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 September 13, 2022

NIL KÖKSAL: Hello. I'm Nil Köksal

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

[Theme]

Prologue

CH: Tonight:

NK: Saving face while losing ground. In a week of stunning Ukrainian advances, the Kremlin claims it's just regrouping -- but an advisor to Ukraine's defence minister says Vladimir Putin's forces won't be given that chance.

CH: Come high water, then hell. Flooding in Pakistan has destroyed farmers' fields and livestock -- raising the very real spectre of widespread hunger in that country, and beyond.

NK: A loss for wards. Thousands of nurses go on strike in Minnesota, demanding better working conditions. One striking ICU nurse tells us COVID'S Delta wave was the hardest and most harrowing time of her career.

CH: Wish yours was here. Our morning trip down the dusty driveway to the "AIH" mailbox yields a handful of postcards -- and we'll share them with you, in the hopes that you'll share one with us.

NK: A mixing blessing. For 30 years, the late Thomas Carney tended bar at the famous New York hotspot Elaine's -- and a former regular tells us he was a classic Big Apple barkeep who was never shaken, and rarely stirred.

CH: And… owl's well that ends well. More than 20 years after she was snatched from a PEI theme park, a robotic bird named Mrs. Henrietta Sleepy Owl is mysteriously returned.

CH: As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that's sure her replacement's upset, but you know: hooters gonna hoot.

Part 1: Ukraine Russian Forces Pushed Back, Minnesota Nurses Strike, P.E.I. Robotic Owl Returned

Ukraine Russian Forces Pushed Back

Guest: Yuriy Sak

CH: Ukraine's armed forces appear to have rattled the country's Russian invaders. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian government announced a counter-offensive. But no one, least-of-all the Russian army, expected the scale or the speed of the attack. President Volodomyr Zelenskyy now says that, in barely over a week, his country's forces have retaken thousands of square kilometres that it took the Russians months to seize. And in Russia, the stories of casualties and abandoned equipment have even the Kremlin's most vocal supporters demanding answers. Yuriy Sak is an advisor to Ukraine's minister of defence. We reached him in Kyiv.

NK: Mr. Sak, the Kremlin says. Today Russian forces are simply, quote, regrouping. How would you describe Ukraine's military? What it's accomplished over the past week?

YURIY SAK: Over the past week, Ukrainian army was able to regain control of over 6,000 square kilometres of the temporarily occupied territory, the territory that was occupied by the aggressor, the Russian Federation. Now, of course, this is a major setback for the Russian army since perhaps the retreat of the Russian army from the Kyiv region earlier in April. And we are not surprised that they're trying to cover up this humiliation by coming up with some creative terminology. But the reality is such that the Russian army is fleeing. They're fleeing chaotically. You know, we have been able to pretty much every ally, Ukrainian armed forces have been regaining control over more and more villages and localities. We have destroyed almost 3,000 Russian soldiers during this counter-offensive. We have destroyed hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles. We have captured hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles. So this was a counter-offensive blitzkrieg which resulted in major success for the Ukrainian army and major setback for the Russian army.

NK: You know, all of the events that you've made to this point do come at a cost. You mentioned the boost to morale for Ukrainian soldiers, but how long can you and Ukraine's soldiers sustain what they're doing?

YS: Look, for… for us, for Ukrainian people, for Ukrainian army, we don't have a choice. The only choice that we have we either win this war or we… we are extinguished, right? Because the aggressor has said it many times publicly that the goal is ultimately the destruction of the Ukrainian nation as such. So for us, we will go till the very end, till we win this war. And we are confident that we will win this war because we are not fighting it alone. We are supported in our fight by our international partners because all of them, they understand that while the war is taking place on the Ukrainian territory, on the Ukrainian soil, at the same time, this is a war for European values. This is a war for the future of European freedom. So this is why we're not alone in this fight. We'll go till the very end, and we will win in the end.

NK: There are… there are reports that U.S. and British military help helped Ukraine in this. That they were instrumental in helping form the strategy that Ukrainian forces ultimately deployed. That they… that part of the shift and part of this new success is due to the fact the Ukrainian military was open to that cooperation and strategizing together. Is that true? What can you tell me about that?

YS: All issues related to Ukraine's military strategy are decided exclusively by the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. And the general staff of Ukrainian armed forces has not confirmed any of the issues that you have just raised and referred to. But at the same time, it is…. it is not a secret that the Ukrainian armed forces are cooperating with our international partners. With NATO, you know, there's a lot of exchange of reconnaissance information. We are receiving military support in the form of weaponry from our Western partners. So while it is not possible to confirm that the exact planning was taking place for this kind of offensive, the cooperation between the Ukrainian army and our Western allies has been ongoing pretty much from the first day of this war.

NK: The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, says Russia will continue in Ukraine, quote, until the tasks that were initially set have been fulfilled. What do you say to Mr. Peskov tonight?

YS: Well, I don't want to say anything to Mr. Peskov because he's been saying so much ludicrous statements, you know, during the past seven months that it's… it's wrong to believe him, but I'll trust him. But what we can say is that Russia's objectives, which they have set for themselves at the beginning, have not been met at all. So they… they've suffered one setback after another. Of course, they have captured some of the Ukrainian territory. But we are gradually regaining it. But, you know, their major objective, for example, to gain full control of Luhansk and Donetsk region, they have not achieved that, right? At the beginning, they were planning to capture Kyiv within three days. They failed. They… they were forced to retreat. So, so far, they have not been able to achieve any significant military success. But what they are capable of is, of course, the missile terror. Because for the last, for example, 24 hours, Ukrainian cities again were struck with Russian missiles. And Russians are striking. You know, while they're unable to achieve success on the battlefield, they're striking civilian infrastructure. So they struck, for example, the power plants in Kharkiv. And as a result, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been left without electricity, schools, kindergartens, hospitals. So this all shows that Russia is a terrorist state, and it should be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism.

NK: Given that duality that you mentioned, on one hand, these… these recent advances and military successes, but the strikes that you just listed, how are people in Kyiv -- where you are -- feeling?

YS: Well, people in Kiev as well as in other Ukrainian cities, of course, you know, by now, we are all very resilient. The government is very cautious. And it keeps repeating that, you know, if air raid sirens ring out, then people should seek shelter. But for now, there is a sense of confidence in Kyiv and in other Ukrainian cities that we will win this war. Everybody supports the Ukrainian army, and everybody's looking forward to… you know, to restoring peace.

NK: Mr. Sak, I thank you for your time.

YS: Thank you very much for inviting me.

CH: Yuriy Sak is an advisor to Ukraine's minister of defence. We reached him in Kyiv.

[ambient rock]

Minnesota Nurses Strike

Guest: Brianna Hnath

[sc]

BRANDY NAVARO: It just hasn't been good. [chuckle]

[a car honks in support]

BN: To not feel valued. Isn't… it's not okay. And people just don't know how not okay things are.

