Featured

Ecologist David Schindler Retires

Photo: The University of Alberta

Photo: The University of Alberta

Listen

The contribution David Schindler has made to environmental science has been remarkable. From his position as the Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, he has looked at the effects of acid rain and phosphates from detergents on our lakes.

Read More »

Child Soldiers, Crosswords and Jennie Rooney on her novel "Red Joan"

Child Soldiers, Crosswords and Jennie Rooney on her novel
The podcast for Sunday, May 26, 2013, features Opiyo Oloya on child soldiers in Uganda and his book Child to Soldier: Stories from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army and Jennie Rooney on her third novel, Red Joan, which takes as its inspiration the story of Melita Norwood - former secretary, grandmother and KGB spy.


Read More »

Listen

Seniors group creates NYT-worthy crossword puzzles - Documentary

Seniors group creates NYT-worthy crossword puzzles - Documentary
Most of the New York Times cryptic crossword puzzles - the grid and the clues - are written by experts. Even for them, having a puzzle accepted and published by the Times is a big deal. Which is why there was celebratory coffee, ginger ale and cake the first time an unassuming group of seniors joined the crossword-creating elite. They have now hit that jackpot five times. 

Read More »

Listen

Michael's Essay -- Rob Ford; politics and the challenge of substance abuse

Michael's Essay -- Rob Ford; politics and the challenge of substance abuse

This is a quote from a politician named Ford: "I liked alcohol. It made me feel warm. And I loved pills. They took away my tension and my pain."

Those words were written in 1987 by the former First Lady of the United States, Betty Ford.
It was a stunning admission at the time. Yet Americans came to respect, even love Mrs. Ford after she talked about her addictions. 

Read More »

Listen

The Reinvention of J.S. Bach

The Reinvention of J.S. Bach
Author, editor and journalist Paul Elie argues that the music of Bach is with us today largely because of the work of five great musicians; organist and physician Albert Schweitzer, cellists Pablo Casals and Yo Yo Ma, pianist Glenn Gould, and conductor Leopold Stokowski

Read More »

Listen

Jeffrey Simpson on Medicare; Marcia Angell on living a goodlife; and more...

Jeffrey Simpson on Medicare; Marcia Angell on living a goodlife; and more...
The podcast for Sunday May 19, 2013, featuring author David Sedaris, a documentary about Canadian bookstore maven of New York City Sarah McNally, Michael learning Ikibana, the Japanese art of flower arranging.

Read More »

Listen

David Sedaris on Owls, Taxidermy and Preserved Pygmies

 David Sedaris on Owls, Taxidermy and Preserved Pygmies
Over twenty years ago, an unknown David Sedaris read one of his stories on National Public Radio in the US. It was a dark and hilarious piece about being a Santa's elf at Macy's department store in Manhattan.

Read More »

Listen

Documentary: Sarah McNally, "Another Hipster In The Business: God Help Me."

Documentary: Sarah McNally,
A New York editor once said, "Sarah McNally has a combination of Canadian seriousness, rapacious intelligence and an idiosyncrasy that clearly comes from a deep place."

Read More »

Listen

Sunday School: Michael learns Ikebana -- the ancient art of Japanese floral arrangement

Sunday School: Michael learns Ikebana -- the ancient art of Japanese floral arrangement
Why settle for a full bouquet of robust blooms when you could have an artistic expression of floral subtlety that captures the beauty and the fragility of life?

Read More »

Listen

Michael's Essay: Rob Ford, Magic Powder and the Cult of the Red Chamber

      These were unhappy, roistering days in the Great City. The Leader, a round and blondish man, was surrounded by enemies, like small dogs barking and tearing at his raiment. Oh, he had fought them before. Indeed, since capturing the Great City, wresting it from the iron grip of the evil Downtowners, he had turned away one catastrophe after another.

Read More »

Listen

Dealing with human frailty; Former Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux Dubé; the struggle of First Nations women; and more...

Dealing with human frailty; Former Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux Dubé; the struggle of First Nations women; and more...
The podcast for Sunday May 12, 2013, featuring Al Gore, a documentary about the first Chinese university students in North America, and...

Read More »

Listen