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As Margrit and Eileen wrap up season two, we look forward to some things we're hopeful about in a post-pandemic world. Things like compassion and understanding, redefining family and relationships, greater accessibility, and dare we say it... lower real estate prices?  Recommendation of the Episode: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life). Question of the Episode: What are your hopes for a post-pandemic world?  Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

What does it mean to be happy and healthy? Especially during a pandemic? Margrit & Eileen break down ideas about well-being, including a critique of the wellness industry.  Recommendations of the Episode: The Depression Project on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/realdepressionproject/) and Nedi Nezu: Good Medicine by Tenille K. Campbell (https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/N/nedi-nezu-Good-Medicine). Question of the Episode: What are some of your well-being needs?  Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Our number one fan returns to World of Stories! Special guest Ann Gagné joins Margrit and Eileen to talk about precarious work in academia, accessibility in education and beyond, touch and tactility in a pandemic, and so much more! Be sure to check out Ann's new books, The Canadian Precariat (https://www.ubcpress.ca/the-canadian-precariat) and Embodying the Tactile in Victorian Literature (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793617309/Embodying-the-Tactile-in-Victorian-Literature-Touching-Bodies-Bodies-Touching).  Recommendations of the Episode: Academic Ableism by Jay Timothy Dolmage (https://www.press.umich.edu/9708722/academic_ableism), On Being Included by Sara Ahmed (https://www.dukeupress.edu/on-being-included), and Feel Ways: A Scarborough Anthology (https://www.mawenzihouse.com/product/feel-ways/).  Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Margrit & Eileen chat about perfectionism and the internal and external pressures to live up to unrealistic and unattainable expectations. They talk about the false equivalency of perfection equalling professionalism and how perfectionism is both the result of and cause of metal health issues. Finally, in a pandemic where so many of our interactions are through video conference, perfectionism has been taken to a whole new level. Recommendations of the Episode: (It's Great to) Suck at Something by Karen Rinaldi and easy crafting activities, like connect-the-dots. Question of the Episode: Do you suffer from perfectionism? How do you combat it? Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Margrit & Eileen welcome Lee Czechowski to the podcast! Lee (they/them) is a queer mixed Anishnaabe/Settler midwifery student at Laurentian University. They love singing, puns, puzzles, coffee, and their three cats. When they used to have spare time, they spent it hiking, driving across the country, and building the best little queer haven in Northern Ontario. We talk about working in a hospital during a pandemic, the gender-stereotypes in midwifery, being an advocate for queer and trans parents, and finding joy during difficult times.  Recommendations of the Episode: Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature (https://www.ubcpress.ca/sovereign-erotics) and A History of My Brief Body by Billy Ray Belcourt (https://billy-raybelcourt.com/a-history-of-my-brief-body).  Full transcript available at www.WorldOfStories.org/S2E7.

What is the meaning of friendship? What are the different types of friendship? What important are friendships compared to other types of relationships? Margrit & Eileen chat about how the pandemic has strengthened some friendships and strained others; society's hierarchy of relationships that often puts friendships at the bottom; and what this means for community building.  Recommendations of the Episode: Elementary (https://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Season-1/dp/B009IJJ5B4) and Sense8 (https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80025744). Question of the Episode: How has the pandemic changed your friendships and what role do your friends play in your life?  Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Margrit and Eileen chat with Sarika Narinesingh, a communications instructor at George Brown College in Toronto. We talk about taking care of your physical body during the pandemic as a form of resistance against white supremacy, how the pandemic has affected education, and the importance of a living wage. Full episode available April 2, 2021. Recommendations of the episode: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (https://www.douglasdstuart.com/books) and Luster by Raven Leilani (https://ravenleilani.weebly.com/) Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_OfStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com. Full transcript available at worldofstories.org/s2e5

Eileen's got a million projects on the go, but one that is close to her heart is Queer of Colour: a storytelling platform where queer people of colour have a safe space to tell their own stories on their own terms. In this episode of World of Stories, Margrit interviews Eileen on how the project was started and how she hopes for it to grow. Recommendation of the episode: queerofcolour.ca by Eileen Liu Instagram: instagram.com/queerofcolour Facebook: facebook.com/queerofcolour Twitter: twitter.com/queerofcolour Question of the episode: What kinds of stories do you think are missing from our culture? What would you like to see more of? Join the conversation on Twitter at twitter.com/World_OfStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com. Full episode transcript available at worldofstories.org/s2e4.