[/sc]

CH: That was Minnesota nurse, Brandy Navarro, speaking with a CNN reporter yesterday, wearing a red bow in her hair, and a red cape. She was dressed like a superhero -- which is what people called health-care workers like her throughout the pandemic. But as you heard her say there, she does not feel valued. Which is part of the reason she joined thousands of other nurses on the streets of Minnesota yesterday, on the first day of a three-day strike. It's being called one of the largest private-sector nurse strikes in U.S. history. Brianna Hnath is an ICU nurse in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. She's part of the Minnesota Nurses Association's Contract Action Team. We reached her in Anoka.

NK: Brianna, what do you think when you hear Brandy Navarro speaking there? Clearly trying to hold back her tears.

BRIANNA HNATH: Yeah, I think, you know, what she said is exactly how we all feel. We have gone from being these heroic, essential people for the last couple of years to being just, you know, disrespected by our employers. And our opinions and our expertise don't really matter anymore. And that's why we're out on the streets right now picketing for a better contract.

NK: What was it like on the strike you were at yesterday?

BH: Yeah. So I was at my hospital -- North Memorial -- yesterday, and to use the word great is a hard word to say about being on strike. But it was really empowering. And I was so proud to be out there with my fellow nurses because we have worked so hard over the last six months, and trying to get a better contract and just continually getting met with stonewalls at the negotiation table. So to get all of us out there walking the line together, all fighting for the same thing, it was pretty incredible to see and to be part of that.

NK: When you say you don't feel that you're respected or your expertise or your efforts, you know, that they're not appreciated, what kinds of things are you experiencing that have pushed you to this point?

BH: I would say that we are just asked to do more and more with less and less. It's not uncommon every day for our hospital to be down anywhere from five to 10 nurses every shift. And if they can't get those holes filled by people picking up on their days off, then we are asked to take a larger assignment, which means, you know, it's just more room for error, more room for not great care. And that's not what we want to provide. We want to provide excellent care to our patients and treat them as if they are our family members. You know, my own family goes to North Memorial. We want to be treating people as best we can. And when we're limited like that, we just can't do it anymore.

NK: You're an ICU nurse. We're talking about life and death situations here. And you've described the Delta wave of COVID as the hardest time in your career.

BH: Yes.

NK: Can you describe what a day on the job was like at that time.

BH: For the first time in the entire COVID pandemic, I finally had a breaking point. I was crying after my shifts and just so disheartened by what was happening in health-care. I took care of so many people that were in their twenties. Most of them were unvaccinated and just so, so sick.

NK: That was the impact of COVID. But the nursing issues that you've described, how did they impact your patients?

BH: Yes, of course, we lost a lot of nurses throughout the last couple of years. So we continued to work short-staffed through that delta wave, specifically where we were asked to pick up extra shifts or asked to stay late or come early. It meant you maybe would get into a patient room for a period of time, but would have to skip out on some of the things you would normally do. Like maybe brushing that person's hair or brushing their teeth or, you know, dotting all your eyes and your t's to make sure everything was done perfectly as you normally would have done because you just simply didn't have the time. You needed to get into another room to do the same thing for the other patients. We didn't have enough people to help with simple things, along with big things.

NK: When you say you lost a lot of nurses, did they quit?

BH: Yes, yeah.

NK: Because of the working situation, the conditions?

BH: Yes. Yep.

NK: You've described a bit of why you and your colleagues think this strike is necessary. What are you demanding? What do you want? Your contract expired in May if I'm… if I'm not mistaken.

BH: Yep. Our contract expired May 31st. We get a new contract every three years. And of course, this last contract, we experienced a lot of hardship. And this is our opportunity to stand up and fight for what is right and the nursing profession. I would say the main things that I am currently very passionate about are our scheduling and our staffing grids. You know, right now, we're just treated as a nurse, as a nurse, as a nurse, and we're all put into this scheduling thing. And you have to fit into this perfect puzzle. And it's not based on who you are or what you do, or what your family is. You just have to fill the hole. We don't have any real control over our scheduling. People are rotating shifts at 50 per cent, so working nights and days kind of back to back. It's just been incredibly hard. And these are things we've been fighting for, for months, to get corrected. And we're just… you know, no one really seems to care at the other end of the table.

NK: Some of the hospital systems involved, they've said your union has rushed to strike, refused mediation and is demanding unrealistic wage increases. How do you respond to that?

BH: Oh, that makes my blood boil. We definitely did not rush to a strike. We have been in contract negotiations since March. The hospital I work for, we have had 19 sessions, and we have made very few tentative agreements. So I don't think that it has been rushed at all. I know that we have been blamed for this strike by the hospitals as well. And I adamantly, adamantly… I just think that’s terrible for them to say. They have not come to the table in good faith. They have not offered us a fair contract.

NK: The union says 15,000 nurses walked off the job yesterday. But where does that leave the patients who you say are already underserved?

BH: Well, they… I believe, you know, we did give a 10-day strike notice. So the hospitals had that opportunity to find travel nurses or replacement nurses. I don't know what's going on inside the hospital. I am very hopeful that they're being well cared for. I know that there's a lot of management that has been there 24-seven during this. I really hope the best for everyone there. I know that, you know, what we do is incredibly important, and these are people's lives on the line. I want to be back in there, and I'm hoping on Thursday morning, we can all return.

NK: You know, we're certainly hearing about nurses upset with conditions here, people in the medical profession in Canada as well. The burnout is not just in your state. Do you have a sense that you think you'll see more strikes like this in your country and here in Canada?

BH: I do. I think that this could be the beginning of some really empowering movements throughout all of labour, really. I heard that the railway might be going on strike as well pretty soon. I think, you know, we just… people need to stand up for their rights and proper working conditions. And if this is how it has to be done, it's very unfortunate. But we have to make some changes to make these professions stand tall again and be the noble professions that they are.

NK: Brianna, thanks so much for your time.

BH: Yeah, thank you very much.

CH: Brianna Hnath is an ICU nurse at North Memorial Hospital in Minnesota. We reached her in Anoka.

[acoustic guitar]

Twitter Shareholder Vote

CH: He no longer wants it -- but today, shareholders voted today to approve Elon Musk's $44-billion offer to buy Twitter. That vote followed dramatic Senate testimony also today from former Twitter security chief Pieter Zatko -- who took the opportunity to expand on a complaint he'd shared with regulators and The Washington Post this summer, alleging widespread security issues at the company.

