YXE Underground

On a December evening in 2017, Andrea Schick's life was thrown into chaos.  The health of her four and a half year-old son, Sebastian, quickly took a turn for the worse. Doctors in Regina didn't know what was wrong and because Saskatchewan didn't have a children's hospital at the time, Andrea and her family were forced to travel to Edmonton so that Sebastian could receive care.  It was in Edmonton...

Spend some time in the Ronald McDonald House here in Saskatoon and you will feel a lot of things. You will feel the kindness of staff as they work to serve the families that are calling the house home while going through extremely challenging times. You will feel creativity as you discover all the big and little things within the house designed to make a family's stay as pleasant as possible. And...

March 20th was the first day of spring and it felt like a day to be outside.  I woke up early to go for a haircut and run a few errands, including picking up lunch for my wife who was at home participating in an all day zoom conference. I think seeing her sitting in front of her laptop inspired me to make the most of the afternoon and headed out for a walk. I parked off of 14th Street close to Bro...

"If I allow praise to be why I do this job or get wrapped up in that life-saving mentality, I would worry about the job I'm doing. You have to keep some humility." Jen Rondeau is a very humble and wise woman. As a Critical Care Paramedic, her job is to help those who need immediate medical help. She works with Air Ambulance and Road Ambulance based at Medavie Health Services West in Saskatoon's St...

How are you doing? It's a question I have asked my friends, my family, my colleagues and plenty of strangers during the last year. It's been a hard year for many in our community due to the pandemic. I think it's fair to say we've all had to deal with various mental health challenges.  As we approach one year of the Covid-19 pandemic here in Saskatoon, it seemed like the right time to see how we a...

I love speaking with Scotty Dicks. In Season One of YXE Underground, Scotty appeared on the podcast to talk about his work in growing Saskatoon's culinary scene. A wonderful chef who loves collaborating, Scotty worked with different restaurants and pubs in the city developing their menus while teaching classes at The Local Kitchen and running his own catering company. He was influential in educati...

I have had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Jodi Grant for the past four years. Jodi is a resident at Sherbrooke Community Centre, which is where I work, and her life has been full of challenges . However, one of her constant sources of joy has been reading stories out loud to students .  At Sherbrooke, Jodi reads to grade six students as part of the iGen program. iGen, which is short for Intergenerati...

Yulissa Campos has a wonderful presence to her. It's a mix of confidence and conviction, fuelled by a lot of passion to tell and share stories on a stage before an audience. At the age of 26, Yulissa has accomplished a great deal in Saskatoon's local theatre scene. She has written and performed plays that are uniquely her own and has started her own theatre company, Ay Caramba! Theatre . She takes...

I was very excited and nervous for this interview. I mean, how often do you get to meet people who are literally trying to save the world? In my mind, Andrea Kroeker and Jill Van Kessel are superheroes and it was a real thrill to speak with them. Andrea and Jill are Research Technicians at Saskatoon's VIDO-InterVac , an organization located on the University of Saskatchewan that has been researchi...

The Broadway Theatre holds a lot of meaning for people in Saskatoon.  Some people go to the Broadway for live theatre, others come for movies, and if you're like me, you buy a seat to one of the many of the great concerts hosted by the venue. It really is a hub for Saskatoon's artistic and creative community and like many other venues in our city, it has been hurt by the pandemic. Kirby Wirchenko...

About halfway through our conversation, Natalya Mason describes why she took part in this summer's Black Lives Matter protests in Saskatoon, and I love it when she says, "this wasn't my first protest." It offers you a hint of Natalya's character. She is passionate, caring, determined and not afraid to say what's on her mind and in her heart.  Natalya is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for S...

You don't forget a person like Julia Holliday-Scott.  Julia is Director of Support Services at Prairie Harm Reduction (formerly AIDS Saskatoon). She is caring, passionate, and is able to articulate her thoughts in a way that makes you think, "yeah, I can get behind that!" Julia first appeared on the podcast in December of 2019. That was when the safe consumption site was nearing completion. The is...

