Bridging the Social Distance

For this episode I interview Elaine Charette, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Elaine was a delightful guest full of wonderful facts and beautiful memories - using the quilt, lamps, prints and photographs she has displayed in her room as inspiration, Elaine shares stories of her trip to Iceland with her aunt, where she reconnected with family and learned of many Icelandic landmarks a...

It was SUCH a pleasure interviewing Miss Lynda - Lynda is a resident in Long Term Care at @the villa The Village of Riverside Glen , and for this interview she was joined by rec-team-member Brandon, and together they talk about the activities and programming in Long Term Care. Lynda immediately got to work when she first moved in to Riverside Glen two years ago, volunteering in support of the staf...

For this episode I interview Gloria Mahoney, a resident in Long-Term Care at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Gloria has only just moved to Riverside Glen, but she's lived in Guelph most of her life. Gloria tells us about work, family, her love of cruises, and her and I bond over our shared loved of Maryhill where much of Gloria's family is from. Thank you Gloria for sharing your story! This inter...

For this episode I interview Joyce, a resident in Long-Term Care at  The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk about Joyce's life growing up in Hespler, marrying the neighbour boy and becoming a farmer's wife at 19, what has changed and what as stayed similar over the years both in terms of the surrounding countryside, also in terms of our relationships with our neighbours. And we talk about our fav...

For this episode I interview Eileen Merritt, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen  . Eileen's led what she proclaims to be a simple life, but it's clear it was full of a long and loving marriage to her husband Ivan, living in Grimsby, Stratford and Stoney Creek, raising their three children and traveling across the country together. She gives us a glimpse into some sweet moments, and we ap...

For this episode I interview Andrea Bennett, author of "like a boy but not a boy - Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood outside the Gender Binary" Today they connect about these topics, about mental health and parenthood and how life has been changing and adapting post-book, and how the pandemic has further been impacting these experiences. Jenny reaches Andrea at their current home in a...

For this episode I interview Henry Adam Svec, author of "Life is Like Canadian Football and Other Authentic Folk Songs". Today we talk about this newly released novel, and the chronicle of this fantastical folk-song-collecting story that Henry has been regaling us with all these years, as it moved through the "CFL Sessions", "Folk Songs of Canada Now" and "LIVINGSTON™". We also talk about the blur...

For this episode I interview Jean Birkett, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. Jean is 98, lived through the depression, WWII, and even a positive Covid diagnosis during this pandemic. Her father was a prisoner in a Prisoner of War Camp in WWI, and was a guard at one in WWII, and a subsequent illness brought the family to Toronto from Timmins when her father lost his knee. Jean gives us a...

For this episode I interview Kim Gadoury, who (at the time of this recording) was planning to swim across Guelph Lake this Saturday June 19th to raise awareness and advocate for the need for a 24 hour food depot and overnight shelter. Kim speaks today about food security, about the stigma that often faces her and other folks living below the poverty line and in geared-to-income housing, and about...

For this episode I interview local artist Sharyn Seibert, about her artwork, and specifically about her paintings inspired by Guelph’s Yorklands Green Hub  . Sharyn shares some of the history of this space, the past eight years of advocacy that have gone into raising awareness to protect this land, as well as Guelph’s City Council’s recent monumental decision to give the land a Heritage Designatio...

For this episode I interview Billie Florence, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Billie grew up in Arkell, and at 99 years of age, with an impeccable memory, and a passion for local history, this interview is a vivid and delightful glimpse into the past. Billie shares stories of her childhood popularity (she was the one with the pony), of the trolley rides into town for school, her hus...

June is recognized as both "Seniors Month" and "Pride Month" and this episode’s intersectional interview touches on both themes - I interview Nikki Machin, the Outreach & Community Development Worker for  Gay and Grey Montreal Gay and Grey Montreal is a social, mutual aid and sensitization network for English-speaking 2S.L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ individuals over the age of 50 in Montreal and the surroundin...

