Two former voices from The Walrus—Tajja Isen, the former digital editor, now editor-in-chief at Catapult magazine, and digital director Angela Misri, who by the time this episode is available will have moved on to Toronto Metropolitan University as its newest assistant professor.

Misri talked to Isen about her new book, Some of my Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service. It’s an essay collection about race, justice, and the limits of good intentions.

Tajja Isen is also the co-editor of the essay anthology The World As We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate. Some of My Best Friends is her debut essay collection. Angela Misri is a novelist and digital journalist based in Toronto.

Isen describes why she wrote this book and the journey she marked through writing it.

Then Isen talks about the baggage people bring to the books they read and how she approached writing the nine essays in the collection.

Isen then describes the toughest and easiest chapters to write and why absolution is a theme that shows up throughout.

Isen also talks about the publishing industry and fighting the impulse to pigeonhole a book on a shelf or genre that is more than one thing.

Finally, Isen gives some advice for new writers.

• Why Success in Canada Means Moving to America

This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh, Yasmin Duale, and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much toTajja Isen for joining us this week.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Ethereal Relaxation” by Kevin MacLeod.

Ethereal Relaxation by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/8719-ethereal-relaxation

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Credit scores are often the deciding factor for people’s most important financial milestones. Whether it’s getting approved for a mortgage, buying a car, or getting a loan, those three digits can make or break a person’s life. 

But what might surprise you is that finding errors in your credit score is extremely common, and trying to fix it brings a whole other set of issues.

We hear from award-winning journalist Emily Baron Cadloff, who wrote the cover story of the June issue of The Walrus.

She explains how credit scores have grown to hold so much power over our lives.

Baron Cadloff then debunks some popular misconceptions about credit scores and talks about how common credit-score errors are and how to avoid them. 

Finally, Baron Cadloff breaks down the main takeaways from her latest piece.

Links:

• How Credit Scores Can Run—and Ruin—Our Lives
• Canada’s Middle Class Is on the Brink of Ruin
• Owning Our Privilege

This week’s episode was produced and edited by Yasmin Duale and Simran Singh. Thanks so much to Emily Baron Cadloff for joining us.

Music Credits:

“Impact Prelude” by Kevin MacLeod

Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7565-impact-prelude

License: filmmusic.io/standard-license

“Inspired” by Kevin MacLeod

Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired

License: filmmusic.io/standard-license

Recently, we announced the authors shortlisted for this year’s Amazon First Novel Award. This is the forty-sixth time this prize is being given out, and The Walrus is thrilled to be part of it.

For The Deep Dive, we spoke to Emily Austin, Lisa Bird-Wilson, Pik-Shuen Fung, Brian Thomas Isaac, Conor Kerr, and Aimee Wall. We asked each shortlisted author the same five questions, and we’ve taken some of their answers and woven them into this episode.

We ask five questions of the shortlisted authors:

Why is this novel important now? (Answered by Connor Kerr, Emily Austin, and Aimee Wall.)

Who is your protagonist? (Answered by Pik Shuen Fung and Lisa Bird Wilson.)

Why are first novels special? (Answered by Aimee Wall, Brian Thomas Isaac, and Connor Kerr.)

What advice do you have for someone writing their first novel? (Answered by Lisa Bird Wilson and Brian Thomas Isaac.)

Finally, we asked what all of the shortlisted authors are reading right now.

• https://thewalrus.ca/partnerships/amazon-first-novel-award/

This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much to all the authors for joining us this week.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab and“Limit 70” by Kevin MacLeod.

“Limit 70” by Kevin MacLeod

Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70

Licence: filmmusic.io/standard-license

Since 2015, Canada had deployments of ground troops in Ukraine, working to reform the country's military after the invasion of Crimea. In light of Russia’s most recent invasion of Ukraine, Sarah Lawrynuik wanted to take a look back at what the Canadian Armed Forces did there and how the training it provided has affected the country's ability to hold off Russian advancements. 

It’s the long view on a story that is still developing and a war everyone hoped could be avoided. Lawrynuik is a journalist who has written for Foreign Policy, the Toronto Star, and New Scientist.

In this episode:

Sarah Lawrynuik talks about her family and where her interest in covering Eastern Europe and Ukraine comes from.

She then describes witnessing Russia’s recent invasion from Canada and contacting her sources in Ukraine as the war progressed.

Lawrynuik then talks about her desire to travel back to Ukraine and how hard it is to know that there is little she can do to help (something many of her sources describe feeling as well).

Finally, Lawrynuik describes why she wants to go back to Ukraine as a journalist when she gets the chance.

