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The AIH Transcript for March 11, 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: Too close for comfort. There is one line people have hardly crossed for almost a full year now, and a New York congressman says it's time to reopen the case to the U.S. border.

CH: A leap of faith. A prominent evangelical loudly leaves the Southern Baptist Convention, part of a wave of white women who say they're fed up with the church and its cosy relationship with Donald Trump.

CO: Following the masker plan. The mayor of Austin, Texas, faces off with the state governor over his city's covid prevention rules because he wants people to keep the masks on. And that's ticking the governor off.

CH: Still shaken. 10 years after a catastrophic earthquake struck Japan. We revisit our coverage of the disaster and it's equally frightening aftermath.

CO: You probably don't know his name, but his music will ring some jingle bells. The late Syd Kessler was one of Canada's biggest commercial successes and that his tunes soundtrack the commercials of a generation.

CH: And playing it cool, real cool. A Norwegian musician who designs instruments out of ice reveals his plans for a live streamed concert. This weekend, he hopes, will have you glued to your screen As It Happens, the Thursday edition, radio that assumes he never forgets how to play. It's like riding an icicle.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Canada/US Border

Canada/US Border

Guest: Brian Higgins

CH: We are now one year into the pandemic and one year less about a week since nonessential travel across the Canada/ United States border crunched to a halt. The closure has separated families and stretched businesses to the breaking point. But every time it comes up, the agreement to keep things shut has been renewed in the interest of saving lives. Now, though, a U.S. congressman says he's making it his top priority to convince Joe Biden to open up. Brian Higgins is a Democrat who represents New York's 26th District, which runs along the border near Niagara Falls. We reached Representative Higgins in Baltimore.

CO: Mr. Higgins, what makes you so confident that we're ready to open things up?

BRIAN HIGGINS: Well, wide distribution of vaccines, 100 million Americans have been vaccinated. The new administration under president Biden indicates that everybody who wants the vaccine in the United States will have one by summer. And that's a good goal. And I called for a partial opening of the border, expanding the category of essential travel memorial day, and then a full opening of the border by July 4th, and your Canada Day on July 1st.

CO: OK, so from the point of view of Canadians, yeah, it's a good thing that you're all getting vaccinated in the U.S. and that should encourage our side of the border. But you're not worried about the Canadians seeming so far behind in vaccines?

BH: No, I'm not. Look, the United States, Canadian relationship took a major hit over the past four years and over the past 12 months during this pandemic, there was virtually no engagement. And without assigning blame, I think it's a new day. And I think your prime minister and our president are people of goodwill. They have an awful lot of leverage to accelerate the availability of vaccines, the distribution of them for our Canadian friends. And I just think that we can open the border successfully and safely by just being smart about it. People would have to certify that they've been vaccinated. People would have to certify that they are going to wear a face mask. And we're talking about people that have properties open along the Canadian shores. We're talking about loved ones who have been without each other for well over a year. And I just think that people of goodwill who are smart, who are responsible, who are respectful of their fellow citizens and the citizens, that this binational relationship can do this and can do it safely.

CO: And do you think it should be President Biden's, his number one priority, you say?

BH: Well, for me, as a border community in Buffalo, and [inaudible]. I represent both Buffalo, New York and Niagara Falls, New York and we've made this a priority, the Canadian/ U.S. relationship is very, very important to western New York our retail economy. 40 percent of people that use the Buffalo/Niagara International Airport, are citizens of Ontario, our retail economy, our professional sports economy, life quality. Keep in mind, President Biden, on his second day in office, issued an executive order directing his cabinet secretaries to develop a plan within 14 days to open the border, not to open it in 14 days, but to come up with a plan, that shows serious engagement. And I think engagement between the United States and Canada has not existed until this new administration came in and there is a lot of leverage here to use. The United States contributes 500 million dollars each year to the World Health Organisation. It is a reasonable request for the president of the United States to ask that organisation to assist our Canadian neighbours getting vaccines, securing vaccines and then distributing them.

CO: Do you think that you could encourage the Biden administration to share some of its vaccines with us, given that the administration has refused to export vaccines out of the country or even to Canada, would you push for that to help speed things up?

BH: Well, we have a goal of this summer to get everybody vaccinated. I think once we achieve that objective, everything's on the table. But I do think that there is leverage with the United States and Canada could use toward the goal of getting vaccines regardless of where they come from. Right now, we have three vaccines, very high efficacy rate and more vaccines are in final clinical trials. So we may have more vaccines available in the next 30 days than we thought we would have. The president established a goal that we would have 100,000 vaccinations in the first hundred days. He will far exceed that. So I think, you know, if there are surplus vaccines, they should be shared with our Canadian neighbours. Toward the goal of a mutual benefit of opening the border, at least incrementally at first, but shoot for a full opening by Summer.

CO: So your dates, you'd like to see this open July 4th or July 1st for a Canada day. That would be your goal?

BH: Well, that would be a goal. And I think we should have goals. So we haven't had enough goals in all of this. And I think it encourages people to work toward those goals. A lot of things have to go right. I acknowledge that if we fall short, then we try to do better toward a later goal. But I think it's very, very important that we embrace the possibility that the border can be opened incrementally, at first, incrementally, but then fully. And I don't think we're compromising health issues here. I think we could do it successfully by doing it safely. And the only way to do it successfully is by doing it safely.

CO: All right. We'll leave it there. Mr. Higgins, thank you.

BH: OK, take care. Thank you.

CH: Brian Higgins is a Democratic congressman from upstate New York. We reached him in Baltimore.

[Music: mystery music]

Austin Texas Mask Fight

Guest: Steve Adler

CH: The mayor of Austin, Texas, is facing off with Texas Governor Greg Abbott about his citizens' faces. For public health reasons, Mayor Steve Adler has maintained strict mask policies in Austin, while at the same time fighting off political pressure from the governor to end them. Their battle began early last week when Governor Abbott signed an order to completely re-open the state, which included lifting mandatory mask rules and the fines that came with them. Mayor Adler felt that was irresponsible so he would keep masks and mask rules in place. And now the governor's office is threatening to sue the city of Austin if it doesn't fall in line. We reached Mayor Steve Adler in Austin, Texas.

