Jonesie

My first born is now old enough to start driving, so lucky for him he can learn from me: The Greatest Driver in the World. How does he know I’m the greatest driver? Well, because he rides with me, of course. He knows all other drivers are pure idiots. “Look at this guy. He thinks...

It’s tough to defend guys like Allan Schoenborn or Vince Li because of the horrible things they did, so perhaps I shouldn't even try.

Overheard in the newsroom, (kinda') Reporter: There’s a protest in West Kelowna again today. All the major provincial media have done stories on it already. Shouldn’t we do something on it? Editor: Well maybe, but I still have no idea what this protest is all about. Reporter: Five chiefs from the Nicola Valley don’t want...

I want to be careful about this because I want you to know where I am coming from. I have a plan. It’s not to slander anyone, let alone a group of people I respect and admire, but there’s a risk it may sound like that. I want to expand a little on what my...

Hey, did you hear about the breast-feed-your-baby supporters who went before West Kelowna councillors last week? Lets just say a few boobs got exposed, badump-ump. Thank you, thank you everyone. No please, hold your applause till the end. But seriously folks…. A few nursing students and an Interior Health person did what do-gooders do and asked...

Judging by the comments we’ve received and noticed elsewhere, there’s an outrage boiling in Kamloops over the sentence and then appeal for a local man who struck and killed a woman in a crosswalk with his pickup truck in 2012. His six-month jail sentence was just reduced to house arrest, in part because a Supreme...

If you didn’t know the name Selina Morrison before, chances are you do now. The Vernon woman, originally from Kelowna, has thrust herself into the spotlight and inspired a conversation we all need to have about domestic abuse. After enduring a frightening exchange with a boyfriend earlier this month, she lit up Facebook with personal...

My uncle is talking to me in my kitchen in an unexpected visit. I’m pretty sure he’s wearing pyjama bottoms. And he hasn’t shaved in a while, probably because he hasn't been able to remove his mechanical neck brace for three weeks. And it’ll be another three weeks yet until they know if he'll still...

If it appeared something was amiss with the column found in this place on Monday Sept. 15, you were right. An early draft was published in place of the finished work and not discovered until Monday evening and by then, dozens of comments were already published. The unfinished piece appeared antagonistic, cynical and insincere. That...

It’s so darned easy to support teachers in a dispute like this because we all know teachers. We see their faces, we know their families, our kids play together, we walk dogs together—they are real people.

WARNING: This column contains some graphic language I was born in a small Alberta town that wasn’t known for much and still isn’t and I remember when the little burgh made the news for the first time I was aware of. The TV station caught B roll of my cousin and his little dog running...

I parked on a cul-de-sac, and had a look around. Sirens in the background, dark plumes of smoke overhead, the smell of fire in my nose. I figured I was past the police barrier, now on First Nations land, and was uncertain about my possibilities. I waved at someone not far away and soon I...

Oh, what I wanted to do to this guy. Waiting at a light in traffic, I watched him, waited to see if he’d do it and he didn’t disappoint. Smoke billowing out the windows of his SUV, he took one last drag of his cigarillo and casually dropped it, still smoking to the street. It...

A few years ago, I was lured by the Call of Duty to create an Xbox Live account where I could pay for the privilege of knifing, shooting or blowing up live avatars from around the world through this video game. I used my credit card and bought a one year membership on my birthday...

I can already feel the transformation, the metamorphosis nearly complete. I’ve been in larval stage for years, making my way in this big, crazy world, unaware of my own potential with nothing but a sense something better awaited me if only I could shed this tight, tiny cocoon and spread my wings and drive. That’s...

I’m trying with this World Cup soccer, er, football thing, really I’m trying. I only care because I have a few English friends and this seems somehow important to them. Or, well, it was important to them. And because, well, the same way the world ignores soccer when Canadians play it on ice with sticks...

Lock and load, baby: Dad’s got a new weapon. And I needed one. I’ve been shooting blanks for months, firing away at the kids, aiming for wisdom and evidently missing the mark. I needed some new ammunition, something to make them pay attention. Because I have the answer to that age-old question: If a man...

It’s easier to stay with an abusive partner.