What Impact Did Canada’s Military Have on Ukrainian Resistance?

This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much to Sarah Lawrynuik for joining us this week.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab and “Spring Thaw,” “Virtutes Instrumenti,” and “An Upsetting Theme” by Kevin MacLeod.

Spring Thaw by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4409-spring-thaw

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

An Upsetting Theme by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3362-an-upsetting-theme

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Virtutes Instrumenti by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4590-virtutes-instrumenti

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Bridging the distance between being a mom and being an artist can feel impossible at times. A new anthology edited by Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee explores “the fraught, beautiful, and complicated relationship between motherhood and creativity.”

This week at thewalrus.ca, we excerpted Teresa Wong’s essay about her portrait series based on her toddler’s tantrums. It’s one of twenty essays in the new collection Good Mom on Paper: Writers on Creativity and Motherhood. 

Teresa Wong is a writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary and the author of Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression. Stacey May Fowles is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and novelist, the author of four books, and the editor of four anthologies. Jen Sookfong Lee was a columnist for CBC Radio One, has taught fiction at Simon Fraser University, and co-hosts the literary podcast Can’t Lit with Dina Del Bucchia.

First we hear from Fowles and Lee about where the idea for this anthology came from and why they work well together as co-editors.

Then Fowles and Lee describe the guidance they gave to the twenty authors in the collection, and Wong talks about the process of pitching and developing her essay.

As Wong’s editor, Fowles discusses what drew her to Wong’s writing and to this essay in particular.

Wong finishes by describing the absolute worst tantrum she has ever witnessed.

• Screaming and Watercolours: I Turned My Toddler’s Tantrums into Art

This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much to Stacey May Fowles, Jen Sookfong Lee, and Teresa Wong for joining us this week.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab and “Oh My,” by Patrick Patrikilous and “Umbrella Pants” by David MacLeod.

Umbrella Pants by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4559-umbrella-pants

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Since COVID-19, we have all become more aware of death. We are bombarded with data on a weekly basis, watching charts and calculating deaths, all while trying to function in our daily lives. But our anxieties around death are not new, even if this pandemic is bringing them front and centre. What’s new is that everyone is talking about death rather than just those directly affected by it.

In this atmosphere, writer David Swick became fascinated by a unique postsecondary degree program in thanatology—the study of death—and by the students that feel compelled to dive deep into what is often a taboo subject. Swick is an assistant professor at the University of King’s College, in Halifax, where he teaches journalism ethics.

Credits: This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much to David Swick for joining us this week. 

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab, “Podcast Intro” by Inplus Music, “Shores of Avalon” by Kevin Macleod, and “Scandinavianz” by Skydancer.

Screen Saver by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5715-screen-saver

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Comfortable Mystery by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3531-comfortable-mystery

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Shores of Avalon by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4349-shores-of-avalon

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Organ donation is complex for many reasons: not only is it often an emotional decision that has to be made during a family’s time of grief, but many factors have to align for a recipient to receive the organ from a donor. And, in Canada, with its vast geography, getting organs to those in need before it’s too late becomes even more difficult. 

Karin Olafson explains why so many donated organs can’t be used, how two Canadian doctors are working to ease the logistical strain on the donation process, and why she decided to look into this issue in the first place. Olafson is a Vancouver-based writer who focuses on health, science, and fitness. 

This week’s episode of The Deep Dive was produced and edited by Angela Misri and Sheena Rossiter. 

Thanks so much to Karin Olafson for joining us this week. 

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab, “Podcast Intro” by Inplus Music, “Young Ballad” by Serge Quadrado, and “Screen Saver” and "Comfortable Mystery” by Kevin MacLeod.

Screen Saver by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5715-screen-saver

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Comfortable Mystery by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3531-comfortable-mystery

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

• How Two Doctors Are Hacking the Transplant System
• When Sports Fans Change the Game
• The Walrus Talks: What’s Next (Toronto)

This week we dive into the world of fiction, and we’re in conversation with award-winning writer Rawi Hage. Born in Beirut, he lived in Lebanon through the civil war in the 1970s and then immigrated to Canada in 1992. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, and you might know him for acclaimed novels such as De Niro’s Game, Cockroach, and Beirut Hellfire Society. 

Hage recently released his first collection of short stories, Stray Dogs. In the May issue of The Walrus, we featured the story “The Wave.” Hage recently sat down with Jessica Johnson, the editor-in-chief at The Walrus, to talk about his latest book, being a political writer, and identity. 

Rawi Hage talks about writing short stories and finding inspiration in photography. 