CO: Mayor Adler, why won't you follow the Texas governor's order and lift your city's mask mandate?

STEVE ADLER: We promised our community from the very beginning that we would be guided by the data and the doctors and to the fullest extent that I am able and with every tool I have, I'm going to keep that promise.

CO: You have had some pretty serious threats about this. Though haven't you yesterday? Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton? One thing he tweeted, he said that you must not be thinking clearly. Maybe it's oxygen deprivation from quintuple masking. What do you say to the attorney general?

SA: You know, the attorney general tweets at me that way sometimes, you know, I usually try not to engage. This is a serious challenge and serious question, serious matters on the line. We're trying to keep people safe and keep people from dying. So I'm going to stay focussed on that task.

CO: Well, he went one step further, didn't he? Said that if you don't rescind the mask mandate, I will sue you. He said so he means business.

SA: Well, he's actually sued us here within the last couple hours. And that's OK. I mean, ultimately, it's a question of law as to whether or not our governor, his emergency powers, allow him to waive basic underlying legal principles. Here in Texas where, cities have always had the ability for their local health authority to set rules to keep the local community safe. The governor is taking the position that his emergency powers can trump that. Ultimately, that'll be a question for the courts to decide.

CO: What is the suit that he's filed against you?

SA: He's filed a suit saying that the governor's statewide order removing the masking mandate is something that controls. And even though our local health authority believes that that puts our community's health at risk, the governor's action takes precedence. We don't believe that's true, which is why we have maintained the rules of our local health authority. The attorney general has challenged our ability to do that, and the court will ultimately decide.

CO: So people in Austin and Travis County, they can face fines up to 2000 dollars each day of violating the local order. So how are people in Austin reacting to that?

SA: Well, generally, this community is very supportive of a mask mandate. And I'm really encouraged by the number of people and the number of businesses that have said that they're going to continue to do that. But at the end of the day, you can't enforce your way to compliance on this kind of thing. It's really got to be something that the community wants to do. We've had this in effect for many months now. We haven't ended up needing to enforce it that way. We have used it as an educational tool and have gotten pretty widespread compliance. I am concerned with what the governor did in removing the mandate because I think it sends a message to some that masking is not important or it's not effective or that we're past the seriousness of this virus. Those things are not true. And I'm concerned that if we just accede to the governor's action, that will be complicit in creating that ambiguity. I think it's really important that our local governments stand up otherwise.

CO: But this is very often in your country, in Texas, framed around rights and freedoms. Isn't it? We've seen the rallies, but we've also seen violence, even people being killed over this idea that masks are a violation of people's personal freedom. What do you say to them? Why is it so passionate for them?

SA: Well, at some point, very early in the process, the wearing of masks became politicised. I think that happened initially because of our president at the time, President Trump, who expressed and conveyed the belief that masks weren't effective and it became a political partisan issue in the middle of a campaign season, and I think that's real unfortunate because it would be better if we could divorce science and data from that process. But I think that it is political amongst some people who believe that the ability not to wear the mask is a personal freedom that they should have. My concern with that is that the choices that they make do not just impact them as we know, and that's not a liberty choice we get to make.

CO: The Texas governor has also said that your state is 100 percent open. How open is Austin?

SA: Well, our local rules have kept the amount that retail and other establishments are open, tied to the number of people that were showing up in our hospitals every day. And at this point, we're at 25 to 50 percent occupancy. But because of the good work of so many people in the community, our numbers have continued to go down. I anticipate that there may be yet another measured change this weekend, but that's because of the work everyone's doing and wearing masks as you wear masks, we can do more and more measured reopening. We think that's the more prudent action.

CO: But Austin is a bit out of step with Texas on many things. But on this as well. Are you concerned that your mask mandates, your closures keep your city safe, but people can come and go from Texas, right.

SA: It is a concern that anyone in the country is not wearing masks. Frankly, it's a concern that anyone in the world might not be. So, yes. What happens in other cities anywhere impacts us certainly in cities in Texas more because of their proximity and the increased interaction. Yes, it's a concern. That's why we think it would be best if the governor had and maintained the statewide mask mandate. It was unfortunate that he took the action he did.

CO: Mayor Adler, we'll leave it there. Thank you.

SA: Absolutely. Good to be with you.

CH: Steve Adler is the mayor of Austin, Texas. We reached him at his office in Austin. As It Happens, has now learnt that Governor Greg Abbott's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the city of Austin for refusing to lift the mask mandate.

[Music: electric guitar and percussion instrumental]

Norwegian Ice Musician

Guest: Terje Isungset

CH: If you've ever tiptoed across a frozen puddle or pond, you know the sound and that distinct snap, crackle and pop of the ice and snow under your feet is music to Terje Isungset ears. For years, the Norwegian musician has been creating instruments out of ice and not just frozen puddles, whether it's the percussion, brass or stringed instruments you'd find in an orchestra or a new design he invents. All his instruments are made out of ice. And right now he would usually be preparing for his annual ice music festival. But because of the pandemic, he had to cancel that event. Instead, he's live streaming an all ice concert from his igloo, this weekend. We reached Terje Isungset in Bergen, Norway.

CO: Terje, first of all, can you just set the scene for us? Of what people are going to experience when they tune in to this all ice concert?

TERJE INSUNGSET: Well, it has been quite a lot of preparation. First of all, we had to make an igloo. Second, we have to harvest ice from the lake. Then we make the ice instrument. So then it's like a half an hour performance, me performing alone in the igloo. And then we have a fantastic dancer out on the lake, on the ice with a view to the mountain in the back and then a visual artist that is making art also in ice.

CO: I've seen a video of you playing some instruments and we're going to hear the sound in a moment. But it's just mesmerising to watch you perform on these ice... well they're sculptures and their instruments at the same time, aren't they?

TI: Yeah, thank you. Yes, that's correct. I see them both as a sculpture or as an art installation and an instrument. To find ice that has good sound is very, very difficult. It's very hard, it's true. If you have factory ice, I can guarantee there will be no sounds. From some certain lakes, it might be really good. I've been to Canada several times and I know some lakes over there that are really good also.

