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The AIH Transcript for February 22, 2021

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello. I'm Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

CO: The coup versus the many. As Myanmar's military faces off against the largest demonstrations yet, one protester tells us it feels like witnessing history, but she's worried about the next chapter.

CH: Driving force. A former Uber driver who spent years battling the ride hailing app is thrilled he didn't run out of gas before a landmark Supreme Court ruling in his favour.

CO: Some couldn't charge anything and some were charged a lot. A Texas man didn't lose his power after the snowstorm, but was shocked when he got an electricity bill for nearly 17,000 dollars.

CH: There goes part of the neighbourhood. In San Francisco, a Victorian house is uprooted, loaded on a truck and relocated to the wonderment of locals who turned defeat into an impromptu parade.

CO: Initiate self-destruct sequence. After more than 20 years of dressing up as robots, there's been a short circuit, and the French duo known as Daft Punk has announced that they're shutting down.

CH: And a churn for the worse. Concern spreads amongst Canadians who find they can't spread their room-temperature butter. And one food researcher takes a hard look at why it won't soften. As It Happens. The Monday Edition. Radio that appeals to his butter judgement.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: 'We can't just back down,' says Myanmar protester as demonstrations grow

Myanmar Protester

Guest: Thant

CH: Three weeks ago, the military in Myanmar seised power. But judging by what's happening in the streets of the country's largest cities, it hasn't exactly taken control. Today's are the largest protests yet. And there was also a nationwide general strike by businesses in solidarity with the demonstrators. For weeks, there have been fears of a bloody military crackdown similar to 1988, when thousands of demonstrators were killed for a challenging military rule. But that hasn't happened because for the moment, our guest says the junta is using different tactics. Thant is a 27 year old graduate student in Yangon. We're protecting her identity out of fears for her safety.

CO: Thant, we are talking to you just before we understand the military might be shutting down the Internet. How concerned are you about what might happen tonight in Myanmar?

THANT: Well, since the coup happened, we are concerned almost every night because we can never know what they will do. And for the past few weeks, they have been arresting so many people without any warrants, nobody can sleep peacefully.

CO: But you have been out on the streets every day. I guess you're not out there at night. What what what was it like today in your city of Yangon?

THANT: There were so many people that I was almost stuck in one place because there were so many people -- it's like almost the whole city came out. I am lucky that I'm in the capital where we have a lot of media coverage. However, there have been so many people being arrested and killed already in another part of the country where there was not a lot of media coverage. Today in Naypyidaw, more than 150 students have been arrested just because they were protesting. And also even the people who have been like giving out food and water to the protester even they were arrested. And we still don't know what's going to happen to them. Two days ago in Mandalay, one 16 year old young man has been shot dead and he was shot with a sniper.

CO: What do you think the military strategy is at this point?

THANT: I am not sure because we have been expecting them to do similar tactics that they used during like 1988. But because we have experienced a lot of that already and like everybody has been reminding each other to do peacefully, to not do any violence, through social media and through so many things. So right now, I just feel like they are doing whatever they can -- they can do anything and we can't really expect anything from them. Like they will do anything.

CO: When you mention 1988, this is August 1988, a very important date in Myanmar when the military leaders cracked down in a very bloody way on protests of students in Myanmar, they killed thousands of people. So is that on people's minds as they are on the streets?

THANT: I wasn't born back then, but I have heard a lot about it. Even though we have so many fake news -- I grew up with these two television channels with all the fake news-- yes, everybody has been comparing it to that. And people has that in mind. And during this movement, we are consciously comparing what they might do, how to avoid their tricks.

CO: But in 1988, you didn't have social media, did you? So how different does that make it, the fact that you can actually communicate with each other and you don't have to go through state television in order to do it?

THANT: The military state control the Internet, and I might get Internet shut down any time soon. But yes, it's easier to communicate. But at the same time, we also have site wars where they also release like fake news through social media and so people have to be very careful.

CO: Thant what's it like out on the streets? When you're out there, just give us a sense of the atmosphere, the mood of people that you're protesting with.

THANT: Honestly, when I go out, I just feel like I've become more hopeful than when I stay inside because I see people so united and so conscious, even though they're from like so many different backgrounds, so many different economic backgrounds, educational backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, but people have been like very very helpful towards each other. So I'm like more hopeful when I go out there. That's why I've been going out every day, because if I just stay inside I will go crazy.

CO: But your parents remember, I'm sure, 1988, what it was like, how bloody that crackdown was. What do they think of you being out on the streets every day?

THANT: Well, my mom was very very worried and she honestly didn't want me to go out. But my dad has been supportive and he said like, "Don't live in fear anymore. Just do it." My mom doesn't say anything anymore because she also knows that she couldn't stop us anyway, so she just stay inside and pray for us. That's the best she can do right now.

CO: But we know it's very worrisome. People in the protests, they're actually writing their blood type on their hands, emergency phone numbers in case they get injured. So what does that say to you?

THANT: That's correct. Nothing is predictable, like they could do anything. We know the military our whole life, so we know how brutal they are, even though not a lot of media covers. Like this whole time so many minority groups, so many ethnic groups have been facing the brutality of the military. So we are doing it. We have experienced this -- the whole country right now. But actually, like this kind of brutality has been like being experienced by so many of our ethnic groups.

CO: What do you mean by different ethnic groups of Myanmar coming together?

THANT: So we have other like ethnic rebel groups that right now when the coup happens, even the ethnic rebel groups are holding back because we don't want this to be called as a civil war. So even the ethnic minority groups who do not agree with the normal government are holding back because we want to fight against this military coup and we want to fight against the military because we don't want this to be hurt by the war as the "Oh, this is just an internal affair. This is just a civil war." So the whole country becomes united, standing against the military with non-violence.

CO: The army, there was a warning last night on your state television that 'inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youths, they may suffer a loss of life.' Do you take that as a warning?

THANT: Yes, we do. Actually like even if they don't want us, we know that that's an option and we know that that could happen at any point. But we got to do what we got to do. We can't just back down. Even if we lose our life, if we contribute in a movement, we are willing to lose it.

CO: Well, Thant I hope you remain safe. I'm glad we could speak before we lost the connection. Take care. Thank you.

THANT: Thank you. Thank you. Take care.

CH: Thant is a 27 year old protester in Yangon, Myanmar. We're withholding her identity and of fears for her safety. And for more on the story, visit our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Texas: Huge Electricity Bills

Guest: Scott Willoughby

CH: When that freak winter storm whipped across Texas last week, Scott Willoughby thought he'd dodged a bullet. The electricity stayed on in his home in the Dallas suburbs, while millions of others in the state lost power and water. But then he got the bill. Because he had signed up for variable rate billing, his charges had spiked and his bank account was almost completely drained. We reached Scott Willoughby in Royse City, Texas.

CO: Scott, first of all, give us the grand total. How much have you paid for electricity over the last week?

SCOTT WILLOUGHBY: 16,847.35. When you say it real fast it doesn't sound too bad.

