Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday March 16, 2020.
It happened two days ago in a local store: the person in front of me bought $300 worth of hand sanitizer.
Here we are, increasingly engulfed by the reality that is the COVID-19 pandemic. It is happening and it’s getting closer. Some store shelves are empty – the mysterious case of toilet paper stockpiling is still ongoing, and the shortage of sanitizing products is troubling.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday March 9, 2020.
On a fateful day in 2012, somewhere on Salt Spring Island, a set of bad decisions ended up changing many people’s lives for the worst and ending one. Calder McCormick and Ryan Plambeck, then 17 and 18 years old respectively, left a house party in an advanced state of intoxication due to alcohol and marijuana, got in a car that was not theirs and crashed shortly after.
McCormick survived but suffered brain trauma which left him unable to pursue further education or even ride a bicycle, while Ryan Plambeck died at the scene of the crash. He was behind the wheel but did not have a valid driver’s license. Heartbreaking and yet preventable.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, February 17, 2020.
A while back I read a book that was as poignant as it was scary. It is called A deadly wandering: A tale of tragedy and redemption in the age of attention, by Matt Richtel (William Morrow, 2014). I mentioned it at the time because of the high volume of drivers busted driving and texting at the time. I am picking up the topic again because somehow the issue of distracted driving does not seem to go away. How could it? The people at the other end are doing their best to keep our attention hooked to the devices through whatever pings and screen traps necessary.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, February 3, 2020.
I have a hard time peeling myself away from the book I am reading to focus on this column. The book is called From the Ashes, and it is written by Jesse Thistle, presently an assistant professor of Metis Studies at York University in Toronto. The path that led him to where he is today though… OK, I will not spoil it for you. I am three quarters done and have shaken my head and winced more times than I could count since I started reading it. I had heard him sharing his story on the radio a couple of years ago while driving with my eldest to Harper Mountain. I wished then he’d write about it. He did.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, January 20, 2020.
News travel fast. The controversial stories even faster, more so when they have a risqué edge. Such was the case of the story hailing from our very own ‘small town/big city’ as I like to affectionately refer to Kamloops. It was about a pub and a certain eyebrow-raising event and it got people talking.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News on Monday, January 13, 2020.
It is hard to put into words the extent of the tragedy that has befallen the families and friends of the 176 people who died in the recent plane crash near Tehran. Worse yet was learning the latest about the Iranian surface-to-air missile that struck the plane down. Someone – human error or not – shot the plane down (yes, I know it’s not the first one, sadly.) One can hope that many of the painful questions that multiply with each day will find answers, but then again, that will not make up for lost lives.
Originally published as a column on CFJC Today Kamloops and Armchair Mayor News Monday on January 6, 2020.
I’d rather not drive on a day when the weather predictions call for heavy snowstorm. But we had already bought the tickets and it would have taken a lot to make us miss this unique performance. We left Kamloops by 6pm, aiming to arrive before 8pm when the show started. Near Armstrong, that is.
You may have guessed already that we were going to see a rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker by the Caravan Farm Theatre (the performance director was Manon Beaudoin.) A close friend saw one of the theatre’s performances last year and was charmed. She advised us to go if we have the chance. We knew the story but past that, we had no idea what to expect other than the fact that spectators were to be in horse-drawn sleighs for part of the show.
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