Note: Transcripts may contain errors. If you wish to re-use all, or part of, a transcript, please contact CBC for permission. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. Copyright © CBC 2022

The AIH Transcript For January 05, 2021

[hosts]Carol Off, Chris Howden[/hosts]

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

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

[music: theme]

Prologue

AH: Tonight:

CO: Post-mob mentality. When angry supporters of Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol Building a year ago, a Democratic Congresswoman thought she might die. Tonight, she tells us what she's been thinking since.

CH: Don't sweat the small stuffed stuff? A retired Manitoba judge refuses to heed that advice, after FedEx fails to deliver a package of Christmas perogies as promised.

CO: Boots on the ground. A remote Ontario First Nation calls for a military support in the midst of a COVID outbreak that's put half its inhabitants out of commission.

CH: You'll either press its buttons or it will press yours. The rock band Rush can be kind of divisive -- so when I tell you there's a new Rush pinball machine, you'll either start gathering quarters, or you won't think it's worth a plug nickel.

CO: Sonic boom. Two podcast hosts have sifted through the many thousands of old recordings that just became public domain, to pull out some audio gems that offer unheard insights.

CH: And… the science of the lambs. A German farmer who coaxed her sheep and goats to form the shape of a giant syringe to promote Covid vaccination says people could learn from her animals.

CH: As It Happens, the Wednesday edition. Radio that suggests if you haven't had your shot yet, these are the sheep of things to come.

Part 1: January 6 Anniversary, Bearskin Lake COVID Help, World According To Sound Podcast

January 6 Anniversary

Guest: Norma Torres

CH: One year ago tomorrow, the world watched in horror and disbelief as a mob descended on the U.S. Capitol. Rioters supporting Donald Trump stormed the building as lawmakers prepared to certify Joe Biden's election victory. Some of them called for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged for refusing to overturn the vote. Some were armed.

SOUNDCLIP

[shouting and crashing]

MAN: Can I speak with Pelosi? [Woman manically laughs] We’re coming [bleeped]. Oh, bitch! We’re coming for you, too. You [bleeped] traitor.

[cheers from a crowd to hang Mike Pence]

CH: Sounds from the January 6th siege. During that chaos -- after others were rushed to safety -- several dozen House Democrats were trapped in their chamber's gallery, as the police tried to hold back the mob outside. Norma Torres was one of those trapped. She's a Democrat from California. We reached her today in Pomona.

CO: Congresswoman Torres, what is the moment that plays most often in your head of that day, January 6th last year?

NORMA TORRES: The moment when they announced that we were going to be locked down because the officers could not hold the line outside, that the U.S. Capitol had been breached and members of Congress needed to stay put and needed to stay quiet and needed to lay down on the floor. The words that were coming out of that officer were surreal to me.

CO: And so words like the line has been breached, that the police cannot hold that line, that must have raised every possibility of what might happen next?

NT: That announcement was followed pretty quick by a gunshot that was fired, by the sounds of tear gas being deployed and then seeing from the balcony floor white smoke rising, which was the gas. I remember running around, you know, trying to help everyone stay calm and trying to find a gas mask that supposedly were there available to us. None of us knew where they were. We didn't realize that they were just under the seats where we're sitting. It was unbelievable what was happening. The noise of the insurrectionists that we're trying to reach us, the banging on the walls, the glass breaking. It sounded as if a herd of elephants was fast approaching, and everything was crashing around us.

CO: Wow. There were calls among those… those insurrectionists to get Nancy Pelosi, to hang Mike Pence. Did you at any point think you were not going to survive?

NT: I absolutely thought we were not going to survive. Looking at the balcony door that was immediately behind where I was, that was wide open. And the officer shouting back at us that he couldn't close it because he didn't have the keys to that. And us shouting back at him to please barricade it with a piece of furniture or anything. You know, the fear of not knowing, how are we going to get out of here? How are we going to defend ourselves? And then arming ourselves with pens and pencils. It was all we had. But really, looking around at the people who were with me, the members, all Democrats, women of colour, elderly members of Congress and thinking, who will be the first that these people are going to attack? Who will be the first to go down? Who is going to defend us at that moment? There was only one officer near the area where I was. In total, I only saw two. The one that was, you know, immediately behind where I was that ultimately put on my gas mask. And the female officer on the other side that ultimately gave us directions and escorted us out as we were running for our lives.

CO: At that time when you were running for your life, your son Christopher called you, didn't he?

NT: Yes. When we ran out of there and we turned the first corner to go down a stairwell, just before Christopher called me, we were faced with a mob that was face down about a dozen people. And telling [breaking down] my police officer son that his mother was running for her life. I can’t even imagine the trauma that that caused him.

CO: Congresswoman Torres, I'm sorry.

NT: Thank you.

CO: Are you all right to continue?

NT: I am. I'm OK.

CO: I'm sure you're aware that in recent weeks there have been many ominous articles written that what happened last year was not the end of the Trump era, it was the beginning of something else. And those… even former generals talking about the next insurrection and how likely it could actually succeed. And unless lawmakers are able to bridge those divides, bring things together, change things, put things in place. What have you seen in this past year that would give you confidence that this can be avoided? The worst of what people are saying can be avoided?

NT: We came so close that day. And I do not believe that the American people understand how close we came to losing our democracy, the rule of law and our freedoms as we know them and as we enjoy them today. We are plus-three in the House. There were about 23-24 members of Congress in the balcony. Had they breached any one of us or three of us, we would not have been able to finish our job of certifying an election that had been already certified by 50 states. We cannot hand over and deliver our country, our nation, our democracy over to home-grown terrorists or anyone that wishes to do us harm like they attempted that day a year ago.

CO: Congresswoman Torres, I appreciate speaking with you. I'm sorry to have to put you through all those memories again of what happened, but we needed to hear from you on this. And thank you.

NT: Carol, thank you so much. Take care.

CO: Bye-bye.

NT: Bye-bye.

CH: Norma Torres is a Democratic Congresswoman. She was in Pomona, California. And you can find more on that story on our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih. Tomorrow on The Current, a look at the twisted forces that fueled the January 6th insurrection -- and why Canada is not immune to the same attacks on democracy here.

[Music: Ambient]

Bearskin Lake COVID Help

Guest: Charles Fox

CH: The situation in Bearskin Lake, Ontario is dire. Nearly half of the roughly 400-person community is now infected with COVID-19 or isolating because of an exposure. The First Nation declared a state of emergency last week and says what it needs now is military assistance. Without it, it says distributing the donations that are arriving is next to impossible. Charles Fox is a band member for Bearskin Lake who's helping to coordinate the response from Thunder Bay, Ontario. That's where we reached him.