CO: But I mean, does this automatically go on your credit card? Is it a bill that you can refuse to pay or anything like that?

SW: No. The way it works is you set the amount that you want it to what they call refresh. But I had it set at 200 dollars. So every time my electricity usage got -- my account got below 25 dollars, they would automatically charge my credit card another 200 dollars. On the 12th of February, they recharged it for 200 dollars, and I didn't think much about it. The next day they did it three times. The next day they did five times. The next day they did it 15 times. So every time they did it, I get a notification from the bank saying, "Hey, your card has been charged another 200 dollars." And I'm thinking, "Oh my God, this could be 30,000 if this goes on another 10 days."

CO: It's something that most of us don't have because we don't have what you have in Texas, this market driven, unregulated system, this energy market that allows this to happen. When it's good, it's very good, right? You get cheap rates. Obviously, when it's bad, it's really bad.

SW: When it's good, it's okay. You might save 100 dollars a month. Nobody in their right mind would ever sign up to save two or three cents a kilowatt. No one would think they would charged 900 a kilowatt in something like this. There was no disclaimers. There was no warnings. There was only, switch your electricity and we will save you 100 dollars a month. Nobody that I know of anyway would gamble to save 100 dollars a month when you could have 17,000 over.

CO: What does it mean to you to have that 16,800 dollar electric bill?

SW: Oh, it's devastating. It is devastating to me. But fortunately I had 17,000 dollars in the bank that they could take out. What about the 29,000 other Griddy customers and the 200,000-300,000 Reliant Energy customers that had the same thing happen to them -- and I think the average bill for the Texas market for unregulated or the non-fixed rate customers was about 7,500 dollars for those ten days. Most people don't have 7,500 dollars.

CO: When you say Griddy, there are just hundreds of these little retailers in your state, right. And they provide wholesale prices, which they say can quickly change based on supply and demand. But didn't Griddy actually send a message to its customers that they should actually change their company in the middle of this? They said that this is going to happen.

SW: Absolutely. And once it started, they sent an email, actually three or four emails and three or four texts, saying you need to find another company. And they even provided some links to some other companies that were fixed rate. The problem is, is that those companies were having to pay a lot higher for their electricity that they were buying to provide to their customers. So they didn't want new customers and they put 7 to 10 day waiting periods on switching. So when Griddy says, "Hey, you need to find a new provider," then I immediately went and put in a request to switch. I started at TXU because they said 1 to 7 days. And once I got a confirmation that we're going to switch my account, the effective date was going to be the 21st. And I'm thinking, that's 7-8 days from now. So I went back out and looked again and I found Champion and they got me in five days. So I did change, but it took me 5 to 4 more days. And by then I paid 16,847 dollars.

CO: Now you were one of the lucky ones to actually have electricity when others were losing it. But were you tempted at all to maybe shut down your electricity yourself, to turn off your own lights?

SW: Well we did in that, we turned off the furnaces. We unplugged everything. It was plugged into the walls, we kept one TV on and a coffee pot, and that was about it. We used a little golf cart type propane heaters and flashlight.

CO: I mean, do you think that this is maybe a system that has to be rethought? I mean, Texas has a unique energy system, energy market. Do you think that has to be revisited?

SW: Absolutely. And I think the legislature is looking at it right now. They convened some type of a panel on Friday -- Governor Abbott did. And they're looking at the whole market. But at the very least, there needs to be some type of a warning, some type of a waiver that you signed that said, 'Hey, you know, I understand the risk and I'm willing to accept the risk.' But like I said, I can't imagine anybody that would choose to potentially save 100 dollars a month and get hit with this kind of a bill. I know I wouldn't have. If I had any inkling whatsoever that it could have ever been this, I wouldn't have done it.

CO: Well, some of your consumer organisations are saying that it shouldn't even be allowed, that there should be a contract that could allow for those prices to happen to anyone, that this is just something that has to be regulated.

SW: I agree.

CO: And about these skyrocketing energy bills, Governor Abbott said that he wants to make sure that people don't get stuck with them. Will there be any way to get compensated?

SW: I certainly hope so. I don't know the answer to that, but I'm certainly hopeful that that's the end result of that statement.

CO: We'll leave it there. Scott it's good to talk to you. Thank you.

SW: Thanks Carol. I appreciate it.

CH: Scott Willoughby is in Royse City, Texas. And you can find more on that story on our webpage: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Calm Music]

SF Home Move

Guest: Phil Joy

CH: If you came across the scene in San Francisco yesterday, you might have wondered if you were in the middle of an acid flashback. One of the city's iconic century-and-a-half-old Victorian houses slowly eased out of its spot on Franklin Street and started moving down Franklin Street. Trippy. But then hopefully you'd have noticed it was attached to a giant flatbed truck and was being painstakingly relocated to another part of the city. Phil Joy was the mastermind behind the move. We reached him in Benicia, California.

CO: Phil, can you take us to that moment when that big house started to roll down Franklin Street? What was going through your mind?

PHIL JOY: Well, let's see. I didn't sleep about two nights before the move thinking about everything that could possibly happen. But we put these big hydraulic dollies with brakes on them -- big brakes. We had five dollies underneath, so we had like 20 brakes. And we had to come out on a level lot and turn right downhill. So I kept thinking about, okay, we don't want to lean the building over too much. The heavy sides on the left side, good. So we started pulling out and everything worked as planned.

CO: I can't imagine being able to pull that off properly with a camper trailer attached to my vehicle. 5000 square foot house. What, six bedrooms, three bathrooms? I don't know how many...

PJ: 135-tons. [Chuckles]

CO: When you said that you didn't sleep because you were thinking about all the things that could possibly happen, what were those things?

PJ: Well, I mean, if you had a jack fail or if the brakes weren't tightened up and we had to break so tight that we actually pulled it downhill, we had to pull it. It wasn't coasting at all. We had one shot, one shot to make that turn. And I knew we had to go all the way across the street, two feet away from the trees and then make a hard right turn.

CO: How fast were you going?

PJ: Right there we were inching it, inching it along. Once we got down off the hill, we were about walking speed.

CO: You were hoping early as Sunday morning that not too many people around, but instead you had attracted quite a crowd, as you probably could have predicted, right?

PJ: Well, it got out on Facebook and social media. People kept coming by in the street the days before, looking at it, taking pictures, looking at it. They've seen it for a long time sitting ther. That house or that street now was full of high rises. And that's the last Victorian there. A street used to be full of Victorians like that. So that was the last one. And it was a big to do.

CO: But people obviously trusted you because I couldn't believe how close they were standing to that house. I kept on thinking, "It doesn't occur to anybody that might just topple over on top of them."

PJ: Now you know what I was thinking about. [Chuckles] What if the brakes weren't tight? Or if something happened. And I kept trying to shoo them back, but they'd go back for a minute and then they'd swarm all around the house. And then once we started, I just had to focus on moving the building down the street.

