Colin Easton

Colin Easton

            If there was ever an example of someone taking their disease and making it into their cure, Colin Easton would be that example. Colin was a student at Camsoun College, taking the APC program. He wanted to be a videographer, and then a documentary maker for radio. After moving to Vancouver and working a number of jobs he was diagnosed with major clinical depression. Colin found himself sheltering himself inside, avoiding going out into the world. So to correct this he resolved to get out of the house and start talking to people to get out of his own head. Thus the Stranger Project was born. Colin began to approach complete strangers and ask them about their lives. He wanted to have a conversation with them, to discover what was unique about them. And then share their story with the rest of the world online with a daily blog post.

In his first encounter he approached a gruff looking man named Patrick. He spoke with Patrick and learned that he’d been deported from the United States for assault in Reno. On his tenth day Colin spoke to man named Tom. At first glance Tom appeared to be a homeless person. But after speaking with him, Colin learned all about his life. Tom was just a regular working guy, who spent most of his life working at a sawmill in Powell River. After retirement he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. After surgery, radiation, and chemo treatments Tom had 95% of it removed. He then donated money to the Vancouver General Hospital for the kind treatment they had given him. This was the perfect case of not judging a book by it’s cover and learning about the person within. Colin kept in contact with Tom and even spent the last six weeks of his life with him before his unfortunate death.

            At first the Stranger Project was difficult. Colin found he was only writing a few sentences about each individual. But now in his third year, Colin finds himself writing posts with words in thousands. He has no specific demographic that he goes after, narrowing down choices can limit the stories to be told. Colin just wants to have the stories of these people be heard, and not project his own view on them.

Victoria Amalgamation

Dime 165

Post Brief 2

            Imagine 13 small kingdoms divided up between one land. Each one sharing resources and being affected by the actions of others. Working together they could accomplish great things for the people that make up the entire land. But often they come to disagreements over the smallest of details. This is the reality for the Victoria capital region, which is made up of thirteen municipalities. Some believe that the growth of the capital region is hindered by their bureaucratic squabbles, in order to better their own agendas. The idea of amalgamation has been proposed to combine some of these municipalities in order lessen the in fighting and make real decisions for the region. It’s something that the B.C provincial government should take a serious look at as the people have already expressed an interest for it. This could ultimately help grow the region.

            In the November 15, 2014, Provincial election, 8 of the municipalities that make up the capital region had a non-binding referendum question on their ballot. The questions varied through each of the municipalities, but each discussed the idea of the province considering amalgamation in the capital region. Colwood, the Highlands, Sooke, Metchosin, and View Royal did not have a question. The results of the ballot show that 7 of the 8 municipalities voted yes in favor of exploring amalgamation. Oak Bay was the one hold out. Per the group amalgamtionyes, the provincial government gave the task of looking at this to the Minister of Community, Sports, and Cultural Development, Peter Fassbender. A meeting between Mr. Fassbender and the municipal mayors took place on December 3, 2015. “But to date, the Province has not publicly shared any information resulting from this meeting, nor have the mayors made any formal joint statement,” (http://www.amalgamationyes.ca/progress.html).

            Amalgamation of the capital region would bring advantages to the region. By combining districts, the population of the Victoria area would grow. This would allow its entry into the Big City Mayor’s Caucus of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. This group is made up of Canada’s 22 largest cities. They meet 2-3 times a year to discuss policy and work with the Federal government to help strengthen themselves in projects such as infrastructure development (http://www.fcm.ca/home/about-us/big-city-mayors-caucus.htm). The capital region does not have a voice here as each municipality is too small to join. Only Vancouver and Surrey are represented for B.C., yet it can be argued that Victoria does face big city problems like, infrastructure development, transit, and waste disposal.

            The idea of amalgamation seems like a tall task to take on. But it’s clearly something that many people are interested in, as the 2014 election results showed. It could lead to greater economic growth for the capital region, and those who reside there. It’s up to the B.C. Provincial government to take a serious look at this issue. At this point it has been 826 days since those election results. What’s taking them so long?

http://www.amalgamationyes.ca/progress.html             

http://www.fcm.ca/home/about-us/big-city-mayors-caucus.htm

Civic Info BC

Writing Tweets

Writing Tweets Exercise

1.       We are saddened to announce the layoff of 200 employees today. It was a difficult decision to make for our company.

2.       The layoffs will occur across Canada, with 50 of them coming from our head office here in Victoria.

3.       The NWC finds itself in a highly competitive market. The restructuring of the company will allow us to survive.

4.       We are thrilled to announce the rehiring of 200 laid off employees! This a wonderful day for the NWC family!

5.       Our employees will be called in over the next few weeks, and we expect our plant to be fully running in 6 weeks!

6.       Our company finds itself stronger than ever thanks to new markets opening up over seas. Widgets are on the rise!

7.       We at the NWC are proud to announce an expansion with the building of a new facility in Regina, Saskatchewan!

8.       The manufacturing facility will add 100 new employees to the NWC family. We are very excited for this new venture!

9.       We find ourselves in need of more capacity with the recent success of widget sales in new markets like China.