CO: Charles, what is the latest that you're hearing from folks on the ground in Bearskin Lake?

CHARLES FOX: Well, we have 191 cases now confirmed. I believe that we conducted about 415 swabs.

CO: How did this escalate so quickly? just… just… you had a few cases just after Christmas. And then, what… how… how quickly did it accelerate?

CF: I believe that… and I'm not… I'm not an expert by any means. But the first case was reported on the 28th. By the morning of the 29th, after they conducted additional tests, there were I believe 34 positive cases by 2:30 Central Standard Time in the morning.

CO: Wow!

CF: So what we suspect is people who were coming home for the holidays from down south may have brought in the variant. And when you have public functions in the community, I imagine that's how it spread so quickly.

CO: How much more vulnerable are people in Bearskin Lake than say another community? What makes it more… you more susceptible to these kinds of spreads?

CF: Well, conditions in our community are Third World. When you look at, say, a typical house in the North, the life expectancy of that house is probably seven years at best. Like, there's only 116 residences out of a population of I think 412 that we have on record. And when… when you have that kind of overcrowding, if you have a person that tests positive, the rest will catch it quickly.

CO: Now, so Indigenous Services Canada has said that at least they're going to have… have a rapid response team to Bearskin Lake. Last Thursday, it said it's sending additional personnel, about $1 million in emergency funding. What effect is that having? Is that helping?

CF: We have been fortunate that we've had nursing support from the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, from the Windigo Chiefs First Nations Council. Currently, we have six nurses on the ground. And when you're talking about the government providing a million dollars that, you know, I applaud that, but I think we probably need 10 times that. And why I say that is the 191 infected people in Bearskin Lake, that's half of the population. The ones who were the hardest hit are your essential workers, your frontline workers, your administrative staff, your operations staff, your maintenance staff. Those ranks have been decimated. And so what the chief has been doing… and the chief is in isolation, as we all know. What's happening now is the community membership that's healthy, there’s about 20 volunteers that have joined the ranks to help. And they've been doing this since the 29th. So they're running into exhaustion, they're running on fumes. So we're saying we've got to… we've got to get external people to go in there. And in order to do that, because it's a remote community, we have to fly people in.

CO: But if you… I know that… I know the chief asked that the National Defence Department send in a military support, get boots on the ground. Do you think that would make a difference if you could get that?

CF: We do need military support. We've asked for it. We don't have enough personnel to cut wood. Because 90 percent of the homes are heated by wood. We need deployment in terms of people off-loading and unloading freight at the airport. We need people to distribute the supplies and hampers for the 120 homes. We need security personnel at the airport, nursing station, the two stores, the band office, the swabbing centre at the arena and the command centre at the youth centre. So we need at least 40-50 personnel.

CO: National Defence has said that they have not yet received an official request. At least, as of this morning, they told CBC that there has been no official request for military assistance from Bearskin Lake.

CF: Well, you know, that's… that's the National Defence. I know they were on the… on the provincial emergency call with the Bearskin Lake First Nation and the surrounding Native organizations. And they outlined the procedures for that request. You know, we have to fill in forms. We have to fill in… the army will go in as a last resort. They want to exhaust everything else first. And once those are all exhausted, then they’ll go in.

CO: Right. But you know, if those forms… because they… [chuckle] of course, they need forms to be filled out. But do you know if they've been done? If there's a request that’s been made? Do you know if that's the case?

CF: Well, I believe the request has been made through national media, through a formal request to National Defence. I know that Charlie Angus wrote a letter to the minister responsible as well and he sent us a copy. They know that the… the emergency is there, state of emergency was declared. And they know that there was a national release that was sent out by the First Nation. So there’s gaps of service delivery in terms of the response to the state of emergency. Why aren't people coming to the First Nation saying these are the services we can offer? What… how can we help?

CO: So how frustrated are you?

CF: Oh, very! [chuckling] Very frustrated. We're doing the best that we can with the resources that we have.

CO: Well, Charles, it sounds like a… such a very difficult situation, and I hope word gets out to get to the help that you need up there in Bearskin Lake. And I appreciate that you're there for those people, too. Thank you so much.

CF: Oh, thank you.

CO: All right.

CF: Goodbye.

CO: Bye, Charles.

CH: Charles Fox is a band member for Bearskin Lake First Nation and a former Ontario Regional Chief. We reached him in Thunder Bay. In a statement to CBC Radio today, Indigenous Services Canada said it is working to "support the community to implement immediate measures to stop further spread and provide resources and supports required to protect residents..."

[Music: Folk]

World According To Sound Podcast

Guests: Chris Hoff, Sam Harnett

CHRIS HOWDEN: Okay, if you’ll just… if you'll just excuse me for one sec, I think I've got time for a quick workout. I'm trying to keep my New Year's resolutions. And I just got this incredible new exercise tape. Reynold, if you don't mind cueing it up, it’s Track One, Exercise One.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Radio static]

MAN: Exercise number one. Stand erect, arms at the sides. Ready, begin.

[Music: Classic marching bad]

MAN: One, up, up, down. One, up, up, down. Two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Two, three, four. Okay, I'll admit… [clears throat] just let me catch my breath for a second here… the production value needs a little work. But believe me, that exercise routine is rare. Until a few days ago, it was nearly impossible to get my hands on it. But on New Year's Day, thanks to a law called the Music Modernization Act, all commercial sound recordings made in the U.S. before 1923 entered the public domain. And the release is a treasure trove of sound. Everything from opera to vaudeville -- to home exercise tapes. Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett are the creators of The World According to Sound podcast. Tomorrow, they will live-stream a show that highlights unique sounds from the extensive archive. We reached Mr. Hoff in San Francisco, California, and Mr. Harnett in Northampton, Massachusetts.

CO: Chris and Sam, we just heard what sounds like the first ever home exercise tape. And, of course, Chris Howden working out to it. Sam, first of all, I'll start with you. Can you tell us what's going on in that clip? Where does it come from?

SAM HARNETT: Sure. So there was a kind of a home exercise craze in the early ‘20s. You can hear that there's actually an orchestra behind the person exercising, and they're playing kind of popular tunes of the day. Some of them are for like John Philip Sousa Band, et cetera.

CO: But it definitely makes you want to get up and… and start to exercise. I mean, Peloton's got nothing on this right, right?

SH: [chuckling] Right. If only there was the internet back then. Then, the Philip Sousa exercise tape would have been a hit.

CO: [chuckles] A bit of YouTube would have done it. Okay. And now, the material -- 400,000 recordings of all kinds of things, incredible range, and I'm going to just go to Chris now. And what interested you? Why did you decide to delve into this smorgasbord?