CO: You mentioned hills because it is, of course, San Francisco. And so you did have a hill you had to do, right?

PJ: Yes. And that is a main artery going through town. It's four lanes one way. And we shut it down and went the opposite way. So there were 27 permits or something like that to get to do that. And it took months and months and months to get the permits and the okays.

CO: But also in order to go down that street, what about overhead wires, what about street lights, parked cars. How did you arrange for all that?

PJ: Most of the wiring now in San Francisco is underground. We had to take out five or six overhanging stoplights. They took those down. Some trees had to be pruned. Parking metres had to be taken out. Yeah, it was quite an ordeal. They started about four o'clock in the morning striping the roads, taking lighting down, and towing some cars. It's all sorts of people.

CO: I can't imagine how much paperwork was involved with this move.

PJ: A ton of paperwork. And luckily we had an architectural firm that was working with it. They took care of paperwork and we had Zoom meetings every day right in the middle of jacking the building up -- "Sorry, I've got to go have a Zoom meeting." Because the building itself before we even started, there was a kind of a vacant lot right next to it. And the house was up on a basement eight feet in the air. So we had to pick the building up first, put blocks, steel beams across rollers and roll the building across sideways to the vacant lot before we could jack it up and put the wheels under it.

CO: The whole price for doing this is about 400,000 dollars, right?

PJ: Yes. Yes.

CO: It's a beautiful house. And it's surreal to see it float down the street. The window still had some blinds and there's still a bit of ivy stuck to the side. It's a bit like watching-- if people have seen Disney's movie "Up," --- it was like that, a beautiful big house floating down.

PJ: I thought about that later and I wish I'd put some balloons on top of it. [Laughter]

CO: Why did your client go through all that trouble?

PJ: Well, he wanted to save the house. The original redwoods were, you know, a thousand years old that they harvested and built all these houses out of. So he decided to move the building to another area and turn it into a refurbished building. He bought a piece of property that had an 1880s mortuary on it, which we actually picked up, moved over 14 feet and back nine feet. And it was a big building, 6,000-7,000 square feet so we could put this other Victorian next to it.

CO: But you were telling us about the value of the house, the kind of wood that went into it.

PJ: Oh the framework and the ornate trims and mouldings were unbelievable. And they were all made out of group of redwood trees that were 800 to 1,000 years old that was harvested around that time, pretty close by the coastal redwoods, which now you can't touch, you'd be a tree terrorist if you cut down one of these trees. But they were very tight green and the wood is so fine that it stood the test of time -- 139 years old. It's in beautiful shape, very ornate, mouldings and trims. And I mean, when I think about I get goosebumps.

CO: Well, it's an extraordinary scene and we're going to share it with our listeners. And thanks for telling us the story.

PJ: Okay. I appreciate it.

CH: Phil Joy is the house mover who relocated a Victorian home in San Francisco yesterday. We reached him in Benicia, California. And you can see some pictures of the house move on our Twitter feed: @CBCAsItHappens.

[Music: Pop Music]

Daft Punk

CH: Two robots walk across the California salt flats. The first presses a button on the second, who walks away and explodes. The first robot walks off into the sunset. And that wordless video posted on YouTube today is how Daft Punk told us they were breaking up. To clarify, the robots are the two French guys in Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who spent most of their 28 years as a musical partnership wearing robot helmets in public anyway. Essentially because they wanted people to focus on the music, which backfired slightly because everyone's first question was "Why are you robots?" But the music was great -- over four studio albums, two live albums, and a movie soundtrack. The cyborg duo went from working alone to working with Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams and Paul Williams. And they expanded their sound from cool-Android-disco to warm-human-disco variations on House, R and B, Funk, and Rock in between. So they were humans dressed as robots, but they were really humans dressed as robots who were trying to be human. It sounds complicated when you think about it, but when the music is playing, you don't.

[Music: Hip-hop Music]

Part 2: UK Uber Driver

UK Uber Driver

Guest: James Farrar

CH: A landmark ruling in the UK is about to shake things up for the gig economy. After a year's long legal battle involving a small group of drivers, Britain's Supreme Court has ruled against Uber. The workers wanted minimum wage and holiday pay. Uber said no, arguing the drivers are self-employed. But on Friday, the court decided that Uber has to treat its drivers as employees. James Farrar is a former Uber driver and co-lead claimant in the case. We reached him in London.

CO: James, how does it feel to have finally won your case in the highest court?

JAMES FARRAR: [Chuckles] It feels very good, but I think probably the overwhelming emotion is one of relief

CO: What drove you to file a claim like this against Uber in 2015?

JF: For me, it was a very simple thing. I was the archetypal gig worker. I was setting up another non-profit organisation, and I just wanted to do this on the side to extend my reach. And one night I was assaulted. And I quickly found that, well, I thought it would be okay because I thought everything is digital and everything is tracked and traced. But to my surprise, Uber would not cooperate with the police to identify the passenger. And this went on for 12 weeks. Uber even was asking the police to get a court order, which is really quite ridiculous. So we started looking at the contractual arrangements between the parties because we kind of wanted to understand where a duty of care lay and all of this. And that's when I discovered what the problem was.

CO: That you were self-employed and that the company didn't employ you.

JF: Well, that's what they said but I'm glad that the Supreme Court said something different. What Uber had set up this contractual arrangements is rather complicated -- but that the driver and the passenger are directly contracted with each other. It's not something I understood to be the case as the driver and then even as a passenger, I'm a consumer service as well. I wonder, even in Canada if riders actually understand that, that they're not directly contracting in a relationship with Uber but with individual drivers, whoever they are. The driver and the passenger never know each other, but yet they're bound by these contractual arrangements. Uber is saying that it's not a party to this, it's not a transportation company. And therefore, there was no possible supply. It's only supply was the booking service. But now that's all ended. So now Uber is the transportation company and an employer, and it must uphold its obligation to assist workers, but now must also pay 20 percent on every fare.

CO: Now, what the court said is that, and it was a unanimous Supreme Court decision dismissing Uber's appeal, it said that Uber set the fare which dictated how much drivers could earn it, set the contract terms and the driver had no say in them, request for rides as constrained by Uber who can penalise drivers if they reject too many rides, and that Uber monitors a driver's service and gives the star rating which determines how many rides you can pick up. So what the court said, 'well, look, that's an employment contract,' right?

JF: Yeah, it is. In the United Kingdom, we have a strange thing. We have three categories that you can be in when you're at work. You can be truly self employed: butcher, baker, candlestick maker. You can be fully employed with a working pension and a gold watch at the end of your service. Or you can be somewhere in the middle, which is what we were established as workers. You can be quite badly exploited in that position. You're vulnerable. And so that's why the law exists.

CO: What will Uber have to do now that this has been determined?

JF: Well, Uber is obliged to pay the minimum wage for every hour that the driver is on the roads. And this is quite an important distinction. It can't just be for the time that an Uber passenger is in the vehicle. It is all of the time that you're logged on and are available to work for Uber -- plus 28 days holidays per year.

