Tapestry

Decades in a room with no way out was a choice for anchoresses like Julian of Norwich during the Middle Ages, but it doesn’t mean it was easy. Writers Paul Dafydd Jones and Kaya Oakes explore what it means to be patient in the time of a pandemic and what mystics like Julian of Norwich have to teach us.

As a portrait artist, Riva Lehrer says faces are her whole life. She’s also someone with spina bifida - and that means people give all kinds of unwelcome attention to her body. When that happens, her face has always been her ally. With our faces necessarily hidden under masks - she is navigating a new way of connecting with the world.

When you’re faced with the really important decisions in life, how do you know you’re getting them right?

Steven Johnson studies the art of making decisions, big-ticket items like having children, changing careers, proposing to your sweetie, moving to a new city (when the pandemic permits.) He is the author of Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions that Matter the Most.

Candice Marie Benbow is a writer and theologian who has decided to pursue her dream of being a mother on her own in 2021, saying: “We literally were given the gift of surviving one of the hardest and most difficult years that any of us have ever seen. We didn’t survive all of that to play small. To not live these big, beautiful lives that are of our making.”

After ensemble singing was deemed a potential superspreader activity, choirs looked for other ways to continue to make music together. Erick Lichte of Vancouver’s Chor Leoni and Elaine Quilichini of the Calgary Girls Choir share what they did.

A locked down winter is in the cards for many Canadians. Tapestry talked to two people on how to endure, through nesting and celebration, a very unusual winter.

After months of working from home, many are discovering that there’s something about their homes that just needs to change. The founder of Design With Science, Sally Augustin, believes that this instinct to nest is a deeply human one.

Christmas this year might be unlike any other. But the Jewish faith has already celebrated key holidays. Jewish writer S. Bear Bergman wants to share what he’s learned by celebrating virtually.

If it hadn’t been for his mother’s daily correspondence while he spent 8 years in prison, Marcus Bullock may not have become the man he is today. Bullock created an app that connects families with loved ones in prison in a similar way.

Erica Lenti’s grandmother didn't know she was gay. For years, Lenti chose not to tell her out of fear of rejection. She hoped to keep this information from her grandmother for as long as possible, but getting engaged made it so much harder.

When U.S. President Donald Trump contracted COVID-19, Merriam-Webster reported searches for the definition of “schadenfreude" shot up more than 30,000 per cent. Schadenfreude is defined as “enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.” John Portmann, author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People, says it’s a common feeling, but not always a morally clear one.

Writer Ian Leslie believes our lives under lockdown have us missing out on another morally murky human tendency – gossip. He says the side conversations we’d normally share in person – often with juicy details about others – are the most fun and informative. Without those conversations, we risk living in a world that’s “a lot less human.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer is an acclaimed botanist who blends her scientific studies with her Indigenous upbringing. She says there is much to be learned about how to interact respectfully with the earth, from the behaviour of plants.

Inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, a book of stories written about the Black Death of the 14th century, anthropologist Iza Kavedžija curated a collection of stories during the 2020 pandemic called: Decameron Relived. 

Author Richard Van Camp knew he wanted to dedicate his life to telling stories after an Elder shared her experience with the afterlife. "I think that storytelling is medicine. I think it reminds us of what it means to be human."

Philosopher Brandon Warkme says there is a very fine line between showing up and showing off. He’s studied the ethics of grandstanding and says, if your number-one goal is showing that your heart is in the right place — then your heart isn’t in the right place!

Writer Christine Estima felt her blood boil when Coach's Corner co-host Don Cherry complained that he thought immigrants don't wear poppies on Remembrance Day. Her grandfather fought for Canada in the Second World War. She looks into how the lives of Arab immigrants seem to vanish from the pages of Canadian history.