CO: OK, well I'll ask you in a moment about that. But let's just hear people I know want to know what this sounds like. And we're going to start with some recordings. You have sent us this first one. It's on an instrument that looks like wind chimes. So let's just listen to this.

[Sound Clip: ice instrument]

CO: So beautiful, as you say, this isn't as you get at the grocery store, is it?

TI: You don't get it at the grocery store, no. So, it's from a lake nearby. I have a secret lake, though. I would not tell you where it is.

CO: All right. Can you tell us how you make this? How did you make those? They look like large icicles or wind chimes and they each have their own pitch. How did you make them?

TI: We cut the pieces with a saw and then I fine tuned them with my knife.

CO: All right. Let's listen to this other clip. This is another one of your ice instruments. Here it is.

[Sound Clip: ice instrument]

CO: That is so beautiful and it looks like a vibraphone entirely made out of ice, but you're not playing with mallets, you're playing with your fingers. So how are you doing that?

TI: I mainly play with my fingers or with my wooden gloves. I also sometimes can hit them with ice, but then you have to be very, very careful because ice breaks easily.

CO: OK, but the pitch you have, these are just beautifully calibrated. How do you keep that? I mean, given when ice melts. Right. So do you find that you lose the pitch? It changes what tone, what sound you can get out as? I guess if you get people in the igloo or you start touching it or anyone else, what effect does that have?

TI: The tuning will change with time or with temperature change. So I can't really adjust it. Like if I play with symphony orchestras, for example, with the ice, of course, it has to be a perfect pitch.

CO: You're streaming this year's concert. But this is something that you have been doing for some time, right, with the Ice Music Festival, and you're not alone. There's others who play all kinds of ice instruments. How many people are actually taking part in this in this festival?

TI: I normally invite people and challenge them to play on ice instruments. And these are musicians that have not played on ice before, normally. So, but first of all, I have a goal of making one new instrument every year and not necessarily a copy of an existing instrument, maybe up to tuba, for example. Can you imagine what it is?

CO: Tuba?

TI: Yeah, kind of, but looking and sounding totally different.

CO: What happens there when you put your lips to this ice?

TI: If it's not too cold, it's OK, you know, but if it's really cold, you have to be very careful with your lips. Like when I recorded one of my albums in Boston Island, we had 40 degrees Celsius below zero. And it's pretty cold to blow an ice horn, you know, and then I have a little leather protection that I just stick to the horn to protect my lips.

CO: All right. Good plan. Now, you mentioned that you have made instruments in Canada. Are you going to tell us the lake that makes the perfect ice for this sound? [Pause] It's another one of your secrets?

TI: Actually, I think it was quite nice in Ottawa and also nearby Whitehorse. I've been up north, really, really up north in Iqaluit. Also, it will be different from year to year. So if I come back next year, the ice might sound different, you know, so it's nature that decides everything with ice music and nature is the boss. So human beings, we are only guests on the earth for a short while. So I have to trust nature.

CO: Terje, I appreciate speaking with you. This is quite lovely.

TI: Thank you so much. And thanks for your interest in ice music.

CO: Good luck with your good luck with the concert. Thank you.

TI: Thank you. Bye bye.

CO: Bye.

CH: Terje Isungset is an ice musician. We reached him in Bergen, Norway, and you can learn more about Mr. Isungset music on our website, CBC.ca/aih.

[Music: Upbeat rock music]

Syd Kessler Obit

CH: If you grew up in the 80s, you very likely experienced the genius of Syd Kessler, you may still be experiencing it. In fact, you will probably experience it forever. That doesn't mean you will always appreciate Mr. Kessler's genius. There might be times when it's intrusive, like if your date comes in for your first kiss and this suddenly starts playing on a loop in your head.

[Sound Clip: Maxwell house commercial song, 1980's].

CH: Or if you're dozing off after a long day in this, barges out of your subconscious.

[Sound Clip: Bacardi Breezer jingle].

CH: Or if every mention of the number 50 in any context at all prompts this choir of men to belt out this jingle from somewhere in your memory centre.

[Sound Clip: Labatt's 50 beer song]

CH: Syd Kessler had a hand in all of those decades old jingles, plus one that he helped create in 1987 that is still echoing through the brains of millions of people today. Mr. Kessler, jingle writer and advertising giant, died on the weekend. He was 76 years old. By the time he was 30, Syd Kessler was a millionaire. His uncanny knack for marketing in memorable jingles made him the hottest commodity in Canadian advertising. By the 90s. His joint venture with John Labatt Ltd., an entity called Super Corp., handled 68 percent of all the advertising production in Canada. That's why, if you're a certain age, you know so many of his jingles and if you're any age, particularly in Ontario, you probably know this one.

[Sound Clip: Pizza Nova Jingle]

CH: Four three nine, lots of zeros. Unforgettable, even if you wanted to.

[Music: elevator music]

Part 2: Evangelicals Quit Church

Evangelicals Quit Church

Guest: Jenny Taylor

CH: Beth Moore has had enough. Ms. Moore is one of the most high profile white women in the American evangelical movement, but now she's quitting her church, the Southern Baptist Convention, sending shockwaves through the community. And she's made her reasons very clear. She rejects its leader's embrace of Donald Trump and the moral compromises that come along with it. She told the religious news service, quote, "There comes a time when you have to say this is not who I am", unquote. Jenny Taylor understands that sentiment. She left the church herself not long ago. We reached her in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

CO: Jenny, can you tell us a bit about why you and so many others look up to Beth Moore?

JENNY TAYLOR: Sure, yeah. She's been someone that we have known and listened to for a lot of years as kind of a teacher and leader. She has done a lot of really popular Bible study courses. She's just been a really knowledgeable, passionate lover of Christ who a lot of believers have looked up to for a long time.

CO: And how much sway, being a woman in the evangelical movement, it's difficult, isn't it? It's limited. So how much sway does she actually have amongst evangelicals?

JT: I mean, I think that she is a really prominent figure and I don't know anybody who doesn't know her and have respect for her as far as women and friends that I've had in those circles.

CO: So what does it mean to you personally to see Beth Moore walk away from the Southern Baptist Convention?

