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.