January 15, 2010 — A chat with Alex Cullen

This week I was joined by guest co-host Peter Henderson, host of CHUO’s Audio/Visual (which you can find streaming over at Apt613).

We interviewed Bay Ward Councillor and Mayoral candidate Alex Cullen over the phone about his his platform, his experience as councillor, and the major issues in Sandy Hill.

Part 1 — [Download]

Part 2 — [Download]

Part 3 — [Download]

January 8, 2010 — Cuts to the Canadian Council on Learning

Featured interview:

• Niki Ashton: NDP MP and critic for post-secondary education, youth, and literacy — [Download] [iTunes]

Only about two hours after the Canadian Council on Learning announced that its federal funding would not be renewed after this coming March, we spoke to the NDP’s Niki Ashton about the news.

November 13, 2009 — We talked about social media

Featured interview:

• Jackie Bonisteel: advocacy director for STAND Canada
• Laura Read: Sustainable campuses national coordinator for the Sierra Youth Coalition

[Download] [iTunes]

For some reason, I decided to put together a show that talked about the importance of social media. Of course, about a million people are probably talking about this at this very moment. It’s not a groundbreaking topic of conversation.

But as unoriginal as it might be, this angle in particular was one worth talking about. Jackie Bonisteel of STAND Canada and Laura Read of the Sierra Youth Coalition joined me in studio and spoke about the importance of social media to their work. We start by defining social media and go from there. Please do listen and enjoy.

October 30, 2009 — A Sandy Hill Affair

Featured interviews:

• Joshua Zanin: vice-president of Action Sandy Hill — Part One [Download] [iTunes] Part Two [Download]
• Julie Ann Levett: from All Saints’ Sandy Hill [Download] [iTunes]

Today’s show was a Sandy Hill affair. Action Sandy Hill vice-president Joshua Zanin discussed some of the issues that arose during the most recent meeting of that organization’s board of directors (on Oct. 26). During the second half of the show, we spoke with Julie Ann Levett of All Saints’ Sandy Hill. She helps coordinate a monthly “open table” supper that is co-organized by several area churches.

Please do listen to the interviews for more.

October 23, 2009 — The one about Terry Gomes

There’s something special about the long-form interview. Sitting down and speaking with someone for an hour, only occasionally interrupted by advertising, can be quite calming. It can also be quite fun. And when you can do it live on-air, it can be rewarding.

I sat down with Terry Gomes, a local singer and songwriter who is also a Grade 3 teacher in Kanata and an alumnus of the University of Ottawa. Terry lives and breathes (and studied) music, so we talked about that. It was really quite pleasant.

I changed the format of this post to accommodate the quantity of segments. You can stream them all here. Please do enjoy them.

Part 1 — [Download]

Part 2 — [Download]

Part 3 — [Download]

Part 4 — [Download]

Part 5 — [Download]

Part 6 — [Download]

October 16, 2009 — What (more) is in a name?

Featured interview:

• Travis Boisvenue: local arts journalist and University of Ottawa alumnus [Download] [iTunes]

If this show had a Friend of the Show award, Travis would be a repeat winner. He came on and gave his two cents about what should go into an on-campus naming policy and whether or not certain names shouldn’t be on buildings.

October 9, 2009 — How to name a building

Featured interviews:

• Vincent Duckworth: Calgary-based consultant who advises schools about their on-campus naming policies — [Download] [iTunes]
• Gaétan-Philippe Beaulière: external commissioner of the Graduate Students’ Association at the University of Ottawa — [Download] [iTunes]

Immediately following a panel discussion on naming policies at the University of Ottawa, Around the Block tackled the issue by interviewing a Calgary consultant who spends some of his time advising universities and colleges on how to go about creating and using a naming policy for university assets.

We asked him about the advice he gives to schools. Who should be at the table when the policy is created? Do they need to be summoned every time a new building or faculty is named? Can names be easily removed?

During the second half of the show, we discussed the issue with Gaétan-Philippe Beaulière, the external commissioner of the Graduate Students’ Association at the University of Ottawa. He attended the panel and offered his thoughts.

September 25, 2009 — The little theatre that does

Featured interviews:

• Dave Aardvark: director of programming at CHUO 89.1 FM — [Download] [iTunes]
• Raven E. Drake: legend of Ottawa community theatre — Part one [Download] [iTunes] Part two [Download] [iTunes]

During the first half of the show, I spoke with Dave Aardvark. He is the director of programming at CHUO and also the man behind the inaugural Sandy Hill Community Record Show. It happened on Sept. 26, and Dave was pumped.

I spoke with my friend Raven during the second half of the show. She has been around Ottawa community theatre for awhile and knows the venue closest to campus — Ottawa Little Theatre — better than most. She has stories, and I suggest you listen.

September 18, 2009 — Sandy Hill’s new spot of green

Featured interview:

• Joshua Zanin: vice-president of Action Sandy Hill — [Download] [iTunes]

On today’s show, we spoke with Joshua Zanin about the newly re-opened park behind the Sandy Hill Community Centre. Enjoy the interview and the on-air rapport that Josh and I have developed after several colourful interviews on CHUO over the years.

September 11, 2009 — An age cap reversed

Featured interviews:

• Ted Horton: vice-president university affairs at the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa — [Download] [iTunes]
• Fiona Sant: organizer of the inaugural Sandy Hill community garage sale — [Download] [iTunes]

Today on the show, we spoke with Ted Horton about the efforts that Ottawa’s student community made to lobby city councillors to remove the age limit that was slapped on student bus passes on July 1. Only a couple of days after council ended up both reconsidering anf then repealing the measure on Sept. 9 (with unanimous support), Ted came on the show and talked about how it all went down.

We also talked to Fiona Sant, the organizer of the inaugural Sandy Hill community garage sale. Although she refused to be as brash and arrogant as I would have hoped, we talk about how the garage sale will measure up against its formidable opponent in the Glebe.