I left the big city, Toronto, to join your community.
My family and friends thought I was insane to move to smaller community across country. But to me it would be even crazier to pass up an opportunity to work at an award-winning paper.
While this is the first time I’ve been to British Columbia, this isn’t my first time out west. Last summer I interned at the Sherwood Park News in Alberta for three months. Before that interned at Sportsnet and wrote for both of Ryerson’s campus newspapers, the Eyeopener and the Ryersonian and in 2014 I won Ryerson School of Journalism Course Union’s best feature award.
For me, the best part of my job is getting the chance to meet some truly unique individuals and tell their stories, whether it’s one man’s quest to save the world through the power of coffee to a high school’s attempt to get their students to think green by having them build solar-powered chicken coops.
When I’m not out chasing leads I spend my time watching sports and browsing Netflix. Growing up I played basketball, soccer, football, track and field, rugby, and street hockey (terribly).
Soccer was by far my favourite sport as a kid. I played it everyday, even in the winter, but gave up on my World Cup dreams once I realized how little skill I actually had.
I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with superhero shows as I’ve watched almost all of the Marvel Netflix series (I refuse to torture myself by watching Iron Fist) and movies as well as most of the DC network shows. BBQ-based pizza and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream are the keys to my heart.
Of course, I wouldn’t be a real Torontonian if I wasn’t a Drake fan; I love (the old) Linkin Park; and am a recovering Kanye fan.
Although I’ve only been here a few days, I can tell I’ll enjoy my time here. Complete strangers went out of their way to greet me as I walked around town and answered all of my silly, and at times endless, questions about the area.
I’m excited to call Smithers home and hope to one day be an official Smithereen.
I can be reached at mike.grace-dacosta@interior-news.com.