CHRIS HOFF: Yeah, I mean, initially it had to do with the Music Modernization Act, where all this stuff was entering the public domain on January 1st. Like, that was sort of like the initial news hook that got us into it. But once we started really getting into the sound, like, it became clear, like, I never really thought of sort of this time, you know, in our history, when recorded sound wasn't even a possibility. And we heard people, you know, experimenting with this medium, with new technology for the very first time. Like, That was really the thing that’s really exciting about that. Yeah.

SH Yeah. I mean, what Chris is saying. Like, really, I think you can hear two things in these old recordings. You know, you hear what people at the turn of the century were listening to, and you also get a kind of window into early 20th century American culture. But you're also hearing people experimenting with this new medium, you know? And there's lots of music, but there's also lots of weird… these weird sort of records and cylinders that people were selling.

CO: And we're going to get into some of them. I just want to play a bit of this tape because obviously this is radio and we can do that. So we've selected a few clips for… this from your live show that you're planning tomorrow where you're going to do the reveal on what you have found in this archive. And so, our listeners will get an idea of this. We're going to listen to this one particular clip. And then, Sam, I'll get you to say what's going on here.

SOUNDCLIP

MAN: I am the Edison phonograph, created by the great Wizard of the New World, to delight those who would melody or be amused. I can sing you tender songs of love. I can give you merry tales and joyous laughter. I can transport you to the realms of music. I can call you to join in the rhythmic dance. I can lull the babe to sleep, dribble or waken up the aged heart, soft memories of youthful days. No matter what may be your mood, I am always ready to entertain you.

CO: [laughing all around] Okay, very entertaining! Sam, where is that from?

SH: This is actually an advertisement for the Edison phonograph itself. So you got to remember, you know, this is totally new technology. People don't know what it is. And what I really think is interesting is that it sort of personifies the phonograph. It’s like I am the Edison phonograph. And it's almost… I think it connects to this idea that… that, again, sound had not really been recorded. You know, in the 1850s, there were some early experiments, but it was really around the turn of the century that people were hearing recorded sound. And for a lot of people, you know, they associate the sound with like a living human being. The idea that it could come out of a machine was a totally novel idea.

CO: But, you know, it's interesting that, of course, there are so many advertising jingles, right? This is… is… people will remember them. They bring back memories. But to actually go back and find what’s probably the first of these ads, an advertisement for a soda beverage called Moxie. And we’re going to listen to that. And then, Chris, I’m going to get you to tell us all about this.

SOUNDCLIP

[Music: Jaunty and quick instrumental]

MAN: [signing] When things go wrong, don’t frown or grown or sigh. Life’s worthwhile if you smile. Your way surely you will dream. With Moxie ready, you’ll go steady. Moxie, oh Moxie, me for you. I don’t know what I could do without you. As a drink, you’re a charmer, in the winter or in summer. There’s something so pleasant about you.

CO: [chuckling] Okay, this isn't for Coke or Pepsi, right? What is Moxie? What is that?

CH: Yeah, I mean, it's just like the soda of the day. But I really like that one, you know, sort of in juxtaposition to the Edison ad. Like, the Edison ad, that you know, that you can't imagine hearing today. You know, somebody’s kind of like impersonating a TV or, like, a radio or the internet or something. But the Moxie ad isn't too far from, like, modern day Coke as. I mean, yes, okay, the jingle, the music is different. But just like the thing of winter or summer, like, we're always going to be good and great for you. It's like, it's really not that… it's really not that different.

CO: But it goes on for more than three minutes! [laughing all around] I mean, this is… this is… it goes on and on verse after verse about Moxie soda. There are so many recordings, and the… what you mentioned earlier, one of you did, about how there are a lot of personal home recordings like this absolute gem, an amateur musician playing and whistling along to his dog, Muggsie. Let's listen to that.

SOUNDCLIP

[Music: A man plays trumpet while a dog howls]

MAN: Muggsie. Muggsie. Muggsie, Muggsie.

CO: I just love that. [laughing all around]

SH: Yes, that’s a good one.

CH: You know, the Edison phonograph, not only could you play cylinders, you could actually record on them yourself.

CO: But what's so pure about that recording is that it's not made for any commercial purpose. Someone's just having fun with this technology, right?

SH: Yeah. I mean, it's sort of like the home… you know, like the home video craze right at the beginning of the ‘80s and ‘90s -- sort of TickTock or YouTube, where no one was like trying. [CH laughs] No one had an audience, really, you know. It was just… like, like the audience was their family. There is something really sort of nice about that and simple.

CO: It's so charming. This archive contains some really historically important recordings as well, doesn't it? And after the interview, we're going to play “Little David, Play On Yo' Harp” and recorded in 1999 by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, I understand. So just before we let you go, can one of you just set up this recording for us?

CH: Sure. You know, so we make these like immersive live shows where, you know, the end is just really to listen and sort of get lost in these sounds. And so in the live show that we're doing on these old recordings, we thought, let's just immerse people in all this audio. Let's… let's, you know, bring the home recordings and all of the old music and just really put people, you know, 120 years ago. And with the Fisk Jubilee Choir, it's… it’s… they're still singing today, and they were really the first group to sort of sing gospels and spirituals kind of for an audience, and sort of saving that history of the spiritual and the gospel. And now we have these recordings of them, you know, 100 years ago, singing stuff that they're still singing today. So you can really kind of hear this incredible history in this recording.

CO: All right. We're going to have our listeners hear that now. And Chris and Sam, it has been delightful to speak with you. Thank you.

SH: Thank you.

CH: You as well. Thanks.

CO: Bye-bye.

CH: Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett are the creators of The World According to Sound podcast. And now, from their 1909 recording, here are the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, with "Little David, Play On Yo' Harp."

SOUNDCLIP

[Music: "Little David, Play On Yo' Harp." by Fisk University Jubilee Singers]

SINGERS: Little David play on your harp. Hallelu, hallelu. Little David play on your harp, hallelu. Little David play on your harp. Hallelu, hallelu. Little David play on your harp, hallelu. Little David was a shepherd boy. He killed Goliath and shouted for joy. Little David play on your harp. Hallelu, hallelu. Little David play on your harp, hallelu. Little David play on your harp. Hallelu, hallelu. Little David play on your harp, hallelu. Little David play on your harp. Hallelu, hallelu. Little David play on your harp, hallelu.

Little David play on your harp. Hallelu, hallelu. Little David play on your harp, hallelu.

Part 2: Perogies Late Lawsuit, Sheep Syringe

Perogies Late Lawsuit

Guest: Donald Bryk

CH: It all started with a sweet pandemic gesture. Donald and Doreen Bryk couldn't be with their extended family in Ontario last Christmas, so they sent what Winnipeggers send instead: Pierogies. Now, a whole Christmas later, Mr. Bryk -- a retired superior court judge in Manitoba -- remains embroiled in a dispute with FedEx over a shipment that ultimately arrived days late and more than a little mushy. We reached Mr. Bryk in Winnipeg.

