Poet, acquisitions editor, and award winning professor, Micheline Maylor examines the craft of being a lifelong artist. Micheline discusses the importance of paying attention to what we are feeling, cross pollination of ideas, and breaking patterns. We also discuss being brave in your writing. Micheline says, "Bravery in writing is the thing that will take you far."

Micheline and I dive into her latest work, The Bad Wife, a brave, first-hand account of how to ruin a marriage. To those wanting to spark your creativity, this is the conversation for you.

About Micheline Maylor

 Poet, Acquisitions editor, Co-founder of the Freefall Literary Society, and award winning professor, Micheline Maylor is the author of five books of poetry - The Raymond Knister Poems, Whirr and Click, Little Wildheart, Drifting Like a Metaphor, and The Bad Wife. In 2016 Micheline was appointed as Calgary's first female poet laureate for a two year term.

Micheline is the acquisitions editor for Frontenac House Press and is the co-founder of the non-profit Freefall Literary Society where she was the editor in chief from 2006 to the present. She currently edits the Quartet poetry series for which the authors have been shortlisted or have won numerous awards including, The Goldie Award for best Lesbian poetry book in North America; The Gerald Lampert Award for best first book; The Pat Lowther Award for best book by a Canadian woman.

Micheline was the editor of the award winning This Wound is a World by Billy-Ray Belcourt, which won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize, and the Most Significant Book of Poetry in English by an Emerging Indigenous Writer, and the Indigenous Voices Awards (2018). Micheline is a decorated professor specialising in creative writing and contemporary Canadian literature who has inspired countless students to write through the years.

Micheline Maylor’s newest collection, The Bad Wife, is an intimate, first-hand account of how to ruin a marriage. This is a story of divorce, love, and what should have been, told in a brave and unflinching voice. 

Connect with Micheline:

Web: http://michelinemaylor.com

Publications:

The Bad Wife

Drifting Like a Metaphor

Little Wildheart

Whirr and Click

When Natalie Meisner started her career in theatre, she was cast for roles that didn't represent the women she knew or the women she wanted to become. So Natalie started writing her own plays. In today's episode, poet, playwright, and professor Natalie Meisner discusses the importance of LGBTQ2S+ representation in all stories. Natalie shares how comedy can be a catalyst for social change and how her book, Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family, lifts the veil of silence around fertility and pregnancy while making us laugh at the same time.

About Dr. Natalie Meisner

Natalie Meisner is a playwright / poet from Nova Scotia, a full Prof at MRU, and Calgary’s 5th Poet Laureate. Her work deploys the power of comedy for social change.  Baddie One Shoe is a collection of odes to renegade women. Legislating Love: The Everett Klippert Story illuminates the life of the last Canadian jailed for homosexuality. Speed Dating For Sperm Donors was a hit at Lunchbox & Neptune. Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family topped non-fiction lists and My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother & Me is about a two-mom biracial family finding community.

Natalie holds a PhD from the University of Calgary in creative writing, an MFA in Creative Writing form the University of British Columbia. She is the recipient of the Annual Alberta Playwriting Competition, the Canadian National Playwriting Award, and the Lion Award for Advocacy and Awareness for Original Stage Play. Her forthcoming book, It Begins in Salt, is a collection of poems and love letters to those that share the tides of life. It urges us to love harder and give homage to those loved.

Natalie's Books: 

Baddie One Shoe (Frontenac House) 

Speed Dating For Sperm Donors (Playwright's Canada Press)

Legislating Love: The Everett Klippert Story (University of Calgary Press)

My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother & Me (Nimbus Publishing)

Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family (Fernwood Publishing)

It Begins in Salt (Frontenac House) 

In the second episode of our two-part series, journalist, photographer, and AI researcher Leslie Salgado guides me step by step through AI ethics, ChatGPT, and parenting in the age of AI. Leslie explains, "Their world is going to be heavily influenced by AI… For me it's not about prohibiting or denying that reality. It's about educating them and educating ourselves." 

Leslie explores the need for ethics-driven AI, explaining,  "We need to go a step back and think of what triggers the innovation. What triggers those people to create a new tool, to create a new technology… Why are we creating this? For which purpose? Is it for sustainability? Is it for profitability?"

About Leslie Salgado

Journalist, photographer, and AI researcher Leslie Salgado is a Doctoral Student at the University of Calgary. Her current area of research includes Human-Centred AI, intersections between communication and AI ethical values, Online Trust and Safety, and Technology and Democracy. She is a former Public Communication Officer for UNESCO as well as a Broadcast Journalist for Canal Habana. Leslie worked as Professor at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana. Her recent solo photography exhibition entitled, Emotions Allowed, explores the range of human emotions. 

