Bridging the Social Distance

For this episode I interview Elaine Beattie, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Elaine was born and raised on Prince Edward Island, before the bridge was built. She shares her story of what life was like on the island, then moving to the exciting city of Montreal to become a nurse, starting a family, and later pivoting to become a United Church Minister. Elaine is the president of the R...

For today's episode my guest is Norah Chaloner, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . I know today's guest won't be a stranger to many of my long-time Guelphite friends, Guelph history-loving friends, and Guelph artist friends - Norah is an incredible fixture in our community! And it was such a treat talking about the history of Guelph and the surrounding area. She shared many Guelph stori...

For this episode I interview Hearty Missier, a recent resident in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Originally from Sri Lanka, Hearty shares stories from growing up, her challenging home life, and how her strong will and outspoken voice carried her through it. I learned so much about Sri Lanka’s class system, how it affected Hearty’s emigration to Canada, who she was allowed to spe...

Today I had the pleasure of interview Bob Seim, a Guelph-born, history-loving, retired child-psychologist with a myriad of hobbies including horticulture, and maintaining a newsletter devoted to the history of G.C.V.I. I've been very lucky lately with how much of a bond I've been able to form so quickly with my guests - Bob gave me a window into Guelph from his childhood, told through the lens of...

Today I interview Roman Kramer, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . I haven't interviewed a lot of folks from Switzerland, and Roman provided a great opportunity for me to learn about Switzerland's history, particularly in relation to WWII. We speak about this, and hear of Roman's journey to Canada, and his successful career as a carpenter, supervising many huge builds in our area. He is...

For this episode I interview Tom Wilson, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. We kick off our chat talking about Guelph history, sharing where our respective geography crossed paths, at different periods of time. Tom shares some stories from his at-times-challenging-relationship with his many-decade career on the police force, and his frustrated feelings about where he is at this stage of...

For this episode I interview Jo-Anne Lowden, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Jo-Anne shares stories of early childhood in northern Ontario, her move to the big city of Hamilton to become a Hairdresser in her youth, and raising a family. Thank you Jo-Anne for sharing your story! This episode was originally recorded on December 12th, 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to...

For this episode my guest is Norman Coolahan, a recent resident in Long-Term-Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Norman had a thirty year career with the TTC in Toronto. So with my background in bus driving, we had a lot to talk about! Listen to learn about the early days of buses and street cars and subways, about Norman’s, life transitioning into Long-Term-Care, and a little about his friend...

For this episode I interview Ed & Sheila Millar, a couple living in retirement at The Village of Riverside Glen . They reflect on their early days in Hamilton, growing up just four blocks apart but never meeting until they were adults. Ed paints a picture of the Hamilton mountain when you could still hunt there, and houses were sparse. He's nostalgic for the days before cellphones, and cherishes t...

For this episode I interview Francoise Dalcourt, a resident in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Francoise takes us back through a challenging childhood, falling sick with Polio as a baby, in a huge family of nine, and a very tough home life. But Francoise is a "tough cookie" as she puts it, and through those challenges she shares about the positive times, finding love, moving to G...

For this episode my guest is Teresa Langel, a resident in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Teresa shares wonderful and hilarious stories of her and her husband's earliest days, meeting at a dance as teenagers, and going on to have five children, and many more grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her story includes a harrowing road trip as a 19 year old to Mexico, perseverance na...

For this episode I interview Lillian Parker, a resident in Long-Term-Care at The Village of Riverside Glen. Lil is utilizing her time at Riverside Glen by helping her fellow residents, and taking part on the Residents' Council, advocating on behalf of residents for a "Social Model of Living". Lil has an incredible disposition, and she speaks openly about her perspectives on life in Long-Term Care,...

For this episode I interview Samantha Thai, Senior Library Assistant at Heffner Studio at Kitchener Public Library, and the program coordinator behind the "PRODUCE: HER" sessions. PRODUCE : HER Sessions is a monthly program for women, non-binary, trans, and gender expansive people who are interested in music production and the recording arts. Sam and I chat about this series, some of the motivatio...

