Day 92: Eva Karpati

December 31, 2009 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“… it’s also that whole idea that, again, the ripple effect of we never know what one small act of kindness can do, that the ripple just keeps going and going so that psychically we become a good, peaceful nation.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Eva, for agreeing to take part in the Project, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Eva Karpati: Sure.  Thank you.  Well, my name is Eva Karpati and among various other things in my life, I two years ago embarked on a project to start a newspaper with just good news, specifically here in Toronto.  I embarked on a whole new avenue in my life and feel very committed to it.  This is a whole new field for me.

Toni: Well thank you for that.  When you think about that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire and how do you do that?

Eva: Well, I’m hoping I inspire anybody who has a project or an aspiration or a vision that they are thinking about and to just dive in and do it.  I have no background in publishing, or editing, or journalism, and just felt really committed to this idea.

I’m hoping that I inspire others just by virtue of the community that comes out to help.  When you have an idea that’s good, people really want to get involved in good things and just often don’t have the vehicle.  So, I hope I inspire anyone that just has an inkling of “I’d really like to do this.  I feel this is really important to better the world.”  I would just say … that’s who I hope I inspire.

Toni: So it’s really, it’s the example that you’ve set by diving into an industry that you didn’t have any  experience in, but that’s making such an impact.

Eva: I hope so.  I hope so.

Toni: Well, before we go into the next question, tell us a little bit about what it is that you have there, that you only talk about good news.

Eva: Well, it’s subtitled “Our Everyday Heroes.”  And really my purpose and my goal is to not only transmit good news but, because it’s called “Our Everyday Heroes”, is to really build community, to know that our neighbors, our colleagues, family, friends, that there are so many inspirational people around us who are really reaching out to each other.  Let’s embrace that in our community rather than what the media is projecting as fear because “Oh no, there’s so many bad people out there.”  In fact, that’s so, so far from the truth.  There are just so many wonderful people.  One is just to embrace community.

The second is “Let’s inspire each other, let’s celebrate each other.  Look at what this person is doing.”  And “That person is just like me, that maybe I can do that also.  I had doubts about it but look at what they did and I can do that as well.”

It’s those two aspects, but it’s also that whole idea that, again, the ripple effect of we never know what one small act of kindness can do, that the ripple just keeps going and going so that psychically we become a good, peaceful nation.

Toni: Absolutely.  That is the hope, isn’t it?  And we do see it every day.  How do you think this helps others explore their potential?

Eva: Well, again, we never know what we’re able to do if we stay within our comfort zone.  I guess that is my hope that, again, maybe encouraging people to see what others are doing that that opens doors, opens doors to beyond what you thought you could do.

It is endless.  It is completely endless what we can do because the community comes around.  The community comes around to support you in your endeavors.  And I found that; so I’m living, living proof of that, that there’s been a community that has embraced this project.  Otherwise, I could not do it by myself.

Let that be motivation in terms of exploring, that you will not be alone, that people will build you up and build you up.

Toni: What do you need to be inspired?

Eva: What do I need to be inspired?  Personally, I’m inspired by people who have overcome obstacles.  I love to hear those stories.  I love to hear stories of people who … and we all have hardships in our life.  I’m so inspired myself by people who have overcome obstacles and gone on to thrive and motivate and inspire others.  I love to be surrounded by that.

Toni: When you’re looking for inspiration and you know that, you know, “I’ve got to fill myself up” or you know, sometimes it just happens when you don’t expect it, doesn’t it, that you’re looking at something or hearing something and it’s like “Oh.”  What do you find yourself reaching for?  Are there tools or methods or things you seek out when you need to fill yourself back up?

Eva: Again, I turn to my community.  I turn to my community, and that community at this point is writers, contributors, supporters.  That’s where I turn at this point.  I also turn to people like you, that there are people who are on this same path of knowing that there are so many positive people out there to help us along this path.

I turn to others who turn to other inspirational methods and people and community.  I so appreciate your project.  It makes us feel that we’re all trying to reach out for the same thing so that we can keep going and explore more and more.

