What on Earth is Going on?

The #MeToo movement struck hard and fast in the film industry, capturing international attention for much more than a few news cycles. It exposed some of the men who abuse their power, and highlighted what women have dealt with for decades. But is it enough to truly change an image-based industry? What are the deeper forces at play? Are we changing the way we watch movies in the face of technological as well as social disruption? What on earth is going on with the movies?

Ben chats with Mike Sheppard, host of a new show on CFRC radio show called Screening in Kingston; and Wendy Huot, owner and operator of the popular downtown Kingston cinema, the Screening Room.

About the Guests

Wendy Huot is the proprietor of The Screening Room, a former librarian, and a longtime participant in Kingston's "Stay At Home Resistance Movement."

Mike Sheppard is the Business Manager for CFRC radio in Kingston and the co-owner of Social Schmoes Social Media.

Learn more about Mike and Wendy.

Institutions and norms, both written and unwritten, underpin our rule-of-law, human rights-respecting democracies. Some of these have evolved to serve a dynamic and diverse society. Others have withstanded centuries of disruption and change. But it seems that many of them are now under threat in an era of flux and populism. What are the deeper forces at play, and what's beneath the constant churn of consumer partisanship and identity politics?

Ben is in Toronto to speak with Dr. Miriam Smith, Professor of Social Science at York University.

About the Guest

Miriam is a professor in the Law & Society Program in the Department of Social Science at York University. Previously, she held full-time faculty positions in political science at Carleton University (1989-2004) and Trent University (2004-2007). She received her B.A. in political science in 1982 from McGill University and her Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1990. Her research areas include Canadian and comparative politics, social movements, legal mobilization and public policy, especially, the LGBT movement in Canada in comparative perspective.

Learn more about Miriam.

"Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives."

That's from the bestseller, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by psychologist Carol Dweck. Ben discusses the book and its powerful lessons with Mark Stovel.

About the Book

World-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in decades of research on achievement and success, has discovered a truly groundbreaking idea—the power of our mindset.

In this brilliant book, Dweck shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we approach our goals. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are far less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and mentorship. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

Learn more about Mindset.

Glass ceilings are being shattered everywhere. Women now shape the world in every field and discipline. The archetype of leadership is less and less the old white male. But big problems remain, whether it's big picture pay equity or the guy you know who mansplains in budget meetings. What are the next steps?

Ben has a powerful, insightful and surprising chat with Laurie VandeSchoot, a senior public servant at the City of Calgary.

About the Guest

As Deputy Chief of Department Review, Laurie VandeSchoot oversees the Community Services and Protective Services (CS&PS) department-wide review, the Calgary Fire Department's (CFD) diversity and inclusion initiatives, and CS&PS's 2015-2018 capital strategic planning. Her current portfolio requires extensive partnering and liaising with members of the community, private industry and provincial and municipal representatives to ensure quality, safety and consistency of services.

In her previous role as Deputy Chief of Logistics and Infrastructure, Chief VandeSchoot oversaw several CFD business units including facility management, IT services, capital and urban planning, emergency apparatus repair and equipment supply. She was responsible for the logistics and supply-chain management for large-scale incidents; managed team and business resources, budgets and approvals; and ensured compliance with departmental policies and standards.

Chief VandeSchoot began her career with The City of Calgary in 1988, providing organizational and program development for Parks and Recreation before taking on the supervision of recreation services at Village Square Leisure Centre — Calgary's largest public recreation facility. She joined the Calgary Fire Department in 2006 as Manager of Strategic Services, where she provided hands-on leadership for all strategic initiatives, business planning, research and development needs. Moving into the position of Finance Manager of Tangible Capital assets in 2010, Chief VandeSchoot led The City through the single largest reform to public sector accounting in 100 years. She later returned to the CFD and was promoted to Deputy Chief in 2012.

In recognition of her work with The City and her involvement with various cultural diversity initiatives, Chief VandeSchoot has received a number of accolades including an Immigrants of Distinction, Organizational Diversity Award for outstanding achievements in implementing cultural diversity initiatives, and a Federation of Canadian Municipalities Award for outstanding contributions to international cooperation.

Chief VandeSchoot holds a M.Sc. in sustainable development from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, a bachelor of kinesiology with a double major in philosophy from the University of Manitoba, and has completed the journalism and public relations program at Mount Royal University. She has received certification in change management, strategic management and project management from a number of professional organizations and post-secondary institutions. She also maintains membership in several associations including the Alberta, Canadian and International Fire Chiefs Associations, Government Finance Officers Association, Institute of Public Administration of Canada and Commission on Fire Accreditation International.

Apart from work, Chief VandeSchoot is married, has two children and is an active participant and volunteer in sports, arts and social justice activism.

Learn more about Laurie.

Gustav Mahler once said that a symphony must be like the world, in that it must contain everything. But when it comes to classical music, is that 'container' (think of the pageantry, the dressing up, the protocols of when to clap or cough) getting in the way?

