Bridging the Social Distance

For this episode my guest is Gail de Vries, a resident at The Village at University Gates . Gail shared many amazing and emotional stories on today’s episode – born in Montreal with webbed fingers and toes, Gail spent much of her young life in surgery and in and out of hospital settings. There is a definite thread of strength and resilience that runs through Gail and her life, and a deep understan...

For this episode my son Otis joins me in interviewing John Ferguson, president of the “ACAC (Ailsa Craig Action Committee”) and resident of Ailsa Craig at The Village of Arbour Trails . John gives us a thorough window into life at Ailsa Craig, the differences between his building, Arbour Trails, and the surrounding village by the Arboretum, as well as stories from his life growing up on a farm, hi...

For this episode my guests are Chris and Paul Robertson, fairly new residents at The Village of Riverside Glen . Chris and Paul take me back to how they met, when Chris was a participant in a beauty contest hosted by a radio station Paul worked at as a radio personality in Galt ON. Paul ended up transitioning from radio to work in IBM as a salesman, while Chris held a career as a nurse in Longterm...

For this episode I interview Hélène Barbier, an avant-pop musician based out of Montreal. I reached her in advance of her Friday show at “Rats Nest” in Toronto, a show that kicks of a huge North American and European tour. We talk about the origins of her path through music, teaching herself bass alongside other friends new to their instruments, and how that has expanded and changed since the real...

This was recorded as a live episode, where I was joined by Dianne Chapitis and Peter Skoggard. They talk about their upcoming performance of “Choir in Motion at the Arboretum” happening this Sunday (Sept 13th) at 4pm. I ask them about this project, the origins of their work, their influences, the role of nature in art and dance, and whatever else came to us in the moment! Here are the details of S...

For this episode I interview Ivadel Todd, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk about the early years, the origin of her name, her path through school, meeting her husband at a dance on a night while he was on leave from the navy, and beginning their relationship through letter writing, (and even the letters were paused for a period of unknown while he was away as part of the Cuban...

For this episode interview Shirley Bork, a resident living in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Shirley shares of her career teaching home economics in high school, her love and pride in her sewing projects, her enormous family (she's one of eleven siblings!), and the adorable story of how she met her husband, with whom she eventually went into business together selling shoes ("Bor...

For this episode I interview Eleanor Burchill, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . This interview took place over two visits, the first on her 101st birthday, and the second a week or so later. Her daughter joins us in the first half too. We talk about her love of Newfoundland, having been born there, about her schooling and then career in nursing, stories from the war era, and her journ...

For this episode my guest chose to stay anonymous, she is a lovely woman living over at The Village of Riverside Glen , who’s lived in Guelph since she was a child. She’s struggling a bit with her transition to living in care, navigating double vision that she developed after a nasty fall, and she’s very honest about how much more challenging it makes things, taking away most of her hobbies and ac...

For this episode I interview Karen Gunn, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen - she talks about life in the Windsor area, multiple generations taking care of each other at different points in her history, her career in nursing, her stretch of time living in California, where she met her husband before they returned to Canada. She also speaks about navigating her changing health - she's brok...

For this episode I interview Norm Shoemaker, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Norm is 96, and was born and raised in Guelph, so it may not come as huge surprise that we bonded over local history! I learned of some places that were new to me (including the Guelph Casket Factory) and got a wonderful glimpse into a Guelph many decades before my time. Norm is appreciative of the experienc...

For this episode my guest is Bob Griffiths, a resident living in Egerton (the assisted living neighbourhood) and The Village of Riverside Glen . Bob is very proud of his family, sharing about many of his children and grandchildren and their accomplishments, he’s a proud retiree from Hydro, and shares an interesting window to this career and his pathway that got him there. He is a passionate world...

This is the 300th episode!!! For this special episode I recruited longtime friend and radio host Scotty Hertz for a co-interview: He interviews me about the history of the show, its specific origins born out of covid, and the mobile community radio philosophies that led to it, and we talk about my ten+year mobile radio history at CFRU and what has been learned and expanded on along the way, in ter...

For this episode my guest is Donald Bridges, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk about his passions through his life (including skiing, sailing, and wood carving) and his fascinating career in corrugated cardboard - largely in the “new products division” which brought him through some very interesting situations! Thanks Don for sharing your story! This interview was originally re...

For this episode I interview Skip Redpath, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Skip moved in fairly recently, but he has settled right in, making close friendships and helping his fellow residents. He shares a window into the interesting way his brain works, counting through decades to place himself in time, a response to changes that he’s been experiencing in his memory, likely connecte...

For this episode I interview Brent Fletcher, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Brent is new to Riverside Glen in terms of living there, but he knew where he wanted to be for this stage of life, having spent five years visiting and supporting his wife as her illness brought her to long term care. Brent has a positive attitude on the other side of the loss - he shares about his many move...

For this episode I veer away from my normal format to interview an old friend, Ida Nilsen, known for her music project Great Aunt Ida , in advance of a few shows she was playing in the area. Great Aunt Ida has been making music under this name for over twenty years, starting in BC, moving to Toronto for a stretch, and then Detroit before returning to Vancouver. We talk a bit about this history, wh...

In this longer-than-normal episode I interview John Conibear, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . John lives in retirement, and his wife lives up in Emma's Neighbourhood, an area of Riverside Glen that focuses on memory-care. John opens up how hard it is to experience this separation, after 64 years of marriage - even if it's the same building, on another floor, being apart, and navigati...

For this episode I join forces with Campus Friends, bringing together Campus friends students Davina and Nicolo with CFRU volunteer and board member Ramya, to discuss their various experiences living with Autism. They discuss their diagnosis’, challenges, special interests and misconceptions. Later in the episode I join Ramya to discuss the ways in which it often goes missed in women, and insights...

For this episode I give a platform to our co-op student Anarva Vipin, and my son and CFRU volunteer Otis Magoffin to talk about the high school student walkout that happened on March 11th 2026, in response to Doug Ford’s cuts to OSAP. Anarva and Otis both attended the event, equipped with handheld recorders, recording speeches, and interviews with students (and MPP Mike Schreiner) who were in atte...

For this episode my guest is Robert Lawson, a resident in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen. Bob is one of the younger residents in Long Term Care, navigating a variety of health changes - he aspires to heal enough to get out a bit more, he's been at Riverside Glen for two years and is still getting accustomed. He's not used to staying in one place - Bob was a traveling salesman for...

This was a special live episode of Bridging the Social Distance, where I interviewed Mike Barber of “The Hive”, a Guelph’s Arts Collective located on Cork st in Guelph. We talk about the Hive, Guelph past and present, some of our favourite local businesses here in Guelph, our shared love of hand-made items, our shared appreciation for up-cycling, secondhand, and local markets, our appreciation for...

For this episode it's time for Georgina Part 2! We pick up where Georgina left off, upon her arrival to Guelph as a pre-teen, we hear a wild story about chickens, and a glimpse into the life of a teenager attending the Loretto Academy, navigating being a new Canadian, not having a lot of money, attending hockey games and dances. Georgina is a lovely person to spend time with, and I'm glad she was...

February 21st was International Mother Language Day! Hosted (briefly, in English) and collected/edited by Jenny, we filled our airwaves with approximately 50 languages from over 70 participants, in celebration of "International Mother Language Day" which is observed every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. Thank you to everyone who participated, with a special t...

For this episode I interview Olu Adedokun, a PSW in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . He shares his story of moving here from Nigeria, and the culture shock - of the weather, of course, but other things we may not think of, like the closeness of our houses, not surrounded by walls between the properties. Olu grew up on a university campus in Nigeria, his father a professor of atmos...