JT: I'm just really inspired by her decision to walk away from the Southern Baptist Convention, I think that she has always been a person firm in her own beliefs and understanding of who Jesus is and the heart of God. And she's not been dependent on maybe the men that run the institutions to define that for her. And I think when she began to see a divide in who she knew God to be and what he called the church to be and then how it was actually playing out in real time. I think she began to become uncomfortable with that and speak up against the injustices that she was seeing towards women and people of colour and victims of abuse. And as the systems doubled down on some of the injustices I'm speaking about, she decided to part ways with them. And I really respect that because so much of her life was tied up in these organisations.

CO: She said in the interview, which she published on Tuesday, she said, I'm still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptist. There comes a time when you have to say this is not who I am. And she cited the staggering. This is a quote, "staggering disorientation of seeing it's leaders support Mr. Trump and the culture and spiritual fallout from that support". How much of the decision do you think was based on the association between the church and Donald Trump?

JT: I think a lot, I think that there was a point in time when people in positions of power decided to bind themselves to Trump and what he stood for. And I think that when that decision was made, there was a line that was drawn in the sand. And there's just continues to be fallout and repercussions of that. And I think this is definitely one of those.

CO: Why did you decide you could no longer be part of this Baptist church?

JT: It's a complicated answer. I was just disheartened to see the way that our set of beliefs has become tied to this movement of Christian nationalism, and that was definitely disturbing to see. You know, I was close friends with a family who... Whose child experienced sexual abuse through a church event and kind of seeing up close how that was handled by the church was also really disturbing to me. So that definitely played a big part in my decision to finally walk away from that institution.

CO: I can hear in the hesitancy of your answer that this was a very difficult decision for you, I take it.

JT: Yeah, it is. You don't realise, like being a person of faith, how so many of the things surrounding the organisations that you're a part of can become kind of ingrained in your identity. So even when you know that it is the good and right thing to do to try to hold on to your faith, apart from these organisations and institutions that you've been a part of, it's still really hard and painful.

CO: There's another woman, Jen Hatmaker, who shares your views as well about the Southern Baptist Convention. She said there are thousands of ways we can disagree, but it should be deal breakers. The defence of white supremacy, patriarchal abuse, moral bankruptcy and the crushing of human souls for proximity to power, is what she says.

JT: Yes, yes. It is very well spoken and I wholeheartedly agree with her. Something's broken. And we have to take a look at what is going on and how we have gotten so far from this set of beliefs. There's been a reordering of priorities that needs to be undone.

CO: People who support the views you're talking about within the evangelical community tend to be white women and obviously black women as well, black men, but white women as opposed to white men who are in this case of Tom Buck. One example who says that Beth Moore should repent rather than leave the church and that leaving the church won't fix what is wrong with Mrs. Moore. Do you think that's typical of the attitude of white evangelical men in the church?

JT: I think there is definitely a group of men who believe the same way this man does, which is just sadly ignorant.

CO: Jenny, I appreciate speaking with you. It's really enlightening. Thank you.

JT: Yeah, thank you. Thanks for talking about this.

CO: Take care.

CH: Jenny Taylor is a former member of the Southern Baptist Convention. She was in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

[Music: slow electronic music]

Meghan Markle: Media Racism

Guest: Haroon Siddique

CH: By now, you've almost certainly seen at least part of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah. That conversation and the conversation it's generated have become inescapable. For Ian Murray, there's certainly no escaping the consequences of his response. The executive director of the UK's Society of Editors is now its former executive director. Mr. Murray announced his resignation yesterday, not long after issuing a statement that declared, quote, "UK media, not bigoted", unquote. And just a day after this interview, he gave the BBC.

IAN MURRAY: The accusation that this was caused by sections of the British media who are racist. I'm afraid it's just not true and it's not borne out by the evidence of the coverage, which...

VICTORIA DERBYSHIRE: Can I give you some evidence, Mr. Murray? Daily Star ran a headline asking whether Harry would be marrying into gangster royalty. The Mail online had a headline which declared Megan was almost straight out of Compton.

IM: Well, I mean, Compton, I'm not sure completely with, areas of... it may be in California...

VD: It's a black gangster stereotype. [talking over Murray] It's a black gangster stereotype Mr. Murray! Do you think those two headlines are racist?

IM: Victoria, if you're not going to let me even answer when you've asked the question, please.

VD: Go ahead.

IM: Thank you. The question to be raised there, basically saying, look, here is a, I hate to use the term, rags to riches story. It was the same with anyone that comes in from outside into the Royal family who aren't royal or nobility that they faced off in that way. I think you've got to look at this whole thing in the context is, is this saying that the coverage that is being given to Meghan in particular, but to the Duchess, Duke and Duchess of Sussex and any perceived negative coverage that has come about and this is, this follows a huge groundswell of positive coverage, that came when Meghan first started dating and then engaged and then married, married to Prince Harry. Amazing amount of positive coverage which reflected. The warmth of the British people towards this couple.

CH: That is the now former Society of Editors director Ian Murray speaking with the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire. Haroon Siddique is a senior reporter at The Guardian who spearheaded an open letter condemning the Society of Editors for its response. We reached Mr. Siddique in London.

CO: Haroon, what do you make of Ian Murray's resignation from the Society of Editors?

HAROON SIDDIQUE: I think it was the only decent thing to do in the circumstances. I mean, the initial statement was outrageous and it was compounded really by his appearance on the BBC, where he seemed to take a very old fashioned view that racism can only be when, you know, you're using racial epithets or chasing people down because of the colour of their skin. He was presented with evidence and he was just in total denial. And they've issued another statement since the society [inaudible] but, even that was pretty weak. I mean, they didn't withdraw their initial denial of racism. And they just said something about, we acknowledge the need for more diversity and inclusion in the media, which there is a need for that. But there's also a need for coverage that is not prejudice.

CO: Right. But I mean, there are so many examples in especially the tabloid press of this kind of treatment of Meghan Markle before and during her marriage to Harry. Not just the gangster royalty stuff. But things about her when she would eat avocados on toast and that was an example of, she would eat something that was linked to human rights abuses and drought and comparisons to Kate, who is the perfect duchess versus Meghan, all of that. And there's been stories about the stories. You think he doesn't know that?

