Hosts Maz Ata and Hannah Berge
We expected to be a bit rusty after a two-week (intended and unintended) break, but the Midweek team shone as usual, putting together a show that opened with employment rights and labour strife and ended up with some sweet Valentine’s Day leftovers and some seeds to sow.
Along the way, hosts Maz Atta and Hannah Berge (right) led us through stories that also touched on the rights (or lack thereof) of those displaced in the global migration crisis, the overlap of the Black and Mi’kmaw experience in Nova Scotia, and those championing the freedom to read books that some of their neighbours may find deeply offensive.
Midweek reporter Joshua Wienberger told us about Capital Pride’s first-ever Winterlude march — a short walk to mark the 50th anniversary of a first small step in a much longer journey: the partial decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada.
Midweek’s Katherine Lissitsa learns about banned books from Mike Reynolds of Carleton University’s MacOdrum Library during Freedom to Read Week.
Fellow reporter Dylan Parobec told how this was just one part of how Winterlude this year was promoting diversity as part of its celebration, and Maz Atta (wearing his reporter cap) found out how this included greater participation this year by Japan and China.
Ottawa wasn’t the only place celebrating winter lately: Boston’s iconic Fenway Park hosted this year’s Red Bull Crashed Ice international tournament that sends skaters racing each other down steep ice tracks — like bobsleigh racing…but without the bobsleigh.
Midweek’s Levi Garber was there and asked competitor Robin Worling from Ottawa what he loves about the sport and how his family feels about it. (Spoiler alert: Dad’s keen; Mom, well, not so much.)
Seconds count — teaching assistants Jensen Edwards and Alex Kurial confer as producer Jane Skrypnek ponders whether the show is running on time.
The huge snow dump on Ontario and much of the rest of Eastern North America a few weeks back forced us to cancel Midweek’s Feb. 13 show, so we went into this week with a few items linked to Valentine’s Day we hadn’t been able to air.
Luckily, as with love, there’s no best-before date on stories about fancy sweets or novel ways to express affection.
Reporter Katherine Lissitsa described the special treats whipped up for this year’s V-Day by three local vendors of desserts, Adam Cenaiko, Annie Fitzgerald and Debra Cowie.
Cowie created a few special lollipops to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year. To echo classic Valentine’s Day treats, she played with three flavours: cinnamon heart, chocolate, and champagne and strawberries.
A few of Debra Cowie’s special V’Day lollipops
Olivia Robinson found out how padlocks on an Ottawa footbridge are becoming a romantic fad that may one day turn into a tradition.
And we closed our show with a gesture to optimism: A story by Midweek’s Lisa Johnson on how local green thumbers are exchanging seeds, because spring is just around the…um…corner. No, really…it is. Honest…
Any day now…