Connect with Leslie:

IG: @lesliebayamesa

Linkedin: Leslie Salgado Arzuaga

Resources: 

Globe and Mail, Opinion - ChatGPT has convinced users that it thinks like a person. Unlike humans, it has no sense of the real world:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-chatgpt-is-a-reverse-mechanical-turk/?login=true

Algorithmic Justice League - Unmasking AI harms and biases:
https://www.ajl.org

Algorithmic Justice League - How well do IBM, Microsoft, and Face++ AI services guess the gender of a face?
http://gendershades.org

PEW Research Center, 6 facts about America’s STEM workforce and those training for it:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/14/6-facts-about-americas-stem-workforce-and-those-training-for-it/

Statista, Software developer gender distribution worldwide as of 2022:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1126823/worldwide-developer-gender/

In the first episode of our two-part series, journalist, photographer, and AI researcher Leslie Salgado and I dive deep into the world of emotions. Leslie shares the importance of releasing our emotions and trusting what our emotions tell us. Leslie speaks to her solo exhibit, Emotions Allowed, and explains how the inspiration came to on her morning commute.

About Leslie Salgado

Journalist, photographer, and AI researcher Leslie Salgado is a Doctoral Student at the University of Calgary. Her current area of research includes Human-Centred AI, intersections between communication and AI ethical values, Online Trust and Safety, and Technology and Democracy. She is a former Public Communication Officer for UNESCO as well as a Broadcast Journalist for Canal Habana. Leslie worked as Professor at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana. Her recent solo photography exhibition entitled, Emotions Allowed, explores the range of human emotions. 

Connect with Leslie:

IG: @lesliebayamesa

Linkedin: Leslie Salgado Arzuaga

Author Heidi Barr shares how to live with intention and the importance of ceremony, rewilding spirituality, and contemplating the wild silence. Heidi explains, "Being in relationship with the outdoor world is the foundation of my writing."  We discuss her newly published book, Collisions of Earth and Sky: Connecting with Nature for Nourishment, Reflection, and Transformation. This is the perfect conversation for those who are feeling the novelty of the New Year subside, are battling with the montoney of February, or just need a moment to check in with yourself.

About Heidi Barr:

Heidi Barr lives in eastern Minnesota (Mni Sota Makoce in Dakota) near the St. Croix River — on ancestral and contemporary lands of the Wahpekute (Dakota), a place that also holds significance for Ojibwe and Ho Chunk people — with her family where they tend a large organic vegetable garden, explore nature and do their best to live simply.  

As a mother, spouse, gardener, wellness coach, and writer, she is committed to cultivating ways of being that are life-giving and sustainable for people, communities and the planet. Hiking through forests and across prairies, wading in streams, digging in the soil and surrounding herself with natural wonder helps her stay grounded in reality.  

Author of Slouching toward Radiance, 12 Tiny Things, Cold Spring Hallelujah, What Comes Next, Woodland Manitou: To Be on Earth, and Prairie Grown: Stories and Recipes from a South Dakota Hillside, she is also the editor of The Mindful Kitchen, a wellness column in The Wayfarer Magazine. Every now and then she coordinates with yoga teachers and organic farms to offer retreat experiences and always makes really good scones.  Her next book, Collisions of Earth and Sky: Connecting with Nature for Nourishment, Reflection, and Transformation comes out in January 2023.

In 2022, Heidi was a Poet of Place, a group of five regional poets who are advocates and ambassadors for poetry and creativity in the lower St. Croix Valley.

Connect with Heidi:

Web: https://heidibarr.com

IG: @heidicbarr

FB: Heidi Barr

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-barr-3884107/

Calgary's Poet Laureate, Wakefield Brewster, explains the intersection of art and healing. Wakefield and I discuss unlearning, why communication is essential, and how art has the potential to soften the blow of heavy messages. Wakefield speaks about getting our thoughts out on paper—even the darker ones. 

Finally, Wakefield shares his early experience as a classically trained musician and how that shaped his future with poetry.

About Wakefield Brewster:

Wakefield Brewster is one of Canada’s most popular and prolific Performance Poets. He is the Current Poet Laureate of Calgary, and 3-Time Calgary Poetry Slam Champion & Team Captain. He was the Inaugural Poet Of Honour at the People’s Poetry Festival, and was appointed as the First Resident Poet & Spoken Word Artist of The Grand Theatre in Calgary, Alberta. Wakefield sits on the Board of Directors of the E.A.R. Society —Emergency Artist’s Relief — which provides emergency relief funding and affordable Health Care for Artists.

As the founder of Page2Stage Productions, Wakefield has been bringing Poetry to students for over 21 years by building communities and engaging in volunteering, leadership and mentorship for youth, through the arts. He is also an advocate for Healing Arts & Alternative Medicine; Mental Wellness & Recovery. He holds a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and is the Lead Therapist, owner and operator of WakeFull Wellness Massage Therapy and HealingSpace.

