The coronavirus is disrupting our nights as well as our days, exacerbating any number of issues that keep people from getting the rest they need. Charlie Smith, editor of NOW’s sister publication the Georgia Straight, joins Norm to discuss how the pandemic is affecting our collective sleep habits.

NOW music editor Richard Trapunski joins Norm to discuss the challenges facing Toronto’s small businesses in the holiday season of 2020, with the city in the middle of a second lockdown and the province actively encouraging people to patronize big-box retailers instead. How can we shop locally and responsibly in a global health crisis? 

NOW’s Julia Mastroianni wrote about the temporary housing solutions in use around Toronto, and the efforts of activists to protect unhoused people in the city even as the city declares those solutions are unsafe or unworkable. She joins Norm to elaborate on her story, and discuss why so many people aren’t willing to take shelter in shelters, even during a pandemic.

Staff writer Kelsey Adams joins Norm to expand on her NOW cover story about how the pandemic has affected Toronto’s singles and cruisers: what it’s done to their expectations of safety and intimacy, and the shame and anxiety that accompanies the desire for basic human contact when you’re not supposed to be interacting with anyone new.

NOW culture editor Radheyan Simonpillai discusses the controversy around the new film Funny Boy with director Deepa Mehta, author Shyam Selvadurai, associate professor and script translator Cheran Rudhramoorthy; Dr. Nimmi Gowrinathan, founder and director of the Politics Of Sexual Violence Initiative, and Nedra Rodrigo, founder of the Tamil Studies Symposium at York University. Funny Boy opens in Canadian theatres where operating this Friday, November 27, and streams on CBC Gem December 4.

What sort of art will come out of the pandemic? Sook-Yin Lee and Dylan Gamble made a movie about enduring lockdown together called Death And Sickness, which premieres on CBC’s Gem streaming service today. They talk to Norm about how making a movie helped them cope with months in isolation -- and how it helped Sook-Yin come to terms with the loss of her partner the previous year.

The latest issue of NOW is devoted to surviving pandemic fatigue by any means necessary, and a lot of that depends on the things we do at home. In this episode, Norm and NOW associate entertainment editor Glenn Sumi are joined by Jan Caruana and Renna Reddie to discuss the ways in which they’ve coped in this very strange year ... and what tips they might be able to share with the rest of us.

Eight months into the pandemic, we’re all addicted to refreshing our social-media feeds to see what else has gone terribly wrong. Journalist Karen K. Ho joins Norm from New York to explain why she’s spending her nights asking her followers to put down their phones and get some sleep.

Toronto restaurants are preparing for a winter with limited indoor options. NOW culture editor Radheyan Simonpillai joins Norm to discuss the shift towards bubble dining and covered patios, and the challenges facing the restaurant industry over the next few months.

In this week’s issue, Julia Mastroianni writes about the myth of affordable housing in Toronto, and why people can wait in the shelter system for months or even years for something to become available. In this episode, Julia and housing advocate Melissa Goldstein join Norm to discuss the problem, and how the city might better address it.