Zoomer Week in Review

There is another scourge that has come along with the pandemic and it’s so bad that the World Health Organization has given it an official name, "The Infodemic". Tim Caulfield is a professor at the University of Alberta who specializes in health law and has written extensively on debunking junk science and misinformation. He’ll be one of the speakers at the Vaccine Summit presented by CARP on Thursday March 25th. To sign up go to: carp.ca/vaccinesummit

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It is an all too common affliction that affects more than 3 million Canadians, mostly women and costs the economy billions in lost productivity. But there has been progress in treating migraine. To mark Brain Health Awareness Week, I talked to Peter Goadsby, professor of neurology at UCLA and one of the winners of the 2021 Brain Prize.

Millions of  people around the world watched last week’s explosive interview with Harry and Meghan. They accused the royal family of racism and callous indifference to a mental health crisis. It left many people questioning the value of the institution - here at home, more Canadians than ever think it’s time to drop the monarchy. Libby Znaimer talked with pollster Mario Canseco, President of Research Co.

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One year on, the pandemic has found its way into culture and art. Toronto’ s Poet laureate Albert Moritz captured the tragedy in long term care in his poem, “Exactly Here the Marvel Spoke” to commemorate one year since the beginning of the pandemic.

Interview 1: Andre Picard

What will it take to finally fix our eldercare system in Canada? It’s a question that is at the top of our agenda and now award-winning Globe and mail Health columnist Andre Picard has a prescription in his new book "Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada's Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic," Libby reached Andre in Vancouver.

Interview 2: Sarah Willen

Usually, history is written only by the powerful. That’s the starting point for the Pandemic Journaling Project - which wants to ensure that what you and your family are living through is not forgotten. Libby talked with Sarah Willen at the university of Connecticut.

Interview One: Dr. Michael Verbora

Zoomers remember psychedelic drugs and the backlash against them, as part of the counterculture of the 60’s. Now they are re-emerging as a promising area of research and treatment for mental illnesses like anxiety, depression and PTSD. Libby talked with Dr. Michael Verbora. He’s a practitioner of psychedelic-assisted therapy and he was a presenter at the Psychedelic Summit held at Zoomer Hall.

Interview Two: Mark Hawkins

Most of us think of boredom as something very negative. And it is easier than ever to distract ourselves from it with social media, binge-watching, and busy-making activities. But author Mark Hawkins argues we can use boredom to create a life full of purpose and meaning.

Interview One: Hazel McCallion Part 2

It started with volunteering in her local community. That’s what propelled Hazel McCallion into an extraordinary career in politics, at a time when women politicians were a rarity. Here’s part two of our interview marking her 100th birthday.

Interview Two: Dr. Marcus Butler

For decades, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation were the primary treatments for cancer patients. Now, the biggest advances are in immunotherapy, which harnesses the patient’s own immune system.

It’s becoming a go-to treatment for some metastatic cancers and  improving survival rates for these patients. Who can benefit the most? Libby Znaimer talked with Medical Oncologist Dr. Marcus Butler,  Director of Princess Margaret Immune Monitoring Laboratory,

Interview One: Hazel McCallion

Today is Hazel McCallion’s 100th birthday! We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit down with her a few weeks ago to talk about her to talk about her remarkable life. While most of us are familiar with the broad outlines of her career, the story of how she got there from very modest beginnings is not. In this episode are some of our very long, very long socially distanced talk in Zoomer Hall.

Next week we’ll have part two, talking about Hazel’s remarkable career. And in the meantime, you can watch the TV version tomorrow Monday Feb. 15 on The Zoomer at 10 PM on our sister station VisionTV

Interview Two: Kirk Pickersgill

Amanda Gorman, America’s National Youth Poet laureate, made headlines reciting a poem at the recent Presidential Inauguration. The performance catapulted her to international fame and landed her on the cover of Time Magazine. The gown she chose for that prestigious picture is by Canadian fashion label Greta Constantine, designed by Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill. Libby Znaimer reached Kirk in his studio.

INTERVIEW ONE: JEAN AUGUSTINE

It was December 1995 when the House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada, after unanimously passing a motion introduced by Jean Augustine, who two years earlier was the first African-Canadian woman elected as MP, representing the Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

After deciding not to seek re-election in 2006, she moved on to new challenges, which to this day involve addressing systemic barriers and racial inequalities in education through the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora at York University.

INTERVIEW TWO: JAMIE GOLOMBEK

COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on couples. In fact, the pandemic is leading more to seek advice about separation and divorce. With the COVID-related financial pressures, and money being one of the key sources of friction among couples, Jaime Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning at CIBC, goes over what they should be thinking about as they consider and make life altering decisions.

The pandemic has dramatically widened the income gap between rich and poor in Canada. That’s the conclusion of research from CIBC, which found that low-paid workers suffered the vast majority of the job losses while there has been a surprising increase in higher-paid jobs. Libby Znaimer talked with economist Benjamin Tal.

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He’s poached salmon in the dishwasher and made garbage pizza with old potatoes and other discarded vegetables. Cookbook author and TV food personality Bob Blumer has learned from everyone, from  top chefs to faraway street vendors around the globe. He has tips we can all use in our home kitchens in his latest book Flavorbomb: A Rogue Guide to Making Everything Taste Better. Libby reached him at home in Los Angeles

This week, the Biden administration took power in the U.S. with 25,000 national guard troops standing by. Since the storming of the capitol two weeks earlier, security experts agree that right wing extremists pose the biggest domestic threat to America. Libby Znaimer talked with Bryan Hughes, associate director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University.

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As if caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s wasn’t hard enough, the pandemic has magnified the challenges for both caregivers and patients and for many, it has hastened the course of the disease.  Kerri Thompson is the essential caregiver for her mom Joyce, who lives at a retirement residence in Aurora.

Next week, Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the first female, first Black, and first South Asian Vice-President of the United States. She will also grace the February cover of the iconic Vogue magazine. But there’s growing backlash over the casual styling of the cover shot, which you can see here, and which critics say is disrespectful.

Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour says there was no disrespect intended. Libby asked Suzanne Boyd, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Zoomer Magazine, to decode the controversy.

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Given that the pandemic is hitting the older population especially hard, we think it’s a good time to take another look at the science behind aging well. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin’s book, Successful Aging has just come out in paperback and Libby reached him, in lockdown, in Los Angeles.