CO: Mr. Bryk, take me back to Christmas 2020. How did you go about shipping the pierogi to Ontario exactly?

DONALD BRYK: Well, the reason we shipped the perogies in the first place was because of COVID. We weren't able to travel to Toronto, which we normally did before Christmas every year. And so my wife made a batch of probes for my son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren, and we had to get them there within a timeframe where they wouldn't thaw. So I had seen FedEx advertisements on the TV indicating that they would ship within a certain period of time. And so we decided to go that route thinking that if the… if the perogies got there within a 24 to 30-hour period of time, they would be fine.

CO: Right. So they were frozen, right?

DB: They were frozen, yes.

CO: Okay. And we have to actually stop at this point to find out what kind of pierogi? Because I know many people are wondering this very, very important question right now. What was the stuffing?

DB: Well, the stuffing was potato and cheese, but some of them were gluten-free, made with gluten-free dough because my… one of my grandsons is gluten-free. So there were… there were some in there for him as well.

CO: Oh! How much time did your wife spend getting these pierogi ready?

DB: Well, I think there were about eight dozen or so. And so, there were certainly several hours’ worth of… worth of work on her part.

CO: A labour of love, eh?

DB: Absolutely.

CO: All right. So you went to FedEx and what were you promised?

DB: Well, the… the… one of the FedEx outlets was at a Staples store… and this was on a Thursday, by the way. So the first option was delivery by 9:00 the next morning. The second option was delivery by 3:00 p.m. the next day, and the third option was delivery by sometime in the evening, the next day. And they were all priced differently, obviously. I went with the middle one to get the product there by 3:00… by 3:00 p.m., thinking that the pierogi should be OK.

CO: How much did you pay for that?

DH: Hundred and eleven dollars, 75 cents.

CO: [chuckling] Okay, so that's a very expensive delivery charge. But it was important, right? I mean, why was it… why was it so important that they should get these pierogi before Christmas?

DH: Well, as I say, we weren't going to be able to be with them at Christmas time, and this was something they looked forward to every Christmas. So that was the reason why we… we decided to ship… to ship them out in that fashion.

CO: All right. So let's… let's see what happened the next day. Did the pierogi arrive?

DH: No, they didn't. By 3:00, when they hadn't arrived, I began to have some concerns. So I tried to contact somebody at FedEx to find out what had happened. They have a website with a tracking system, and so I was able to determine that the package had been delivered to their sorting facility in Mississauga at sometime around 3:00 that Friday morning. But beyond that, I wasn't able to… to communicate with anybody. And that continued all day Saturday and… and Sunday. And I tried… I probably spent six or seven hours during those days trying to find out exactly what was going on. And… and I was unsuccessful. And by that time, they were thawed and inedible.

CO: Ooooooo!

DH: So they were… they had to be discarded.

CO: All right. So you were going to take this lying down, right? So you took FedEx to small claims court, right?

DH: Well, I made efforts to have some discussion with them about that. I was looking for an explanation, an apology. I mean, I understand that these things happen. No company is perfect. Nobody's perfect. And so, sometimes things fall through the cracks. And all I wanted was… was some acknowledgement from them that… that they had dropped the ball and… and, you know… and some offer of… of some compensation for that fact. But I received absolutely no response from FedEx. I wanted… I wanted them to understand that firstly, they had an obligation. There was a contractual obligation on their part, which they failed to live up to. And then to… and then to… [pause to compose] to be as arrogant as not even responding to anything, that perturbed me. And I thought to myself, you know, I'm a… I'm a consumer and there's a principle involved here, and that's what prompted me to take further action.

CO: And what did the court ultimately rule?

DH: Well, the FedEx defence was that there were terms and conditions, which they say apply to their contracts for delivery. In my case, they didn't bother informing me of that, showing me that or anything else. And so, I felt that they were in breach of a contract. The court compensated me. I estimated the cost of the perogies by contacting some commercial companies in Winnipeg that make that product. And… and so I thought $75 was… was an appropriate price, plus… plus the cost of shipping, of course, the $111.75. And I was also looking for something from FedEx to assure me that, a, they… they took claims such as mine seriously. And secondly, to… to maybe, hopefully, improve their… their system of communicating with customers and telling them what liability they were prepared to accept or not accept.

CO: So the hearing officer ruled that you should be paid $604.75 cents, right, in damages?

DH: Yes, something… well that included an award of costs of $350 for the court hearing.

CO: OK, so you won this case back in October. Has FedEx paid up?

DH: No.

CO: Whaaaat?! [slight chuckle]

DH: No, they haven't -- not just notwithstanding my several attempts at communication and communication with them to get payment. And again, it's… it's a secondary issue, the… the… the judgement. Although, I’m certainly entitled to it and I certainly intend to pursue it. But the fact that even to this day, the position they've taken, the attitude they've taken is one that is quite callous and it's.. it's kind of disturbing.

CO: All right. So that was last Christmas. This Christmas -- this Christmas passed -- did you send any pierogi to Ontario?

DH: Well, we delivered them by hand. [chuckling]

CO: Oh, nice!

DH: I'm much more reliable. We were able to travel this… this year, so my wife and I had an opportunity to… to visit our family in Toronto just before Christmas for a few days. And… and we took perogies along with us.

CO: Tat’s so… so your son and his family got to have pierogi finally?

DH: They finally did, yes.

CO: All right, Mr. Bryk, thanks for speaking with us.

DH: Carol, thanks for having me.

CO: Bye-bye.

DH: Bye-bye.

CH: Donald Bryk is a retired Court of Queen's Bench judge in Winnipeg. Fed Ex did respond today -- saying it does not discuss specific complaints. And adding, quote, "We continue to investigate this matter to better understand how it transpired. We apologize to Judge Bryk and his family for their experience." unquote.

[Music: Folk]

Polar Dip Woman

CH: For those of us who like to remain fully clothed, especially in winter, it's hard to imagine warming to the idea of getting into your bathing suit and flinging yourself into a frigid body of water, no matter what the season. Not so for Susan Ingraham, her sister Kathryn Maguire, and Tanya Horgan, Susan's daughter. A single polar dip for the three New Brunswick women a year ago turned into a pact to jump into the Bay of Fundy every month the whole year long. And now, the trio of chill-seekers has made good on that promise. Here's Tanya Horgan.

