From memoirs to microplastics: Making headlines for a class assignment

When Christina Hunt enrolled in a journalism elective, she didn’t expect it to lead to seeing her byline in one of BC’s major newspapers. The opinion piece she wrote as part of her journalism class assignment was recently published by the Vancouver Sun.

Her op-ed piece discusses the issue of microplastics. Christina was inspired to write it after noticing the topic frequently appearing in the media sites she reads.

“It’s a big issue and it is in everything. When we were told to do an op-ed, I thought it was a very topical thing that people are going to want to know about,” she says. “It turned out to be something that caught the editor’s attention. I’m thinking of writing even more, because every single day I’m on my phone or computer, I see stories about microplastics.”

Christina’s journalism professor Stephen Hume encouraged everyone in the class to try getting their work published, so she sent it to a few media outlets to see if they were interested. After waiting a week with no reply, she followed up and learned the Vancouver Sun was interested in publishing her work.

“It felt good. It makes you feel like you are heading in the right direction. If your writing is acceptable to the Vancouver Sun, which is a big paper, that’s good,” says Christina. “I plan on writing a memoir of my own but also would like to write some mysteries and non-fiction. And now, I’m thinking of articles in non-fiction. This has lit a fire under me.”

Christina, 77, decided to go back to school after learning VIU offered a tuition waiver program for seniors. She started in September and has completed two courses so far. She wanted to learn creative writing to eventually publish her memoires and fiction pieces, such as mystery novels. Initially she enrolled in Creative Writing with a Criminology minor but says having her piece published has made her rethink her study path and she’s now exploring a Journalism minor.

“My main goal is writing some stories and my memoirs. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years in different bits, so now I can pull it together and write things up. This has all helped,” she says.

Christina says she was an army wife for 20 years and lived at many stations including some in Calgary and the Maritimes. She has three children and worked as a medical secretary and a social work secretary in hospitals in Vancouver. She also worked for Fisheries and Oceans for a short time, Health and Welfare and WorkSafeBC. Christina says writing her memoirs has been on her mind for the past 20 years.