CO: Uber is saying that this changes just for the 23 people represented in your case. It doesn't change anything for most of its drivers. Is that true?

JF: No, it's not true. This is a distraction. This is why we need to keep pressure on and keep fighting. The judgement is really care -- Lord Leggatt who wrote the judgement on behalf of the Supreme Court bench is very clear. So the purpose of the legislation is to protect workers, and that companies like Uber can't pick and choose who gets to have statutory benefits and who don't. And you ought to describe this contracting out of statutory protections like this was a mischief. And I'm afraid Uber is continuing to do that mischief by saying this.

CO: Are there not drivers, though, who have preferred this loose arrangement with the company?

JF: Well, everyone I know wants to be paid properly. And the reality is that Uber drivers have in the UK at least, is working up to 30 hours a week just to break even. So, you know, drivers can continue to have a loose arrangement, can continue to have the flexibility -- all that Uber is required to do is to make sure that everybody who does work crosses the threshold of the minimum wage. It's a win=win for everybody. Needn't cost Uber a penny -- all they have to do is make sure the drivers are busy and utilised.

CO: You've been doing this for six years, what toll has that taken on you? This legal battle against this big company.

JF: Well, it's one of those things -- I think you have to see it through, which is really important. I think you have to have a drive. But it really wasn't me. I can't take credit either for the victory or for all the effort that it's taken, because I'm part of a large team. I think the key difference in this is the power of unions, the APP Drivers & Couriers Union, my own union, the GMB union, the United Kingdom, the solidarity of so many members behind this claim, the campaign around it, but also the really skilled and determined and brilliant lawyers that we have working on this as well. And that's what made the difference.

CO: Would you ever consider going back to Uber and working as a driver again?

JF: Sure, sure. If one is to be paid properly, I think it's good work. I think it's good modern work. I think Uber brings good things to the marketplace. If this is a choice they made to exploit, they don't need to. They have the power of technology to make sure that you could iron out all inequalities and unfairness in the marketplace and pay people well and still make a profit. But haven't chosen to do that. They have the technology to be able to do that. But they chose to use the technology to be more greedy and exploitative. And they have a bright future, but they need to use the technology way better than they have in the past.

CO: Well, James, congratulations on your victory and thanks for speaking with us.

JF: Thank you so much for having me.

CH: That was James Farrar, a former Uber driver and claimant in the case against the ride hailing app. We reached Mr. Farrar in London.

[Music: Piano Music]

Kennedy Stewart

CH: Kennedy Stewart appears to be drawing a distinction between actually solving a problem and simply not making it worse. The Vancouver Mayor used to be an NDP MP. That was his job when Stephen Harper's Conservatives imposed mandatory minimum penalties for a number of drug crimes. Now, the Trudeau government has introduced legislation to scrap those minimums, saying they add to the excessive imprisonment of Black and Indigenous People. But in Vancouver, police and prosecutors have already relaxed their approach to simple possession. So this morning, Mayor Stewart was asked what difference the new federal policies will make.

KENNEDY STEWART: I don't see really any changes in terms of this issue through this bill, really for the city that, the VPT I think they pressed six possession charges last year. However, there is seizure of drugs and there's also the stigma attached to this whole issue. And so that's why I'm pushing for, and council backed me unanimously, to push for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which is progressing nicely with Health Canada. And we expect the first part of our submission to go in March 1st.

STEPHEN QUINN: At the last police board meeting last week, we got numbers for what Vancouver police call street checks. We know that there's a hugely disproportionately street checks applied to Black people and Indigenous People. If this is left to the discretion of police officers to make a decision about whether to charge somebody or confiscate the drugs or to let somebody go on their way -- I mean, do we not have a problem with the way that discretion is exercised already? And why would it change?

KENNEDY STEWART: Yeah, just on the drugs issue, I think that this is, I've said it a number of times, this is probably one of the greatest public policy disasters we've had in this province. And it's disproportionately affecting the communities that you're speaking of there. And so I do applaud the federal government for making some changes here. At least it's way different than when I was sitting there with Stephen Harper and it was going the other direction. However, I really think the federal and provincial governments need to get a grip on what is happening to our communities right across the province and across the country, and work with the mayors to try bold steps to reduce the overdose and death rate. It is just simply unacceptable. And we're not doing enough.

CH: That was Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart speaking with CBC Vancouver's Stephen Quinn.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Hard Butter

Guest: Sylvain Charlebois

CH: In this next interview, we're just going to give you the cold-hard fats. It's about butter, specifically the observation over months from dozens of Canadians that their room temperature butter is still very firm...for some reason. Now, food experts think they have a culprit: palmitic acids -- a substance used in cow feed derived from palm oil. Sylvain Charlebois is a food researcher at Dalhousie University who's been investigating the link for months now. And he's also done some ad hoc kitchen tests of his own. We reached Professor Charlebois in Halifax.

CO: Sylvain there you did a toast test in your kitchen recently. What did you learn?

SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS: [Laughs] Non-scientific, of course. My wife and I we went out and bought organic butter and regular butter made from a dairy owned co-op. So using Canadian butter fat and Canadian milk. Brought it home. Used basic toasted two toast. Put it on the counter right away, buttered one with regular butter, the other with organic butter.

CO: And what did it look like?

SC: [Chuckles] The difference was quite stunning. The organic butter melted very easily, was very easy to spread, it smelled like butter. But the regular butter, not only that it didn't smell anything, but it was very difficult to spread -- it melted a little bit, but not as much as the organic one. So it was a bit of a difference. Absolutely.

CO: How did you come up with the theory that palm oil might be the culprit as to why the butter was harder?

SC: I've been intrigued by this since October when the British Columbia Dairy Marketing Board sent out a memo about free fatty acids. I started to call people in the industry, dairy processors, even dairy farmers across the country, spoke to some food scientists and animal scientists. And a lot of our conversations actually pointed to animal feed. And so I looked into what we were using to feed animals. And I knew that palmitic acids were allowed in Canada -- feeding cows with with palm oil. But what I wasn't aware of is that it was an ingredient that is used much more often now than before. Over the last two years, we've seen an increase in the usage of palmitic acids on dairy farms across the country. And last year we were short of butterfat because we were all home cooking away and we wanted more butter and the industry was under pressure to manufacture more butter. And so that's why we felt that perhaps palmitic acid was the culprit. We're not sure at 100 percent. But it is really a quick way to increase the level of butter fat in milk. The problem with palmitic acid is that you increase the level of saturated fat,which is why the point of fusion for products like butter is much higher now, because that's what it does.

CO: Wow. And is it legal?

