Daniela Ginta, Freelance Writer

Gratitude makes the journey better. Kindness, too.

The day after the anti-vaccine protests is a sobering one

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On September 2, 2021

In Coronavirus, Health, Kamloops, Learning, Life Stories, Self-improvement, Social issues

I will start by saying I did not know there were anti-vaccine protests scheduled all over British Columbia for September 1. An update from a trusted news source revealed a reality that baffled me.

There were photos of an anti-vaccine protest taking place here in Kamloops, right in front of the hospital. There were more in other cities too, including Vancouver.

What better place than a hospital, the protesters thought. Never mind that for a long time now, the hospital has been the scene of some terrible battles with the COVID-19 virus (spoiler alert: it still is). Many people were intubated, some died, and many others recovered but not everyone is symptom-free. Some are what now we know to be long-haulers.

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Weekly column: Grateful for our local farmers, blue skies and firefighting crews

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On July 28, 2021

In Kamloops

Originally published as a column on Armchair Mayor News on July 23, 2021.

This one tweet among the countless ones on social media caught my eye a few days ago. It was Tuesday, and the fires around Kamloops were once again getting rowdy and there were new potential evacuations to take place.

The tweet I read had to do with all of that, but there was a side of hope and goodness to it. The Wednesday farmer’s market was of course coming up the next day, so preparations were being made nonetheless for it, the tweet read. Be as it may, bread was to be baked and hopefully make it to the market.

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Weekly column: Lessons from previous and present wildfire seasons

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On July 20, 2021

In Kamloops

Originally published as a column on Armchair Mayor News on July 16, 2021.

Today is a heavy day. The morning held a cleaner air promise for a bit but that dissipated towards lunch time when the smoke grew thicker and heavier than it’s been this year. It’s impossible not to think of the firefighters who are exposed to so much more than what we experience even on a bad day like today, for weeks on end.

Many are wondering right now, as summer is but a fire and smoke inferno, whether this is what we should expect from now on.

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Weekly column: It’s not summer that brings killer heatwaves but climate change

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On July 20, 2021

In Kamloops

Originally published as a column on Armchair Mayor News on July 2, 2021.

Note: The piece below was published a couple of weeks ago. Hundreds of wildfires are now burning across the province and the B.C. government has finally declared state of emergency as of today, July 20th.

I started writing this column with a different angle. It was about trees in urban settings and their vital role in helping us survive extreme summer temperatures. I’ll leave that for a future piece because there is something more pressing that needs to be said.

The town of Lytton is on fire as I write this. Literally. After three days of 49 degrees Celsius, which is ungodly in most people’s opinion, a large and fast-moving fire has forced everyone out of their homes. Some ran out of their homes while the roof was already on fire.

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Weekly column: History needs to be written and learned the way it happened

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On June 22, 2021

In Armchair Mayor Column, Kamloops, Learning, Life Stories, Social issues

Originally published as a column in the Armchair Mayor News on June 15, 2021.

The forest has stories to tell you if you happen to visit every now and then. As of late, the stories are sad, but that makes listening that much more important.

We took our youngest on a daytrip to Wells Grey Park this past weekend. On our way out of town we drove in silence past the crosses for the 215 children whose unmarked graves have been recently discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. There is deep sadness in each piece of clothing hanging by the side of the road, fluttering in the wind, and reminding us forever of all the lives that were violently taken away.

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Weekly column: The fallacy those who defend the old growth forests

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On June 1, 2021

In Armchair Mayor Column, Climate change, Environment, Kamloops, Learning, Motherhood, Social issues, Wildlife

Originally published on Armchair Mayor News on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.

Most people in British Columbia have learned by now of the big commotion happening at the Fairy Creek Watershed on Vancouver Island near Port Renfrew.

Blockades have been erected to block the logging of old growth trees in one of the last remaining forested areas that is home to trees as old as 800-years. There’s more to them than their impressive size. They are strong allies in our fight against climate change, and they provide essential habitat to many species that have called these old growth forests home for thousands of years.

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Weekly column: When hope, help and gratefulness count as stepping stones

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On May 27, 2021

In Armchair Mayor Column, Health, Kamloops, Life Stories, Motherhood, Social issues

Originally published as a column by Armchair Mayor News, on Wednesday, May 26, 2021.

On July 26, Jessie Simpson will turn 24. That’s also the day when his mom hopes to have him at home for a few days, so he can enjoy the place he has not been able to see but in memory, fragmented as it is, due to the horrendous attack Jessie suffered in 2016 on the night of his graduation party.

Presently he is in the hospital, fighting his way out of a kidney infection that has him in pain and nauseous. Just a few weeks ago, he had yet another seizure which his mom witnessed.

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