Ben sits down with the young, ambitious and innovative Music Director of the Kingston Symphony, Evan Mitchell, for a conversation about the meaning and power of music, the responsibility of those who make it, and the onus on us in the audience to meet half-way.

About the Guest

Evan Mitchell is proving to be one of the most able and imaginative young conductors in Canada. Mr. Mitchell has enjoyed four triumphant seasons as Music Director of the Kingston Symphony Association, garnering praise for his programming, approach, and musical results. During the past two seasons, the Kingston Symphony's entire Masterworks Series has sold out under Mr. Mitchell's leadership.

During his various conducting residencies, Mr. Mitchell has led over 200 concerts, acted as a Canadian ambassador during a historic two-week tour of China, Korea and Macau, and served as an official consultant to the Vancouver Olympic Committee and Assistant Producer for the recording of the medal ceremony national anthems.

He has also brought the magic of orchestral music to over 500,000 students and children, many of whom had never experienced a live performance first hand. His programs for young people have been recognized for their appeal and educational mandate.

Equally comfortable in the realm of contemporary music and opera, Mr. Mitchell has premiered over 20 new Canadian works and is a strong advocate for music by Canadian composers. He is also the Principal Conductor of Opera 5, an award-winning independent opera company based in Toronto, which is responsible for a popular web series entitled Opera Cheats.

Mr. Mitchell is a champion of initiatives designed to enhance the live concert experience, such as insider videos, informational podcasts, pre-concert talks, and special concerts devoted to live, onstage insights into major orchestral works. His program SoundSync, which involves real-time updates delivered silently to mobile devices during the concert, was hailed as the greatest technological innovation in the concert hall of 2014 by the CBC.

Among his recent career highlights, Mr. Mitchell was Principal Conductor of the World Harp Congress, in which he conducted eight harp concerti with some of the world's best harpists. He is a regular guest conductor with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. He has also led orchestral collaborations with the Barenaked Ladies, Judy Collins, and Pink Martini.

Learn more about Evan.

Is education the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for the ills and ailments of our society, even if it takes generations to have a real impact? What's the history of education and where might we be headed? What are the forces that compete to shape our schools, our students and our minds?

Ben chats with Ted Christou, a teacher, historian and educator of educators at Queen's University.

About the Guest

Dr. Christou is an Associate Professor in the Curriculum Studies and Educational Studies fields, with a cross-appointment to the Department of History in Queen's University's Faculty of Arts and Science. He began his professional teaching career as an elementary school teacher in Scarborough with the Toronto District School Board. Following a circuitous path, which included teaching at the Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Divisions (Continuing Education), Dr. Christou returned to the academy to pursue doctoral studies in history of education. Dr. Christou commenced his academic course on the tenure track in Fredericton at the University of New Brunswick in 2009. In July 2012, that course led westwards, back to Kingston, Ontario, and to Queen's University.

Dr. Christou's teaching in the Faculty of Education at Queen's extends to several disciplines; in particular, he concentrates upon history of education, philosophy of education, social studies, and the theory and practice of history.

His research, which spans several fields - history, philosophy, curriculum, and teacher education - is tied together by two questions: a) What is an education for?, and b) How might we imagine an education individual? These questions are bound by historical, as well as contemporary, context and complexities.

Learn more about Ted or visit his website.

"Since the turn of the millennium, and particularly over the last decade, no fewer than twenty-five democracies have failed around the world, three of them in Europe (Russia, Turkey and Hungary)... Can the West regain its optimism? If the answer is no – and most of the portents are skewing the wrong way – liberal democracy will follow. If the next few years resemble the last, it is questionable whether Western democracy can take the strain. People have lost faith that their systems can deliver. More and more are looking backwards to a golden age that can never be regained. When a culture stops looking to the future, it loses a vital force. The search for Eden always ends in tears."

That's from The Retreat of Western Liberalism, a powerful, insightful and chilling book by Financial Times columnist, Edward Luce. Ben is with Eric Peters in Calgary to get to the bottom of the acclaimed bestseller.

About the Book

In his widely acclaimed book Time to Start Thinking, Financial Times chief US columnist and commentator Edward Luce charted the course of America's relative decline, proving to be a prescient voice on our current social and political turmoil. In The Retreat of Western Liberalism, Luce makes a larger statement about the weakening of western hegemony and the crisis of liberal democracy - of which Donald Trump and his European counterparts are not the cause, but a terrifying symptom.

Luce argues that we are on a menacing trajectory brought about by ignorance of what it took to build the West, arrogance towards society's economic losers, and complacency about our system's durability - attitudes that have been emerging since the fall of the Berlin Wall. "We cannot move forward without a clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong. Unless the West can rekindle an economy that produces gains for the majority of its people, its political liberties may be doomed. The West's faith in history teaches us to take democracy for granted. Reality tells us something troublingly different. Combining on-the-ground reporting with intelligent synthesis of the literature and economic analysis, Luce offers a detailed projection of the consequences of the Trump administration, the rise of European populism, and a forward-thinking analysis of what those who believe in enlightenment values must do to defend them from the multiple onslaughts they face in the coming years."