For this episode I had a really cool opportunity, getting to interview a guest with "Aphasia", named Rick Cimerman, living in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . If you're not familiar with Aphasia, Aphasia refers to "trouble with speaking, understanding speech, or reading or writing as a result of damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for language processing or underst...

For this episode I interview Ann Kuzik, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen in "Emma" - Riverside Glen's "Memory Care Wing". Ann is navigating life with dementia, and is open about this, but is still able to recall and shares stories from her career in nursing, and her long wonderful marriage to her husband who passed a number of years ago. Ann feels fortunate to have had such a good and l...

For this episode I interview Sandra Luebbecke, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen retirement residence. At 54, Sandra may be one of the youngest residents in the building - she is relatively new to the space, having moved to the assisted living area of Riverside Glen to help receive extra support for her body's progression through Multiple Sclerosis. Sandra shares about her relationship w...

For this episode I interview Bill Winship, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen retirement residence. Bill is 96, and his vivid memory gives us a rare and powerful glimpse into the life of a young soldier during WWII, and a fulfulling life of music and dancing after the War. Bill describes life as a young teen, growing up just outside Liverpool at the beginning of the war - he remembers eig...

For this episode I interview Suta Biswas, the London Ontario needlecraft artist behind Holistic Needlecraft . Today Suta gives us window into her creative process - from the great care she takes sourcing and upcycling high quality cotton fabrics from India, to her unique hand-stitched/patchworked method of creating truly one-of-a-kind, double sided jackets and throw blankets. Her artistic practice...

For this episode I connect with Bill Henry, a new resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Born and raised in the Ward in Guelph, Bill gives a glimpse into a changing city, changing married life, many jobs, many kids, and eventually travel. Thank you Bill for letting me interview you! This interview was originally recorded on June 27th, 2023 This is a public episode. If you would like to discus...

For this episode I interview Greta Riondato , Handel Callender , and Theresa Kretsch , the three artist-coordinators of the Two Rivers Art Camp! The art camp is a one-week camp for children ages 8-14, and is being offered twice, the first two weeks in July - July 3-7th, and July 10-14th. Both weeks will happen at Tytler Public School and the Huron Community Garden in the Ward. Handel arrived to Ca...

For this episode I interview Patricia Boudreau, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Patricia hilariously self-describes as a "fat happy kid" in her childhood, and shares glimpses of life in Toronto in the 30s, as an upper middle class family. Lots of trips to see family in Hamilton, and to farms to attempt to hop onto donkeys! Patricia has some interesting insights into how wealth - or e...

This episode marks my return to the radio airwaves after a year off for parental leave! For this episode, I interview five storytellers, all of whom were participating in a virtual storytelling/music and poetry event on Thursday June 15th: “Feeding Tummies and Souls: Stories of Lived Experience to Inspire and Engage”. I connected with storytellers Susan Ida Boucaud, Sya VanGeest, Sharon Felker, Ju...

This episode is my final-for-now episode of the show, I’m hoping to return to the show later in the year, but have had some exciting life changes that have put the show on hold - I had a new baby!! (Baby is why there was a significant delay in posting this episode, but it’s finally here :) ). In honour of pausing the show, I wanted to interview someone else who - like me - had been working on a pa...

For this episode I interview Abigail Lapell , a songwriter currently based in Toronto Ontario. Abigail has just released her fourth album, "Stolen Time", on Outside Music. Abigail and I have shared a label (Coax Records) and I have been enjoying watching Abigail's career unfold, and seeing her increasing success. We talk about Abigail's musical journey since her first release in 2011, and her time...

For this episode I interview Esmerelda Kennedy, a recent new-resident in Long-Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Esmerelda has lived in Guelph nearly her whole life, having immigrated here from Italy at the age of five. Growing up along the speed river, and then in the Ward, Esmerelda shares stories from her early days attending St. Stanislaus next to the Church of our Lady, raising her...