Bridging the Social Distance

For this episode I interview Dorothy Lloyd, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. Dorothy and I chat about Dorothy navigating this pandemic while recovering from a stroke, her goal of learning to walk again, and her learning how to knit with one-hand. Dorothy talks about her childhood in England during the war, her move to Guelph as a young married mom with four children, her life-long pass...

For this episode I have the privilege of interviewing Dr. Soren Brothers - the inaugural "Allan and Helaine Shiff Curator of Climate Change at the ROM @romtoronto (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto). As far as the ROM can tell, this position is the first of its kind, and today Soren shares some of the potential he sees in this position, some of his goals and aspirations, and the careful balance of sha...

For this episode I interview Mary Snyder, a resident in Long-Term-Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Mary and I have an absolute blast bonding over our shared love of Guelph history, and being "borderline hippies". Mary and her husband's families go back many many generations in Guelph, all the way back to the Tree-cutter who cut down that very first tree for John Galt. We talk about our city...

For this episode I interview Thelma Barbeau, a recent new resident in Long-Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Thelma is 100 years old and six months, and she seems to remember her whole life. She shares stories of being a young wife with a husband in the war during WWII, the depression, raising a family in the -post war years, and how proud she is of everything her family has accomplishe...

For this episode I interview Marilyn Knipfel, a new resident in Long-Term-Care at The Village of Riverside Glen. There's a perseverance and positive outlook to Marilyn that's likely helping her navigate having moved during a pandemic, and living with a broken back for the past ten years - and from her stories it would seem like it goes all the way back to her childhood, when she was diagnosed with...

For this episode I interview Vince Kurtz, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. Today's chat is all about farming - born and raised on a farm in Ariss, Vince learned everything he knows about farming from helping out from as early as he can remember pulling weeds, through to growing up and running a farm of his own. As an adult he raised beef and sold cash crops, and today he tells us about...

For this episode I interview Barb, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Barb is sweet and soft-spoken, keeping a busy schedule as she stays open to trying new programs at Riverside Glen, while making the time to stay connected with her children and grandchildren. Barb shares a bit about family life, growing up in Toronto, then moving as a teen to Scarborough, attending the dances, meeting...

For this episode, I interview Graham Winter, a recent new-resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. Graham was born and raised in Port Credit, has been a Guelphite for 30+ years, and taught high school English in Galt for 30+ years up until his retirement. Born during WWII, with parents that lived and worked through WWI, and older siblings born during the depression, Graham talks about Port Credi...

For this episode I interview Ruth-Ann Robertson, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Ruth-Ann is lovely, a sweet woman with fond memories of her devoted husband. She opens up about struggles in her past, and having undergone shock treatment, which has affected her memory. Despite not being able to recall anecdotes in too much detail, Ruth-Ann welcomed our chat, sharing her love for famil...

This is my final Sustainability-Month-Themed show for 2021, and features an interview with Julia Burke. Julia teaches the "Environmental Citizenship" post-secondary course at Canadore College. This is a fascinating and educational conversation about this course, and about recognizing our role in within our global environment and our responsibility to consider our actions and what we can do to miti...

For this episode I interview Gillian Grant, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Gillian shares with us and gives a window into her life, growing up in England, her fun adventures road-tripping with her best friend Ann through Canada and the US, her many wonderful jobs at beautiful hotels in the UK, Canada, and the Bahamas, and just generally having a fun and exciting time with her life....

Another episode in honour of October being Sustainability Month, today's episode features Bella Harris, connecting to talk about Guelph's "Palz Trading Zone". Palz is a group in which folks can post items that they have available for trade, or post "ISO" (in search of) items they're looking for, and trade with community members. It allows for items to be re-homed, to reduce waste, and bring new li...

For this episode I interview Ann Okkema, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Ann shares her story of moving here to Canada at 18 after the War, with her mother and father and seven younger siblings, and her boyfriend (who would become her husband a year into their life in Canada). They worked on farms here but after not too long her husband was able to make his dream of owning a bakery a...