SC: It is legal. Absolutely it is. The federal Minister of Agriculture was alerted to the issue and she said it's up to the province and some provincial Ag ministers weren't even aware that it was legal as of last week. So some provinces are looking into the matter. It is clearly creating a discomfort not only with consumers, but within the dairy community. And that's why in Quebec, for example, both dairy processors and dairy farmers have decided to recognise that there is a problem, but also they've started an investigation to look into the matter. I think a lot of people are shocked. And I think the reason why Canadians shock is that it is because it's dairy in Canada. There's palm oil in a lot of products we buy. It's everywhere: Nutella, crackers...it's everywhere. But there is a difference. We have a government sanctioned quota system. I mean, very few people are allowed to produce milk in the country. We compensate farmers for their production over two billion dollars over three years. And so there is this social and moral contract that exists between Canadians and the sector. I mean, we protect them, we compensate them. But in return -- and we and we do pay a lot more for dairy products on average than, say, the Americans or or other places around the world -- in return, we expect quality products. And the Blue Cow campaign is about sustainability, local products, purity. When you hear palm oil, it doesn't marry well with that image well.

CO: So people pay more in Canada, as you point out. But at the same time, obviously you have but organic butter or grass fed cow butter and it is really expensive. Consumers like inexpensive. They like cheaper food, right. I mean, there's a lot of pressure on the farmers to produce cheaper and cheaper products for those consumers, right. So we want good stuff, but we want it cheap.

SC: Yes. But with supply management -- the beauty of supply is we actually make changes very quickly. Overnight -- if you decide, say, to ban the practise of giving palmitic acids to cows, you will likely increase the cost of production. But supply management will allow producers to be compensated properly. That's the beauty of supply management. But it will be up to provinces to decide if they want to ban it or not.

CO: And so if consumers say, "Hey, we don't like this," you think that they'll stop feeding palm oil to cows that give us butter?

SC: It's a good question. My guess at this point is that I think some provinces will act on it. They will either decide to penalise farmers for using it. And Quebec is probably on the top of the list right now -- or even ban the practise. Only 22 percent of farmers use palmitic acids. So it begs the question, what are the other 78 percent doing then. In Alberta, it's 90 percent.

CO: So most of the dairy farmers in Alberta are using palmitic acid in their feed?

SC: That's right. Exactly. And once you get hooked on it, it's hard to get rid of it because it is quite effective. It does increase the butterfat content in the milk at a very low price. It's very cost effective. And supply management is all about cost management.

CO: Sylvain it is always good to talk to you even if it's a bit shocking. [Laughter] And thank you.

SC: Take care.

CH: Sylvain Charlebois is a food researcher at Dalhousie University. And we reached him in Halifax.

[Music: Hip-hop]

Moose

CH: Last Friday morning, Kayla Ivens was buckling her daughter into the car when she saw something out of the corner of your eye, and when she turned, she realised there was a moose in the pond on her property in BC It had fallen through the ice and it was struggling to get out. So Ms. Ivens called for help and she told the CBC about the ensuing rescue.

KAYLA IVENS: My dad arrived shortly after the conservation officer did so. Then they went out with axes and shovels. So they tried to at first break a trail through the ice, just hoping that they didn't want to stress her out too much. So they kind of wanted to make a path closer to shore that maybe she would be able to get out on her own. The ice ended up being kind of thick. So it took a lot longer than they planned. So I ended up borrowing an auger from my neighbour and they tried that as well. And that didn't quite work either. Not quite fast enough anyways.

SHELLEY JOYCE: What is the moose doing during this time? Does she realise that help us come?

KAYLA IVENS: Yeah. Because my daughter hung out outside with me the entire time, so I didn't want to get too close to help just in case, because you never know how the animal was going to react. So as soon as they walked up, she kind of just floated there. She didn't make any obvious signs of distress or moving around or flailing. She just floated there and let them do their thing. She ended up putting her legs over on the farthest side of the hole and kind of just rested there while they hacked away at the other side.

SHELLEY JOYCE: And how did they eventually get her out?

KAYLA IVENS: About 45 minutes to an hour in of trying all of that stuff, my dad also used his chainsaw to cut through the ice, which she had no problems with that either, which was very surprising. Then my husband ended up coming home from work about an hour and 15 in. And they hooked a rope around her back end, underneath the water, and all three of them tried pulling her out by hand. And that did not work. [Laughter]

SHELLEY JOYCE: And she was okay with the rope wrapped around her butt?

KAYLA IVENS: Yes, she just let them do it.

SHELLEY JOYCE: Oh, my gosh.

KAYLA IVENS: Yeah. So they did end up doing that. So then my husband came back to the house and got our quad and they brought that out there, wrapped a rope around her midsection and they eventually slowly pulled her out that way.

SHELLEY JOYCE: What was her response when she finally hit solid ground?

KAYLA IVENS: She was so tired. So she kind of just laid there for about ten minutes or so. She was just splayed out. She didn't move or anything. The guys ended up packing up their stuff and moving the quad away, trying to give her some space because she just kind of froze there. So we all came back to the house and we watched from the shore. And, yeah, she stayed there for a while and then finally got up. The first attempt, she stood up and was shaky and fell back down and did the splits, which looked awful. And then she waited another ten minutes or so and then she finally stood up and that was for good.

SHELLEY JOYCE: Wow. Any sight of her since then?

KAYLA IVENS: Yeah, actually, on Saturday we saw her all day, just kind of hanging out on the far side of the pond, munching, laying down, standing up. But yesterday morning she wasn't there anymore. So I think that's a good sign that she's kind of moved on.

CH: That was Kayla Ivens speaking with Shelley Joyce, host of Daybreak Kamloops. Ms. Ivens found a moose stuck in a pond on her property near Williams Lake in British Columbia.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Part 3: Winnipeg Snow Fort School

Winnipeg Snow Fort School

Guest: Joel Bohemier

CH: Students at Ecole Marie-Anne Gaboury in Winnipeg are learning in a new classroom this week. It has most of the standard stuff: walls, windows, seating. It's just missing one fairly common element: a roof. But then that's kind of optional when you build a huge snow fort and use it as a classroom. Joel Bohemier is a phys ed teacher at the elementary school and we reached him in Winnipeg.

CO: Joel, how do students at your school feel about their new classroom?

JOEL BOHEMIER: Awesome. It's been very popular. We just finished it on Friday afternoon. So today is the first day that they can go in and enjoy it. So we've had a few teachers already in this morning. There was one teacher that was reading to her students for about 10-15 minutes, and another teacher went in there for story time. So it's been awesome.

CO: So is it cold?

JB: No. In Winnipeg, it's very nice today. It's about plus-2. Last week was a little bit colder. But, it's very nice out today. So it's good to get outside.

CO: Any worries that your snow fort is going to melt?

JB: It will melt for sure. And we'll see how the weather keeps up. It's windy, so it's not melting too fast yet, but hopefully we can have it for a couple of weeks at least.

CO: There are a few things that we can know for sure. But one of them is that your snow fort will eventually melt.

JB: Yeah absolutely. [Chuckles]

CO: So what are they learning? What's the experience like? What are they saying about being inside that big fort?