[sc]

PETER ZATKO: I'm here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors. What I discovered when I joined Twitter was that this enormously influential company was over a decade behind industry security standards. The company's cybersecurity failures make it vulnerable to exploitation, causing real harm to real people. And when an influential media platform can be compromised by teenagers, thieves and spies, and the company repeatedly creates security problems on their own. This is a big deal for all of us. When I brought concrete evidence of these fundamental problems to the executive team and repeatedly sounded the alarm of the real risks associated with them, and these were problems brought to me by the engineers and employees of the company themselves. The executive team chose instead to mislead its board shareholders, lawmakers and the public instead of addressing them. This leads to two obvious questions. Why did they do that? And what were the problems and vulnerabilities identified? And that's what I'm here to talk about. So first, why did they do that? To put it bluntly, Twitter leadership ignored its engineers because key parts of leadership lacked the competency to understand the scope of the problem. But more importantly, their executive incentives led them to prioritize profits over security. Upton Sinclair famously said It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. This mentality is exactly what I saw at the executive level at Twitter. So what are the problems I discovered? Two basic issues. First, they don't know what data they have, where it lives, or where it came from. And so, unsurprisingly, they can't protect it. And this leads to the second problem, which is the employees then have to have too much access to too much data and too many systems. You can think of it this way, which is it doesn't matter who has keys if you don't have any locks on the doors.

[/sc]

CH: That was Pieter Zatko, former Head of Security for Twitter, testifying before the U.S. Senate today.

[percussive jazz]

P.E.I. Robotic Owl Returned

Guest: John Davison

CH: Before it closed down in 2005, the Rainbow Valley amusement park on Prince Edward Island was famous for a lot of things: its waterslides, its spooky cave, its rollercoaster and the delicious greasy food visitors struggled to keep down after the rollercoaster. And it was also famous for its talking, hooting, animatronic owl -- Mrs. Henrietta Sleepy Owl, who greeted visitors. Until one fateful day in the year 2000, when she was mysteriously taken from her perch. She was replaced with a less-animated version. And the whereabouts of the original Henrietta remained a mystery -- until recently when she showed up on the doorstep of a former employee after 22 years. John Davison's family owned and operated Rainbow Valley. We reached him in Kensington, P.E.I.

NK : So John, just what is so special about Mrs. Henrietta Sleepy Owl?

JOHN DAVISON: Well, Mrs. Owl was a fixture at Rainbow Valley, which was an amusement park here in P.E.I., from 1969 to 2005. The owl was one of the stops that the children just loved to… loved to make. They liked to… liked to give their stories to the owl and… and tell her knock knock jokes.

NK: And she's pretty high-tech for that time, right? She had a moving head, a beak and spoke, as you said. What kind of things would she say to the kids?

JD: She did. Well, she'd… again, like if the kid wanted to tell knock knock jokes, she knew all the good ones. [NK chuckles] She would ask them if they had been on the waterslides at the park? Or if they were going over to the magic show. And they always wanted to… if they… if they went somewhere after and they said we had a great time on the little roller coaster, they would come back over and tell Mrs. Owl, you were right. We had fun. And she was just… she was just a friend to them while they were at the park.

NK: So why do you think someone would steal her?

JD: Maybe they just needed a friend.

NK: [both laugh] That's a very nice way of looking at it. Well, if they needed a friend, they kept her for a long time. We're talking 22 years.

JD: They did. They did keep her for a long while. We… it was… it was just a typical morning at the park that day. It was… it was July of 2000. And, of course, the operator went in, and the doors opened up and proceeded to talk to the children on the doorstep. And the kids said, you know, well, where are you, Mrs. Owl? Well, she said, I'm right here in front of you. Well, are you invisible? I can't see you. And that was the first notification that anybody had that… that there was an owl missing that day. So we… we promptly had to fill the… fill the space with a replacement owl, as well as one does. And we… for 22 years, never had a… never had an inkling that she was out there somewhere still.

NK: So then you get a text from a friend who's also a former employee of the amusement park.

JD: Yeah. My… my friend in Summerside sends me a text with a picture of an owl in a box. And he says, does this look familiar to you? And I had to… kind of I was shocked because I mean, number one, I knew… I knew he… he didn't work with us before the owl went missing. So there was no possibility of having a picture of the owl. And I said, yeah, that's… that's… that's the owl. That went missing well over 20 years ago. And he said, yeah, he found it in a box at the end of my driveway this morning.

NK: [laughing] Someone had just delivered it. And there was a note in the box, right?

JD: There was… at the top of the box that just said, for return to Rainbow Valley. And then, once… once we pulled the owl out of the box, she had a… she had penned a beautiful letter to them to tell us about her travels.

NK: Oh, the owl had penned the letter. Okay. Do you want to read it to us? [chuckle]

JD: She said:

Reading:

JD: Dear Earl, over 20 years ago, I flew the coop, one might say, and found a beautiful family of friends who took me in and looked after me. I got the chance to spread my wings and fly all over the Maritimes, from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick. But, of course, I've never left my true home of P.E.I. I have attended music festivals, parties and special family events all over our beautiful Maritimes. To keep my fans from recognizing me, I would attend Incognito. [NK laughs] after a beautiful life with friends who loved me like family and whom I will never forget, it's time for me to come home again and see all of my fans once again. Let my return home be a symbol of peace, love, unity and respect in a time when we could all use it. Love, Mrs. Henrietta the owl.

NK: Mrs. Henrietta the owl is… is quite a poet. How's her penmanship?

JD: She's got… she's got impeccable penmanship. [NK laughs] Absolutely beautiful.

NK: There's some clues in there. Is this something you want to investigate further? Do you want to find out? Or do you know already who she was hanging out with all this time?

JD: I really don't know. I mean, I had a couple maybe suspicions over the years. But I have… I really have no idea who she was with. And… and at this time, I think we're all just happy to have her home safe again. I mean, she wouldn't have had the experiences that she had without that person to intervene.

NK: That's true. [JD chuckles] And maybe her… her chats with… with potential visitors from now on will reflect those visits. Who knows? You mentioned Earl. That's your dad.

JD: Yes, that's my dad.

NK: He designed and built the owl. So, what does he think now that she's back?

JD: He's quite pleased to… quite pleased to have the owl returned. And I think if anybody could… if anybody could issue a pardon to the… to the culprits, I think… I think he'd be more than happy to.

NK: [chuckle] And your mom, we should mention, was the first voice of Mrs. Henrietta.

JD: Yes, Mom was the first… the first one of the owls. It was a sort of a trial project that they had put together, you know, originally. And… and, of course, Mum sort of mentioned that day, well, you come down to the park today, you're going to be operating the owl. And she said, I'm going to be doing the what? And… and so, she became the… she became the template for… for what a good owl should be.

NK: Obviously, this means a lot to your family. It's a great story. So what plans are there for her now?

JD: Well, I have a haunted house here in Kensington, and you're always looking for… for help, for workers. And these days, labour shortages and all that, [NK chuckles] I guess we could take a… take an elderly retired owl and maybe put it back into service.

