Bridging the Social Distance

For this episode I interview Katie Ewald, a pilates instructor and dancer who lives here in Guelph. Katie has spent years teaching people how to manage stress in their bodies, how to move through trauma, and how to connect with your surroundings to focus and relax. This looks a little different when you have fewer places to move in, and more time alone with yourself and your thoughts, and it's har...

For this episode, I interview Clinton St. John, a visual artist and musician living in Calgary Alberta. We talk about his new album with his band "Florida B.C.", and about their decision to embrace the quarantine and release it early (in June) rather than wait till the fall. We talk about what finishing a semester of arts school is like when you can't attend classes. And we talk about graphic nove...

This episode features Guelph's own David J Knight. David is an artist, musician and archeologist - creator of "Tales of a Guelphite" and songwriter under the name "A Single Voice". Just before we went into quarantine mode, David had set up an exhibit of his art at the Bullfrog Mall branch of the Guelph Public Library - it is still on display, but in a closed library. That seems like bad luck, but...

This episode features Kelly Hardcastle Jones!!! Kelly who used to create wonderful radio for CFRU, and now creates amazing podcasts from her home in Charlottesville Virginia. She has a brand new podcast called "Social Distance Assistance" that she co-hosts with her eight year old daughter June. So of course we had to connect to talk about it! Kelly and June's podcast is inspired by Mr. Rogers - sp...

For this episode of "Bridging the Social Distance" I interview Mathias Kom of  The Burning Hell . Mathias and his band were in the middle of their first ever tour to Australia when the W.H.O declared COVID a pandemic, and the sudden risk of being stranded, and having their travel health insurance cancelled, forced them to cancel the rest and rush back to Canada. I reached him at his home on P.E.I....

The newest episode of "Bridging the Social Distance" travels all the way to Italy, where Jenny interviews  Anselmo Luisi - drummer&percussionist  and Damon Arabsolgar of the band  Mombao , and their manager  Isacco Zanon , who also works as a Social Worker in psychiatric rehabilitation. Mombao had a new music release and tour scheduled for India and Nepal, when COVID halted that plan, and the quar...

For this episode I interview local musical wonder Scott Merritt. Scott is a musician/songwriter/producer/creator living here in Guelph. We talk about the news, and where we find our trusted sources: Scott still subscribes to a paper newspaper: he reads the New York Times and recreates a "Sunday morning" where time slows down because the stores are closed. We talk about music: where does a musician...

For this episode I interview Dave Del Rizzo of  CFUZ 92.9FM - Peach City Radio  in Penticton British Columbia. Peach City Radio is a small local station in B.C., the newest radio broadcast licence in the NCRA. But for a little station, they're ahead of the curve in technology - even before they had to close their doors to the public, they had set up amazing software to operate their station remote...

For this episode I interview Olive von Topp, an empowerment coach, burlesque performer and educator who lives and works here in Guelph. When COVID-quarantining put a halt to public gatherings, Olive sprung into action online - while it's not ideal to have screens between us, in some ways it increases accessibility, and because of people like Olive von Topp people can continue to stretch, dance and...

Today I interview the one and only  john southworth ! John recently released an album spanning the last sixteen years of his career - a curated collection of songs never before featured on other albums. It was special to have the opportunity to let people know about this beautiful work. We reflect on the spaces his music has come from, and the thread he found through these songs that tied them all...

In this episode I interview Gern F. Vlchek (also known for his previous project  The United Steel Workers of Montreal ) Gern is a bartender, author, and songwriter for  The Vlcheks , living in Montreal. He has been re-releasing his most recent book "Hypsterville" one chapter at a time each day on his facebook page, and the Vlcheks have a brand new body of work, that is being released in the form o...

In this episode I interview local cartoonist legend Seth! In a lot of ways this practice of social distancing doesn't change Seth's day to day - he was already a person who worked from home, alone in a basement studio - the biggest shifts are having his wife home from her work, and having little to distinguish a weekday from a weekend. But the future of his projects could look very different, and...

