Special Message from Garden Girl Regarding Comment in Standard Freeholder – May 16, 2014

CFN – It was recently brought to my attention that a person commenting on the Cornwall Standard Freeholder site is using the moniker “gardengirl13”. I am not sure if this is on purpose or not, I choose to believe the party is innocent until proven guilty, but it deeply offends me that “gardengirl13” did not correct the assumption that she is the same “gardengirl” who writes for CFN.

First off, I have never professed to be a journalist, I stated that I attended the journalism course at SLC. In my opinion, just because someone graduates from a journalism program does not mean they are journalist. Just the same that not all journalists have a degree in journalism. The online banter that is going on locally is embarrassing and I truly feel bad for everyone who takes part in it. I really wonder if these people have absolutely nothing better to do with their spare time?

From what I can see it all seems like a group of monkeys slinging poo at each other, in redundant circles. There are no published facts, just a bunch of hearsay and I see the common psychological phenomena of “pack mentality” in full force.

I am a writer. I have received awards for my writing, I have been published in paperback books with ISBN numbers. Writing is probably the only thing I do really well. For those of you who have read my pieces, you know that I am fighting metastatic breast cancer and that I am 33 years old. For anyone who is not educated on the subject, breast cancer and any hormone based cancer is especially aggressive in people who are under the age of menopause. I have been in and out of treatment since 2007, this being my third diagnosis. I was diagnosed with two primaries before the metastatic diagnosis.

I am trying to live my life as fully as possible, even going back to school in between my treatments. I have just married the love of my life, and I am currently studying a few different fields, of which I write about. I consider myself a “slacktivist”, an activist that doesn’t have the energy or time to participate in every single thing that I care about. My writing is a way for me to talk about things that matter to me in hopes that even just one person will read and be driven to care too.

I am in my second clinical trial with cancer treatment, and for anyone who doesn’t know, clinical trials are only offered to those with no other hope. I accept that I am a guinea pig for breast cancer treatment for the women (ahead or behind?) who have the same fate as me. I tirelessly promote the good things in life, not so much to sell that to other people, but for me to reflect on the good things that hopefully we all share the same views about.

Writing to me is an outlet; I find it very liberating. Because I cannot be in crowds (due to my compromised immune system) and the many other limits to my personal health, I spend my time educating myself. I love to share the knowledge that I find, I love to debate topics (rationally) and I love to discuss ideas. I try to portray that in my work. I don’t think it is anyone’s business what I make for writing, as it is not the point.

It seems to me the only way Cornwall would have “real” journalists, in what “they” consider “real” is to headhunt them from the capital city publications. It seems that unless the writer has an extensive resume, which I might add that Cornwall doesn’t have the dollars to attract, nor the stories to write to attract that sort of talent, there never will be a “real” journalist in Cornwall and those that have the negative opinions should be happy that anyone would want to write for our local sake. I hate to break the news, but Cornwall is Canada’s version of Detroit. MoneySense magazine rated Cornwall as Canada’s 167th best place to live (out of 190), in 2012 and that should say it all. I realize everyone wants to believe Cornwall is a great city, I admit, it has a lot of potential, but 167^th out of 190 cities does say it all. We need to stop deluding ourselves and realize that our lack of caring is equalling the fall of our community. And while our community is falling a small group of people are profiting.

I don’t see how “gardengirl” or CFN really matters in the grand scheme of things. We do not make decisions for the community, we contribute to it. Not everyone likes everything, and that applies in this case. There will always be naysayers and negative people, but I think the important thing to focus on is that people are trying to make the city better and they need all the support they can get. Pointing fingers gets nothing done, we should be more thankful for any contributions that people make for the love of our city.

As for “gardengirl13”, if it is a coincidence, so be it. But if you chose that moniker to affect me, shame on you. If you have to cheat to win, you have already lost. And then there’s karma.

Enjoy the long weekend and I encourage everyone to do one good deed a day.

If every person did one good deed a day, we would personally positively affect 365 lives each year.

Imagine?