Getting to know the neighbours (Oct. 2)

Sometimes, even though they may only live a few metres away, our neighbours are a mystery to us. So Sook-Yin takes her mic to the street to ask: what have you always wanted to ask your neighbour?

Lindsay Kyte has one neighbour she doesn't know well... but she's always wanted to be one of the lucky neighbourhood folk to be given a grape by "Mr. Grapes." So Sook-Yin will take Lindsay out to see if she can broker a meeting with the elusive neighbourhood fixture...

Chandra Mayor once had a powerful connection with her downstairs neighbor, even though they never talked.  She'll tell us how it happened.

It's easy to live in a neighbourhood and not know any of the people around you. So writer Peter Lovenheim went on a rather unusual quest to get to know his neighbours better, which he's written about in his book, In the Neighbourhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time. We'll talk with him about the experience of getting to know the people down the street.

If you typed Christine Maki's address into Google Streetview, you'd see her next-door neighbours... an older Italian couple sitting on their front porch. Christine really likes them: they're friendly, they share fruit and vegetables from their garden, and they bring over Italian sweets. But there's the small problem of the communication barrier, which has lead to some interesting challenges... Christine will tell us about one of them.

One of the nice things about knowing the neighbours is that you can borrow stuff from them - you know, a rake, or a cup of sugar. Julie Reeve asked for much more from her neighbour, Shelly Rose: Julie needed a life-saving organ donation from Shelly. They'll tell us their story of neighbours really, really helping neighbours.

Why get to know your neighbours? What if we told you that getting to know them will not only make you a happier and healthier person, but it will also make the world a better place? Clare Lawlor explains how.

Some people kinda prefer to keep to themselves... but it's hard to do when you're the person the neighbours come to for help with a very specific problem. Alix Sobler will tell us how she became that person in her apartment block.

Habiba Nosheen had to reconsider her impression of one of her neighbours... thanks to her mysteriously-disappearing garbage. She'll explain why.

Stellar Band of Neighbours is a Canadian supergroup... of musicians and neighbours.  The band is made up of musicians from The Odds, Grapes of Wrath, and the Tragically Hip. But more than that, the members all are - of have been - neighbours. They'll join us to talk about making music on the block, and play us a tune live-in-studio.

Let's face it - we don't all love our neighbours. But Jenny Howe had neighbours she loved to fight with. She'll tell us why, and how they waged a mostly-friendly neighbour war.

Some of us don't get to know the neighbours better because we don't want to rock the boat. But there's one community that's designed to get neighbours talking. Al-Andalus is a virtual community in Second Life, named after and inspired by a medieval Spanish nation, where Muslims, Jews and Christians co-existed peacefully. We'll talk about getting along with the virtual neighbours with one of Al-Andalus' founders - Georgiana Nelsen (a.k.a. Rose Springvale, sultana of Al-Andalus).


And here's this week's playlist:

Cee Lo Green - "Forget You"
The Temptations - "I Can't Get Next To You"
Christina Maria - "What You Make It"
Arcade Fire - "We Used to Wait" (and make your "personalized video" for the song here)
Jason Collett - "Papercut Hearts"
Immaculate Machine - "Neighbours Don't Mind"
Violent Kin - "Keep Your Balance"
Field Music - "House Is Not a Home"
Stellar Band of Neighbours - "Three Women" (live in studio)
Most Serene Republic - "Men Who Live Upstairs"