Learn more about The Retreat of Western Liberalism.

On July 22 a lone gunman opened fire on pedestrians and crowded restaurants on Danforth Avenue in the Greektown District of Toronto. He killed two and wounded ten others before turning the gun on himself. Three months earlier, just a subway ride away, a man drove a rental van onto busy sidewalks, killing ten and injuring 16. What is driving people, particularly young men, to throw away their lives and those of others? Were these incidents of terrorism or just mad acts of violence? What's the difference?

Ben heads to Toronto to speak with Joseph McQuade, a terrorism expert at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, to get to the bottom of these urgent questions.

About the Guest

Joseph McQuade is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Asian Institute's Centre for South Asian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar, with a dissertation that examined the origins of terrorism in colonial South Asia in international perspective. This research is currently being revised into a book manuscript, tentatively titled Anti-colonial nationalism and the birth of 'terrorism' in colonial India, 1857-1947. His postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto will interrogate the role of terrorism and insurgency in defining national identity in postcolonial India and Burma (Myanmar). His broader research and teaching interests include critical genealogies of 'terrorism' as a political and legal category, the global history of political violence, and the relationship between insurgency and nation-states.

Learn more about Joseph.

What is the nature of political power and how is it distributed? What are the pros and cons of a federal system like Canada's, where power is shared between governments? Is it possible that Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump are singing from the same "make our country great again" song-sheets, just on opposite sides of the populist choir? And how likely is it that the American president will be impeached?

Ben addresses these questions and more with Dr. Anthony Sayers, Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary.

About the Guest

Anthony received his undergraduate education at the University of Western Australia and completed an MA and Ph.D at the University of British Columbia. His research deals with major political institutions including political parties, elections, federalism and parliaments. He is particularly interested in the organizational and campaigning aspects of political parties and the distribution of power in federal states, and wrote Parties, Candidates, and Constituency Campaigns in Canadian Elections. He also writes about Alberta provincial politics.

Learn more about Anthony.

What is the role of art and music in our society? Is art supposed to effect change or simply represent it after the fact? Is all good art subversive, and is all subversive art good? What does it mean for an arts organization to be responsible to its audience: give them what they want, or help them develop newer, deeper, unexpected tastes? How do you nurture art and artists who work on a cutting edge that is not always popular or immediately accessible, yet still keep it commercially viable?

Ben chats with the award winning arts administrator, and Director of the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston, Tricia Baldwin.

About the Guest

Tricia Baldwin became the Director of the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts ('the Isabel') in December 2014, and works with a tremendously talented team at the Isabel. Tricia is responsible for its programming featuring top diverse emerging and established artists, education, student and community engagement resulting in significant increase in audience participation, socially engaged art, and facilities management. She established the Isabel as an arts incubator for new works, the Ka'tarohkwi Festival of Indigenous Arts with curator Dylan Robinson, the Isabel Human Rights Arts Festival, and the Isabel Overton Bader Canadian Violin Competition. Tricia is the co-creator of Queen's University's new M.A. in Arts Leadership program with Queen's Dan School of Drama and Music, and is the course developer and instructor of the program's Contract Negotiations in the Arts graduate course. A champion of training the next generation of arts leaders, Tricia has been a mentor with the Canadian Heritage Talent to Lead Program and the Cultural Career Council of Ontario Mentor Program. Tricia recently served on the International Association of Venue Managers Association conference panel on arts management education.

Prior to the Isabel, Tricia Baldwin was the Managing Director of Tafelmusik from 2000 to 2014. During this period, Tafelmusik doubled its operating revenues and increased its endowment seventeen fold. The orchestra undertook over 50 national and international tours, created 20 recordings and films that garnered significant industry awards and nominations that led to the launching of its recording label and digital concert hall, established artist training programs attracting pre-professional musicians from around the world, and undertook a successful $3M venue renovation. Tricia also headed up Tafelmusik's expansion of venues within Toronto that contributed to the doubling of earned revenues and significant audience development. Prior to Tafelmusik, she was the Executive Director of Ballet British Columbia and General Manager of the Kingston Symphony. Tricia received her Bachelor of Music (University of Toronto) and her MBA (York University), and has continued her education with courses from Harvard Business School, University of Oxford School of Continuing Studies, the Harvard Kennedy School, and Boston University.

Tricia Baldwin has been awarded the Canada Council for the Arts' John Hobday Award in Arts Management, a scholarship to attend Harvard University's Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program, First Prize for Student Philosophy Essay from the University of Oxford School of Continuing Studies, and the Queen's Human Rights Initiative Award. As a volunteer, she currently serves on the Advisory Board of the York University Schulich School of Business Arts, Media, and Entertainment Management program, the City of Kingston Arts Advisory Board and Professional Development Working Group, and St. Lawrence College Music and Digital Media Program Advisory Committee. She has been a panel advisor/juror/assessor for the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council, City of Toronto Cultural Services, City of Barrie Department of Culture, and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Learn more about Tricia.