Subscribe to our RSS feed

Mar12

Changes Ahead as PositiveLite.com Grows Up!

Monday, 12 March 2012 Author // Brian Finch - Founder Categories // Opinion Pieces, Brian Finch

So with great honour I’m announcing that John McCullagh is effective today the publisher of PositiveLite.com

Changes Ahead as PositiveLite.com Grows Up!

Just the other weekend I attended a workshop called “Stepping Forward into Inspired Action” facilitated by my health/life coach. The topic seemed to be in line with other discussions I had been having with others, as well as writing here on PositiveLite.com.

Sometimes in order to step forward into action, inspired or otherwise, reflection is required. I often believe everything happens for a reason, and there was a reason for why this workshop was happening on this particular day.  Putting one foot forward . . . 

For quite some time running in the background I’ve felt the need to reshape my life. The workshop was just the right time to do a frank assessment of where I’m at and where I’d like to be. The result is the natural process of evolving and transforming.

I left the workshop realizing that I have some new interests and focus in life, and that I had fulfilled my job of creating PositiveLite.com. It is truly amazing to see the transformation of this project that started with two dimes and an idea.

Originally I had envisioned the site as a way to maybe gain some revenue modeled after other websites taking a similar approach with different subject matter. However, PostiveLite.com has grown by leaps and bounds, surpassing long ago any established model of how the website could run.

We have become so much more than a magazine. We provide a platform to give voice to those who traditionally do not have the opportunity. We have created an online community, and hopefully soon a more established national community. This goal is well on its way to being achieved.

PositiveLite.com has become an essential community communication tool that no longer is about one person, nor should it be. It definitely takes a village to make this baby run.

After the workshop I knew that I had taken PositiveLite.com as far as I could on my own.  It is now time to let someone take over this aspect of running the site in order to take it to the next level. I’ve had a great three years working on this, and look forward to continuing with my writing etc.

So with great honour I’m announcing that John McCullagh is effective today the publisher of PositiveLite.com. I would like to thank John, but also our editor Bob Leahy for their tireless work on the site. I am also humbled to see everyone feel that they can take ownership of this collective effort.

John McCullagh is currently the assistant editor of PositiveLite.com. He immigrated to Canada from his native Britain in 1975 and has been active in Toronto's LGBTQ community ever since. A social worker by profession, he's held front-line, management and policy development positions in Ontario's child welfare system, where much of his work has focused on the needs of youth, particularly queer youth. John was one of the founders of the Toronto Counselling Centre for Lesbians and Gays (now known as David Kelley Services), which, in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, was one of the first organizations in Canada to offer professional counselling to those infected with or affected by HIV. John has been writing for PositiveLite.com since last summer. His articles have focused on issues relevant to Canada’s HIV and LGBTQ communities as well about his personal experiences of living with HIV.

PositiveLite.com has become an important stakeholder in the Canadian HIV landscape, and I look forward to watching it evolve in the upcoming future. 

In the mean time, as I meantioned I will keep on contributing and helping out where I'm best suited. I'll also be exploring the world of stand-up comedy. Thus proving I'm a true Gemini who seems to have a need for lots of change. 

Related Articles

    blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Brian Finch - Founder

Brian Finch - Founder

Brian Finch, founder of PositiveLite.com. I've had a blog since 2005 when I decided one day that I just wanted to write. Since then I've grown to writing for a local Toronto magazine, Fab, and contribute to MyGayToronto.com.

I first went public in the 1980s, and with the exception of a few years of taking a break, have not really stopped. More recently (relative to twenty years ago) in 2006 I was featured in the Ontario HIV Treatment Network's documentary "Positive Voices" filmed during the 2006 International AIDS Conference.
The very same conference where I organized an action against the Conservative government for our Prime Minister not showing up, which is now known as "The Pillow Case Project" approximatel 1000 message-stenciled pillow cases were held up at the moment the government representative stood up causing an international photography sensation.
During these years I was on the board of Canada's treatment advocacy NGO, the Canadian Treatment Action Council, and have been privileged to have worked with great activists internationally such as Africa.
Life is an evolution, and today I am now the owner/publisher of PositiveLite.com, an online project to bring people (and our allies) living with HIV together in Canada and abroad. The vision is to bring the world together with a uniquely Canadian perspective.I first went public in the 1980s, and with the exception of a few years of taking a break, have not really stopped.

More recently (relative to twenty years ago) in 2006 I was featured in the Ontario HIV Treatment Network's documentary "Positive Voices" filmed during the 2006 International AIDS Conference. 

The very same conference where I organized an action against the Conservative government for our Prime Minister not showing up, which is now known as "The Pillow Case Project" approximatel 1000 message-stenciled pillow cases were held up at the moment the government representative stood up causing an international photography sensation. 

During these years I was on the board of Canada's treatment advocacy NGO, the Canadian Treatment Action Council, and have been privileged to have worked with great activists internationally such as Africa. 

Life is an evolution, apart from my contributing to PositiveLite.com, I've become a budding stand-up comic creating a new genre of comedy: candid comedy. Look out as there isn't much I don't talk about. 

 

Read More Articles...

News Sections

MarketPlace