Tapestrywith Mary Hynes

Dr. Willie Parker is a religious man who felt called to work in a very different setting than the one he had imagined for himself as an obstetrician. He’s one of the few doctors in the American South who provides abortions. Dr. Parker says answering that call wasn’t just a medical decision - it was a spiritual one.

Dev Cuny grew up in a charismatic Evangelical home. Coming out as queer meant being condemned to hell. They tried to pray the gay away. It didn't work. Now Dev Cuny helps other survivors of conversion therapy.

A tormented Cuny agreed to undergo gay conversion therapy, survived the abusive experience, and now helps other survivors. Dr. Willie Parker on why he felt morally and spiritually compelled to do perform abortions.

Alexander Leon, a London-based LGBTQ activist, spent his childhood pretending to be someone else. He posted a tweet about his experience growing up gay and his search for authenticity in adulthood — and it went viral.

A viral tweet inspires feelings of solidarity around queer identity and the search for authenticity. And one woman grapples with the traditions around marriage, a decade after same-sex unions were legalized.

After coming out and getting into a serious relationship, Lauren Strapageil wants to one day get married. But she wrestles with the institution of marriage and its place in the LGBTQ community.

Leona Godin discovered punk rock around the time she began to lose her eyesight. From its mistrust of authority to its brutal aesthetic, the punk scene spoke to the part of Leona that didn’t want to ‘make nice’ but wanted to make noise.

Originally broadcast in September 2007, this is one of the most requested episodes we’ve ever produced. Poet Coleman Barks and the ‘modern-day mystic’ Andrew Harvey explore all the ways Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, speaks to 21st-century hearts and minds.

When he was cast as Herod in the Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Richard Kelly Kemick, an agnostic, found himself immersed in conversations about faith and surrounded by believers. Despite their differences, Kemick was startled by how much they had in common.

Leona Godin reflects on the strange symmetry between discovering punk rock and losing her eyesight as a girl. And agnostic Richard Kelly Kemick recounts his summer playing Herod among a cast of believers in the Badlands of Alberta.

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? This episode examines the politics of appearance.

More disabled people are being visibly depicted in our popular media. S.e. Smith says that while this may look like progress, that representation doesn't always show the full picture.

People celebrating Yom Kippur can't eat, shower, wear leather shoes, or makeup. For Lisa Tognola, someone who wears makeup every day, that last one posed a real challenge.

For decades, a pervasive myth that black men fought for the South in the American Civil War has plagued historians and distorted collective memory of that event. Historian Kevin Levin says that false narrative fuels the racial divide today.

Nygel Turner was expecting a history lesson when he toured a Louisiana plantation with his dad. His experience illustrates the harm that can come when parts of the story are distorted or erased.

This episode is a holiday favourite from the Tapestry vaults: a playful, thoughtful exploration of the ways different spiritual traditions think about light at the darkest time of the year.

Writer, consultant, and activist Margaret Wheatley believes civilization is on the brink of collapse. She is training ‘warriors for the human spirit’ all over the world to combat despair.

From plantation tours to the myth of the black Confederate soldier, the history of slavery and the American Civil War has often been whitewashed. In this special episode, Tapestry investigates how distorted versions of the past can do so much harm in the present.

Want to help build better world? Margaret Wheatley is training 'Warriors for the Human Spirit. Want to see the world in a new light? Riz Virk argues we are all living in a computer simulation.

Victor Wooten is considered one of the best bass players alive. His soulful conversation with Tapestry host Mary Hynes, punctuated by some exceptional bass-playing, is one our bass-playing host has never forgotten.

Serious academics have been speculating whether reality is a sophisticated, computer-generated simulation. Writer Rizwan Virk says religions around the world have long held the key to understanding how that might work.