Tapestrywith Mary Hynes
Latest
Black millennials contend with the broken promises of the American dream, says writer
Reniqua Allen says once segregation ended as official US policy, black Americans started believing they too could benefit from the promise of economic freedom and upward mobility. Decades later, she says, the failure of that promise is driving young black Americans to burnout.
This writer used his stories about Canada's wilderness to belong. Here's why he stopped telling them.
Phillip Dwight Morgan thought his cycling trip across Canada would answer his unresolved questions about identity and belonging. Instead, it confronted him with new ones.
The American dream and Canada's great outdoors: how these national ideals leave out people of colour
Reniqua Allen on the broken promises of the American dream for black millennials, and Phillip Dwight Morgan on cycling across Canada as a young black man.
Removing hateful tattoos can help erase their baggage, says tattoo shop owner
Memphis Cadeau, co-owner of Grim City Tattoo Club in Hamilton, Ont., works pro bono with a range of clients, from former gang members to victims of human trafficking, who say getting a tattoo removed can be life-changing.
Inuk filmmaker explains the emotionally fraught decision to get traditional face tattoos
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, director of Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos and Angry Inuk, explains why deciding to get traditional Inuit tattoos was emotionally fraught — and what that means for non-Indigenous people looking to get the tattoos.
Ink and Identity
Tattoos and the very human desire to leave your mark — on yourself.
A guide to hopepunk: What to read, watch and listen to when all seems lost
Author Alexandra Rowland helped prompt a literary movement about hope and continued resistance with two cryptic sentences: "The opposite of grimdark is hopepunk. Pass it on."
When hope is 'punk' and grudges are forgiveness
Author Alexandra Rowland on the movement she sparked when she coined the term 'hopepunk.' Crime writer Sophie Hannah on why grudges are misunderstood and how she benefits from bearing them.
How holding a grudge can be a shortcut to forgiveness
Rather than just, 'letting it go,' when we feel someone has done us wrong, author Sophie Hannah says bearing a grudge productively can validate for our sense of hurt and help us find more fulsome forgiveness.
One man's solution for crushing social anxiety: improv comedy
Yitzi Gal's social anxiety was so bad that if he had to make conversation, his fingernails would cut crescent moons into his palms. When his sister enrolled him in improv comedy classes, he resisted, hiding in his car during breaks to avoid the other students. But slowly, the improv began to work.
Yes, and...
How improv comedy helped a man with social anxiety and a teen with autism.
How improv comedy helped a teen with autism
Fifteen-year-old Allyssa Harman was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as a young child. While it's been difficult for her to make friends, Allyssa's mother, Martha, noticed her daughter was very funny. So, she signed her up for a course at The Second City in Toronto that was specifically for teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Performing naked can be a 'radical' act for men, says writer
Adam Smith, a writer and podcaster, decided to perform naked, not once but twice. He said he wanted to test his comfort level with his body, and so partook in a regular event called Naked Boys Reading.
Why so many of us are hustling past exhaustion
BuzzFeed writer Anne Helen Petersen explains why burnout has reached a critical mass and quick fixes like overnight oats aren't helping. Writer Jonathan Malesic describes how burning out from his dream job led him on a search for new ways to relate to work. And young Canadians chime in about how they're mentally and physically fed up.
Precarity, debt and social media: BuzzFeed writer Anne Helen Petersen on the modern brand of burnout
Young Canadians across the country say they feel like the pressure is on, and many told Tapestry they feel mentally exhausted. Anne Helen Petersen breaks down how millennials have become what she calls "the burnout generation."
How monks approach burnout: This writer thinks it might work for us too
Jonathan Malesic found himself burning out from a stable, secure job that he loved. He says that experience taught him everyone can burn out — and that changing our work-obsessed culture has a lot to do with solidarity.
Fat and loving it: this man says life improved when he gained weight
Writer and activist Anshman Iddamsetty says in today's body-conscious society, being fat and happy about it is seen as an affront to social expectations
The tyranny of beauty standards, and the men who fight them
Anshuman Iddamsetty says being fat and happy about it is an act of 'disobedience' in a culture that expects us to want to be thin. Later, Adam Smith decided to read a book naked — not once but twice.
From tenure-track prof to work-from-home dad: how families are renegotiating household roles
Writer Stephen Marche explores how changing economic tides affected fatherhood and domestic work in his family, and families across North America.
The sinister link between emotional labour and rape culture
“There is this very deep fear that if we are not using those skills to keep the men that are harassing us comfortable and happy, it could end really really badly."
The loneliness of women's emotional labour and what we can do about it
Author Gemma Hartley spent years managing her household. All that extra work — the emotional labour needed to keep her husband and three kids comfortable — was going unacknowledged and undervalued ... till she hit her breaking point. Author Stephen Marche shares the male perspective on emotional labour from a household where his wife is the chief breadwinner.
A better way to be angry: advice from philosopher Martha Nussbaum
What do we do about the social poison of anger? According to philosopher Martha Nussbaum, anger isn't an inherently bad thing — it's when anger turns to vengeance that we run into trouble.
In an era of division and vocal anti-Semitism, rabbi says there's reason for optimism
Rabbi David Rosen has spent decades reaching across political and religious divides in places like Ireland during "The Troubles", apartheid South Africa, and present-day Israel. He makes the case for optimism, even in the darkest times.
How petting a dog helped two opposing protesters find common ground
Tahil Sharma is both Sikh and Hindu. When an angry protester crossed the street to confront him, he drew on wisdom from his two traditions to start a more productive conversation.
Connecting across divides
FULL EPISODE: Rabbi David Rosen and Tahil Sharma share stories and perspectives on how to create meaningful relationships across political and religious divisions, especially when you don't see eye to eye with the other.
Removing hateful tattoos can help erase their baggage, says tattoo shop owner
Memphis Cadeau, co-owner of Grim City Tattoo Club in Hamilton, Ont., works pro bono with a range of clients, from former gang members to victims of human trafficking, who say getting a tattoo removed can be life-changing.
Inuk filmmaker explains the emotionally fraught decision to get traditional face tattoos
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, director of Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos and Angry Inuk, explains why deciding to get traditional Inuit tattoos was emotionally fraught — and what that means for non-Indigenous people looking to get the tattoos.
