John R. Palmer

John R. Palmer is a poet, author, songwriter and broadcaster living in Ottawa, Canada. Born in the conservative heart of southwestern Ontario, John has lived in a number of communities, including Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.
Although an award-winning retailer and entrepreneur, John has been an employee of the Government of Canada since 1991, and is currently Wide Area Network manager for the Department of National Defence. He lives in Nepean with his partner Jill, and twins Joshua and Juliana.
Early life
John was raised in Ingersoll, a small community in Southwestern Ontario, now home of the CAMI automotive plant. The son of Doug Palmer, a high school history teacher and Lou Palmer, a well-known area watercolour artist, he was brought up in a both intellectual and artistic household. He was tested with a high school reading level at a very young age, and was often placed in classes with students two to four years older than him.
Education
John attended Ingersoll District Collegiate Institute from 1982 to 1986, graduating with an Ontario Secondary School Honours Graduation Diploma.
Following grade 13, he was offered spots at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, University of Ottawa and Carleton University, the latter two both located in . He chose to begin a Bachelor of Commerce at Carleton, but put his education on hold after one year of studies.
While working full time, he completed a Bachelor of Environmental Studies with a specialty in Geography from the esteemed program at the University of Waterloo. During that same time, he completed a Diploma in Radio and Television Broadcasting from the National Institute of Broadcasting in Toronto, Canada.
He is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts with major in Information Systems from Athabasca University in Alberta on a part-time basis.
Songwriting
John's songs have been heard internationally in Scandinavia, across North America, and in the Caribbean during the St. Lucia Country Music Festival. Although primarily considered a country music songwriter, his "east coast" stylings and children's songs have also been well-received. He is a past member of the Songwriters Association of Canada, and is a member of SOCAN.
Some of his songs include:
*Ben and Chris and Nicholas (children's)
*I Don't Care What You Say (east coast style)
*I Still Love You With My Heart (country duet)
*More Than I Needed to Know (country)
*Two Wrongs Made Her Life Alright (country)
*Were You Even In It for Forever (country/pop)
*We Will Dance Again (country/religious)
*What I Wanted to Do (country)
Books
He has been working on his first novel Sovereign Rain since 2001. His first published book, Like it or Not: A Collection of Poetry and Prose from a (Mostly) Well-Spent Youth was released in Spring 2008, and is a unique combination of youth poetry and self-help book, and was self-published by iUniverse.
*Like It Or Not: A Collection of Poetry and Prose from a (Mostly) Well-Spent Youth ISBN 978-0-595-50644-6 (Poetry/Self-Help - released June 2008)
Radio Work
John is the host and owner of The Top 35 New Country Countdown, a weekly syndicated radio show that is currently on hiatus. This show was developed while at the National Institute of Broadcasting in Toronto, appearing originally as the NIB Top 30 on what was then known as CKYC(1430AM) in Toronto.
*The NIB Top 30 - writer, music director, engineer and occasional on-air host
*Classic Country on AM1430 - writer, music director, engineer
*The Top 35 New Country Countdown - writer, engineer, host
*DriveSmart, DriveSafe (public service announcements) - writer, voiceover
*Various commercial advertisements - voiceover
Political Life
Mr. Palmer first worked in a political campaign at age eleven, which was also the first year that he began working in retail. Over the years he has appeared in campaign literature for a number of candidates at the Federal and Provincial level. He became a candidate for the first time in 2003 when he ran for Ottawa City Council in Bell South-Nepean against the incumbent, Jan Harder. He was the first candidate to state that he would be running for City Council to represent the new Ward 3 in the 2006 City of Ottawa municipal election, but did not run due to family obligations. The seat was easily won by Jan Harder over 3 new candidates.
He has been the voice of "Project 94", now known as the "Barrhaven-Kanata Transit Coalition" - a group that is promoting a 90-series direct transit route between the Nepean South area and Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
Environmental Initiatives
John has been a member of the Durham Region Field Naturalists, Friends of Killarney Provincial Park, and was a Director for the Friends of the Jock River.
He supports the control of the cosmetic use of pesticides, once declaring Barrhaven to be the "Pesticide Battleground". His activities in support of improved public transportation have also been a part of his environmental agenda. During the 2003 municipal election, he produced a document entitled "City of Ottawa Waste Management Imperatives", that focused on increased recycling, including the collection of organics. This document was accessed thousands of times from inside Ottawa City Hall. He addressed an Ottawa City council committee in support of the collection or organics, and has seen many of his suggestions scheduled to implemented in 2008-2009.
IT/Philosophical Initiatives
John first coined the term internexistentialism in 1999 as a mix of "internet" and "existentialism". The term refers to the concept that people in chat rooms, or who have only met across the internet treat their internet "friends" very differently than people they have met in real life. This is due to a belief that the person on the other end of the computer is not really a "person" until they have made contact other than simply by internet chat.

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