HS: I mean, I think he must know, I mean he was confronted with some of it and some of the stories you referred to, the avocado one was pulled up, for example, during the Oprah interview. So, you know, one would hope he actually watched the interview. It's kind of his job to be on top of that. And I think it was just deeply upsetting that this is... Meghan Markle was obviously upset and saying she was driven to suicide and said that the British press had been racist. And instead of any acknowledgement of how she was feeling, it was just a kind of knee jerk defence of the press without any real foundation.

CO: Right. But I mean, the tabloid press in the U.K. in particular does do these kinds of nasty, vicious stories about celebrities, people of power and influence. Where does it cross the line with Meghan Markle? Where does it cross the line into racism, do you think?

HS: I mean, I think the example of, you know, the straight out of Compton, I mean, to him trying to portray that as a kind of rags to riches narrative is laughable. Just because she's black, you know, it doesn't mean she's from Compton, which, you know, I mean, not everyone from Compton is a gangster, but because of, you know, the NWA album, famous album Straight Outta Compton, that's quite clearly the reference that is alluded to there. And they were sort of one of the first gangsta rap groups. So they crossed the line there I think. The way they've gone after it is to do with her being an outspoken woman. But it's also very much to do with her race. I just, I just don't believe that they would have gone after her in that manner. And we've seen it in other areas of the British press. You're quite right to say that the British press has a history, particularly the tabloids, of doing this kind of thing. But there are other examples on race. There's a famous footballer called Raheem Sterling, and he posted, I think it was on Instagram where he bought a house for his mother. And the press coverage was kind of saying, oh, look at this gaudy house he's bought her, with gold taps. And another white footballer bought a house for his mum. And it was kind of what a lovely thing to do was. It was, a different standard was applied.

CO: You spearheaded an open letter responding to Ian Murray and the Society of Editors when he said that there was no evidence of racism in the UK media. What did you want to accomplish with that open letter?

HS: So personally, I felt that the Society of Editors could be seen as speaking for the British press as a whole. And I just didn't want that. I wanted to show that we don't agree with that. And we know even though we work within the industry, we're not going to just sit there and go British press isn't racist because we know it is. And, you know, we've experienced, a lot of us have experienced it and we've seen the coverage and we and we know the reality. And we just, we wanted the truth to be out there. And, you know, I'm still getting people after Ian Murray resigned, I've still been getting people contacting me today, still wanting to sign up.

CO: There was an open letter just a few years ago, female members of parliament in the UK, who are from across all parties, who said that the coverage of Harry and Meghan had colonial undertones, which is another way of saying racism. Now, this letter, this resignation, this entire interview with Oprah Winfrey, which has opened up so much. Do you think it will lead to change? Do you think that there is a mirror? Any of this has held up to the press in the UK? In a way, it's covered these stories.

HS: Unfortunately not, I think, you know, I'm probably a bit of a glass half empty person, but, you know, I'd love to think it would bring about long term change, but I'm very cynical, given that this is all happened after a year of kind of black lives matter, of the disproportionate impact of covid on black and Asian people in the UK. For the press to still be in denial and running these stories is just sad, I think.

CO: Haroon will leave it there. Thank you.

HS: You're welcome.

CH: Haroon Siddique is a senior reporter at The Guardian. We reached him in London.

[Music: piano instrumental]

Fukushima 10 years later

Guests: Sei Sato & Mari Miyamoto

CH: Today, Japan marked a sombre anniversary.

[Sound Clip: Disaster siren]

CH: It's been 10 years since an earthquake and tsunami killed more than 18,000 people and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster sirens sounded across Fukushima and neighbouring prefectures today in remembrance of the dead. Nearly half a million people were also displaced by the damage and the threat of nuclear radiation. Many haven't been able to return home to this day in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. As It Happens, connected with Sei Sato at her office in Sendai, which had been converted into a makeshift shelter.

SEI SATO: Every few minutes there's an aftershock and it's not that big. But most of the staff stayed over at the office, but we couldn't sleep because of the aftershock. It makes us really frightened.

CO: Where were you when the earthquake, the major earthquake hit?

SS: I was at the office doing my work. And suddenly everything like computers, displays everything, just slide over everywhere. And we didn't, I didn't know what to do. We didn't know what to do. And outside, when I got outside some buildings, wall just fell down on the ground. Disaster.

CO: You and others who are at the office, you have family. Have you been able to determine other people, your loved ones? Are they safe?

SS: We have cell phones, but we can't contact anybody right now. Phone lines are really crowded, so we couldn't contact anybody right now. But last night, about 10 or so, I get to contact my mother and my father. Yeah.

CO: And where are they?

SS: They're not near the coastline, but they couldn't get to their home because the road is so crowded.

CO: But they live in Sendai as well then?

SS: Yes.

CO: And so how are people reacting?

SS: We were expecting this earthquake from like many years ago because we had this earthquake in 1970's, I guess. We were preparing for this. But still, we were kind of shaking.

CH: Sei Sato spoke with, As It Happens 10 years ago today from Sendai, Japan, even when those aftershocks subsided, the fear did not. In the weeks that followed, people in Japan faced a new and ever present threat, nuclear radiation. On March 17th, 2011, Carol spoke with a woman named Mari Miyamoto about why she was leaving the country altogether.

MARI MIYAMOTO: My husband is French and French media really alert French people to evacuate from Japan as a family of my husband, get nervous. My husband also and also I see the news this Internet and I guess things get worse and worse. On top of that, I'm pregnant. So to take care of my future, baby, we decided to go back to France.

CO: What do you make of this? That, on the one hand, your government in Japan is telling people to be calm and that they have things under control. But foreigners, foreigners are being told that they should leave. What do you make of that contradiction, I guess?

MM: Now I'm surrounded by French people. Of course, I watch Japanese newspapers and Japan [inaudible], but I find that Japanese try to calm down the situation. I have a doubt on the Japan information because it is such a huge gap between Japanese news and foreign news.

CO: Why do you doubt the information you're getting from your own government?

MM: Because the Japanese government continue to say that it's safe. It's safe maybe because of my friend's, French friends and my husband. I really have difficulty in believing it.

CO: You're six months pregnant and there's all this news. It must be very, very distressing.