For this episode I interview Kelly Kavanagh, a resident at The Village of Riverside Glen. Kelly's a world traveler, starting her adult life in the Northwest Territory then traveling North America, training communities in specialized software. Following that she set out to travel the world. Today Kelly's shares some of her favourites with us. Thank you Kelly for taking the time to connect! This int...

For this episode I interview Ian Roy, an author and creative writing instructor based in Ottawa ON. We connect today to talk about Ian's brand new book, a middle-grade novel called "The Girl Who Could Fly", freshly published by Nevermore Press . Ian talks about his practices as a writer, and about his travels through geography, history, and imagination that culminated in this book. It's pretty mag...

For this episode I interview Freda Reid, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Freda grew up outside Arthur, starting life on a farm, and returned to farming when she got married as an adult and moved to Hillsburg. Freda talks a bit about farming life, and she also shares about training and working as a nurse, attending the dances, drumming in the high school band, and working as a bookke...

For this episode I interview cutsleeve , a fantastic rock band based out of Toronto ON, who released their debut EP "The Parts We Could Not Abandon" this past summer, in the midst of this pandemic. They talk about this, the hurdles of navigating releasing an album and tackling online shows when you can't be together, and what they're most looking forward to when gathering can happen again. They al...

For this episode I interview Emma Bradley, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Emma is 96 years old, and has memories dating back to when she was a toddler. It's amazing to hear her stories of a childhood in New Brunswick, in a family of eleven children, growing up during WWII. All five of her brothers joined the services, and one ended up in a Prisoner of War Camp in Germany for two ye...

For this episode, for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, I interview Catherine Livingstone, a University of Guelph graduate, and founder of "The Opal Season" who works as a Dementia care consultant, currently based out of Winnipeg Manitoba. A big part of my working on "Bridging the Social Distance" during the pandemic has been connecting with seniors, using softwares such as Zoom, in order to be...

For this episode I interview Willy Veerman, a resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Willy's vivid memory of her childhood in Holland takes us on a beautiful trip today. Willy tells us of life on the farm, the river and the bridge, her four siblings, going to school in wooden shoes...then later her journey to Canada, and having six children of her own. This conversation feels right out of a...

For this episode I interview Ron Leary, a musician based in Windsor Ontario. After decades of working jobs, and even finishing a degree, alongside writing, performing and touring as a musician, Ron has decided to go all in with music. He has scheduled a summer of outdoor shows, and is doing his best to transition to our weird new digital realities, and Jenny and him talk about this, about what's c...

For this episode I interview Doug and Pat Breckon, a couple who reside over at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Doug and Pat both spent their whole careers as Front Line workers, as a Police Officer and a Nurse, and endured many stressful, challenging, and rewarding experiences from their work. They share some of those stories today (content warning - Doug worked as a Police-Diver and accident pho...

For this episode I interview John Hofstee, a brand new resident at @the  The Village of Riverside Glen . We talk about John's transition to Canada from Holland as a teenager, and consequently his transition from high school into the working world. We talk about his transition through careers as he spent years doing distance learning, and we talk about his most recent transition just two weeks ago...

For this episode I interview Gerard Jansen, another brand new resident at  The Village of Riverside Glen . Gerard tells us of his journey over to Canada from Holland as a young man, finding himself in Guelph to work in the Ward at the Fibre Glass Company. Alongside his hard work was his life's passion for Black Angus Cattle, and caring for his own award-winners. Thank you to Gerard for sharing you...

For this episode I interview Rea Gibson, a new resident over at the Village of Riverside Glen. Rea grew up on a farm in Erin township during the depression, later moving to Guelph as a teenager when his dad became an Auctioneer. After high school he took furniture design at what was known as Ryerson Institute of Technology, which lead to a life of woodworking. His woodworking ventures spanned furn...

For this episode I interview Roelof Reinders, a brand new resident at The Village of Riverside Glen . Roelof moved to Canada at 21 to start a new life, traveling between farms around Ontario working odd jobs in farming and construction. Him and his girlfriend had broken up when he moved, but when they rekindled their love and became a "hot item" via letter-mail, he returned to Holland, they were m...