Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, October 14, 2019.
A week ago, on Monday, kids and teenagers all over Canada went to school in the morning and returned home after school ended. All except one. Devan Bracci-Selvey, a 14-year-old from Hamilton, was stabbed and killed during school hours, behind the high school he attended. His mother was with him. Can you imagine? I cannot. Ever.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, September 2, 2019.
It is an interesting case of ‘better than smoking’ that has been adopted by many. Vaping, they said, does not present the same risks as cigarettes do. That many e-cigarette brands are developed, and owned, by tobacco giants…well, that’s a tell-tale like no other.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, August 12 2019.
Last week on Wednesday evening a 14-year-old lost his life to a suspected overdose. Carson Crimeni was alone as he struggled to stay alive, after being surrounded by a crowd of teenagers, some of whom filmed him and posted the video online. His grandfather found him in ‘very bad shape’ near Walnut Grove skate park in Langley. Carson was still breathing but died later that night in the hospital.
There are also rumours that was he was bullied into taking the drugs by the same people who then documented the aftermath. His cell phone was found in a nearby garbage can.
Originally published as a column on July 8, 2019 on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News.
I was driving through the downtown, down 4th Avenue when I got startled by yelling and hand-waving coming out of a car parked on the side of the street. A bunch of teenage girls in an SUV were trying to get people to let them join traffic, making silly faces and acting in a rather annoying manner.
It would have been too easy to roll my eyes and say ‘Ugh, teenagers…’. After all, I have seen grownups acting in awful ways while in traffic or making rookie mistakes.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on February 11, 2019.
It’s almost a year since I encountered human pain in a way that I never thought I would and there is rarely a day I do not think of it, more so because it happened in the place I go for mornings hikes with the dog. A young person had decided to end their life and that grey, cloudy morning was draped in heartbreaking, haunting silence. It is impossible to imagine the mental pain of making that decision, and impossible to imagine the pain of loved ones left behind.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday December 10, 2018.
The short answer is no. Yes, vaping is a big problem, health-wise in the first place. You may have heard that a North Vancouver high school is tackling the vaping-in-the-bathroom issue by locking all but two student bathrooms (which would have to serve 529 students.) Other high schools are having teachers and other staff members guard the bathrooms to deter students from vaping.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, October 29, 2018.
Once again, I toss my midweek-written column. I had started writing about the troublesome aspect of our present-day life, which is the excess we have created. Put in the context of the growing mountains of garbage, plastic waste in particular, it seems ridiculous and irresponsible to add more to the pile. But we do, and every weekly flyer is proof to that. I was also mentioning the absurdity of seeing Christmas items already in stores (the story of garbage has many chapters indeed.)
I will save it for another week; nothing will change in the meantime, except for more flyers arriving in the mail tempting us to buy more so we can have more so we can actually have less. Among other things, less gratitude and a lesser sense of responsibility towards our future; our children’s future.
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Twitter: @DanielaGinta
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