Hage then discusses writing about marginalized people. 

He also describes becoming disillusioned with traditional photography—or at least of his place in it.

Hage talks about the local aesthetics of photography and the intersections between photography and the written word.

Finally, Hage talks about why he needs distance from his work and the nature of human beings to move between victim and victimizer.

• Hear more about JS Rutger’s story about housing inequality: thewalrus.ca/podcasts-the-deep-dive-s1e2/
• Read an excerpt from Rawi Hage’s new short story collection: thewalrus.ca/the-wave/
• thewalrus.ca/im-not-your-kind-of-muslim/
• thewalrus.ca/ok-ok-blue-jays/
• spoon-tamago.com/2022/04/13/koenji-writing-cafe/

Thanks for joining us on this week’s episode of The Deep Dive. It was produced by Sheena Rossiter and myself with editing help from Simran Singh.

Thanks so much to Rawi Hage for joining us this week and to Jessica Johnson for doing the interview.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab, “Podcast Intro” by Inplus Music, “Floating Cities” by David MacLeod, and “Oh My” by Patrick Patrikios. 

Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3765-floating-cities

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Season 1, Episode 13

Like health care, child care is the purview of Canada’s provincial and territorial governments, which is why it’s a small miracle that the federal government has put together twelve separate deals with provinces and territories to provide $10-a-day daycare. (Quebec already had child care available for less than $10 a day.) 

For our May cover story, Sadiya Ansari wrote about moving abroad and noticing that people approach family planning differently when child care is less of a financial burden. In Germany, parents were legally guaranteed a subsidized child care spot in 2013, and this policy change has allowed the government to shift its focus from affordability to quality of care. Ansari is an award-winning writer and journalist based in Berlin.

Ansari talks about the difference it makes to a society when child care is a legal right, comparing living in Canada to living in Germany.

She then explains why people who don’t have children should still care about the child care system.

Ansari goes on to talk about how women are disproportionately affected by child care responsibilities and costs.

She then talks about her recent Article Club discussion and where she is hoping this conversation leads, speculating on the larger impacts of Canada’s new child care policy and whether politics will affect its staying power.

Ansari then shares what she is currently reading.

Finally, we check in on what we're talking about this week at The Walrus.

Child Care Revolution: What Canada Can Learn from Germany

• There Goes the Neighbourhood
• The Unpopularity of Female Politicians Has Everything to Do With Sexism

Facebook @thewalrus

Twitter @thewalrus 

Instagram @thewalrus

Looking to get in touch about the podcast? You can reach us at [email protected]. 

Hosted and produced by Mihira Lakshman and Angela Misri, with editing by Angela Misri.

Music provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music Additional music: “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab; “Podcast Intro” by Inplus Music; “Both of Us” by Madirfan; “Oh My” by Patrick Patrikios; “Young Ballad” by Serge Quadrado

Meditations on the COVID-19 Beard

Season 1, Episode 12

You may have noticed an increase in facial hair over the past two years, and Sean Wetselaar says that’s not surprising. According to his research, it’s not just the fashion of the times that drives our choices about shaving but also the politics and traumas of the day.

Wetselaar is a manager of scripts and content at The Score Esports, where he helps cover everything from competitive gaming to internet memes. He’s also a freelance writer based in Paris, Ontario.

Wetselaar talks about his own choices when it comes to growing facial hair during a pandemic and why he made different choices while in lockdown.

He then gets into the research part of his story, looking at the care that has to go into maintaining facial hair.

The history of how and when trends in facial hair happened fascinated Wetselaar.

He then describes the influence of professional pressures as it relates to facial hair and the changing trend that emerged in the 2010s.

Wetselaar then shares what he is currently reading right now.

Finally, we check in on what we're talking about this week at The Walrus.

• Live Bearded on YouTube
• Gillette
• Millionaire’s Shortbread via Sugar Spun Round
• Chocolate chip cheesecake bars via Pillsbury.com
• The Walrus Talks Video Room

Facebook @thewalrus

Twitter @thewalrus 

Instagram @thewalrus

Looking to get in touch about the podcast? You can reach us at [email protected]. 

Hosted and produced by Sheena Rossiter and Angela Misri, with editing by Angela Misri.

Music provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music Additional music: "Stay Cool" by Loops Lab, "Podcast Intro" by Inplus Music, and "Umbrella Pants" by Kevin Macleod.

Private Reflection by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4241-private-reflection

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Protofunk by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4247-protofunk

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Umbrella Pants by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4559-umbrella-pants

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license