The Dark Room

The Dark Room

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The Dark Room episodes

  • Episode #84 - "I Talk To Strangers"

    At an early age we were taught never to talk to strangers. In teaching us this, the adult world was legitimately concerned for our safety. Now grown up, should we continue to heed their words?

    Paul and Jordan talk to Robbie Stokes Jr., Natalia Bialobrzewska, and Alisa Choi Darcy, from the non-governmental organization, I Talk To Strangers, about the value of conversation with those we do not know. The three share how interacting with unfamiliar people has great learning potential and is at the heart of their dialogue-driven events. The episode explores important issues of boundaries, privacy, and social etiquette, when it comes to with whom and when we talk to others, while provoking the question: Should we be doing more to meet new people, face-to-face, and perhaps be happier for it?

    Learn more about I Talk To Strangers at ittsfoundations.org

     

    1 hr 7 min
  • Episode #83 - Women in Weed: Jodie Emery & Melissa Rolston
    Some believe marijuana is a natural healer, others a gateway to harm.
    Paul and Jordan talk to one of Canada's foremost marijuana activists and entrepreneurs, Jodie Emery, and medical marijuana advocate and co-chair of Women Grow-Toronto, Melissa Rolston, about the controversial struggle--locally and abroad--to decriminalize weed. From "reefer madness" hysteria that blames the drug for dangerous, anti-social behaviour to health benefits it has for sufferers of chronic illness, the discussion explores the legally and ethically troublesome relationship marijuana continues to have with the larger society. Will this prevent marijuana use from becoming a truly universal right?
    Follow Jodie at twitter.com/JodieEmery and Women Grow at twitter.com/womengrow
    1 hr 29 min
  • Episode #82 - Documentary Filmmaker: Alan Zweig
    Historically, audiences have expected those in the business of telling the truth to be detached from their subject. This includes documentary filmmakers who, like journalists, should tell a story but not be part of it.      
    Challenging this, Paul and Jordan talk to award-winning director, Alan Zweig, about his highly personal style of documentary filmmaking, as well as the ironic value of pessimism that it shapes and underlies. Alan reveals why such an unorthodox approach, where trusting the process is paramount, best captures the essence of people.
    Follow Alan at twitter.com/a_zweig
    1 hr 17 min
  • Episode #81 - Addiction Expert: Stanton Peele
    There is widespread consensus today that addiction is a disease.  Beyond a moral failing, it is symptomatic of a neurological illness that permanently compromises the individual's ability to make free and responsible decisions.
    Paul and Jordan talk to psychologist, attorney, and therapist, Stanton Peele, about his controversial stance that addiction is not a disease at all.  Rather, it is a dysfunctional way of coping with various life problems, such as grief or separation, but remediable by empathetic treatment--ultimately empowering the individual to reclaim control of their life.  Hence, as Stanton reveals, he has long been an outspoken critic of the still popular twelve-step program, pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, and similar morally-driven recovery models that frame individuals as "powerless" to their addiction, while unable to even manage it in the absence of a "higher power".
    Learn more about Stanton at peele.net
    49 min
  • Episode #79 - Chippy Nonstop
    Being forced into exile can certainly be demoralizing. After all, it undermines the comfortable certainty and attachment we have with the world around us.
    Paul talks to genre defying rapper, DJ, and writer, Chippy Nonstop, about how she has sustained the courage to be herself, despite being deported to Canada and prohibited from entering her home in the United States. Throughout her bizarre performances in colourful hip-hop videos and openly revisiting sexual encounters in diary-style articles, her refusal to conform to the ordinary is readily apparent. It is at the same time a refreshing change to the conventional and, arguably, oppressive forms of "being a woman", which Chippy’s work seems at once to both mock and reject.   
    Follow Chippy @chippy_nostop
    1 hr 2 min
  • Episode #78 - Mother's Day Special 2017
    Many maintain that being a mother is, as Oprah Winfrey has remarked, the world's "toughest job".  But what does it actually take to be a mother and how is that experienced?
    Exploring the question on The Dark Room’s first Mother’s Day Special, Paul and Jordan talk to a diverse and insightful group of mothers: Isabel Michaels, Lucia Catania, Olga Ruiz, Gianna Patriarca, Teresa Gramano, Sebastiana Aprile, and Handzia Feloniuk. The group candidly discusses the strength and courage of being a mother, the sacrifices of child rearing, and different--perhaps even conflicting--cultural styles of mothering.  
    This episode is in memory of Maria Salvatori, Paul's mother, and the inspiration for the Mother's Day Special.
    59 min
  • Episode #77 - Fentanyl Addict: Dr. Darryl Gebien
    The idea of a doctor unable to help himself is a frightening one, after all, we are accustomed to viewing them as responsible healers, curing or helping those in need. On the eve of his two year incarceration for drug crimes, Paul and Jordan talk to unlikely former physician and recovering fentanyl user, Darryl Gebien, about how--despite a seemingly happy life as a well-regarded doctor of his community and beloved husband and father--he became powerless to the opioid. As Darryl reveals, fentanyl not only cost him his health but his most cherished relationships. Darryl describes how, after having fallen into the hell of addiction, he has been able to stay clean while going public about how such illness destroyed his life, in order that others avoid the same (unnecessary) fate.
    Follow Darryl on Twitter @DGebien.
    1 hr 9 min
  • Episode #76 - Rachel Dolezal
    Does skin colour ultimately determine race?  Can our "true" race be different from the one we are biologically born as?
    Paul and Jordan talk to arguably one of the most controversial persons in recent news media, Rachel Dolezal, about why--despite being born white--she identifies as black.  Having provoked much public ire and losing her job as a professor and position at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for having hid this, Rachel reveals how being "transracial" is not an option for her.  
     
    On the heels of the publication of her memoir, In Full Color, this episode explores what events in Rachel's life directly contributed to viewing herself as black and, rather contentiously, how she feels she does not fit into whiteness as a “social construct” .
    52 min
  • Episode #75 - Narcissist: Sam Vaknin
    Is loving yourself unhealthy or necessary to personal survival?  What happens when those who love themselves too much come into contact with those who do not?     
    Paul and Jordan talk to writer and expert in narcissism, Sam Vaknin, about when self-love turns “malignant” and why those who experience it may manipulate others for their own gratification–without guilt or shame. Sam weighs in on whether we, as many believe, live in an age of narcissism where many have become preoccupied with their own “uniqueness” and the selfie a ubiquitous form of individual aggrandizement.
    Learn more about Sam at samvak.tripod.com
    1 hr 2 min
  • Episode #74 - Criminal Defence Attorney: John Henry Browne
    Criminal defense attorneys often get a bad rap, thought to stone-heartedly defend criminals for fame and fortune, all the while ignoring the suffering of victims.
    Challenging these perceptions, Paul and Jordan talk to John Henry Browne about the personal toll of being a criminal defense attorney. Revisiting his experience as former lawyer to one of America's most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy, John shares how advocating for "evil" is not only psychologically testing but dangerous. Despite this risk, he has taken on over 200 cases, numerous of which have been of unspeakable crimes. John, while emphasizing the importance of criminal defense attorneys in a just society, reveals why.
       
    Learn more about John at jhblawyer.com
    43 min

About The Dark Room

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Insightful discussions and interviews on controversial topics of society and culture, human rights, social justice and education. The Dark Room is produced and hosted by Dr. Paul Salvatori.