Toni: Right, and that has been one of the great gifts of this Project for, I know, the team and other people that have given us this feedback, is that there are so many people who are doing things from the smallest gestures to the grandest gestures around inspiration.  So yeah, there’s a lot of people doing some really cool things.

What inspired you, if you could give us just a brief history of what inspired you to start the paper?

Eva: Well, it started from a negative comment, to be honest.

Toni: Sometimes a lot of things do.

Eva: Yes.  We were out with some friends who had started complaining about how dangerous Toronto had become, and it just made me so sad because that was a perception.  Nothing dangerous or bad had ever happened to them, and so they were being fed this misinformation.

I just felt it was really important to get the real information out there that, in fact, that there are so many people doing wonderful things who never get the media attention that they deserve.  They deserve to be on the front page, some wonderful people.

I had also just — with my family — we had volunteered at a shelter, and this woman who was the supervisor at the center welcoming, welcoming with open arms these marginalized street people and just giving them dignity and hope and respect.  And I thought “Why isn’t someone like Grace on the front cover of our papers?  She’s what deserves to be out there, not the negative news.”

No one was doing that, so that’s what inspired me to undertake this project.

Toni: Oh that’s fantastic.  What do you need to continue to explore your own potential, Eva, or even the potential of your project?

Eva: Well, again, I just continually need to hear that people want to hear this news.  I need to be reinforced that way.  Slowly, things are coming, letters are coming in, people are writing in that we need this.

And to explore my own potential?  You know, each step I take, I’ve taken five steps back.  So, I guess I’ve fortunately built up an inner resource also to help me explore that, being positively reinforced when I take the steps that people are responding.  So I guess I need the affirmation back that it’s working.  It’s working, even though the effort is enormous, that it’s working and that it’s worth pursuing even though it’s five steps back for one step forward.  It’s worth taking that one step.

Toni: And then that propels you towards your own potential of having the project be as successful as it can be, and so that affirmation and evidence is what you need, yes?

Eva: Yes.

Toni: Are there other things that when you got into this industry, say, and you were learning about putting a project like this on, where did you go to learn about this, to explore the potential of your own abilities, skills, and knowledge to be able to provide this experience for others?

Eva: Well, I did have people … I had one friend who had started a little community paper.  She’s Russian, so she started a little Russian paper, so she was really instrumental.  I had students who were instrumental, journalism students who were encouraging me to go.  And you know, there’s still so much to explore that I think we’re in this wonderful place of resources being just so available whether it is through the ‘net, whether it is through courses, whether it is through city programs.

I’ve been able to access a wide variety of support programs available.  There’s not enough time to engage in all of them.

But also being humbled that I don’t necessarily have to do it all.  I don’t have to be good in all of it, that there are people out there who excel in so many wonderful ways.  It’s, again, exploring others’ potential in order to help me build this project.

I think that’s probably another crucial lesson for me is to step back and let others shine so that this can work.

Toni: What I’m hearing, Eva, is that you draw strength, inspiration for your own potential in communities, and you are inspired by that sense of community, but you also then build a community.

That’s what I’m taking away from this interview with you is that you saw a need, you took the risk to put a correction on that and to put a big old spotlight on the community of Toronto and what’s going really, really well.  You’ve had great support, which you’ve spoken about, but you also build that community to support yourself and others.

What a wonderful thing that you are doing up there, and we wish you so much success.  It’s a great concept and so needed across the country.

Eva: Oh, well thank you, Toni.  Thank you for allowing me to express and to share that.  Yes, let that be the way that media goes.  Let’s make us all feel good.

Toni: Absolutely.  It’s time, isn’t it?

Eva: It is time.  It is time.  It is time on a really global level to feel that, and I hope that taking the small steps is what’s vital and what will make it happen.

Toni: Well, Eva, thank you so very much for your time today on the Project, and we will post a link at the bottom of the post on how people can get a hold of you or see your paper.  And for what you’re doing, we can’t thank you enough.   I really appreciate your time today.

Eva: Likewise.  Thank you for your project.

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For more information about Eva Karpati:  www.goodnewstoronto.ca

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