JB: Yeah, they love it. It's even better that they were all part of it. Every student at our school, all 400of them from kindergarten to grade eight were a part of it. They moved snow, every one of them. They lugged several toboggans full of snow. They helped with the form. They really helped make the blocks. Everything, everything. So they've been a part of it. So now to be able to use it to stop doing the physical labour of actually building it and just sit back and enjoy it as part of a classroom and learn in that environment that they've done has been really good so far today. So hopefully it keeps on going for the week.

CO: And not just sitting around in it. They're crawling around it and crawling in and out of it. You want to just describe what this looks like.

JB: Yeah, for sure. So what happened actually is we threw out a contest for our school to design a fort in front of our large space. And we didn't know what we were going to get. So we had about 18 different proposed plans that we that we took into consideration with my administration and myself, my student teacher Justin. And then from those, we had some wild plans out there with slides. We had stairs, we had two storey castles. Not everything is possible. So we took a few of the ideas and put them together into one. And what it looks like is a big wall that's about four feet high and it's 36-feet the length in the front, it's about 28-feet deep. And then on top of a four foot wall are blocks and that goes up to almost eight feet at some areas.

CO: How do they get in and out?

JB: They get into the front. There's four windows and there's a door. The door is kind of like a tunnel entrance. And then once they get inside, there's 19 individual seats that were made with ice moulds. Actually, we had some buckets from Home Depot donated and we filled those up with ice and colouring. And that's where the students sit . They are exactly two metres apart, which is our guidelines here in our division. So they're at a safe distance to learn as well, which is a bonus.

CO: And just before anyone thinks that somehow this might collapse on your kids, there is no roof over top of their heads because it's all open, isn't it?

JB: No, no, no, there's no roof. If the students had their way, there would be some roof that's probably 20 feet high in the air, made out of snow and ice. But for safety, there is no roof.

CO: There is a fair bit of colour in the fort. Can you describe what that is and how you did it?

JB: Yeah, absolutely. So most of the colour is in the ice. So what happens is -- it was cold here last week and the week before was even colder, we had some -30s and -40s. So it just takes a couple of days to freeze. Like I said, we had five gallon buckets, put water in there to the top and then you just put some food colouring. We went through several bottles of food colouring. And then once that's frozen, you just put it in a bit of water outside and the edge melts and then you can dump it and then you get a big ice block. And then we have some tables that were done a little bit differently. We put a tarp on a toboggan and then you pour water into it and then it makes a table and then you put food colouring as well. And then as decorations, we have the same idea as water balloons in the summer, except you put food colouring when you're making the water balloon and then you tie it, freeze it outside, and then you just feel the outer shape and it makes like a glass ball that's colourful.

CO: That is so cool. What a great idea. But you've done this before, right? This is not your first snow fort of giant size.

JB: Yeah. I practised before, not with the school necessarily. But I've done a few with my friends and my house with several people working. Obviously it's pretty impossible to do things like this alone. So I've done it at my house before. This year was a little different with the COVID regulations. We couldn't have anybody over. So instead we did it with our phys ed class. A little bit different. Not a quinsy, but it was a nice big fort.

CO: You are a phys ed teacher, so why did you want to do this? What did you see as the value for the kids?

JB: We are generally outside a lot here at my school. I think there's a lot of learning that can happen in our environment, in our community around us. But this year, is even better with COVID regulations indoors and outdoors. But just the fresh air is great and having students work hard. I mean, if you ever shovelled a lot of snow or cut blocks and lifted blocks and created something out of snow and dig and it's a lot of work. It's a lot of physical labour. The exercise part is for sure great. The coming part of community, I'm big into leadership, I run a leadership program here at school and having students --- we had six students that ended up being the engineers of the fort. The teachers were gracious and let them come out of their classrooms to help us create the fort. It was really an outdoor experience where they were obviously getting a lot of physical activity, which is what makes them learn better in class once they get there. So it's been great.

CO: You said you're having some warm-ish days now, but did you have perfect conditions for making the blocks? Because it looks pretty sturdy that fort.

JB: Yeah, it is pretty sturdy. It was about -30 on Tuesday when we started in the morning. But is good because when you work hard, you start to sweat. So those students that didn't want to move too much learnt the hard way. They might have got a little cold. So if they told me, "Monsieur, I'm cold." I said "Well move a little quicker. Go get some more snow." And they'll learn. It's a learning lesson for them.

CO: Hardy Winnipeg kids. I mean, 30 below. [Laughter] And it is going to last for a bit, and maybe get cold again. So any more extensions? Are you going to add on to this at all?

JB: Now the plan is to leave it as it is. I need to do a little touch-ups here and there so we can keep using it. But we have a sign-up online for our teachers that they can sign up and have their class out there now.

CO: All right. People can see photos of this great fort online. And Joel it was good to talk to you. Thank you.

JB: Thank you very much. It was my pleasure.

CH: Joel Bohemier is a phys ed teacher at Ecole Marie-Anne Gaboury in Winnipeg. That's where we reached him.

[Music: Flute Music]

Chuck Mady

CH: If you've ever had the misfortune of attending Frosh Week, you've probably seen the move: some genius cracks open a cold one with his teeth and impresses everyone at the beer pong table. But when Chuck Mady cracks open cans with his teeth, it's not just some dorky, macho party trick. In fact, the Windsor mixed martial arts fighter has perfected his can cracking technique so well that he just set a new Guinness World Record by biting open 24 full pop cans in 60 seconds flat. On Friday, Mr. Mady spoke with the CBC about his record breaking feat.

CHUCK MADY: I was watching Guinness World Records Gone Wild back in 2013 with my wife. And I saw this guy Ryan Stock do this record and he did 11. And I knew I can do that kind of thing. I've done it in the past. So my wife and I went outside with 12 cans just to see how fast I can beat the record by one. I did it in half the time, so I beat the record by one in half the time and then it just got lost. There were so many guidelines and you have to have judges and you have to have time keepers and witnesses and all that stuff. Recently I had a podcast called 2 Dudes And A Mike -- Mike Desco and Drew Campbell, contact me to be on the podcast. And they wanted me to record live on their show. So they set that up. They had a kiddie pool in the basement. They had the cans set up. They had everything ready to go, witnesses, timekeepers, everything you needed for the record. And we did it. I did 24 in one minute and yeah, that's it.

CHRIS DELA TORRE: How did you even prepare for this?

CHUCK MADY: I've been doing it for years. I know how to do it.

CHRIS DELA TORRE: Just for fun?

CHUCK MADY: Yeah, just for fun. I used to do it all the time. Try different things. I can pop open beer bottles with my teeth and different things like that. I've just been doing bar tricks for a long time, so this was one I knew I could beat. I beat it in the past unofficially and now it's official.

CHRIS DELA TORRE: I mean, what made you start doing this in the first place?

CHUCK MADY: Just being a young kid and trying different things. I don't know. I was just knocking on the can, I guess and it ripped off one time. I just, like, cracked it open. I'm like, all right, let me see if I can rip it all open. So I ripped it all off and yeah.

