Guelph Politicast

GUELPH POLITICAST #328 - Noah’s Arc

In his first book, Learning to Live: From the Loss of My Parents to Mental Health Advocate, Noah Irvine writes his memoirs. It might seem a bit weird for a 21-year-old kid from Guelph to put down his life story for posterity, but it's a story that's as remarkable as it is recognizable. Noah might have become a statistic, but instead he became an advocate. Now he wants to tell you why.
You’ve probably heard of Noah because he’s been featured in a lot of different local and national media outlets (and this podcast) for his letter writing campaign demanding better mental health support. For Noah, mental health was always front of mind, so to speak, his mother died by suicide when he was five, and his father overdosed when he was 15. So Learning to Live is aptly named as Noah chronicles the struggles of his youth and how his personal tragedy made him feel different from other kids.
In his book, Noah questions how he remembers the things he remembers, how he carries around guilt for what happened to his parents (even while realizing how irrational that is), and how he had to struggle with his own issues, including a learning disability that might have kept him from pursuing a university education. Noah will tell you that he had a lot of support, but he will also tell you that he’s one of the lucky ones, which is why he wanted to write his book, to remember the unlucky ones, like his parents.
So Noah Irvine joins us on this week’s podcast to talk about luck, why he wanted to write his life story down in a book, and the everyday struggles of being a survivor and trying to relate. He will also talk about his efforts to try and understand his parents and their issues, and how his now famous letter writing campaign, which started as a school project, helped him overcome. And finally, Noah will tell us about the limits of his political action, and why he’s now leaning towards a career in law instead of politics.
So let's let Noah tell his story on this week's edition of the Guelph Politiciast!
You can buy a copy of Learning to Live downtown at the Bookshelf, Guelph’s independent bookstore, or you can buy it through the book’s website. Noah also has a blog on that site and you can sign up for email updates while you're there.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, Stitcher, Google, TuneIn and Spotify .
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Open Sources Guelph. #380 - June 9, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, it's time to get back to normal. Following Election Day (and our Election Night special) we will take a broader look at the provincial results and talk about where we go from here, and then we will catch up with recent developments in Ukraine, where there is still a battle for control of the country. In the back half of the show: You know him, you love him, and you just re-elected him!
This Thursday, June 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Ford More Years. In a surprising non-surprise, Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives won 83 seats to hold the majority in the Ontario Legislature. The overwhelming endorsement of Ford, combined with the incredibly low voter turnout, leaves us with many questions, including who will lead both the NDP and the Liberal Party against the Ford juggernaut. We will wrap up our election coverage with some final thoughts.
105 Days Later. While we weren't looking these last few weeks, the Russian war in Ukraine has been pressing on now for over 100 days, which is about 100 days longer than a lot of people expected. The fog of war makes it difficult to see who has the advantage, but Volodymyr Zelenskyy's been visiting the front, and Vladimir Putin's been rattling the sabre so the optics are definitely telling one story. We'll talk about the latest developments.
Mike Back! For Guelphites looking for a silver lining in Thursday's election, it came in the form of Mike Schreiner's overwhelming re-election to Queen's Park for a second term. While he's still the only Green member in the Legislature, Schreiner will return as essentially the only opposition leader to survive the election, so does that give him more power? And how is he going to keep doing politics differently with a now stronger Ford in government?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #251 - June 8, 2022 (Firestarter 2022)

This week on End Credits, we didn't start the fire. That line is from a song, and not from the remake of the movie based on the book written by Stephen King. That's the long-winded way of saying that this week we're reviewing the new version of Firestarter, and since King is on the menu, we will tee up the review with a look at some all time King Klassics.
This Wednesday, June 8, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Three Kings. In the annals of publishing, there's probably been no one like Stephen King. His books become near instantaneous best sellers, and then they become, more often than not, popular movies that can sometimes achieve both critical and commercial acclaim. Whether or not the new Firestarter is good will be determined, but for the first part of the show, we will talk about three of our favourite King adaptations, from dead bodies to evil cars.
REVIEW: Firestarter (2022). Nearly 40 years ago, Drew Barrymore played a young girl with pyrokenetic powers. She could start fires. The movie, which was based on a Stephen King best-seller, became something of a cult classic, and because everything old is new again, even Firestarter had to be remade. In this version, Zac Efron plays the dad, and an actual Indigenous actor plays the Indigenous role, but it's still about a girl that can set fires with her mind and the dangerous government group that wants her. So, is this one of those good remakes?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #327 - Queer as Faith