For this episode of Bridging the Social Distance, I return to New York, this time to Brooklyn, where I interview musician/performer/children's educator Dan Costello. Dan is in the stages of releasing a new record, now facing the reality of that being a fully digital experience. He's also juggling homeschooling while facing the sudden evaporation his own school-based program/business "Yo Re Mi". It...

For this episode I interview Anne Marshall of  Junia Matchmaking Services . COVID may mean social distancing, but does it HAVE to be the end of dating, or starting new relationships? Not necessarily! Today Anne uses her expertise in matchmaking, online dating, and social media to explore what new love can look like in the time of COVID This interview was originally recorded on March 26th 2020 This...

This episode features Monte Fenske, a local factory worker and co-parent of his eleven year old daughter. I met Monte through karaoke - he's been spending this past year branching out to expand his social circle, singing and performing comedy and improv. All of that has taken a pretty big shift at this point, but he's making it work. This interview was originally recorded on March 26th 2020 This i...

In this episode of "Bridging the Social Distance" I interview my step-sister Caitlin , who lives in New York City. Caitlin is a publicist, working from home during this time, quarantined with her partner in Queens, one of the areas of the city hit the hardest by the COVID-19 outbreak. New York as described by Caitlin is so different than anything we've come to associate with the city - Every unive...

Today's new episode of Bridging the Social distance interviews psychotherapist Shane Smyth of  Spacious Mind Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre . Shane is based out of Guelph, but during this interview I reached him in a small Cree community in Northern Quebec. We talk about the role and space for counselling and support in times of crisis, the process of trying to adapt to online for platforms...

This episode features Guelph's own  Scott McGovern  of  Ed Video Media Arts Centre .  Scott and I catch up about what our respective organizations are hoping to do in terms of maintaining a platform for artists and community members during this time, and ponder what the future of art might look like: should we be fighting to retain the forms of art we love, or leaning into new possibilities? Where...

For this episode I interview Mervyn Horgan, an Associate Professor in the department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Guelph. If you think it would be interesting to talk to a sociologist about the potential outcomes of social-distancing, you would be right! We discuss what shared space looks like in a climate of quarantine, how social dynamics shift when we're universally impacted...

For this episode I interview  Nao O'Connor : The two of us originally met when CFRU tabled at the Tech and Trades event at G.C.V.I last year. Nao originally arrived to Guelph from Tokyo Japan as an international exchange student, intitially only planning to stay for that school year. But he fell in love with our city and now calls Guelph home, relocating - and releasing a brand new album with - hi...

This episode features Robert Dayton - an artist/comedian/performer also known as "The Canadian Romantic". Robert has been calling Los Angeles home for the past year, but had to make the difficult decision to suddenly return to Canada, for fear of otherwise being stranded in the US with no healthcare and no vehicle. For the first half of this episode my interview with Robert catches him on March 17...

For this episode I interview musician, instructor, voice actress and artist Kat Burns, aka  KASHKA  over in Prince Edward County. Kashka, like many musicians, was immediately hit by this crisis in a myriad of ways. We talk about what support could look like, the ways we're trying to find security, and also lean into the fact that this really is really hard. The episode is also full of lots of Kat'...

Today's episode features an interview with Ana Sanfrutos Cano, an Art Curator who coordinates  Hybrid  - a Contemporary Art Festival in Madrid, Spain. Ana is in lockdown in out in the country, working remotely on future projects based around "Social Togetherness", wondering what these projects might look like on the other side of this pandemic. It was scary but important to hear reports of the rea...

This episode features  Susie Stauffer  - she is the Neighbourhood Support Worker at  Onward Willow NG & Community Centre , part of the  Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition . The work these organizations do ALL of the time is so important. Guelph is so lucky to be structured on this model, distributed clothing, food, as well as access to services. And it's realllllly difficult to continue in the...

Today's episode travels all the way to England, where I speak to Dom Stingas Paczko - Dom and I originally connected about eight years ago, through one of Dom's amazing projects: a music magazine and label called  Choose My Music Records . Dom LOVES Guelph music and has given our little city an incredible platform over in England. In England they have closed the schools for the remainder of the sc...