SOUNDCLIP

TANYA HORGAN: We run in and… actually, we don't even run in. We walk in, and we kind of ease ourselves in. And then, we get to a point where we say one, two, three, and then we always make sure that we go down to our necks and hold it for a minimum of 10 seconds. But then, I will say that my aunt and my mother will… like, I would say, out of the 12 months, 11 of the months would go back in and do it again and swim. And it doesn't matter if it's November or February or July, they're in there swimming, going back in two and three times. It's always in the Bay of Fundy, so it's always in saltwater. That's a big thing, too --

MARIE SUTHERLAND: And cold!!! That’s cold!

TH: It is very cold. It feels amazing with the saltwater. You feel kind of tingly and really rejuvenated and refreshed afterwards.

KATHRYN MAGUIRE: Yes.

TH: And we were in St. Martins in March, and we get down, and we're taking our… you know, we always bring out bathrobes with us because it does help to kind of when you come out of there, be a little bit warmer. And we stopped, and we're getting all ready, and I try to take some selfies of it, which we are getting better at them, but oooohhh! We have some really, really doozies, I’ll tell you! I'll take some selfies. And these two ladies were running down the beach, going, wait, wait, wait, I’ll take your picture. And they were all decked out with, you know, their winter hats and winter jackets. And they said, we think you're just crazy, but I'd love to take your picture for you. So that was when we were in St. Martins. So it was pretty funny. Down by the Cape, so we're right there on the beach and all these people walking by in their winter gear and us in bathing suits. [laughing] We always drive afterwards and are in the car and it can be, you know, a half an hour later. It can be… and you're still like, oh my gosh, I feel so good. Oh my gosh, I feel so good. The best part about it is that every month… because we don't know when we're going, we kind of look at the tides and look at the weather, and… and it may be, oh! Well, tomorrow looks like a great day, so let's go tomorrow. And then, when it gets closer to the end of the month, like, oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! We got to… we got to go! Like, it's… it's one of those things that you'll love looking forward to being able to do. And to be able to do it with… like, for me, to be able to do it with my aunt and my mom is pretty spectacular.

KM: Yeah.

SUSAN INGRAHAM: Likewise. I'm Susan speaking. I'm the oldest, so I'm not much of an outdoor person. I started dating last year for the first time in 50 years, probably. And so that was fun. But… so we're trying to be… trying to be more outdoorsy because of COVID, I think. You know, you're… you're trying to do things to keep healthy. And you have to do it outdoors.

TH But we have so much fun and laughs. Oh my gosh, it is… it's a day of the month that you know you're going to really enjoy yourself. You're going to laugh and just be happy.

CH: Tanya Horgan, her mother Susan Ingraham, and her aunt Kathryn Maguire talking to CBC New Brunswick's Marie Sutherland about their year of putting the fun in the Bay of Fundy.

[Music: Disco? This is disco, right?]

Sheep Syringe

Guest: Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan

CH: When something is difficult to organize, we say it's like herding cats. When people do what they're told without much resistance, we say they're like sheep. Nevertheless: you'd think that herding 700 sheep and goats into the shape of a huge syringe would be like herding cats. But is it? Only one person knows. So we called up farmer Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan, who did just that in a field in Schneverdingen, Germany.

CO: Wiebke, how difficult is it to get hundreds of farm animals to line up in the shape of a syringe?

WIEBKE SCHMIDT-KOCHAN: That's not quite difficult if you use something they like to eat. In our case, we got some old bread from the bakery here in Schneverdingen.

CO: So you got something that they like to eat and then what did you do? How did you line it up so that they would line up in the shape of this syringe?

WSK: We… we put some marking sticks on the ground and along… between the sticks, we put lines of bread. And herd knows -- we’ve trained this before -- that bread is sometimes on lines on the ground. We trained this some days before. First, we trained bred in a line on the ground, so they knew, oooo, Sometimes they find things on the ground. We can eat it! So they knew that if I go somewhere and my colleague sheeps are eating on the ground, there might be something next to them. So they first go on one place, and then they recognize, oh, there are too many! I can’t reach the bread because there are… there still is some sheep. So they go along the line until they have their place to eat.

CO: And then… and then one by one, slowly you get them to line up in a way that is shaped like a syringe?

WSK: Oh yeah, that's not slow. That's quite fast progress. [both laugh]

CO: Okay, but… Okay, I have so many questions about how you would do this? [both chuckle] Because I've seen… I've seen… looking at the picture, you have 700 sheep all drying out a perfectly shaped syringe on the ground. And I guess this was a picture you took with a drone?

WSK: Yeah.

CO: Can you just describe for people what it looks like if they haven't seen the picture? If you didn't know it was sheep, would you know that that’s what was making the shape?

WSK: If you… if you didn't know it was sheep, you’d think there are some bright and dark points on the ground. You don't see in the first place that it's sheep or goat. Because it's from high, from above.

CO: And how big is the drawing?

WSK: I haven't measured it. My husband said it's about 100 metres.

CO: Okay. Now, have you ever drawn a picture with your sheep before?

WSK: No. Our friend who had the idea to do this called us, and my husband said, hey, that's great! We’ll do this. As a shepherd, you don't get out and go to the street to say people, hey go to get vaccinated. We need to stay at our home to take care of our animals. So this is our way to say, hey, we think it's good. And that's why we said, hey, that's a great idea. We can do this. And if it makes people think, hey, just as a reminder, maybe.

CO: To go and get vaccinated?

WSK: Yeah.

CO: Right! [laughing] And you… so this is your message to the world, to Germans at least, to go and get a vaccination?

WSK: Yeah. Yeah.

CO: Okay. And what kind of reaction have you had to your sheep shaped syringe?

WSK: Most people think that's a good idea. That's a funny idea. Most, like it. You always have some who say mmmmmmmmmm. [CO chuckles]

CO: But have you convinced anyone to go and get vaccinated after they saw your drawing?

WSK: No.

CO: No. Okay.

WSK: No, unfortunately, no one called me. Now I do! No, not until now. [both chuckle]

CO: Just another question about how you did it. I mean, the sheep, did they not as soon as they ate the bread in one place run to get it in another place? I mean, how much time did you have to get this picture before all this sheep started looking for more bread someplace else?

WSK: That's quite a short moment. You have some minutes, maybe three or five minutes, until they've eaten up the bread. When the people… or the sheep… people!!! [CO chuckles] Sheep started eating have already eaten up when the first ones arrived. So you have… you need to be fast.

CO: And how in Germany, and in general, are people getting vaccinated? Do you know what the rate is of people going to get the shot?

WSK: Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, we're about 70 per cent. There are not many who haven't already got vaccinated who go say, Okay, now we will go. So we are still missing 30 per cent.

CO: Wow!

WSK: Yeah. Unfortunately, there are some who… who say we won’t… we don't want to, and that's quite sad.