NK: Listen, John, thank you so much. Really glad you've got her back. But what a story.

JD: Yeah. Well, we really appreciate you reaching out to us.

NK: Take care.

JD: All right. You, too.

CH: John Davison is the owner of Haunted Mansion. His family owned and operated the Rainbow Valley amusement park on PEI. We reached him in Kensington, P.E.I.

NK: You know, I don't like owls normally. And now I do.

CH: Yeah, I'm distressed to learn this about you. [NK chuckle] But I'm glad, at least that you've… [laughing] that you've had an awakening.

NK: I've warmed to them, yes. It was probably dissecting those owl pellets in the Third Grade? Fourth Grade? Anyway, that's a story for another time.

[light rock]

Part 2: Pakistan Flooding: Agriculture, Thomas Carney Obit

Pakistan Flooding: Agriculture

Guest: Rathi Palakrishnan

CH: After weeks of monsoon rains and melting glaciers, Pakistan is under threat of still more flooding. And now, another crisis is threatening to engulf the country as well. According to early estimates, two-thirds of Pakistan’s main food crops have been swept away by the floods -- which have also left hundreds of thousands of livestock dead. Food prices are already rising. And if the waters don’t recede in time for the wheat crop to be planted, the situation will get significantly worse. Today, Canada's federal government announced $25 million in aid for Pakistan, with plans to match donations up to another $3 million. But aid groups say the need is monumental. Rathi Palakrishnan is a deputy director with the World Food Programme. We reached her in Islamabad.

NK: Rathi, just give us a sense of what it's like where you are right now or throughout Pakistan? Because the rains have not abated, as I understand it.

RATHI PALAKRISHNAN: Yeah, so I mean it's utter and sheer devastation. When you fly over, all you see is water, water and more water. It's really difficult to find a speck of dry land. There have been places that have never seen rain for decades. They were desert-like. And all of a sudden, this year, they saw rains for the first time and their homes have been completely washed away. So sheer devastation, a really dire situation.

NK: A big part of the concern, I know, is the risk of water borne disease. Of course, the tens of millions of people displaced throughout Pakistan. But there's also the issue of the impact on agriculture. Pakistan's planning minister is saying that 45 per cent of agricultural land in the country is now destroyed. How concerned are you about the situation today?

RP: Yeah. So, I mean, to understand that, we have to look at the situation pre-floods. So first of all, 54 per cent of Pakistan's rural population, they're poor. And 38 million of them are food insecure. Four million of them are severely food insecure. Pre-floods, we had really extremely high food and fuel price inflation. And that really hits the poorest of the poor. And the farmers are part of the poorest of the poor. And they were confronted with locusts, with drought, the animals had lumpy skin disease. There were heatwaves. So there was no… no spring this year. It went straight from winter, straight into summer with scorching heat. Then we had the Ukraine crisis. So the combination of all those factors really pushed the poorest of the poor even further down the line. And it's a question of affordability, availability, accessibility to the agricultural inputs. And for these poor farmers who are further set back, what they've got to do is they've got to go to different middleman traders to get their seeds or fertilizers. So they borrow those on credit, then they plant. And in the end, as we know now, the flood waters have totally taken over so that there is no harvest to speak of and they've got to pay back those middlemen they borrowed from.

NK: What crops are affected?

RP: They're one of the top top ten producers of wheat, sugar cane and rice. And as said a couple of days ago, almost 10 million acres of crop have been damaged, with most of them being in Sindh. So it's really devastating. Extremely devastating.

NK: What are they hoping for?

RP: So in the end, I think what we need to do is the international community, working very closely with the government, is we do need to invest, we need to help that farmer and provide the agricultural inputs and the seeds he or she needs to then replant. One. The second thing is we need the waters to recede. And so, the waters have to recede basically by October. You've got three months of planting. So October, November, December, and the last final month for planting so that we have a spring harvest is in December. So, hopefully, and they're all praying, I'm sure, that the waters recede. They pay back the middlemen, whom they owed from the previous agricultural season. They receive seeds and different sorts of agricultural inputs, and they work on community infrastructure programs such as the ones we are going to roll out in the reconstruction phase. And then they can start building back and they can start harvesting and they can reclaim their lives that they've lost.

NK: Is there one farmer's story, you know, someone you or your colleagues have spoken to that their story sticks out to you?

RP I would say that there's not just one, there's many. And they all tell the same story about how much money they owe and how they have no hope of paying that debt off because they've lost their harvest. And they're sitting there in a sea of water around them, trying to find ways to feed their families. They're worried about waterborne diseases. They're covered in skin sores. They're worried about their animals. So it's very real. So, they're very resilient people. They've seen this all before in 2010, and they've just been doubly hit 12 years later. But they still are hopeful and very much counting on the international community to come together to help them.

NK: It seems insurmountable when you describe it, as resilient as people are there. And there's so many crises around the world that the World Food Programme is trying to help… to help with, as you know. What do you want listeners at home to take away from this? They're in a very comfortable place compared to what people in Pakistan are… are dealing with, obviously. But hearing about all these crises can seem overwhelming. Or, you know, people ask, what can I really do? So what would you… what would you want to say to them?

RP: I would say that to put themselves in the shoes of someone living in Pakistan who's been hit by the floods. They didn't deserve this. None of what they've encountered in terms of the floods were their fault. And a lot of it is because of what we've done to the planet collectively. And they're paying for it. And one day it's Pakistan. That's today. And tomorrow it could be another country such as Canada. And we've all seen on the news Canada's heatwaves, the fires, the wildfires. So climate change is real and it's here. And we've got to do our small bit to save the planet. And in terms of what we can do to save Pakistan, I would say to, you know, mobilize and lobby and advocate for the needs of the Pakistani people, who did nothing for climate change, where climate change is concerned. And have the government of Canada invest in Pakistan, particularly in the longer term recovery period, because it will take a long time for the people here to recover.

NK: Rathi, thank you so much for your time.

NK: Thank you.

CH: Rathi Palakrishnan is the deputy country director for Pakistan with the World Food Programme. She's in Islamabad.

[“Everyone Comes to Elaine's” by Robert and Steven Morris ]

SINGER: Everyone comes to Elaine’s. Everyone wants to be here. Writers, reporters, actors, musicians, comics and priests, even politicians,

SINGER TWO: Everyone comes to Elaine’s.

Thomas Carney Obit

Guest: Robert Morris

CH: A bar is really only as good as its bartender. And Thomas Carney was among the best. For three decades, Mr. Carney served up drinks at the storied New York hot spot Elaine's. But he did much more than just pour cocktails. Elaine's was famous for its famous clientele -- and some infamous customers as well. And given that owner Elaine Kaufman could be temperamental, things could -- and often did -- get out of hand. But Thomas Carney presided over it all with charm -- and, when required, toughness. Mr. Carney died recently at his home in Florida. He was 82. Robert Morris was a regular at Elaine's before it closed in 2011. He and his brother, Steven, are pit musicians. And they've written a musical about Elaine's -- which includes the song you just heard. We reached Mr. Morris in New York.

