Tapestrywith Mary Hynes
Latest
A new type of family: six housemates on the highs and lows of communal living
Six friends pooled their resources and bought a house together. It was a creative way to break in to Toronto’s intense housing market, but their main motivation was to create a new kind of household in a society that idealizes romantic partnerships and nuclear families.
Longing for loneliness: a writer on the beauty of solitude
Writer Miciah Bay Gault grew up with an intense sense of solitude and loneliness. She didn't always love the feeling. But now, amid her busy days as a teacher and a parent to three children, she longs to feel lonely and realizes it remains a core part of her identity.
No partner? No problem: you don't need a relationship to live a meaningful life, says writer
New York-based writer Briallen Hopper was always taught that romantic relationships were the most important of all. In her new collection of essays Hard to Love, she challenges that old narrative and imagines a full rich life where friendships come first.
Friendship
Stories about how loving relationships with our friends and ourselves can shape us more than romantic relationships.
Tapestry at 25: Irish poet John O'Donohue
It might be the single-most requested interview we’ve ever broadcast. In this conversation from 2004, John O’Donohue shares his poetry and soulful wisdom about what it means to live a good life and die a good death.
Tapestry at 25: gospel singer Mavis Staples
We chased Staples for two years before the singer agreed to an interview. This 2011 conversation is rich with her reflections on the power of music to lift the human spirit, stories about her family’s close connection with Martin Luther King, Jr.
The world is full of delight if you choose to see it
After spending a year keeping track of all the delightful things he encountered, poet Ross Gay published his insights in “The Book of Delights.” He says observing small joyful moments is a social and political act in a world that prefers proficiency.
Making visual art for people who are blind
Visual art was Taylor Katzel’s passion and he wanted to teach art for a career. But just before he started teacher’s college, he was struck by an unexpected condition that left him blind. In Luke Williams' doc Art-cessbility, Katzel tells his story and makes a trip to the AGO to discover how inclusive design — a paradigm which focuses on making art and design accessible to people with disabilities — could allow him to continue to explore and experience visual art.
The delight in what we see and what we can't
Discovering moments of delight and making art accessible.
News headlines getting you down? Here's how to protect your mental health
Steven Stosny is a psychologist who coined the term 'headline stress disorder' during the 2016 election in the United States. It’s a state of fear and anxiety brought on by the intense onslaught of provocative news headlines, and it’s a condition he says has only intensified in the past few years. In a conversation with Tapestry host Mary Hynes, Stosny dissects headline stress disorder and offers some concrete ways to deal with it.
This writer purposely got rejected every day for a month. Here's what she learned
London-based writer Marianne Power spent one month trying to get turned down, intentionally. She asked retailers for free stuff, she asked people to let her skip ahead in line, she pitched to magazines she felt were way out of her league — all in the name of getting better at dealing with rejection.
Headlines and Rejection
Feeling stressed? Rejected? Tapestry wants you back on your feet. Here's how to deal with headline stress and rejection - from experts who have personally suffered from both.
From dad to Dadbot: one man's attempt to capture human essence in AI
James Vlahos built a chatbot that responds like his dead father. Now he wants everyone else to have what he has — a lasting interactive memento of a dead loved one. But can software truly capture a human spirit?
How to turn old age into the prime of your life
A geriatric psychiatrist says that if we celebrated as people enter older stages of life, there would be a really profound shift in the way society thinks about aging. Instead of dreading it, we should look forward to it.
Aging better, Dadbot
A geriatric psychiatrist says that if we celebrated as people enter older stages of life, there would be a really profound shift in the way society thinks about aging. Meanwhile a man turns his father into an AI, and he wants you to be able to do the same.
Contra
Caleb Cain went from white nationalist to progressive. He credits YouTube star Natalie Wynn, known as ContraPoints, who both challenges and empathizes with people on the far right. Then, growing up in Toronto's most notorious neighbourhood, Talisha Ramsaroop wasn't encouraged to dream big or have life goals. Now she's working to change that.
The real violence in a 'bad' neighbourhood is low expectations, says community coordinator
Growing up in Toronto's most notorious neighbourhood, Talisha Ramsaroop wasn't encouraged to dream big or have life goals. Now she's working to change that for young people from her community.
How YouTubers are deradicalizing members of the alt-right
Caleb Cain went from white nationalist to progressive over the course of two years. He credits YouTube star Natalie Wynn, known as ContraPoints, who both challenges and empathizes with people on the far right.
More than just a game: the zen power of Tetris
Scientists say playing a video game of Tetris can get you into a 'flow state'. It's when you focus so completely on a single thing that everything else fades away, including your anxieties.
Rethinking the weekend: how to prevent work from seeping into your down time
Do you ever find yourself judging the weekend by the extent to which it recharges you for the working week? Writer Sheridan Voysey suggests beating this habit with the idea of ‘sacred inefficiency.’
When you've been drunk your whole life, who are you when you get sober?
Writer Eve Peyser shares the unexpected identity crisis she underwent when she stopped drinking.
"God delivered" Minister describes the healing power of the Beyoncé Mass
Reverend Yolanda Norton says Beyoncé-themed mass sent the real message of God: love.
Spiritual healing, Beyoncé-style
A Beyoncé mass and a ritual commemorating lost species
Remembrance Day for Lost Species
Artist and activist Persephone Pearl on why - and how - to honour the creatures whose time on Earth is over.
tapestry
Guess who's coming to dinner? Zoroastrian priest changed by daughter's interfaith marriage
When Jal Panthaky's daughter, Rahnuma, fell in love with Michael, a non-Zoroastrian man, he began a journey of understanding that also led to a deeper bond and new possibilities.