CO: You know, in Canada, people who are against vaccines, they say, oh, those people who go to get vaccinated are just like sheep. They don't make a mind of their own. They're just going like sheep, without… without judgement. What do you say to those people?

WSK: Yeah, that's… that's stupid. [chuckle] First of all, sheep are not stupid. For sheep, the herd is the safest place. And if they herd is fine, the single sheep is fine, too. If I have a shepherd, if they have some illness, I can't say, oh, I’ll just vaccinate 70 per cent and leave 30 per cent alone. The 30 per cent which I don't vaccinate might get ill or die. So I always need to take care of the whole herd. In a herd, you always have brave sheep who get the vaccination first. [CO chuckles] And you always have some who stay in the stable at the back of the stable and say, oh, you don't want to do fun things today. And I can't say, oh, you don't want to. You're afraid. I leave you out of the vaccination. I need to vaccinate them just to take care that they don't get ill.

CO: Wiebke, this is very wise and… and useful to learn this lesson about sheep from you. And I appreciate your drawing of sheep [both chuckle] and… and I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

WSK: You’re welcome!

CO: Bye-bye.

WSK: Bye

CH: Wiebke Schmidt-Kochan and her husband, Stephan Schmidt, run a farm in Schneverdingen, Germany. And you can see images of the sheep and goats in syringe formation on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Banjo!!!]

Rush Pinball

CH: To fans, pinball is a game of exquisite skill. A perfectly calibrated machine that delivers unparalleled excitement to those willing to put in the effort. To detractors, pinball is unnecessarily difficult, overly technical, and kind of shrill and noisy. Which is about how people are split on the band Rush as well. So it's fitting that Stern Pinball has officially confirmed a new Rush pinball machine -- which it bills as "an epic music pinball adventure", featuring the voices of surviving members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. An adventure that will enable players to "travel back in time with Rush by shooting pinballs through a custom sculpted, electromagnetic Time Machine". An adventure that will "reflect the energy, excitement, and experience of a live Rush concert." Well, if you're into this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll really be into. Although I should warn fans of pinball, Rush, and Rush pinball that the base model will cost you about 9,000 bucks Canadian. Or, for free, you can just enjoy the fact that the legendary power trio has now truly joined the pantheon -- immortalized in a format so flashy and clangy that even its detractors will find it appropriate. As is the fact that the gameplay matches the way traffic used to be on the way to a sold-out Rush concert: bumper to bumper.

[Music: Ambient]

Part 3: Musicians Selling Publishing, Encore: Tulsa Churchgoer Outfits

Musicians Selling Publishing

Guest: Ben Sisario

CH: There's "Space Oddity", "Heroes", "Golden Years", "Oh! You Pretty Things" -- look, too many brilliant songs to list if I had an hour. And yeah, there's also "The Laughing Gnome". But the odd dud -- extremely odd, in that case -- obviously didn't affect the selling price. This week, the Warner Music Group's publishing unit bought David Bowie's catalogue for a reported quarter of a billion dollars. That's the latest big sale in a wave of big cash-in deals for songwriters including Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan. All of which seem to fly in the face of conventional music business wisdom -- which holds that songwriters should hang on to those rights as a steady revenue stream. Ben Sisario is a reporter with the New York Times. We reached him in New York City.

CO: Ben, if you were one of David Bowie's heirs, would you be celebrating this deal or cursing it?

BEN SISARIO: I think they're celebrating it. They… they've made a lot of money. And presumably, they were involved in the decision. [chuckling] So unless they have any regrets, I think they're probably very happy about it.

CO: And what do you think David Bowie would think of it?

BS: That's a good question. David Bowie, like a lot of the big stars of his generation, worked very hard to get control over his work. To own his copyrights. And that was very important to him. But you know, like a lot of other big stars, they've been selling them. And, you know, this has financially been a huge story, the way that the value of music has turned around and that older artists have been making enormous amounts of money selling their work. But that means giving up the control that they once had.

CO: Right. And just recently, of course, Bruce Springsteen. But we know Bob Dylan did the same thing. I mean, these are not poor, struggling artists, right? They're… they’re wealthy enough. Why are they doing it? Why are they selling?

BS: For the older ones, I think it has a lot to do with estate planning and with reaching the end of their careers and, you know, the… the end of their lives. If you… if you own copyrights and manage your work, it's a big job. And I think that these people are advised that leaving that kind of a business to their children or their families is a very complicated thing. And that it’s simpler to just leave them a lump of money. And right now, Wall Street is putting huge lumps of money on the table for them. So, it's a… it's a… it's a tremendous opportunity, especially for people of Bowie or Springsteen's generation who, you know, fought with record companies to get good deals. In a lot of cases, had to go to great lengths to get their control. And so, you know, now when it comes to Springsteen or Stevie Nicks, or any of the others, you know, they have the opportunity to cash out and they're doing it.

CO: What control have they given up here? I mean, is this control… or, for instance, there are many times when Bruce Springsteen's music, people wanted to use it for… for ads to sell things, for whatever. Has he lost control over that? Is that something now that… that the owners of his, of his songs and his music, can now use in any way they want to?

BS: Unclear. These deals are all different, and they usually are opaque. So in the case of Bruce Springsteen, we haven't seen the contract -- and we probably never will. My understanding is that there… there may be protections in his deal that either give him some level of approval or may prevent some kinds of usage. But I don't know that. I don't know that for sure. I believe it was part of the negotiations. In other cases, what artists have been selling, you know, may be 100 per cent of their rights, but it may only be 50 per cent of their rights. So if an artist only sells half of the copyright of their work, they may still have some kind of level of control or veto power. But generally, you know, it's sort of like when… when you sell your house, you don't own it anymore. You can't tell the new owners what to do. So, usually when… when an artist sells their rights, they no longer do have any say.

CO: There are some, like Taylor Swift, who are now saying they're not going to do this. That this idea… that they… selling your catalogue, not owning your music, is just at odds with what artists should do. And so, what's been the reaction amongst other musicians?

BS: It's been a topic of great debate behind the scenes. There are some artists who've said they don't want to sell. Elton John is one of them. Diane Warren, who's a songwriter who has written big hits for Aerosmith and Celine Dion and others, has… has said it would be like selling her soul. But one of the interesting things that we're seeing is that it's kind of a generational issue. And it's not necessarily a conflict. Because what Taylor Swift is doing right now, she's getting the control now that, you know, Bowie didn't have at the beginning of his career, and that he had to spend many years fighting for. So, I think what we're seeing is that you can't sell what you don't own. And so, for a lot of younger artists now, and Taylor is just the most prominent one, but there's a lot of others, they're working very hard to control their work. And part of the reason for that may be so that down the road, they can make the choice for themselves about whether they want to sell it or not? What they want to do with it? I think one of the things that Taylor has objected to so much is that it wasn't her choice.