Much of the hate and vitriol aimed at the LGBTQ+ people comes from religious communities still promoting ideas in the 21st century that being anything other than straight and cisgender is a violation of centuries of religious dogma. How can you find a faith space where you can be respected and accepted as openly queer? That's a good question for the “Rainbow Papa-Bear”!
There’s a certain term you’ll hear used in this conversation: “The Clobber Passages.” This is from a book by Reverend Doctor Mel While called, Clobber the Passages: Seven Deadly Verses, which looks at how, “For centuries, evangelicals who read the Bible literally have misused seven verses to convince the world that homosexuality is a sin and homosexuals sinners.” Scholars like White argue that these passages are not only out of pace in a modern world, but they've been widely misinterpreted over the centuries. 
Having said that, people of faith sometimes still have to treat their spiritual life, and their queer identity, as mutually exclusive things. We've made great progress on LGBTQ+ rights, but that progress often struggles in the areas around faith-based institutions. Can those institutions truly say they are welcoming to all people if you can't see yourself reflected as a part of it? How can you worship when you're not sure your fellow parishioners welcome you for who you are and who you love?
These are some of the big questions we ask Reverence Ryk Brown for this week's podcast. He's the the minister of St. James United Church in Waterdown, the self-styled “Rainbow Papa-Bear” and he joins us to talk about how faith-based institutions need to change to be relevant, and why the onus is on the faith to meet people where they are. He will also talk about why faith leaders need to be activists, the meaning of compassion, and the differences between talking about safe spaces and creating real safe spaces.
So let's talk about being queer as faith for this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about Brown and the many pies he has fingers in at his website, and you can learn more about his anti-bullying efforts at Voices Against Bullying. In terms of Pride Month events here in Guelph, Pride in the Park takes place this Saturday at Riverside Park from 10 am to 2 pm, and you can learn more about Guelph Pride events here.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, Stitcher, Google, TuneIn and Spotify .
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Open Sources Guelph Election Special - June 2, 2022

You know it, you love it, it's Election Night in Ontario!!!! Open Sources Guelph proper takes the week off after a very busy campaign season and instead your favourite local news and politics hosts will be on the air later in the evening with all the results, insights, trivia and Simpsons references that you've come to both love and dread with CFRU's election night coverage. Join us, and the University Centre irregulars, for a night of politics!
This Thursday, June 2, at 8 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
PROVINCIAL ELECTION NIGHT 2022! After 31 days of campaigning, both in-person and virtual, we finally arrive at decision day! Will Doug Ford be dealing with a minority or a majority government? Can Andrea Horwath pull off an upset, or does her political career come to an end? Will Steven Del Duca finally be seen, even if it's not in his home riding? And does Guelph still like Mike Schreiner enough to send him back to Queen's Park? We will talk about all these questions and more with numbers man Christopher Currie and a series of surprise guests, each one more surprising than the last!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #250 - June 1, 2022 (The Northman)

This week on End Credits, summer is here, so we're heading north! And back in time! Our trip to the north is a thousand years in the past when men ruled with swift, brutal efficiency in the name of their old gods like Odin and Freya. Yes, it's time for the viking revenge tale The Northman, and we will talk about that movie's director, and some other great, new directors. 
This Wednesday, June 1, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
The New Class. Filmmaking is a cutthroat business, and behind every accomplished and successfully director is a new batch of upstarts looking to make their celluloid dreams a movie reality. Before digging into the third film from one of those post-millennial movie makers, we will talk about some of the other directors to keep an eye on, from a man who makes flicks for pennies on the dollar in Michigan, to France's new queen of taboo-breaking body horror.
REVIEW: The Northman (2022). A movie about vikings? It's been done, but it's probably never been done as brutally, as bloodily or with the strict observance of proper viking mythology or cultural practices before. Robert Eggers follows up the folk horror of The Witch, and the isolation lunacy of The Lighthouse with his highly ambitious, and ultra-violent take on the ancient tale of Amleth, a Viking prince seeking revenge for his slain father and kidnapped mother. Can we keep our eyes open long enough to see if it's any good?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #326 - Healthcare: A Pre-Election Podcast

Affordability has kind of hijacked the priorities this election, but once it would have been possible to see healthcare being the number one issue of the 2022 campaign. From more funding for our overburdened hospitals, getting for-profit companies out of long-term care, and expanding coverage to mental, dental and pharma coverage, nothing throws issues of healthcare under a microscope like a global pandemic!
Since the start of the pandemic, the inadequacies of our current public healthcare system have been rubbed in our face. ERs and ICUs were pushed to the limit, critical procedures were delayed, waitlists and wait times increased in size, and, the most critical shortfall, long-term care homes became petri dishes for COVID exposure and among a population who were some of the most vulnerable to the virus. 
This is where the Guelph & District Health Coalition, a branch of the Ontario Health Coalition, comes in, except no one was driving local healthcare advocacy efforts for some time. Barb Hogg and Brit Hancock decided to step up organizing public protests, virtual information sessions, and they formed a sort of welcoming committee for Minister of Long-Term Care Paul Calandra when he came to Guelph back in April. As we head into Election Day tomorrow, are they feeling confident that they’ve made an impact? 
That’s one of the questions for Hogg and Hancock on this week’s edition of the podcast! They will talk about why they wanted to restart the local GDHC, and the difficulty in trying to cover three different ridings with three different sets of priorities. They also talk about their concerns about privatization in healthcare, and how people should be demanding better than just “Okay” from the government. And finally, they will discuss the future of healthcare policy, and what happens after June 2.
So let's talk about fighting for more public healthcare on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can learn more about the Guelph & District Health Coalition on Facebook, and you can learn more about the group’s umbrella organization at the Ontario Health Coalition website. On Election Night, you can listen to live results starting at 8 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca!
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, Stitcher, Google, TuneIn and Spotify .
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.