MM: Yes, I'm afraid of my future baby. I'm afraid she will be.I don't want to say. But disturbed or something.

CO: Deformed, you mean?

MM: Yeah.

CH: We spoke with Mari Miyamoto 10 years ago, just before she left Kyoto with her French husband. Mercifully, Japan managed to stave off the worst effects of radiation. But 10 years later, some 40,000 people remain displaced from contaminated areas.

[Music: Mystery music]

Part 3: Scientists win prize for migraine research that provides 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Brain Prize Migraine

Guest: Peter Goadsby

CH: If you suffer from migraines, you know how debilitating they can be. You also probably know the triggers that signal that throbbing pain, nausea and dizziness that follows. But beyond recognising those triggers and treating symptoms. Scientists have struggled to find ways to actively prevent the onset of migraines. Now, new research that aims to identify the underlying cause of migraines shows promise. And it just got a significant financial boost. Last week, a group of four neurologists, one the Brain Prize for their migraine research. It's the world's largest award in neuroscience and it comes with a cool 1.1 Million pounds. That's nearly two million canadian Peter Goadsby is one of the neurologists on the award winning research team. We reached him in San Francisco, California.

CO: Professor Goadsby, when and how did you find out that you won the brain prize?

PETER GOADSBY: I found out about four weeks ago when I was called by the Limbic Foundation, I actually thought they were calling me to tell me I made some error on a grant application they'd asked me to look at a few weeks earlier. So I was extremely surprised. I was expecting, I was expecting a grilling, but it was anything but a grilling.

CO: Congratulations.

PG: Thank you.

CO: Now, your work is a breakthrough in migraine research. You and the others who are your co-winners. Migraines, of course, are something that devastate so many people, especially women. Just what were the common assumptions about what caused migraines before your breakthroughs?

PG: I think if you look back to and look back before all the work that myself and the co-winners have done, you're looking back 40, 50 years. And the assumption, the first assumption was that migraine was more or less a soft disorder, perhaps a disorder of one's ability to cope, a disorder that was not to be taken seriously. You might say it that way, almost psychological. There was no really coherent way of understanding the pain or the many other aspects of the condition. And it was regarded with a rather pejorative view, broadly speaking.

CO: Now, what you and the others have determined or identified are something called neuropeptides that seem to be the trigger for migraine attacks. Knowing you're speaking to a lay audience, can you tell us what they are and what they do?

PG: Neuropeptides are small chemicals that are in the blood, that are released from nerves, they allow nerves to talk with each other. They are the chemical transmission that allows that to happen. And what our work has shown was that the crucial neuropeptide, this crucial small molecule that nerves used to talk in migraine is something called and this is a mouthful, calcitonin gene-related peptide. For its friends it gets called CGRP and that would be absolutely fine. And so we predicted that if that was blocked, its action was stopped, that you could control and improve migraine. And certainly that's turned out to be the case for quite a substantial number of patients.

CO: And how does the treatment work? I mean, is this something that once somebody is having a migraine or they know one is coming on that can stop the pain? Or is it something that could actually... Is your hope that it could be something that could actually prevent migraines?

PG: That's a really insightful question, because you've divided the two up. And one of the things which is almost, I would say more important than CGRP itself, is the principle that if you target it properly, you can do both. So if you said to me that you wanted an acute treatment, then you can design something targeting CGRP to do that. Or if you want a preventive, you can do the same thing. That is probably the most revolutionary aspect of what's going on. What this shows is that if you get the research right, you understand what's going on well enough. You can start to design drugs that fit around what the patient needs rather than trying to shoehorn them into what you have available.

CO: What does this actually mean for people who suffer from migraines?

PG: Well, for people who respond and not everyone responds. This does not solve the migraine problem. What it's done is shown how you can solve it for some, not for everybody, but for those who get a response, for those who get a response, for example, for prevention. What does it mean? It means you can do this interview when you say are. You’re going to do it instead of having a migraine and not be able to, it means that if you're about to get in the car and drive somewhere while you're listening to this, you'll be able to drive there. And it means you'll be able to think clearly when you want to think clearly, you'll be able to run your life instead of migraine running your life. Now, I could quote you figures and I can quote you numbers, but the important thing is what these medicines do, they give patients back control of their life, so instead of migraine controlling their life, they control their life.

CO: Why do you think that migraine sufferers so often are women?

PG: Oh, I can, I can more or less explain that. But at one level and then it gets embarrassingly unresearched because migraine research is relatively underfunded. I'll get the plug in for that. So the cycling of estrogen, the change in levels of the female hormone estrogen is crucial in bringing out migraine. So if you look at boys and girls, it's about one to one, the relationship of boys to girls with migraine. It starts to increase when women start having their periods and it peaks about the age of 41, where there are three females for every male. The number of women reduces around menopause, but never goes back to one to one. It stabilises during pregnancy estrogen levels. And so in pregnancy, migraine tends to be better. So it's reasonably clear that there's an effect of estrogen in toning up and turning on sensitising the migraine brain. If you like to have a text. Now, how it does it and what that relationship might be with, for example, with CGRP is something that's the subject of ongoing examination.

CO: As you point out, there is so little research being done into migraines, and yet they have such an extraordinary effect on people who suffer from them, and especially this idea that somehow it was women who suffer from migraines, this idea that there are weak or that they weren't coping very well. What does this kind of research, what does it actually do to help change the perception of people who suffer from migraines?

PG: Again, I think more important than the individual outcome, the fact that you can reduce half people's attacks by 50 percent, is that you, is that what it shows is there's a serious biology. You know, there's something that happens. I can tell you what it is. It's CGRP. I can give you... Start to give you the biology of migraine. And that really changes attitudes. It will. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There is sunshine coming. And the perception of the disorder has moved from this sort of wishy washy thing into it being a serious neurological condition, a condition of the brain that you can study and you can improve.

CO: Well, good work on your part. And again, congratulations, Professor Goadsby. Thank you.

PG: Thank you. And thank the many patients and individuals who've been involved in the research we've collaborated with and the patients who've been involved and done the studies because if patients weren't involved in this. We would go nowhere. So, let me thank them.

CO: All right. Good enough. Take care.

PG: Thank you.