CO: But what does it actually do for the music itself? Was does it do for Bowie's legacy, for his popularity?

BS: Good question. I think the people who are buying it are probably going to say it's going to do a lot. That, you know, Warner Music is one of the big major label conglomerates. And so, we can help market the music. Bowie's music has been out there for 50 years, and lots of people already know it, so they may… they may come up with new ideas for it. But it may also just be a matter of keeping the train moving and, you know… selling… selling more box sets and T-shirts and getting it into commercials and movies, which has sort of been done all along. So there is a little bit of a question of what these companies can do to earn back their money that isn't already being done?

CO: Okay, Ben, we’ll leave it there. Thanks so much.

BS: [chuckling] Okay, thank you.

CO: Bye-bye.

CH: Ben Sisario is a reporter with the New York Times. We reached him in New York City.

[Music: Jazz]

Co-Living House

CH: Frances Woolison's home is sprawling. It was probably built to house a huge family. Or a small rich family with servants. And now, the three-story house in Winnipeg is home to a large group once again -- Ms. Woolison, her husband, Jim, and five strangers. The group recently moved in together to share each others company -- and the chores. It's an experimental living arrangement that the Woolisons have wanted to create for years. Finally, the Prairie Rivers Co-living Cooperative is a reality. The seven residents range in age from 39 to 78. And there's still room in the house for a family of four to move in. Here's Frances Woolison.

SOUNDCLIP

FRANCES WOOLISON: For my husband and I, it's because we've watched too many people growing old alone in their own homes. There's so much emphasis in our culture on people being independent. We think a better word is interdependent. Because people need each other for support. My mother stayed in her own house till she was 102, but she became very lonely. All her friends were gone. I was about the only person who came and went. And it wasn't something I wanted to replicate. I have a sister in a similar position living alone in B.C., and I've watched her two struggle, especially during COVID. It's just lonely being by yourself all the time. And it just seems like so much… much richer way to live is in community, sharing experiences and support and chores. I mean, I don't have to get dinner every night anymore. I'm living with others and we take turns.

JAME MAGNUS JOHNSTON: I'm James Magnus Johnston. Yeah, I'm 39. It's been lovely. I found myself bouncing around quite a bit. Like, I wouldn't quite call myself homeless, but without a home for quite a while during the pandemic. So… so I needed a landing point. That's partly because of my circumstances. I was doing a Ph.D. in Montreal, and so I was there for part of the time and Winnipeg part of the time, and wasn't sure where it was going to have to land, where the world was going to take me, whether it's going to be reduced or sticking around here. So…. so the first three months have been really lovely for me because it's been very settling. [chuckle]

FW: We all come from quite different backgrounds. You asked me earlier, I moved all of 700 metres to move into this house. One of our couples moved here from Edmonton because they wanted to be closer to their family and their kids are all in Winnipeg or the vicinity. Another couple had tried condo living and decided that was too lonely, and were very interested in coming on board.

CORY FUNK: So when you tell people that you're living in this community now or this… you know, leading up to this that this is something you've wanted to do, what are other people's reactions?

FW: Wow, that sounds great. I'm not sure whether it would suit me or not, is usually the comment, but it sounds amazing. [chuckling] So I think people just have to take a leap of faith sometimes and try something different. We figured if we haven't tried it by 75, when are we going to do it if we don't do it now? So we just decided how much could go wrong? Maybe we have yet to find out, but so far it's been a very positive experience.

CH: Frances Woolison, one of seven residents of a co-living house in Winnipeg -- and before that, her housemate James Magnus Johnston -- speaking with the CBC's Cory Funk.

[Music: Funky diner music]

FOA: Elizabeth Miller Obit

CH: Elizabeth Miller made vampires her business and did her best to consume every vampire book or movie ever made. But the Memorial University of Newfoundland literary professor staked her personal academic territory closer to the beginning, with a particular vampire created by the Irish author Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel Dracula. Ms. Miller's career began with a focus on Newfoundland literature, including the work of the humorist Ted Russell, who happened to be her father. But she soon switched gears from mortals to immortals -- becoming a world-renowned expert on Dracula, and the man who invented him while toiling at a day job as manager of a theatre. Elizabeth Miller has died at the age of 82. She spoke with As It Happens in 1994, as she was about to deliver the keynote address at the Bram Stoker Society of Ireland's annual conference. From our archives, here she is speaking with Michael Enright about Mr. Stoker's Count.

SOUNDCLIP

ELIZABETH MILLER: Well, actually, it’s a combination of… of the vampire of folklore.

MICHAEL ENRIGHT: Right.

EM: With the historical figure of --

ME: Vlad the Impaler.

EM: That's right.

ME: Yes. And there is evidence that it has been proven that Stoker did know about Vlad. That he came across some documents while he was researching it at Whitby, actually. He was working on the novel, and that he had… he wasn't going to call his novel Dracula. He had another name for it. And when he saw this name Dracula, he changed and just used that one instead.

ME: How long did it take him to write the novel?

EM: He was writing it for six years.

ME: Now, can you look at it just not as… as an expert and aficionados, but as a reader? What do you think of the writing?

EM: Um, it's… it's uneven, I would say. I'd say there are… there are sections in it which are quite good and the other sections which are less so.

ME: It’s pretty dense. I mean, some sections are pretty… you have to go through it with a machete, almost.

EM: Yes, yes, very much so. He seems to have had this obsession for detail, maybe because he was a bureaucrat.

ME: Yes!

EM: And not only that, but when he was with the theatre, he did all the scheduling and all the arrangements and so on, and you can see that in the novel. You know, every little detail is there, right down to the last fine point. But I think its power lies in the… the influence that it’s had.

EM: Well, that's… yeah, that's… you're anticipating my next question, professor. It’s the kind of a question I guess that will be asked at the conference. How… why has it become such an important part of our modern imagination? We've got Bela Lugosi and Anne Rice and Francis Ford Coppola and everybody. Why is that, do you think?

EM: Well, I think it's… it's the fascination with it with the vampire figure. I think of all these monster archetypes that came out of 19th-century gothic fiction, I think the… the vampire figure has had the… the most powerful appeal.

ME: Is it because it's the most horrific or the most frightening?

EM: I think it's because… because it's maybe the most human. Because the vampire, at least the literary vampire, not the folkloric one, but the literary vampire sort of looks normal.

ME: Right.

EM: And has human attributes. But then, this vampire also has the… has the gift of immortality. And even though it comes at a price, I think everyone at some point, you know, sort of sits down and wonders, my gosh, goodness, you know, is there any way that I can live forever. And I think it's this… this fascination with immortality, plus this… this combination of an attraction and a repulsion at the same time that… that draws people to the figure.