For this episode - in honour of October being "Sustainability Month" - I interview Susan Carey of the Guelph Tool Library and the Guelph Seed Library. Susan speaks about the role of sharing and lending economies within sustainability, the incredible opportunities these programs have brought to Guelph in terms of building skill-building, confidence and access to resources, and the potential they pr...

For this episode I interview June Campbell, a recent arrival to The Village of Riverside Glen . June was a delight to talk to, and an absolute wealth of knowledge of the history of Newfoundland, dating back before it was part of Canada. June shares stories of being a child during the war, and her father's role during the war as a police captain in St. John's. She reflects on so much history most o...

For this episode I interview Susan Ross, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Susan shares her story of growing up with Diabetes - diagnosed at the age of 8, and originally given a life expectancy of 30 years, Susan is now passed 60, has survived cancer, and has continually proven her capacity to defy the odds and keep a positive attitude towards the uncertain times ahead. Thank you Susan...

For this episode I interview Karen Norris and Mandy McEwan - both work as part of "PERT" (the Personal Expression Resource Team) at The Village of Riverside Glen . They talk about PERT's comprehensive approach to Dementia-care, a holistic approach that incorporates the resident, their family, and the various team members a resident will encounter throughout the day at Riverside Glen, to better und...

For this episode I interview Norm Harrison - Norm is a resident of Guelph, a retired City Planner and past secretary of the city's Heritage Committee. I connected with Norm during a trial stay at The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk today about Norm's stay there, and the decision ahead for when he decides to leave his own home. We talk about our shared love of Guelph history, about being neighb...

For this episode I interview Linda Iacovella, a resident in Long-Term-Care at The Village of Riverside Glen . Linda shares stories from her early childhood in Italy, helping her mother by collecting water from the well and helping her father with work on the farm, and all the other tasks required for child to help out in a busy young family. She talks about her immigration to Canada as a child, to...

For this episode I interview Joe Nesbitt, a resident in Long Term Care at The Village of Riverside Glen , and he shares his pride of being a tutor, and a baseball coach, alongside a life of traveling sales and a happy marriage. This interview was originally recorded on September 1st, 2021 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epis...

For this episode I interview Bob Davis, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen , joined by Bob's son Ian, visiting from Australia. Bob recounts a life spent in metal work and engineering, starting as a teenager delivering lunches in factories, getting his degree in Metallurgy, and working various rewarding careers, including his decades long role as Head of Physical Resources at the Universit...

For this episode I interview local Guelph dancer Dianne Chapitis . Dianne dances and creates as part of the artist collective "Choir in Motion", and put together a piece called "Psithurism" outside along the river south of York Road. Today we talk about how the piece came to exist, Dianne's history and path through dance, and how this section of river inspired her and co-creator Peter to bring the...

For this episode I interview Terri Mazer, a resident in Long-Term Care at the Village of Riverside Glen, and she was joined by Rec-team member Nao. Terri was born in Hamilton, and some of her simplest memories are her fondest, like her weekly coffee meet-ups with her friends where they could catch up and gossip. Terri shared that she's over a hundred years old, and worked as a Teletypist as a youn...

Tune in today at noon to CFRU 93.3fm, streamable at cfru.ca, for the newest episode of "Bridging the Social Distance". Today Jenny interview Becca and Tom of CAST Canada. "CAST" - which stands for "Come and Sit Together" is an organization that is brought into spaces to help professionals, corporations and communities better understand the role of trauma and unresolved grief in human suffering and...

For this episode I interview Doreen, a resident in Long-Term Care at the Village of Riverside Glen (joined by Rec Team member Nao). Doreen provides us with a whimsical trip back through her memories of growing up in St Thomas, and attending the dances in Port Stanley as a teenager around the time of WWII. She and her older sister would ride the electric train to Port Stanley, wander the boardwalk,...