CH: Peter Goadsby as a professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. We reached him in San Francisco, California.

[Music: violin music]

Nahanni Fontaine

CH: One day before Jana Williams would have turned 29, her remains were found near the Red River in Manitoba. And since that discovery last week, Winnipeg police have said her death was a homicide. She was a mother of two and was expecting her third child. Yesterday in Manitoba, Legislature NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine remembered Ms. Williams as a beautiful young woman, and she called on the government to prioritise the implementation of recommendations from the national enquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. What happened next led to Ms. Fontaine being dismissed from the chamber. The MLA was speaking about Jana Williams's family.

NAHANNI FONTAINE: Madam Speaker, I'm simply pointing out that not one single member of the PC caucus has reached out to the family or has even posted on Twitter, which they're so apt to do when it's Orange shirt day condolences to the family. It is indicative that they just don't give a crap about indigenous women and girls in this province.

VOICE: Order. I think the member probably knows full well that the language she was using is unparliamentary in the House, and I'm going to ask her to withdraw that statement. The honourable member for St. John's.

NF: I will not.

VOICE: I'm going to ask the member again in this House, that was unparliamentary language most times when people are asked to withdraw unparliamentary language, it is something that they are most willing to do. Sometimes we get caught up in the passion of something. I'm going to give the member another chance to withdraw those comments and conclude her question. The honourable Member for St. John's.

NF: There is a slaughter of indigenous women, and I will not [cross talk].

CH: After that, the speaker asked MLA, Nahanni Fontaine, if she would withdraw her comments again, Ms. Fontaine refused and was then dismissed from the chamber. In response, Premier Brian Pallister said his government has been diligently pursuing the recommendations of the national enquiry and called Ms. Fontaine's comments shameless political behaviour.

[Music: calm piano instrumental]

Hot Birds

CH: It's a cliche to say pigeons are gross and yes, they do eat chicken wings like blank eyed cannibals, and they're just overflowing with poop. But if you put aside your prejudices, you'll notice they're pleasing Rubenesque charm and the way their feathers glimmer in purples and greens when the sunlight catches them just right. That's just regular pigeons. But then you've got the flying Fabio now and making the rounds on the Internet. He's been dubbed Hot Pigeon and rightly so. From his fuchsia feet, to his apricot breast, to the delicate mauve of his beak. He's all the colours of the most beautiful sunset you could possibly imagine. So stunning that he leaves us to wonder if something so beautiful could really be real. Well, yes. Yes, he is. Which I know also because of the Internet, the finely feathered specimen has been identified as a pink necked green pigeon, or Treron Vernans native to parts of Southeast Asia, which one Twitter user notes is but one of a whole passel of awe-inspiring pigeons. And that's nice to know, but this particular hot pigeon arrived just when we needed it. Right on coo. Now from our archives, here's another exercise in avian appreciation, part of Carol's 2018 conversation with Italian artist Matteo Tranchellini about a high fashion photo book made with his collaborator, Moreno Monti for those who like their chicken hot.

CO: Matteo, why did you decide to photograph these beautiful chickens?

MATTEO TRANCHELLINI: This is our passion because we have a studio in Milano with a little garden. We want to have some pet, we decided to buy some chicken, some little chicken, beautiful chicken, [inaudible], not popular chicken. When we buy the chicken, we contact the farmer and the farmer invites us to photograph some chicken in an exhibition.

CO: So this farmer asked you to photograph his chickens. But these are like Vogue fashion art pictures of the chickens. These are exquisite.

MT: Yeah. Because when the farmer asked us to photograph the chicken, we realised that the chickens are like a model, top model. They wanted the photograph. They described the animals. We are interested for beauty for this animal. When we started with an exhibition, we wanted to go to another one and to another one, more. And when we had 300 photographs for many, many chickens, we realised we had many materials to make a book.

CO: Finally, yes. But now, you mentioned they're like models, but they're models wearing beautiful clothing. I mean, these are, some of them the colours are intense, they're sleek, they're big, they're woolly. They're all kinds of things. They're just the most amazing chickens. Did you know there were so many different kinds?

MT: No, no. We discovered these... We discover many, many people passionate about these animals. And we understand we had a top model.

CO: And did any of the models become dinner?

MT: No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. This kind of chickens are only for their beauty.

CO: Now, I saw a video of you and your partner, of you and Mareno, and you were speaking chicken to each other. You talk chicken.

MT: Yeah, absolutely.

CO: Can you speak chicken for us?

MT: Yes.

[Sound Clip: Chicken sounds]

CO: Oh, that's wonderful. They have taught you many, many words. Then these chickens.

MT: You understand it?

CO: Completely.

CH: From 2018, that was part of Carol's conversation with Italian photographer Matteo Tranchellini about his coffee table book Chicken. And he was in Milan.

[Music: electric guitar instrumental]

Smithsonian Pandemic Archiving

Guest: Alexandra Lord

CH: On December 14th, 2020, Queens, New York nurse Sandra Lindsay became the first person in the United States to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. And yesterday, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History announced the vial that contained that historic first dose of the vaccine will be added to its permanent collection. Alexandra Lord is the chair of the Smithsonian's Medicine and Science Division and the lead curator working on the museum's covid-19 collection. We reached her in Prague, Czech Republic.

CO: Alexandra, I know you have been curating this collection for the past year. What does it mean to now include this vaccine vial in the collection?

ALEXANDRA LORD: We're really thrilled to be able to include the vaccine. A long time ago, when the pandemic began, we started thinking about collecting a vaccine. We were optimistic and we were reading the news. And so we thought bringing in the covid-19 vaccine enables us to really add to and enhance our existing vaccine collection. But we also think it's a really important object because it embodies so many hopes of so many people all over the world. People were waiting for this vaccine starting really last March, I would say. And so here it is, this tiny little vial that everyone invested so much hope in. But it's also an object that will change and enable us to control the covid-19. And so in many ways, this tiny little vial is just an incredibly powerful object.

CO: Just remind people to see the vial that contained the very first dose of vaccine administered in the United States. And the nurse herself, you've got some of her artifacts.

