Colin Easton – Stranger Project
Bu Jay Wallace
March 28 2017

Colin Easton chose a unique way to deal with his depression, a choice that would terrify most others who suffer from similar mental illnesses. Colin decided to talk to strangers. The idea is simple, but genius. By getting out of the house for even 10 minutes Colin could get out of his own head, talk to someone else and immediately feel better.

 This idea didn’t only provide relief for his depression, it berthed a project. The Stranger Project was started by Colin in 2014 and has impacted thousands of lives ever since. The project is based on the idea of talking to strangers, but there is a bit more to it. Colin set out to write about these people each day, for a whole year.

Since 2014 Colin has talked to, and written about hundreds of people from all sorts of different background, and shared their stories with the world. Some of these people may have never had their story told. By talking to strangers and telling their stories, Colin improved his own mental health and maybe even the health of others.  

Overdose Crisis in BC

Illicit drug overdoses took the lives of 914 people last year, a number that will continue to increase in 2017 if something isn’t done about British Columbia’s overdose crisis. Overdoses and drug use are nothing new to BC, but since the introduction of Fentanyl to the illicit drug market everything has changed. 142 people died in December alone, the highest number of monthly deaths the province has ever seen. These alarming statistics will continue to increase, however many people feel that the government isn’t doing enough to deal with the crisis.

Fentanyl was first detected in overdoes victims back in 2012, and has been a "game changer" for drug overdose deaths in B.C., said Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid painkiller that is up to 100 times more potent than heroin. The high potency of Fentanyl is appealing to drug traffickers because they can transport many doses in a small package. While it might be convenient for dealers and traffickers, its deadly for their customers. Even long-time experienced drug users cannot anticipate or recognize a highly potent dosage of Fentanyl, and will overdose on what they thought was a safe amount. This high potency and unpredictability is what makes Fentanyl so dangerous.

Despite the shocking statistics, there hasn’t been enough of a response from the provincial and federal government. Back in 2009 when 57 British Columbian’s died from the H1N1 Virus, the province spent $80 Million on fighting the flu. Documents obtained by the provincial NDP in November 2016 showed that the province only budgeted $5.77 Million to fight the overdose crisis that has taken hundreds and hundreds of lives. Are the lives of drug users less valuable to the provincial government?

The province might not be willing to spend allot of money right away to combat the crisis, but as the epidemic continues the cost will grow. The cost of first responders and medical staff cannot be overlooked during the overdose crisis. Everyday ambulance and fire crew respond to numerous calls related to overdoses. “You clear a call, you get another one,” paramedic Brian Twaites said during his shift. “You clear a call, you get another one.” The government continues to pay for damage control without combating the roots of the issue, and hopefully putting an end to the overdose crisis.

With an increasing death toll, and no signs of stopping, it is time to make a bigger effort to combat British Columbia’s overdose crisis. Despite the extremely high risk, drug users will continue to feed their addiction. This means the solutions must be based on harm-reduction and healthcare, rather than combating drugs as a whole.  Safe injection sites are an effective way to ensure safe drug use. Not one death has occurred in a safe injection site.
With more safe injection sites, educated users and first responders, there might be a way to end the crisis rather than patching up the damage.

Jason Motz Interview – March 14 2017

 Managing editor of Positive Living Magazine Jason Motz took some time out of his busy schedule to educate a class of Camosun students on his experience as a freelance writer.

 Jason went into depth on his experience as a freelancer, and offered tips and tricks along the way that are very useful for new writers. “I encourage you to read widely and read wildly” Jason said early in his interview. It may not be the first thing a new writer thinks of, but reading is a very important aspect to becoming a good writer. Jason urged the class to read everything they could, not just what they found interesting.

As an editor, Jason has a pretty good idea of what makes a good writer, and what makes a poor one. Freelancers need to learn to hustle, and juggle. As a freelancer, you have to make your own orders. You don’t have someone telling you when to go to work, or when you can take your lunch break, it is up to you to build your schedule, and get the work done. Jason explained that although it can be nice to work on your own schedule, it comes with allot of anxiety, and uncertainty.

Jason listed things that he looks for in a writer, and quality’s he thinks are very important if you want to work in the field. Things like accountability, curiosity and hustle will go along way in the industry. These tips seem simple, but they are easy forget and incredibly valuable for student looking to work as a writer.  

First Opinion Piece - Tuition

The national average for student debt in 2010 was twenty-six thousand dollars. (Press, 2017) Free tuition in British Columbia would be good and affective because it allows for more qualified but under privilege individuals to get an education they deserve and to help better society.

Shai Reshef said in his TED Talk Vancouver, "Higher education stopped being a right for all instead became a privilege for the few," (Reshef, 2017) and with the inflammation rate bouncing up to 5 percent in 2012 (Ross, 2017) has made his statement increasingly true. With free tuition, more students would be able to not only be able to afford an education, but also not have to worry about other basic human rights that debt can hinder. This allows students to have an ease mind about paying off their other living essentials, keep up their health, allows for a better mental state, and be able to increase their savings to better their lives in the future.

By following some of Western European countries, British Columbia could raise their provincial taxes and invest it into the future of not only the province's but the future of our country, and our world. It would eliminate the feeling of a trapped society, to paraphrase Noam Chomsky, when people are trapped in debt they won't be able to afford to think of change. (Ross,2018) British Columbia should have free tuition because a qualified student should have access to an education if they pleased, no matter where they stand in the hierarchy of our civilization.

Affordability should not determine whether we get our basic human right or not.

The national average of student debt is twenty-six thousand dollars too high to allow progression

Press, A. S. (n.d.). As student debt climbs to an average past $25K, schools invest in battling the mental-health issues it causes. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/as-student-debt-climbs-to-an-average-past-25k-schools-invest-in-battling-the-mental-health-issues-it-causes

Reshef, S. (n.d.). An ultra-low-cost college degree. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/shai_reshef_a_tuition_free_college_degree

 Ross, W. (n.d.). Working toward tuition free post-secondary education in BC and Canada. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/ices/2013/04/25/working-toward-tuition-free-post-secondary-education-in-bc-and-canada/

Alberta Women Capture Gold at 2017 Canadian Junior Championships

Christian Stewart is one of the other photographers who's works for ISN, the company that I shoot for. In this article he does a great job of covering this curling event. I am not a curling fan but I still learned allot about photo journalism. The photos who used, and the captions he added with them complimented the text nicely and brought the whole story together, have a read:

http://www.independentsportsnews.com/2017/01/29/alberta-women-capture-gold-2017-canadian-junior-championships/

Johny's All-Star Blog #3

Although a bit cheesy, this blog is kind of fun. Calgary Flames star forward Johnny Gaudreau attended this years NHL All-star game and blogged about it. This blog not only gives an interesting inside look, but it also proves that bloging is still a legitamit form of media, even for modern sports teams.

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/johnnys-all-star-blog---day-3/c-286245426

What a Weekend for the Royals

Sunday night Tyler Soy and the Royals downed the Giants for the third straight night in a row.  The Royals won Friday nights game in Vancouver 3-1, and then came home for two big wins at home. 7-1 Saturday, and 6-3 on Sunday.

Read the game story and check out some of the photos I took:

http://www.independentsportsnews.com/2017/01/29/royals-sweep-giants-tyler-soy-scores-4/