CHRIS DELA TORRE: Oh, man. I mean, I'm listening to this and it makes me worry about your teeth, the state of your mouth. Have you ever hurt yourself doing this?

CHUCK MADY: No, thank God I haven't hurt myself doing this. There is a technique to it, but it is hard. You have to use some force. Good thing I have a dentist in the family, one of my cousins. So if anything happens, I got him to take care of me. But no, luckily I haven't had any damage to my teeth or my mouth at all. But no, don't try this at home. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. You will cut yourself.

CH: Good advice. Chuck Mady speaking with Afternoon Drive host Chris dela Torre about his new Guinness World Record. The Windsor mixed martial arts fighter cracked open 24 full pop cans in 60 seconds using his teeth.

[Music: Drum Music]

Arizona Poem Writer

Guest: Addison Rizer

CH: We're all familiar with writer's block. But what about reader's block? As 2019 came to a close, Arizona based writer Addison Rizer developed a serious case. The books piled up on her nightstand, unfinished, and increasingly unopened. And the pandemic only made things worse. But with time Ms. Rizer found an innovative way to rekindle her once voracious love of reading. And now she's recommending other readers take a page out of her book. We reached Addison Rizer in Peoria, Arizona.

CO: Addison, how did you beat your readers block?

ADDISON RIZER: So in order to beat my writer's block last year, I wrote poems after every book I read. As a hobby, I creatively write it's mostly fiction and short stories and things of that nature. But I thought poetry, since it's a little more bite-sized, would be easier to do after reading rather than doing like a whole short story.

CO: And why did you decide to do that?

AR: I found myself quite bored with reading. I was kind of reading more just to meet my reading goal for the year. I would be pushing through books and then as soon as I finish them, I wouldn't remember a single thing that I had read. And I wanted a way to kind of break that as much as possible. So I was reading while like listening to music or while a TV show was on or doing two things at once. So when I decided to write poems about books, I found I was paying way more attention to what I was actually reading and looking for different lines that maybe I could riff off of things like that.

CO: Are you a big reader?

AR: I am. Less so -- I'm in a master's program while working full time -- so less so lately than I have been in the past. But typically my goal every year is 50 books. But sometimes I wasn't even passing 30.

CO: And so you weren't finishing them or you weren't picking them up at all or what?

AR: Yeah. So a lot of times I would read the first like 15-20 pages of a book and put it aside, meaning to come back to it and then I just never would because I'd look at it and I wasn't feeling that excitement to sit down and read anymore.

CO: Okay this is a very common experience. Lots of people are going, "Aha, I know what she's talking about." How did the poetry affect your reading then?

AR: You know, I found when I was intentionally coming to reading to experience it, to analyse how I relate to the topics, to look for a little image that maybe sparks my interest. You know, I was taking notes while I was reading. So it was very much more of an active process rather than a passive process, which I think was the issue before. You know, I was looking at it more as something that I felt like I needed to do rather than something I wanted to do.

CO: Were there any books you read that you felt that didn't inspire you to write a poem?

AR: So I did have a really hard time with some of the technical manuals and stuff that I was reading for my master's program. So I was reading textbooks about technical editing and professional writing and document design, things like that. So for those, I just ended up, you know, finding an image or one little phrase that I liked and then going from there. So sometimes the poems weren't related to the book at all, if you were looking at them from the outside. Sometimes they're quite clearly pulled from the content, but sometimes they're completely different.

CO: I understand that some of the poems you wrote about these books were sonnets.

AR: Yes. Yeah. So a little ways in, it was coming to be like a monotonous thing just to sit down and write. And I'm very much a person that needs structure to thrive. So this whole writing about whatever you want, in whatever context you want, at whatever length you want -- I was starting to dread that. So once I started writing sonnets I actually found I quite liked it because there's a set format to riff off of.

CO: And you could write a sonnet about a technical manual?

AR: [Laughs] It was very difficult, but yes.

CO: Can you read a little sample of one of your sonnets?

AR: Yeah, of course. So in 2020, I read the book Little Women for the first time, and there's a line in it that talks about when Joe's love interest comes to the door and it talks about he's a traveller who knocks at a strange door and when it opens, he finds himself home. So this is the end of my Little Women sonnet. It says, [Reading] "But there are doors out there that I will knock upon, that will swing open just as I am turning away and home will rest inside, looking different, smelling not quite the same as childhood, but also close. Close enough my little heart. Close enough."

CO: Okay well that's lovely. But Little Women is an inspiring book so that maybe was a bit easier than some of the others. [Laughter]

AR: It was. That one really flowed.

CO: Do you think though that people could get the same thing -- because it's a common experience that you just go through books like you go watch movies and can't even remember what you watched or read -- do you think that joining a book club or writing reviews for Goodreads or something like that might have the same effect for those who can't write sonnets?

AR: Yeah, I definitely do. I think, you know, any way that you can engage more with what you're doing rather than multitasking or doing it while you're doing something else would help. So maybe if you're going about it to intentionally write a review or to intentionally pull something specific from a book, I think whatever way that you can think of to engage yourself in the book itself, rather than worrying about finishing the book or the act of reading or calling yourself a reader would help break up that monotony.

CO: Just finally, do you think that this is how most authors actually intend for you to read that they want you to meet them halfway with your own experience?

AR: That's such an interesting question. I do. I think people write and the intention is for readers to engage with that in whatever way makes sense to them. So I think it's a creative process, the act of reading. I think it's a generative process. I think when you consume something and then you create something that's a cyclical process. I think that's how it's meant to be. So I do think that that is an intention of readers maybe not necessarily writing poetry, but, you know, just engaging in the book and seeing what you pull out of it.

CO: It's a relationship.

AR: Exactly.

CO: Addison it's good to talk to you. Thank you.

AR: Thank you very much.

CH: Addison Rizer is a writer who writes a poem inspired by every book she reads. We reached her in Peoria, Arizona. And if you have a reading inspired sonnet, haiku, or limerick -- clean limerick -- to share, we'd love to hear it. And bonus points for Canadian content and iambic pentameter. You can reach us at: aih@cbc.ca. Or call Talkback: 416-205-5687. We are also on Facebook and Twitter:@CBCAsItHappens.

[Music: Drum & Bass Music]

Arturo Di Modica

CH: In the 32 years since Sicilian born Arturo Di Modica stealthily placed a huge bronze ball outside the New York Stock Exchange, it has been on the horns of a dilemma more than once. He spent two years making it as a gift for his adopted home after the Black Monday stock market crash to remind Americans of their strength, resilience, and dignity. Unfortunately, he didn't get permission to install the 7000-pound sculpture in New York's financial district, so it was impounded. But after pressure from the public Charging Bull found welcome pastor in a small public park where it became a tourist attraction and one of the best-known works of art in the country. Arturo Di Modica died on Friday. He was 80 years old. Now, some thought his labour of love was a load of bull, a symbol of Wall Street greed. Those opponents cheered in 2017 when another bronze sculpture, Fearless Girl, was placed directly in Charging Bull's sightline. They cheered somewhat less loudly when it turned out she was the brainchild of an advertising firm. For his part, Mr . Di Modica was appalled. That Fearless Girl made his beloved bull intended to evoke peace, strength, power, and love into the bad guy. And he made his feelings known at an emotional press conference.

