The Dispatch - Stacked in Nova Scotia
A new Hive of The Bee devoted to gathering, curating, and sharing stories from Nova Scotia’s Substack voices—news, views, essays, interviews, visitor perspectives, and how NS looks at the world
Awww… I really want to call this Saltwireless… but there’s just no reason to be like that.
Substack is coming into its own as an unlikely global platform rising like beauty for ashes from the fall of traditional media. And it’s really working. But with it’s clean interface and modern global business case, there’s no way (yet) to really localize you substack consumption. As the platform grows so rapidly there will eventually, I’m sure be tools to filter, curate, and organize the stories any way you like.
I’ll continue to find a better way to do this, but here’s a start. Let me know if you have ideas.
For now, and until then, I’m just gonna pick out some notable Nova Scotia stuff.
There’s something unmistakable about Nova Scotia stories and voices.
When I was a kid, MacGuyver was on Friday nights and we’d arrive at my Grandmothers in Pictou County Saturday mornings. I genuinely looked forward to her telling the story of what happened on the previous evening’s episode, though I’d never seen the show. She made these most unlikely mechanical adventures come to life with big characters, the highest of stakes, and incredible endings where this young man used his curiosity and skills to help… well, everybody. Each little chapter of her story, which paused for her to roll cigarettes, get the tea on, answer the phone, or as often as not tell someone what needed to be done and how to do it, was punctuated by her signature “so that was good” teaser.
Eventually, I committed that someday I would like to watch this amazing MacGuyver show. I can’t express to you how disappointed I was with the show. The cheese acting, bad music, slow editing, and even the shape of the story itself — none of it even came close to what played out in my mind’s eye, carried along by my Grandmother’s narration.
Maybe it’s about living by the sea. Generations of people going away and then coming back. Every journey a story that must be told. They come salted by the sea, weathered by history, sharpened by long winters and liquor. One think is for sure, good stories get better with the telling. And despite everything being global now, I love a good story about so-and-so’s cousin’s dog chasing cars or whatever.
This new section of The Bee is a gathering place for… well, not for car chasing, but stories connected to Nova Scotia.
Even on this first pass, what you’ll notice is the incredible diversity of mind and manner. I’ve found some folks who differ from me profoundly in perspective. The great thing about Substack’s long-form structure, I hope you’ll agree, is that disagreement becomes so much easier to handle in full sentences with grammar checked and punctuation. Especially when it’s shaped into a story. It makes me wonder, if she were around today, if my Grandmother could have retold the latest Twitter X war or Fbook thread gone wrong, to bring out the huge characters, high stakes, detailed understanding, and big payoffs that changed everything.
I’m searching Substackers across the province—writers, thinkers, artists, critics, farmers, fiddlers, journalists, rabblerousers, and careful observers of the world. If you’re publishing from or about Nova Scotia, I want to read it. Better yet, I want to share it, talk to you, link to your best work, or even host a guest essay here in The Bee.
It’s a way to bring light to local voices, connect community across the province, and share stories.
Got a tip? A Substack you love? Someone I should know? Drop me a line. Let’s start collecting Nova Scotia Substack Stories.
Very cool. I might have something to contribute here on “becoming Nova Scotian”—we are 7 months into our move to Nova Scotia and loving it.
By the way, there is a kitchen party happening at the Churchville Community Hall tomorrow starting at 5 (I am bringing the pulled pork) if you happen to be in the neighborhood!