My name is Daniel Todd, but you can call me Dan. I moved to Athabasca from Brampton, Ont., which is about 45 minutes outside of Toronto, if you are unfamiliar with the area. The drive to get here took three and a half days. I grew up and went to high school there, and in my last year of high school some friends and I formed a heavy metal band in which I was the drummer. There was not a lot of money in it, but we had a good time playing in bars and concert venues around the Greater Toronto Area for a couple of years.
After working some odd jobs, I moved four hours north to Sudbury in 2012 to take a year-long general arts and sciences program at Cambrian College. Although Sudbury is a city of about 160,000 it had a small-town feel to it that I enjoyed.
When my program ended, I moved back to Brampton for a year and worked in shipping and construction, then decided to pursue my love of writing and study journalism. In 2014, I moved to London, Ont. and started a two-year broadcast journalism diploma at Fanshawe College. While my program was focused on becoming a newscaster and radio reporter, I also wrote for the college newspaper to earn some money while I was in school. In the end, I enjoyed writing for print over broadcasting, so after graduating in 2016 I applied to just about every paper I could find across the country.
Once again, I found myself moving back home to work whatever job I could find, which happened to be in factories, until I got a call from the Advocate. I had never been west of Ontario, or even heard of Athabasca before, but I was more than happy to pack everything I could fit into my car and drive halfway across the country for a shot at writing for a newspaper. I could not be happier that this was the job I got after all of the interviews I did. The drive here alone was an amazing experience, and the town is a beautiful place.
Along with my writing I read a lot, listen to all kinds of music, and go to the movie theater as often as I can. I unfortunately could not bring my drum set with me, but I have my guitar and ukulele on which I enjoy messing around. I will do my best not to annoy any of my neighbours with my music or my writing.