Connect with Wakefield Brewster: 

Web: https://wakefieldbrewster.com

IG: @wakefield_brewster

FB: @Wakefield Brewster aka da lyrical pitbull

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wakefield-brewster-91658a23/

Twitter: @lyricalpitbull

In this solo episode, I look back at the year and share my thoughts on parenting (one might think I have it figured out by now, however, that's not the case), rest, and embracing the illogical.

Today's episode is full of resources for those who might be in the midst of parenting chaos, yearning for rest, or wanting to embrace their more intuitive, creative side.

Resources

Parenting:

Breaking toxic parenting cycles with Shannon Smith

Our Mental Health Stories with Karen Turnock MSW, RSW

Rest:

Radical Self-care with Dr. Bri Wiens

The Nap Ministry

Restful Leadership with Deanna Mason

Embracing the illogical: 

The Colour Gap Podcast

Unlocking Us: Being Illogical with Emmanuel Acho 

Neuroscientist and public school advocate Dr. Wing Kar Li examines the current state of Alberta's public education and explains what we should be paying attention to right now. Wing discusses how current policy is moving Alberta public education backwards & why education should be a top priority when in next year's election. Her advocacy in education and how she's using her voice to activate social change for the good. And how learning is contextual & involves connectivity between one memory to the next. 

About Dr. Wing Kar Li

Dr. Wing Kar Li (She/her) is a parent, a neuroscientist who specialises in memories, and the communications director of SOS Alberta (Support our Students, Alberta). SOS Alberta is Alberta's public education advocates, fighting for the right of all children to an equitable and accessible public education system.

Wing grew up just outside of Edmonton and attended K-12 public schools in Stony Plain, Alberta. She attended the University of Alberta, graduating with a BSc in Psychology & Biology. She holds an MSc and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Lethbridge. 

She has taught at the post-secondary level and has worked with science education and knowledge translation initiatives. Through her current volunteer work, she hopes to help draw public awareness to the interconnections between social inequities and advocate for a truly universally accessible public education system for all students. ​

Connect with Wing Kar Li:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wingkarli

Connect with SOS Alberta:

Website: https://www.supportourstudents.ca

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SOSAlberta

The health of our kids in schools is vital, and currently in Alberta, devastatingly precarious. This is such a timely conversation with Dr. Angela Grace on the importance of comprehensive school health.

Dr. Angela Grace discusses how body image is a social justice issue, how consent is far more complex than saying yes or no, and how our current health curriculum is failing our students.

Angela States, "School health is far beyond just kids eating and getting 20 minutes of daily physical activity. It is the entire environment. We have this amazing capacity right now to make health and wrap around health services for kids a foundation  of our school environment." 

About Dr. Angela Grace

Angela holds a Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology with a specialization in the prevention and treatment of eating and body image issues, life stressors and trauma. She specializes in holistic approaches to women's health and well-being. She was an invited community stakeholder reviewer in 2017 and 2018 on the Draft curriculum and has been a ceaseless advocate for large structural changes to the Wellness curriculum that was implemented this year in Grades K-3. 

She has Fine Arts and Education degrees, and previously worked as an elementary teacher and school counsellor, which gives her an in-depth understanding of girls, families, teachers, and school communities.  Angela's training in theatre, art, dance, yoga, and play therapy enables her to work in creative ways to enhance girls’ and women’s sense of well-being.

Connect with Dr. Angla Grace:

FB: Dr.AngelaGrace 

IG: @dr.angela.grace

TikTk: @drangelagrace

Twitter: @DrAGrace_cyhtt

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCezDojLfmDVe9c1K4kTLGYw/featured

Web: https://www.heartcenteredcounselling.com 

Resources from today's episode: 

Dr. Angela Grace on Teacher Fan Club Podcast:

https://teacherfanclub.com/dr-angela-grace

Dr. Angela Grace on consent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XRUQoo-8pA

Crash course on the Draft curriculum Part II:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2cJqKiCdwg

In the second episode of our two-part series, photographer Shannon Smith and I dive into our lives with ADHD. We discuss how ADHD presents as parents, as creatives, as women. How we, as neurodivergent folks, tend to mask and the repercussions of masking. Finally we explore the beauty of being neurodivergent, specifically as it relates to our work and lives as creatives. 

About Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith (she/they) is a professional photographer and soul liberation coach based out of Calgary, Alberta. They have made it their life’s work to empower and liberate their clients. Shannon believes that all humans deserve to celebrate their unique beauty, feel validated and liberated from societal norms that no longer fit.

As a photographer, Shannon offers spaces for clients to celebrate their bodies in ways they’ve likely never experienced before. Shannon has built an inclusive, safe space for their clients to simply be. As a coach, Shannon provides deeply personal support in a loving environment. Their goal is to lead clients in the journey to discovering their authentic self and soul.

Shannon is deeply passionate about social justice, intersectional feminism, and supporting the LBGTQ2IA+ community.

Connect with Shannon Smith:

Web: https://www.soulnnection.com

Instagram: @Soulnnection 

Tik Tok: @Soulnnection 

Facebook: Soulnnection