Jack Knox, Times Colonist Journalist Profile

Articles

Jack Knox: Generosity of strangers renews our faith in fellow Victorians

Dec 21, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

As we all know, Christmas sucks. Too much commercialization. Too much (or, rather, too little) money. Too much fruitcake (bleh!). Too many fist fights over the last parking space at the mall. Too many Saturday night office parties, followed by the Monday morning summons from HR.
Jack Knox: Basic necessities go long way to helping seniors in need

Dec 15, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

Last Christmas Day, I met a lovely woman who appeared to be well into her retirement years. She was neatly dressed, well-spoken, well-mannered and trying mightily to keep her chin up while queueing for a free meal with the other people who couldn’t afford to eat. “Let them go first,” she said, hanging back a bit from the rest of the line at the charity-run lunch. “They have children to feed.” This was not where she expected to be at this stage of life.
Jack Knox: Esquimalt parade organizer was Miracle Child in 1979, after surviving falling through ice

Nov 30, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

The Esquimalt Celebration of Lights takes place this Sunday. As Christmas parades go, it’s more Mayberry than Macy’s, has a comfy, small-town feel to it. It starts near the base at 5, goes east on Esquimalt Road and reaches the Archie Browning Centre in time for Christmas carols and hot chocolate at 5:30. “Cosy” is the word parade co-ordinator Kim Vis uses to describe the vibe. Vis took on the volunteer role a decade ago — 35 years after she “died”.
Jack Knox has his hand out again — for a good cause

Nov 24, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

I don’t like asking people for their money, because I don’t like it when they ask me for mine. Doesn’t matter whether it’s the ragged figure squatting on Douglas Street with an upturned hat, or the cashier at the grocery store wondering if I’d like to add a couple of bucks for the Aging Reindeer Appeal. It makes me squirm. Makes me desperately try to avoid eye contact — scanning the sky for incoming missiles, or faking a medical emergency at the till. Even the passive pleas trigger a shudder.
Jack Knox: A side of John Horgan you might not have seen

Nov 17, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

Here’s a side of John Horgan you might not have seen: After pulling the plug on politics, the former premier became a volunteer at the Goldstream Food Bank. With few knowing about it, he did so from the spring of 2023, when he gave up his seat in the legislature, until January, when he was appointed Canada’s ambassador to Germany.
Jack Knox: We might not be able to end world hunger, but we can fill an empty stomach today

Nov 14, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

Right, I’m back, just like Trump. Not for long, though. I’ll be gone again before he waddles back into the Oval Office and names that Capitol Hill insurrection face-paint-and-horned-fur-hat guy as his CIA director. Still, while here I’d best catch up on what’s been in the news during my absence: • You know how you feel when a dysfunctional friend chooses to get back together with a really bad ex? Not surprised, but still so disappointed that you’re tempted to delete them from your contacts?
'We had to race like crazy': Remembering Islanders' D-Day role 80 years on

Jun 2, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

Even at age 97, Earl Clark would still find himself flashing back to D-Day. “Every once in a while you wake up in the night and, boom, you’re right there,” he said, gripping the arms of his wheelchair. He could hear the mortar rounds raining down, see the machine-gun rounds slapping the water as the Canadian Scottish Regiment — all those Victoria boys, Nanaimo boys, Comox Valley boys — poured onto Juno Beach.
Jack Knox: The TC book sale is this weekend. Here's what you need to know

May 2, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

Twenty-seven things to know about the 27th annual Times Colonist Book Sale: 1. It’s May 4 and 5 at the Victoria Curling Club, 1952 Quadra St., from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 9 to 5 Sunday. 2. The rink is crammed with books, all donated by readers and sorted by volunteers, bless ’em. 3. They’re cheap: $2 for softcovers and children’s books, $4 for hardcovers. You can buy War and Peace for the price of a cappuccino. 4. Payment is by debit, MasterCard, Visa, American Express or cash.
Jack Knox: The Kinder Surprises of the TC book sale

May 1, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

No little urn of cat ashes this year. No brass knuckles. No FBI fingerprint kit. No stash of weed in a hollowed-out copy of Exploring the Ocean World. But you know what the volunteers did find when they sorted through the donations to this coming weekend’s Times Colonist Book Sale? Books. Tens, hundreds of thousands of them. Buried treasures, unearthed. Sometimes opening the cardboard boxes dropped off at the drive-through book collection is like busting into a Kinder Surprise.
Jack Knox: 'I'm here because of Ruth,' says book sale volunteer

Apr 27, 2024 | timescolonist.com | Jack Knox

Dan Dempsey used to command and lead the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in airshows across North America. He also flew airshows in the F-86 “Golden Hawk” Sabre from 2009-2012 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Canada. His teammates included fellow jet jockeys — and astronauts — Chris Hadfield and Jeremy Hansen.