Open Sources Guelph. #379 - May 26, 2022

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we start the final countdown to Election Day. In our last (but not least) batch of Ontario election issues, we will talk to the woman looking to turn her vast community health experience into political action as the next Liberal MPP for Guelph, and then we will talk to a workers' rights advocate looking to shake up the system and make a case for real change at Queen's Park.
This Thursday, May 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Turning Back Red? The Liberal Party's goal this election is to get back into government, or at least official party status, and candidates like Raechelle Devereaux is a big part of that plan. She's been the CEO of Guelph Community Health Centre for years, and is well versed about life at the intersection of health and social justice, and she joins us this week to talk about turning that experience into political action.
Taylor Made. There's been a lot of discussion about workers and the rights of workers this election, but the fight for injured workers was well underway long before COVID, and one of Guelph's front line fighters is Paul Taylor. Running again for the None of the Above Party, Taylor will talk about how he's been affected by Guelph's housing crisis and why direct democracy is the answer to an improved Ontario government.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits #249 - May 25, 2022 (Chip ’N Dale, Men, Doctor Strange)

This week on End Credits, it's a post-long weekend solo round. Fewer co-hosts means time for more movies, and this week, you're getting a review of three very different flicks. Cartoon chipmunks will kick-off the show with more meta references than you can stand, and then we will get serious with a three-letter word. To wrap up, a trip through the multiverse to the MCU!
This Wednesday, May 25, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
REVIEW: Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022). In the 1990s, two cartoon chipmunks were riding high with an eponymous TV adventure about a group of rodents that save the world. But nothing lasts forever, except nostalgia! Chip and Dale are reunited in a quest to save Monterey Jack, their fellow Rescue Ranger, from a horrible fate in the hands of crime lord [checks notes] Peter Pan. So is Rescue Rangers a movie, or is it a 90-minute ad for Disney+?
REVIEW: Men (2022). Alex Garland, maker of Ex Machina and Annihilation, returns to theatre screens with another atmospheric head scratcher. Harper (played by the always excellent Jessie Buckley) retreats to the English countryside to escape her own grief and regret for a few days, but the small town has some unsettling dark corners, and Harper may be forced to confront all that she left behind. So on a scale of 9 to 10, just how unsettling is Men?
REVIEW: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). When we last saw Doctor Strange, we has helping Spider-Man out of a multiverse-related jam, but the multiverse isn't finished with Marvel's favourite wizard just yet. Benedict Cumberbatch returns as surgeon turned sorcerer for his first solo adventure in six years, joined by Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch and new hero Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. So does the movie put a spell on us?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #325 – These Times, They Are Triggering

May is Sexual Violence Prevention Month, but he haven't really had much time to talk about that because these last few weeks have been pretty bad for anyone concerned about equal rights. domestic abuse, gender-based violence, and the lack of balanced media coverage to give these issues the proper context. A news cycle like this demands an entire episode of this podcast to makes sense of it.
A few weeks ago, an American media outlet published details from a leaked Supreme Court decision that would effectively end the right to a legal abortion in the United States. The vulnerability of such an important women’s right just south of border had a striking effect on people here in Canada, where abortion is legal but access is far from equal. The ads on every other bus might make you think that there’s as many abortion clinics as microbreweries in Guelph, but there isn't.
But it’s not just abortion that’s making the news. The Supreme Court of Canada released a decision affirming the self-induced extreme intoxication defense. The Johnny Depp defamation case brought against his ex-wife Amber Heard has leaned on excessive and negative scrutiny of Heard. Former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard is now finally on trail for two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm. And isn't there an election on right now? Who's talking about these issues, and enhancing women's rights?
Enter: Jensen Williams, who is the public educator at Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. She joins us this week to talk about why pro-choice Canadians can’t rest on their laurels, and why all sides of the abortion debate have been galvanized by the leaked U.S. Supreme Court decision. She also talks about the tangled mess of issues around the Depp trial, how the media is covering it in both good and bad ways, and what any us can do to create real space for discussion and change when it comes to gender-based violence.
Before diving into the discussion though a note of listener discretion because we're talking about some very difficult subject matter. If you feel like you might need some help, consult the numbers below.
So let's get into the news on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can learn all about the great and important things that Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis does at their website. If you are in immediate need of support, you can call the Women in Crisis line at 519-836-5710 or 1-800-265-7233. This Friday, check out the Celebrations of Survivorship: An Afternoon of Solidarity Against Sexual Violence hosted by Women in Crisis from 12 to 2 pm at the Red Pavilion at Riverside Park.
If you’re interested in hearing from the candidates, we’re hosting all the Guelph candidates over the next couple of weeks on Open Sources Guelph, and we will also be hosting the candidates in the riding next door in the Wellington-Halton Hills Politicast on Saturdays.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, Stitcher, Google, TuneIn and Spotify .
Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.
Image courtesy of Drew Angerer of Getty Images.