NK: Robert, can you imagine Elaine's having been Elaine's without Thomas Carney behind the bar?

ROBERT MORRIS: It wouldn't have been the same. Elaine was the star. She was the den mother, the chief figure. But Tommy certainly added a lot of heart and soul, and I think in many ways was the heart and soul of Elaine's and her most trusted confidante in terms of an employee and someone for 30 years who looked over the business and kept law and order in the establishment in a place that could get pretty rowdy pretty fast.

NK: I bet. And I bet a lot of people thought that, you know, he was their confidant, too, sitting up… sitting up at the bar all those years. You started going to… to Elaine's in the nineties.

RM: Yes.

NK: Can you sort of paint a picture for us? Take us there? Because sadly, we can't go there. So what was it like?

RM: Well, I remember the bright yellow awning and being slightly intimidated by that. And I lived around the corner for probably about a year. Until one day, I mustered up the courage to open the doors and walk in. And I thought it was going to be a saintly dining establishment. And to my surprise, it was more like a saloon. Actually, it was a saloon, which fit me just fine. And at one point during the night, I went to bathroom, the famous take a right at Michael Caine walk to the bathroom, and on my way back, she grabbed me by the arm. And she said, you're going to be a very famous actor someday.

NK: Really?

RM: Yeah. And first, I was shocked that she even spoke to me. And I said, oh, I… I'm not an actor. I don't. She said, what? You walk, you talk. [both chuckle]

NK: What a moment. And then, you guys… you guys carried on that… that relationship.

RM: We carried on. She… she took us in, and we became very close.

NK: It's interesting you used the word saloon a moment ago. There's this great quote in The New York Times talking about Thomas Carney and Elaine's, and it describes Carney as a barkeep in the old style, a mixologist who has kept alive these feckless days, the saloon traditions of wit, tact, patience, and a boundless tolerance for drunks. [RM chuckles] But there were moments where he hit his limit.

RM: He did. I saw Tommy once… and I said the only person Elaine Kaufman feared was Tommy Carney. Because he lost his cool one time at the end of the night, where I think he was in the weeds, didn't have enough backup. He… he was really letting Elaine have it. And usually, nobody spoke to Elaine like that. And it wasn't derogatory. It was just an employee who had enough. And it was like watching a little girl [chuckle] being yelled at by her father.

NK: I bet that didn't happen often to Elaine?

RM: No, it never… I never saw it. That's the only time I ever saw it, in my experience. Tommy was in total command. And he wasn't a big guy. He was a slight fellow who took care of business.

NK: If customers were getting unruly, right? If they crossed a line. Do you remember any anecdotes like that?

RM: He could… well, he could spot trouble from a mile away. In fact, they had a somewhat of a security system there. There was a… Elaine's, in the late nineties, got very, very hot, and they had a buzzer system outside the door. And he would look over the bar, out over the window and be able to see who was buzzing. So right from the get-go, he wouldn't let certain people in. And other times, I saw him cut people off, and especially anyone who ordered any kind of fancy drink. That would be a great way to get under his skin is to say, you know, some kind of frat boy or something of the like would come and order a Long Island iced tea as a drink. He'd say, no, pal. Order something else. [both chuckle]

NK: Why do you think he commanded so much respect? How did he maintain that?

RM: Mostly. It's his experience as a young man growing up in Liverpool under some rough conditions.

NK: You mentioned Michael Caine, his picture.

RM: Right.

NK: But celebrities certainly came to Elaine's. I doubt that she got starstruck. Did Thomas Carney ever get starstruck?

RM: I never saw him starstruck. I know he would… he always kept his distance. He would laugh. It was… it was a time Don Rickles was there. And Don Rickles made his way from his table and was working the entire room. And he came up to me on a Thursday. He goes, hey, big guy, what are you doing? And he punched me in the stomach. I think Tommy got a kick out of that. But Tommy, he's so charming and cool and laid back that he never got starstruck. I heard, you know, a couple of times, I think Ringo Starr came in, and they… they had a moment because they were both from Liverpool.

NK: Sure. You're in rehearsals right now for your musical about Elaine's.

RM: That's correct.

NK: Why was it important to you to create this show in the first place? To… to, you know, have this ode to the location and Elaine, but also the characters like Thomas Carney, who made it so unique.

RM: The short answer is it felt like it was… I had to. And we had to. It felt like a calling. Like returning a gift, in a way. I don't want that to come off the wrong way. But she gave us a gift. And I know she's no longer with us, and Tommy is no longer with us, and many of the people. But this sort of aethereal gift giving back to hopefully tell a story and write a love letter to her and the place that is also accurate, too. Elaine was a complex person, but we got the benefit of her company and the experience there.

NK: A lot of incredible stories to mine that would probably resonate with people. So… so, break a leg in rehearsals. And thanks so much, Robert, for talking to us.

RM: It's my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for contacting us. And I look forward to hopefully talking to some time again when… when this is up and running.

NK: For sure. Thanks, Robert.

RM: Okay. Thank you.

CH: Robert Morris is one of the creators of "Everyone Comes to Elaine's," a musical that's in rehearsals in New York.

[folk]

NB Shark Sighting

CH: When you see a shark fin rise up out of the water, it's alarming. Especially if you're somewhere sharks aren't supposed to be. So it was noteworthy -- and probably shriek-worthy -- when there was not one, not two, but thirty-one blue shark sightings reported in the Bay of Fundy off Grand Manan, New Brunswick, last week. Fred Whoriskey is the executive director of the Ocean Tracking Network at Dalhousie University.

[sc]

FRED WHORISKY: Very beautiful animal. They have this iridescent blue colour up on their top and a bright white belly on the bottom. They're very streamlined. Light for their lengths, typically. So they're… they're kind of cool in that respect. And they have very big pectoral fins. These are the fins that are just under the eyes and the gills up in the front of the animal. Yup. That's a blue shark.

JULIA WRIGHT: That sounds like a blue shark to me. So we don't… we don't normally see these around here, though, in the Bay of Fundy, right?

FW: No, they're typically an offshore animal. And they are also a relatively warm water animal. So we're in the third year of an El Niño event right now out here off the East Coast, we've had some pretty strange atmospheric circulation patterns that have resulted in some pretty strange water temperatures. And we suddenly moved from very cold surface waters, certainly here off of Halifax, to very warm surface waters. And that brought in some really big blue sharks.

JW: Typically, when you see a change like this, I know with the whales, it had to do with food supply. Like, what? Are they eating something that was brought here by the warmer currents? Or why are they here?