AL: Yes, we have her vaccination card, which documents that she has been vaccinated and we have her scrubs, the clothing that she was wearing. So it's a really fabulous way for us to sort of document the person who was receiving the vaccine. We also hope to do a series of oral histories which will enable us to really understand the story and the experience of Ms. Lindsay as she became the first American to be vaccinated.

CO: What's the story in general that you want to tell with this exhibition?

AL: Well, our exhibition looks at about 200 years of the history of medicine in America. So we are looking at that from the perspective of communities and individuals. We start off by looking, however, at a series of epidemics and pandemics and a pandemic that shaped American history very early on. Ironically, we're ending with a pandemic as well.

CO: And you, as you want to document this, as you say, this extraordinary period we're going through this past year. Can you tell a story of this past year that captures what it has meant in the United States?

AL: Yes. They're very difficult for us. I always say we historians like to cheat. We like to have hindsight. Journalists, you all tell stories as they're occurring. But we historians like to have that long ability to look back on something that's happening. But we do feel that in many ways there is a clear story to tell about the pandemic. In fact, there are multiple stories, and we believe by the time the exhibit opens in 2022, we will have seen a dramatic shift in what has happened in the U.S. And so it will enable us to bring that story sort of more full cycle to conclude the story of the pandemic.

CO: I guess when people think about what this year has meant in the United States and other places, but just stay with the United States, that we think of the empty streets of New York. We think of the lockdown's, the hospitals overwhelmed, the freezer trucks for corpses outside of those hospitals, people singing from balconies and playing musical instruments and the whole range of human experiences. Can you capture that in your exhibition?

AL: We hope we can. We're also hopeful, too, that we'll hear from many Americans. We have a part of our website, which is called the 24 Hours Project, in which we're hoping to hear stories from people across the country that will help us to understand these events. So we're looking for people to tell what it was like to be on a balcony in New York City and to create the noise, to celebrate and encourage medical practitioners or for someone who's in a more rural area to say what it was like to wait for the vaccine to arrive, knowing how difficult it is to get medical care in some of our more isolated parts of our country. So we hope we can document many of these stories and share different stories with the exhibit and exhibit's always a small space physically, but we're lucky in that we have an online version of our exhibits, and so we're hoping we can tell deeper and more stories on the online version.

CO: And will you give political context? And I'm thinking in this case of the administration of your country under Donald Trump that denied that this was an epidemic that was suggested at one point that ingesting or injecting cleaning products might help people overcome the disease. I think, also thinking of people who were shot and killed over mask mandates. I mean, some of the really ugly and dramatic moments. Will you capture them?

AL: Yeah, we have to capture them at least online. Perhaps we won't have room because the exhibit is small and we're covering a huge amount of time. We may not be able to discuss this in depth in our physical exhibit, but we do believe we can do this kind of discussion online. And one of the things that we really want our visitors to understand is that in many ways a pandemic is a biological event, but it always occurs in a political, social and cultural environment. And so one of the things that we really want our visitors to understand in the exhibit overall is that different epidemics and outbreaks and even different agitation over how to protect the health of others. Over the last 200 years, they've always been shaped by political agitation, social concerns, some of the original sins of America. Racism, for example, has always played a factor in shaping the different outbreaks that Americans have experienced over the last 200 years. So it's actually a theme that we look at over time. It's not just something unique to covid-19.

CO: And when will people be able to see the exhibition?

AL: We're planning to open the exhibition in 2022.

CO: All right. And so you can... and people will be able to physically go and see it. You think?

AL: We're very optimistic. We know that more and more people are becoming vaccinated across the world. And so we're hopeful that will be open.

CO: All right. We will await that moment. And it's good to talk to you, Alexandra. Thank you.

AL: Great. Thank you.

CO: Bye.

AL: Bye. Bye.

CH: Alexandra Lord is the chair of the Smithsonian's Medicine and Science Division and the lead curator working on the museum's covid-19 collection. She's in Prague, Czech Republic.

[Music: Guitar instrumental]

Sound of the day

CH: Shortly after 1:00 this afternoon, church bells started ringing out across Quebec, the province was remembering the more than 10,000 people it's lost to covid-19 in just a single year. There were ceremonies as well, and politicians lined up to give speeches. But this from Quebec City's Holy Trinity Cathedral is the sound of the day.

[Sound Clip: Church bells ringing].

CH: Those were the bells of Quebec City's Holy Trinity Cathedral ringing out this afternoon as part of the province wide memorial to those lost to covid-19. It was our Sound of the Day.

[Music: calm guitar instrumental]

Trending beard

CH: Roch Voisine just can't wait to be on the road again. The New Brunswick born singer was supposed to spend this winter touring an acoustic mix of country numbers and the classic hits that have made him a French Canadian pop music icon. Then came the second wave of the pandemic. Nevertheless, Mr. Voisine is preparing for his first live performance of the year. And fans of his jaw line should prepare themselves. Mr. Voisine has sprouted a full hipster beard, one that's taking up a lot of space in the Twitter sphere.

ROCH VOISINE: You try to come up with some commercial schemes or you try to... Marketing schemes in order to get people to talk about you and sometimes it's the simplest thing. All I had to do is let my beard grow and all of a sudden, I'm the number one number one, trending subject in Canada.

KIM GARRITY: Can we talk a little bit more about the beard? For anyone in Quebec who hasn't seen this beard. Do you want to describe it for us?

RV: It's just me being lazy, me being lazy. Just I don't, you know, shave much, not a big fan of shaving every day and I have sensitive skin. So, you know, I shave... you know, so, I decided I was just going to let it grow.

KG: And are you keeping it?

RV: Yeah. Oh absolutely. We have... you should check it out. We have this virtual band that we put together. It's called the Silver Foxes and a bunch of artists, mainly from Quebec, you know, up there in the 50s. And the one condition is you have to have grey hair or a grey beard. And we perform cover tunes on the Internet. And it's been very, very popular. We have, seriously we've had sometimes a million, a million a half people following us. So, yeah. Yeah, I've kept it. I don't know, maybe I'll shave it, but I'll have my beard tomorrow in Quebec.

CH: That was Quebec singer Roch Voisine speaking with Kim Garrity, host of CBC's Breakaway yesterday.

March 11, 2021 Episode Transcript

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