There are so many moments from this episode that stand out to me, but one of my favourite is when Tara Janzen and Honey Constant walked up to the massive wire fence to see the bison. They both instinctively reached for the fence and wrapped their fingers around the wires in order to get as close to as possible to the bison. Or as Honey calls them, 'my cousins.' This episode features two young wome...

When Anita Smith pitches you an idea, it's pretty hard to say no! Anita is the Executive Director of Saskatoon's 25th Street Theatre Company . It is a company rich in history and best known for producing the Saskatoon Fringe Festival every year. This year, due to Covid-19, 25th Street was forced to switch gears and do something different than the Fringe Festival. Enter the This Is Not That Festiva...

Candace Gabriel really is the perfect person to run Saskatoon's Summer Snack Program. For the past 33 years, this program has provided children and their families with free and nutritious meals in parks across the city during the summer months. Candace has been the program's coordinator for the last nine years and has seen the positive impact something as simple as a sandwich can have. When Candac...

The first few days of the Covid-19 pandemic are a blur for Chris Randall.  Chris is a housing advocate who has been working for years with Saskatoon's most vulnerable people. When the pandemic arrived in our city, he was working on a project that tracks the number of homeless people in Saskatoon. That quickly changed when it became clear how vulnerable the homeless population would be to this viru...

What does Saskatoon sound like during a global pandemic? For the first weeks of our city shut down due to Covid-19, I couldn't get over how quiet the city was. There were fewer cars on the road during my morning commute to work. The trails along the riverbank were sparse and neighbourhoods like Broadway and Riversdale were empty of people. Everything slowed down and it felt like a hush went over t...

This is probably the most personal episode of YXE Underground I have done. For the past three years, I have worked at Sherbrooke Community Centre, a long-term care home in Saskatoon's east side, as its Communications Leader. It is an incredible place to come every day because of the people who live in the home and the dedicated staff who care for its residents. There is a rhythm to life at Sherbro...

The best part of the Juno Awards when Saskatoon first hosted in 2007 was, in my opinion, Junofest. The two-day music festival had artists and bands playing all over the city, and it felt like a competition to see how many great bands you could see in one night. There's a picture of my cousin, Troy Weppler, and I standing in the cold out in front of Amigos taken by sister after we had just seen Rob...

In 2007, when Saskatoon last hosted the Juno Awards , I was using an LG flip phone to stay in touch with friends during the festivities. Things have changed a bit in 13 years. When I heard the Junos were returning to Saskatoon, I was excited! I have been lucky to attend two Juno Award weeks and had an absolute blast both times. I wanted to learn how our city was able to convince the Juno folks to...

Beth Cote shares a wonderful story at the end of this episode that illustrates the potential of a new downtown library in Saskatoon. Now, I'm not saying you should skip to the end of the book (or podcast in this case) because there's plenty of good stuff in the first 43 minutes, but when you hear Beth's story of a conversation she has with a Halifax baker and the pride he had in his city's new lib...

Thursday night was special and meaningful for many people here in Saskatoon. The Surviv(her) cancer support group, founded by Amy Morris, hosted an event called 'Portraits of Surviv(her)s.' It paired local photographers with Saskatoon women who are cancer survivors and fighters. It also created a wonderful sense of community. The portraits were displayed throughout the event room at LB Distillery....

There's nothing like a compelling story to prove a point. That is certainly the case in this episode of YXE Underground which focuses on the work being done at the Global Gathering Place in Saskatoon.  The stories shared in this episode will make you realize the important work being done at the Global Gathering Place in helping newcomers and refugees settle into their new lives in our city. Afton...

Begin a conversation with Julia Holliday-Scott and you'll quickly notice a few things: She is always looking to help people who need it the most, which makes her a perfect fit as Support Services Coordinator for AIDS Saskatoon . She is also very articulate and can raise several compelling arguments and opinions in the span of a few seconds. She definitely kept me on my toes during our conversation...

In June, I received an email from Lauryn Kronick, who is the Education and Prevention Coordinator at AIDS Saskatoon . They asked if I wanted to take part in National HIV Testing Day , which is on June 27th.   My first thought was yes, of course. HIV rates in Saskatchewa n are incredibly high compared to the rest of the country. Maybe if I tweeted about it and did something for the podcast, people...