ARTURO DI MODICA: The bull is 27 years -- I sent 350,000 of my money and three years of work. So everything I have in Sicily I finished on the bull. And when people you know can do that because they believe in something.

CH: Sculptor Arturo Di Modica speaking at a news conference in 2017. Fearless Girl is no longer staring down Charging Bull. And today, Mr. Di Modica's sculpture is wearing a wreath of flowers in remembrance of its passionate and bullish creator.

[Music: Violin Music]

Violin Student

CH: A year ago, things weren't going that well for Kevin Tang. The teenager who lives in Chengdu, China. And last February, his city, like others in the country, was essentially under a COVID lockdown. So his American violin teacher, who gives him lessons over Skype, decided to assign him a project to fill his empty hours. Here he is performing for her last winter. [Kevin Tang playing the violin] Last February, we spoke with Kevin's teacher, the world renowned violinist, Anthea Kreston, who was in Corvallis, Oregon, and here's that interview from our archives.

CO: Anthea, what piece of music are we hearing your student, Kevin, play in that clip?

ANTHEA KRESTON: That's a Lalo, "Symphonie Espagnole”. That's the beginning of the second page of the first movement. It's where it kind of emerges from anger into kind of a beautiful love story.

CO: You were already giving Kevin weekly lessons on Skype. How did you learn that perhaps Kevin's situation had altered?

AK: Well, he didn't mention anything to me. But when I was giving him his lesson I think it was February 2nd. I noticed some things were just a little bit different. He Skypes me from his living room or somehow the family room. It's usually extremely tidy, but it was a little bit messy. Some things were a little bit funny. He was also wearing his winter coat and rubbing his hands a lot. His hair looked slightly less teenagery funky [CO chuckles]. He kind of he has a great attitude — a great teenager attitude. So he's physically looked a little strange. And also, he's normally extremely well-prepared. I think these extra lessons are a big, big part of their family. It's a financial commitment for them to have a weekly lesson with an American teacher on top of their Chinese professors. So usually he's extremely well-prepared, and he seemed lethargic. He wasn't making jokes. He wasn't interacting. And so from all those things combined, I thought something was quite different with him.

CO: Now, did you figure it out immediately that he might be part of the lockdown, part of the quarantine that so many people in China were going through?

AK: It did occur to me right away, although I had been doing research online for Chengdu — which is a good thousand kilometres away from Wuhan. I hadn't found anything. Nothing had been showing up on The Guardian or New York Times. And when I had been searching for it, I couldn't find any mention of Chengdu. And so I thought everything was okay. I thought he was far enough away. But I asked him if he was okay. He said he was cold. And then I said, how are lessons going? He said I'm not having lessons. I'm not in school. I said, are you know able to play with your friends in the courtyard? He says, no, we can't go outside. And I said, do you have enough to eat? And he said, well when we run out of food, someone has to go out there.

CO: The reference of him wearing a coat. What we have learned is that people have an idea that the virus — the coronavirus — might travel through the pipes of their buildings.

AK: Yes.

CO: So they're shutting off their heat. And so there you were, you know thousands of miles away. What did you figure you could do to help him?

AK: The first thing I tried to do is maintain a professional relationship with him. I don't want to put him in any kind of danger. So I never said the word virus. We never talk about the government. We never talk about those kinds of things. It's hard to tell what is safe and what's not safe there. So I'm extra careful with that.

CO: Yeah, and you're right. From everything we've heard, you have to be really careful because he can't really say much, can he?

AK: No. I mean, I don't know what they can see and what they can't see or hear. So I'm always super careful with that. So I felt like I had enough information from him. And then, after doing more research online, I still didn't find any information. And I talked to my husband. I was really, really worried, and I said I don't think he's doing well. Then I said, what happens if I proposed to his dad that you know while he's inside that we have a special kind of project — if I can give him a specific assignment every day, a very difficult technical exercise, and then also a new page of this concerto? So I thought this concerto was the perfect thing. It usually would take a 14-year-old maybe a year to learn this concerto. And I said to him why don't we learn it in 20 days?

CO: Wow! And so did it work? Did your idea of giving daily lessons free of charge get him out of his lethargy?

AK: Well, it took him and his dad a day to decide to do it. I'm sure that they…. And I don't want to add stress to his life. So I'm sure they had to think about that. And I said that we could do it in a way that's stress-free. That it's like a fun project. And I noticed after three or four days he started like emojis started to appear again in our chat. That he was smiling. He's still wearing his coat. And he jumps up and down a little bit. I think he's pretty cold there. But that you can even hear from that recording, his passion level is great. And, interestingly enough, in the last three or four days, I think his father is happier. I mean, I can imagine the stress that his parents are under. His mother works for a hospital for supply. So she's apparently going all around Chengdu desperately looking for masks and medical safety equipment for the hospital people. So it's a stress for them to have her go out and do that, and also for her to come back.

CO: Right.

AK: I mean, it's it it's a double-edged sword.

CO: I understand that there are others, there's a connection with some other music students in China, who you are helping to connect with teachers in the United States and might be able to help?

AK: Yes, yes, actually, there was a New York Times article. And since that time, a bunch of my friends and former teachers who are all you know professors at wonderful universities, and from Berlin to Brazil, and throughout the states, and far-flung places, have contacted me and said they'd be happy to help out as well. And so I've been able to pair some people up — actually friends of Kevin's — because right now, I can't get through to any of the music schools. When I write to them, things bounce back. So just through Kevin specifically, and through his network of friends, I'm getting some videos from those people. Of course, they have to speak some English. Although I have a bunch of friends who speak Chinese, so I'm able to also put people together who don't have English language. But I'm just trying to put some really simple parameters of like the amount of work and how it has to be optimistic. It's more of like a practice buddy, or someone you would meet at the gym. And so my sister has a student, Jason — my husband — has a student, and I'm slowly pairing people up. I would love to make it more broad, but I just have no access to the schools or anything.

CO: Well, good work on your part, Anthea. That's great that some kids will be able to have a connection with the outside and music. It makes a difference, doesn't it?

AK: Yeah, I think it does.

CO: Thanks for telling us the story.

AK: Thank you so much. Have a great day.

CO: You too.

CH: That was world renowned violinist Anthea Kreston speaking with Carol in February of last year. We reached out to Ms. Kreston to see how a student is managing now. She said Kevin is doing really well, continuing his lessons with her, taking part in Zoom recitals and winning several competitions, beating out students from elite schools like Juilliard. She wrote, "But the most important thing is that he is happy and his family is healthy."

February 22, 2021 Episode Transcript

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