FW: Well, they're here because we turn on our production during the spring, summer and the autumn here in these cold waters. And then they take off and go find someplace warm for the winter. So all of these animals came up here because we are in a cycle of summer productivity. There's food around.

JW: You know, some people might hear this and say 31 sharks. Wow. Glad the swimming season is over. Are these a risk to humans at all?

FW: Well, probably not very many people swimming out there in… off of Grand Manan [chuckling] in the places where you're seeing these animals. It really is at the… the edge of the Gulf of Maine. And it's in the offshore zone. So the blue sharks primarily stay offshore. That's their home. And people swimming will not be encountering them, except very rarely.

[/sc]

CH: That was Fred Whoriskey -- the executive director of the Ocean Tracking Network at Dalhousie University, speaking with Julia Wright on Information Morning Saint John.

[Asian-influenced dance beat]

LR: Postcards

CH: Well we asked. And at one point, I went as far as imploring. And you delivered. Literally.

NK: Impoloring. Begging. You know?

CH: [both chuckle] You know, it’s a fine line.

NK: It’s a fine line. Last week, we told you that the adventurous sounds you hear on the show are not really matched by the dull, empty interior of the As It Happens studio. So we asked you to send us postcards, to line these bare wells -- ideally, postcards from the city or town you’re in. Where you like to listen from. And today… oh, my God! How exciting is it to get actual mail?

CH: It was so exciting!

NK: I love it! I love it! And it’s not a bill. [CH laughs] We got our first batch of postcards. So, I want to start with the first one. This one’s from Tyler. It’s beautiful. Tyler is from St. Thomas, Ontario. It shows a bronze statue of a mother and child. And Tyler writes, quote, "For your wall, here is this vintage card from the St. Thomas Public Library. The statue still stands to this day." I love libraries. This is another reason I love them.

CH: Very pro-library. Thank you, Tyler. A card. But I think suitable… very suitable for our wall. Our next card comes from Lisa, and it's a picture of.. I don’t know? It’s some kind of a… it’s like a pointy building with a big antenna on top. It’s like a townhouse, or --

NK: Right. Also known as the CN Tower, my friend. Yeah, the most famous landmark in Toronto.

CH: Oh!

NK: Yeah. I’m the immigrant in this room.

CH: Oh, okay. Well, that makes sense.

NK: Just about a block from here, right?

CH: Sure. Sure. Well, now I see it. [NK chuckles] And it makes sense because Lisa writes, "so glad it's been broadcasting your show's radio waves. Maybe you can see it out of your windows!" Which we can't, quite. The… our Broadcast Centre is pretty boxed in here. But we can when we step outside. At least, according to Nil. Thanks, Lisa.

NK: It gets me every time. It’s really beautiful. Our next card comes from Regina Frost, also in Toronto. She writes, in part, quote,: "You have been a steadfast companion throughout my thirty years here in Canada, helping me to get familiar with the new language, customs and humour...my gratitude certainly goes the lengths of distance to Reading and back many times."

CH: Thank you, Regina. The card is beautiful.

NK: It is.

CH: And it’s like a calendar. I need to look at it more closely. And by the way, you'd have line up 10,225 CN Towers head-to-toe in a north-easterly direction to reach Reading from Toronto. If you're a frequent visitor to Montreal, you might recognize the subject on the postcard I’m holding in my hand right now. Clara sends us a card of the iconic Gibeau Orange Julep. If you don't know what that is, it's a restaurant within a three-storey orange dome. Or, like, just an utterly gigantic orange. It's pretty hard to miss. Clara writes: "this architectural monstrosity still stands today...a splash of colour for the AIH studio wall."

NK: Oh, thank you Clara for that. We will not editorialize. But it… I can’t believe I’ve missed it in my trips to Montreal. I’ll put that on the list.

CH: [laughing] It doesn’t look possible to miss from space.

NK: [laughing] Speaking of colour, our last postcard is from Bill in Vancouver. It’s really more mailable art truly than postcard. It's like a bunch of blobs of colour, but it’s 3D. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. They’re smushed together. It’s cut into a rectangle. And it has our address on it. Bill writes, succinctly, "recycled paint for the new dark age." Thanks, Bill, and to everyone who has sent us mail, a postcard, so far. I love it!

CH: And if you have a moment, and a postcard showing your hometown, or your favourite place, or whatever you like, please send it our way. Our address is "As It Happens", Box 500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6.

[Latian dance music]

Part 3: Turkish-Canadian Student Back, Columbia University Ranking

Turkish-Canadian Student Back

Guest: Cihan Erdal

CH: Cihan Erdal is back home in Ottawa. And to get there, he had to defy a travel ban to leave Turkey. Two years ago, the Carleton University student was detained while visiting family and conducting research. Mr. Erdal was charged with terrorism-related offences for allegedly inciting violent anti-government protests. He spent nine months in prison, including 21 days of solitary confinement, before being released… but banned from leaving Turkey while he waited for his trial. So to return to Canada, he fled to a third country, where he claimed asylum, before flying into Montreal on Friday. We reached Cihan Erdal in Ottawa.

NK: Chian [speaking turkish]

CIHAN ERDAL: [speaking turkish]

NK: [speaking turkish] For those of our listeners who don't speak Turkish, that's how you welcome someone who's come to your house or who's returned from abroad. Chian, what's the first thing you did when you… when you landed?

CE: Well, I just hugged my partner, Ömer, and we just got back to our home with our friends.

NK: What's it like to be back? It's probably a mix of a lot of emotions.

CE: Yes, it's a range of emotions. I’m feeling sadness and happiness at the same time. And… because I left the country of my birth, the country of my fight. My parents still live in Turkey, my friends, my community. But also, I'm glad that I'm reunited with my partner, with my loved ones in Canada. This has been a roller coaster of emotions.

NK: You know, we first heard about your case through Ömer, your partner, Ömer Ongun. And we first reported on it two years ago now. Then, last year, last summer, you were released.

CE: Yes.

NK: But you haven't been able to travel outside of Turkey since then.

CE: Correct.

NK: You decided not to wait for trial, eventually. And you decided to flee turkey.

CE: Yes.

NK: Why did you just decide to do that?

CE: Because when we got support back in June 2021, and at the time, I was released conditionally. I was describing my situation in Turkey as an open-air prison experience. And I waited for so long to get back to my home. But Turkey, despite the rulings of the United Nations and and the European Court of Human Rights in my favour, it was unclear when or if I would ever be able to leave Turkey. So I had to seek political asylum in a third country. And it paid off. In the end, I was able to safely return to Canada.

NK: But can you go back?

CE: I don't know. I can't say for sure, but I do not plan to return to find out. But I know that I left Turkey seeking political asylum in accordance with international law. And I believe my actions in leaving the country were legal under international law.