CH: From our archives, that was literary scholar, and expert in all things Dracula, Elizabeth Miller speaking with Michael Enright. Ms. Miller has died at the age of 82.

[Music: Ambient]

Encore: Tulsa Churchgoer Outfits

CH: Whether you admit it or not, there was probably a period during this pandemic when you wore pants you would not wear in public during a number of virtual meetings. That period may have been a week, a month, or it may be ongoing. But La Verne Ford Wimberly is not like the rest of us. She didn't let the pandemic stop her from dressing up. In an interview last April, the then-82-year-old told Carol about the amazing, colourful outfits she'd been wearing to virtual church for 52 weeks -- all featuring a different hat, with no repeats. That interview was one of our most popular of 2021. So here's an encore of Carol's conversation with La Verne Ford Wimberly of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

SOUNDCLIP

CO: La Verne, the picture of you and these hats are just amazing. How many hats do you actually own?

LA VERNE FORD WIMBERLY: I really have never stopped to count them, but I can say since I did post 52 of them, I have 52, and I know I have another box with at least three. So let's just say 55. [CO laughs] And We’ll stop at that. [laughing]

CO: But I mean, it’s radio, so we can't do justice. But these hats are they’re are expansive, wide-brimmed, beautiful, bejewelled things. How do you store them? Where do you keep all these hats?

LVFW: Well, I have them all in huge hat boxes, and I have three bedrooms. And each bedroom has a closet. So they're in all three closets in my home.

CO: [chuckling] Once you get yourself all decked out, and you are very well turned out in these photos, what do you do then on Sundays? What's... what's the drill?

LVFW: Well, since we've had the pandemic and we've been kind of locked down, I Zoom with my family. I have a sister and her husband that live here in Tulsa. And then, she has two children with grandchildren. They live in Arlington, Texas. Then, of course, I go to the restaurant to get something to go to eat since I cannot go and sit in a restaurant. So I do that. And then when the weather is really pretty and nice, we have a place called River Park. I like to go and stay in the car and just sit there and read and watch the people on their motor scooters and bicycles and walking and all those kinds of things.

CO: Now, you didn't mention church service.

LVFW: That's the first and foremost thing I do every Sunday. When I put those clothes on, I'm ready to sit here in front of my computer and I do the church service first.

CO: OK, you know that that most people, what they have kind of like... they don't... they don't like to admit it, but being able to do church service in your bathrobe [laughing] has been something other people have enjoyed. But obviously, you didn't want to do that.

LVFW: I did not. I did not want to get out of a habit. I'm just accustomed to dressing up on Sunday and have been for all of my life. So it was not unusual for me to do that. And I did not want to get out of the habit, so I just continued it. Plus, I felt it gave me a little motivation just to be happy and loving it because I just like fashion. So it was no big deal for me to do that.

CO: Did you expect, did you anticipate, that you would give that same feeling of joy to so many people when you started to post the pictures of you wearing your Sunday best?

LVFW: No, I didn't. First of all, I didn't think that I would be doing it for 52 Sundays. And after I started receiving all of these complimentary remarks, I thought, hmmm, maybe I'm providing a service because most of the people talked about how those messages were inspiring or it was something I needed. They were going through something. Some, of course, had lost family members as a result of COVID, and they were feeling down. It just kind of lifted their spirits and gave them a little hope. So I thought, well, maybe I need to continue to do that. And that's why I did it. Not only for myself but also for others as well.

CO: Once you took on that responsibility, were you concerned? Because people wanted to see a different outfit every Sunday. [chuckling] After you get into months and months of this, were you worried you might be repeating something?

LVFW: There was no real-time that I ever think about repeating anything because years ago when I first started teaching in Chicago, I always kept a monthly calendar to make sure I did not wear the same thing during that month of time. And over the years, I have continued to do that. And I started that because there were several female teachers at my school, Carver Junior High, and they always looked so beautiful every day with their colour-coordinated sweaters, skirts or whatever suits, whatever they had on. And then when I finish high school and got out of college and everything, I'm going to start dressing just like them. And then when I started taking that, it really spoke to me because I thought if they could have had that much effect on me, maybe my dressing for them would also have an effect on them. And they’d want to go ahead and finish school and get good jobs, have nice careers and be successful. So I made it a point to look nice, so they would be inspired to move on and know that they could do some great things as well.

CO: You're making many of us feel like slobs right now. [both laughing]

LVFW: Oh, I don't do that. Don't... don't feel like a slob. Just do what you think is good for you. And I always believe in, you know, what feels right for you. That's what you need to do.

CO: I just wanted to say one last thing. Your pastor, Ray Owens, he told The Washington Post that Dr. Wimberly, her impressive hat collection is merely an outdoor expression of her inner wisdom, wit and grace. What does it mean to you to hear him say that?

LVFW: It just gives me chills to know how people really think about you. You just never know that. And it just gives me a warm-hearted feeling that you're being identified in that capacity, which for me, I try to be encouraging to everyone. And so if I have been an inspiration to anybody, that would certainly make me feel good. And perhaps, too, he may have said it because I'm the chairman of the board of trustees at the church. [both laughing] I think he was sincere. I was just teasing. No, no, no, no.

CO: La Verne, I’ll say you are an inspiration [laughing]. And I think we're all going to start reviewing our... our daily habits during this pandemic and maybe step up our game a bit. [both laughing] Thank you so much.

LVFW: OK. Have a great day. Thank you. Bye-bye.

CO: Bye.

CH: Our interview from last April with La Verne Ford Wimberly, a parishioner at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And You see her outfits on our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Acoustic guitar]

Richard Lafferty started out playing music in a small town, and when he went on to play on some of the biggest stages in Canada, he never forgot his roots, as the musician told CBC News in 2018. Fort Providence Northwest Territories was just a small, isolated community. The music really came down through waterways from different settlers. The locals would pick up whatever they could pick up with their ears. Richard Lafferty eventually picked up the fiddle, and he made the music he heard his own. Mr. Lafferty died late last month. He was 76. He was proud of his heritage. You could hear it in his music. He played a specific, meaty style of fiddle, rhythmic, slower, stripped down and distinct from Celtic or country fiddle. His unique sound and skill led him to perform before Sold-Out crowds at Expo 86 and for Queen Elizabeth during a royal visit in 1994. In 1996, Mr Lafferty was awarded the sash by the Northwest Territories multi-nation for his contributions to traditional music and dances.

Back To Top »

Provide Transcript Feedback

CBC would like to acknowledge the support of the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund.

January 05, 2022 Episode Transcript

More Stories Like This