NK: There are many people still imprisoned in Turkey because of the crackdown on dissent, big names, high-profile cases with even… arguably even more support than you had. International support as well. What is it like to be back in Canada, having left Turkey, knowing that they're still there and still behind bars?

CE: Yes. My heart and my mind is still with them, who are still behind bars unlawfully and arbitrarily. And my friends who are politicians and activists do not deserve such arbitrariness. And I won’t be fully relieved until I see the appropriate amount of freedom. Until I see that they are all freed. And, of course, I will keep fighting for their freedom as well.

NK: Your parents have been really supportive of you and Ömer. I remember you both telling me that when you were first released. What did they say when you told them you were leaving?

CE: They're relieved. They're so happy with me arriving at my home in Ottawa. Of course, this is not an easy process for them. But in the end, they feel much relaxed to see that I'm safe in my home in Ottawa.

NK: Elections are set to come in Turkey in 2023, next year. What's your hope for Turkey?

CE: I just hope to see Turkey in a better place. Turkey doesn't deserve authoritarian mentality.

NK: The authoritarian… authoritarian mentality.

CE: Exactly. Authoritarianism, you know, thrives on fear. And we should never allow that… that fear to cause harm to our bodies and minds. And I'm just hoping that Turkey will get back to an at least normal democracy in the near future. And my biggest hope is seeing my friends who are still behind bars get their freedom back.

NK: Freedom is a word that… that's come up a lot in this country, in Canada over the last year or so. I'm sure you've heard, even when you were in Turkey, certainly in political conversations. Given what happened to you, given that your freedom was taken away, what is your advice to Canadians?

CE: Yeah, this is an era of… a century of erosion of democracy, not only in Turkey but also in Europe, in North America, in the United States, in many parts of the world. I think, as world citizens, we should… we should take the democracy seriously more. And we should, like, create more serious dialogues about how to develop democracy in our own countries, in our own regions. And that would be my… my point. Yeah.

NK: Chian, thank you. And welcome back.

CE: Thank you so much, Nil. Thank you.

NK: Take care.

CH: Cihan Erdal is a Carleton University student and activist. We reached him in Ottawa.

[ambient instrumental]

Larry Kwong HHOF

CH: To Chad Soon, Larry Kwong is a hero. And for very good reason. In 1948, Mr. Kwong -- who grew up in Vernon, B.C. -- became the first player of colour in the NHL, lacing up for the New York Rangers. And now, Mr. Soon -- an elementary school teacher in Vernon -- is pushing to get Larry Kwong inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He spoke to CBC Kelowna about his effort.

[sc]

CHRIS WALKER: So make the case for us. Why do you think Larry Kwong should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

CHAD SOON: Well, I've long felt that he doesn't get the credit he deserves. And this coming hockey season, it is kind of a milestone year. It's going to be the 75th anniversary of his breaking the colour barrier in 1948. So, you know, if not now, when really at this point? You know, not only does he break the colour barrier ten years before Willie O'Ree. You know, he goes on to have a spectacular career. He's a legend in Quebec. He's a legend in… he goes over to Europe and helps. Where he's a superstar. He helps to develop the game and build a game in Switzerland for… for a period of ten years. So he's truly a builder of hockey and in terms of diversity, in terms of just growing the game worldwide.

CW: You met Larry, I understand, before he died in 2018. You got to know him a little bit. What was he like?

CS: Larry was very modest. [chuckle] And, you know, that was the thing with his generation, my grandparents generation. They… they just quietly went about their business. They didn't try to draw attention to themselves. He was just the most gracious, generous person you could ever hope to meet. He didn't talk a lot about hockey unless you asked him. And the same thing with my grandparents. You know, they didn't talk about… what… my grandfather told me what a big hero Larry was. But in general, they didn't really speak to the discrimination they faced. And, you know, Larry was… was a really charitable man. He was with Rotary for nearly 40 years. He had Chinese New Year dinners. Raised thousands and thousands of dollars for scholarships for students. You know, he was always giving back. And he was just… he always wore a smile, despite all the things he faced, all the, you know, unkind treatment. And he never let it stop him. And I mean, you know, when you look at his humble beginnings in Vernon’s Chinatown, you know, it's just to make it all the way to the NHL, what an impossible dream that was. But he… he made it. He made it happen.

[/sc]

CH: That was Vernon, B.C. school teacher Chad Soon speaking with CBC Kelowna's Chris Walker.

[acoustic guitar and drum machine]

Columbia University Ranking

Guest: Michael Thaddeus

CH: Columbia University is one of the most prestigious universities in the US. In fact, some say it's the second-most prestigious university. Well, some used to say that. But now, they're saying it's the 18th most prestigious. That's according to U.S. News & World Report's annual list of college rankings, which was released yesterday. It saw Columbia drop from Number two to Number 18 -- after the school admitted last week that it had previously submitted either "outdated" or "incorrect" data. The news follows a months-long controversy that began after Columbia math professor Michael Thaddeus raised concerns about the school's data earlier this year. And we reached Professor Thaddeus in his office at Columbia University in New York.

NK: Michael, let's go back a bit. For people who may not know, how significant, how much of a factor is this ranking system for prospective students?

MICHAEL THADDEUS: I don't know the answer to that, actually. It's certainly the most influential of all of the U.S. University rankings. The website gets millions of hits a year. But for students who come to a school like Columbia, I'm not sure if it's a major factor for them or not. You know, rumour has it that it is. And U.S. News itself does its best to pump up its own reputation.

NK: You're critical of Columbia on this, as well as U.S. News & World Report. What grade would you give the publication?

MT: [deep breath] I would give the publication an F. I mean, the university rankings have… have no value whatsoever. I would give Columbia's conduct, you know, a C or a C-minus. I'm a tough grader, however. I hope my current students aren't listening in. [chuckling]

NK: Or maybe they should be. You know, earlier this year, you did raise some flags about the data Columbia had submitted to U.S. News, saying Columbia was submitting statistics that were, as you put it, then, quote, inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading. Why did you feel that way?

MT: Well, I didn't write those words until I had done an extensive empirical study. The point is that there are lots of figures that are in that U.S. News survey that are also available from other sources. There's some mandatory reporting to the government. There's the Columbia College Bulletin -- things like that. So I spent quite a bit of time delving into all of these other sources, which are all publicly available, by the way. And I uncovered this very consistent pattern of discrepancies, where with every figure on the survey, the U.S. News survey that I was able to check independently, there was always a discrepancy in Columbia's favour.

NK: You found some trouble specifically with the statistics on classroom size. Is that right?

MT: Yeah. Class size, yeah.

NK: Can you tell me a bit about that?

MT: Anyone who has taught at Columbia in the last 20 years, but especially in the social sciences and the natural sciences and engineering, has noticed that our class sizes have gradually gotten bigger and bigger. I am teaching a calculus section that we had 65 students. Every seat in the room was filled. We moved to a larger room with 85 seats. Now every seat in that room is filled, and we still have 12 students on the waiting list. So it's just been an observed fact that our class sizes keep getting bigger. And the reasons for this are not hard to discern. It's because most of our university's budget comes from tuition revenue. But U.S. News reporting continued to paint this rosy picture in which Columbia had the smallest undergraduate class sizes of any selective university. And so, people like me just knew that that couldn't be true.

NK: Columbia has dropped from number two to 18. That's quite a precipitous drop. But what does that change -- and the speed at which that change came -- tell you about the ranking system?

MT: To me, it just tells me how worthless the whole ranking system is. If you look at what went into that number 18 ranking, it includes placeholder numbers that are just sort of concocted by U.S. News to replace the numbers that Columbia did not submit. So they make no pretence that they actually are accurate figures. They're just placeholder figures. And the idea that our ranking should be based on that is just preposterous. So, I mean, people should understand that's what the number 18 ranking is based on. And it's even more meaningless than the number two ranking. So, you know, I would just say that if a university can fall in a single year from number two to number 18, without anything about the conditions in… within our classrooms having changed that much, that just discredits the ranking.

NK: It was just a couple of years ago, as you know, a few years ago, the Varsity Blues admissions scandal. How do you think ranking systems like this can contribute to that… that fever to get… you know, to get their children into these big-name schools?

MT: Oh, well, rankings definitely reinforce a sense that… that prestige is the most important attribute of a university. That's what you should be looking for when you apply to schools and when you decide where to go. And it's troubling to me that a lot of students seem upset about the decline in Columbia's ranking, you know, because they're afraid that the prestige of their degree will be impaired somehow.

NK: Have you received any blowback -- pushback -- from the university because you've been so vocal about their calculations or miscalculations, in your view?

MT: No, I haven't. I've received no blowback whatsoever from anyone really to speak of. I mean, I have received, I guess, a couple of pieces of anonymous hate mail. But, you know, the… the messages I've had from… from the public, from… from students, from alumni, from parents have been just overwhelmingly supportive. But there's been no blowback, no, you know, remonstration with me personally whatsoever. So… so, I would say, you know, I have tenure. I have academic tenure. And, of course, I wouldn't dare to speak out this way if I didn't have tenure. Tenure is an institution that's been criticised a lot in recent years, but tenure is supposed to protect the professor's right to speak his or her mind. And I'm sort of the poster child for the value of tenure. I've taken full advantage of it.

NK: As you know, there are many, many options for post-secondary education in the United States and around the world. If this list, and lists like it, are… are meaningless and can't be trusted, as you say, what's your advice to parents and students?

MT: That's a very fair question. I mean, I do understand that the rankings exist because they address a need, a very serious need. There are so many different colleges or universities. So they need advice. They need guidance. It's my contention that the rankings just provide the wrong form of guidance to give us just a linear listing like that. It's supposed to help people make a choice. It actually deprives them of a choice because it… all it tells them is you should go to the… the college that is ranked highest on the list that you're able to get into. What they should be doing is… is meeting and talking to students who actually attend the schools that interest them. I mean, that would be so much more informative than reading a ranking list.

NK: Michael, thanks so much for your time.

MT: Thank you. It's been a pleasure talking to you.

NK: Take care.

MT: Bye.

CH: Michael Thaddeus is a math professor at Columbia University in New York -- which is where we reached him.

[Music: Industrial]

Sheryl Lee Ralph Speech

CH: Sheryl Lee Ralph has spent 50 years in show business. But last night, she truly made her voice heard. Now, don’t get me wrong: over that half-century, Ms. Ralph has earned plenty of recognition for her work -- including a Tony nomination for "Dreamgirls" and an Independent Spirit Award in the 90s. But last night, she won her first Emmy Award, for her role as a teacher on the hit sitcom "Abbott Elementary" -- where her impeccable comic timing has won over TV audiences and critics alike. Now, to imagine what she must have been feeling last night, it helps to go back to July, when she was nominated. A moment we don't have to imagine -- because her son, filmmaker Etienne Maurice, captured it on video:

[sc]

SHERYL LEE RALPH: Oh, my God.

ETIENNE MAURICE: You got nominated?!

SLR: Oh, my God.

EM: You nominated?

SLR: Yes.

[lots of shouting]

SLR: Oh, my God. I don't know what to say. Oh, my God.

EM: Mommy!

[/sc]

CH: Sheryl Lee Ralph looked similarly stunned when that nomination became a win last night. And her son and daughter were even more excited. But by the time she made it onstage, she knew exactly what she wanted to say. And sing.

[sc]

SLR: [singing] Oh, I'm an endangered species. [cheers and claps] but I sing no victim's song. I am a woman. I am an artist. And I knoooooowwwwwww where my voice belongs. [uproars] To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream, and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't come true. I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. [clapping] This is what striving looks like. And don't you ever, ever give up on you. Because if you get a Quinta Brunson in your corner. If you get a husband like mine in your corner. If you get children like mine in your corner. And if you've got friends like everybody who voted for me, cheered for me, loved me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[/sc]

CH: From last night’s Emmy Awards, that’s Sheryl Lee Ralph, accepting the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

[“The In Crowd” By Ramsey Lewis/jazz/pop]

Ramsey Lewis Obit

CH: In the mid-'60s, if you dropped a coin in a jukebox or flipped on the radio, there's a good chance you'd hear this track -- "The In Crowd" -- by Ramsey Lewis. The renowned pianist and composer died yesterday. He was 87. Hearing "The In Crowd" now, with that infectious groove and bounce, it's easy to understand why the track climbed the Billboard charts when it was released in 1965. But at the time, it was an anomaly. Instrumental covers of pop records rarely made the pop charts. And most listeners knew Ramsey Lewis for the more button-downed jazz trios he'd led in the '50s. Some stuffy jazz purists scoffed at "The In Crowd" when it came out. When the track won a Grammy, critics labelled it a "crossover hit." But with hindsight, looking over the breadth of his decades-long career, it's clear it was just another chapter in Mr. Lewis ever-evolving musical journey. Whether it was a ballad, blues, or boogaloo -- his music knew no boundaries. And it allowed him to travel the world coaxing whatever sound he wanted out of his instrument. He started out in Chicago playing classical and gospel music in church. And went on to record over 75 albums that ranged from jazz to soul, to disco and pop. As he told the Associated Press in 2011, quote: "Life is a solo, and it continues. I just know that when I put my hands on the piano it's going to flow." Unquote.

[jazz]

Back To Top »

Provide Transcript Feedback

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

September 13, 2022 Episode Transcript

More Stories Like This