No discussion about labour & productivity is complete without talking about rest. How do we rest? How often? In what way? For what purpose? The need to stay productive is so deeply entrenched in our capitalistic society that resting has become a revolutionary act, an act of resistance. Margrit & Eileen chat about how we think about rest and how we protect our time for rest. Recommendations of the Episode: How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/600671/how-to-do-nothing-by-jenny-odell/9781612197494/) Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski (https://www.burnoutbook.net/) Question of the Episode: What do you do for rest? How do you make sure you're getting enough rest? Full transcript available at worldofstories.org/s2e3 Join the conversation on Twitter @World_OfStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

How has the pandemic shed light on the way we work, how we're productive, and the value of our labour? Margrit & Eileen chat about how we view labour and productivity in a capitalist society and how our value as human beings is often linked to how productive we are. The flip side, isn't true, though. Artists, athletes, and people from marginalized communities are regularly expected to work without compensation or recognition. This has been so obviously highlighted by the lack of material support given to frontline workers during the pandemic.  Recommendation of the Episode: Margrit has been reading Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. Salesses is an international adoptee, born in Korea and raised by a white family in the US. He writes about many accepted storytelling conventions are grounded in Western imperialism and ideas. Whereas, Asian and African stories that follow different storytelling structures are often dismissed as not worthy of publications.  Question of the Episode: How do you measure productivity? How do you value labour?  Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us directly at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.  Full transcript is available at worldofstories.org.

Margrit and Eileen (fka Lin) are back with season 2 of World of Stories.  This time around, we'll be discussing how to live in this new reality we find ourselves in. What does work look like in a pandemic? What does rest look like? Can we imagine an alternative to capitalism? Just how ableist is our language? What is the value of friendship? How do we live with trauma?  How to Human in a Pandemic?  Recommendation of the Episode: Death to 2020 on Netflix, and Yearly Departed on Amazon Prime.  Question of the Episode: What has changed for you since the start of the pandemic? How have you had to adapt? What has been the biggest challenge?  Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.  The full transcript of the show is available at WorldOfStories.org.

Episode 40! We’re using this round number to announce that we’re going on a hiatus to rethink our follow-through on the goals and wishes that fuelled us to start the podcast as a space to talk about diversity in storytelling. If you have notes, comments, and edits for us, as always, we’re happy to hear/read them.

Elaine Welteroth’s memoir More than Enough (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/598362/more-than-enough-by-elaine-welteroth/) recounts her ascent to the position of editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue in the 2010s, and the subsequent transformation of the magazine into a politically engaged voice for a diverse group of young women. In spite of her remarkable professional accomplishments, Welteroth’s memoir remains grounded and genuine, and Lin recommends it heartily. Diane Arbus revolutionized photography, and the Art Gallery of Ontario’s exhibit (https://ago.ca/exhibitions/diane-arbus-photographs-1956-1971) traces her artistic and technical development chronologically from 1956, when Arbus numbered her first roll of film #1, to her death in 1971. The stark monochrome pictures document an array of “the ceremonies of our present,” centering people from marginalized groups. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Braiding Sweetgrass (https://milkweed.org/book/braiding-sweetgrass) is one of the best books Lin has ever read. An Indigenous plant ecologist, Robin Wall Kimmerer, blends native healing traditions and storytelling with “hard science” to explain the medical effectiveness of plants and the sustainability of the traditional way of life. Margrit loved A.I.M’s Mixed Repertory contemporary dance performance (https://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/torque/mixed-repertory-program/). The NYC-based company blends hip-hop with classical and contemporary styles to raise questions about how we defined ourselves as individuals, how we relate to history, and how we create community with diverse perspectives. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Tiffany Haddish’s memoir, The Last Black Unicorn (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Black-Unicorn/Tiffany-Haddish/9781501181832), balances humour with poignancy as it recounts the personal and professional struggles of the comedian trying to make it in the industry. Haddish’s irreverent style reveals a big heart and a desire to open the door to other marginalized comedians. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (http://www.birdsofpreymovie.net) centres a morally ambiguous female anti-hero who triumphs when bandying up with other women to defeat the villains chasing a child. The movie beats with gorgeously choreographed action and wry commentary on gender and heroism. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

In this episode, Lin's fallen in love with Karena & Kasey’s Foreign Flavours,  a perfectly binge-able travel and food show on CBC Gem (https://gem.cbc.ca/season/karena-kaseys-foreign-flavours/season-1/1d6abffa-a00e-4192-9d55-5c78a49cfbff). Come for the enticing culinary tours these two Maori sisters from New Zealand experience, and stay for the rad haircuts and lovely sisterly relationship. Meanwhile, Margrit's family enjoyed the satirical comedy Jojo Rabbit (https://www.tiff.net/events/jojo-rabbit). Wonderfully acted and directed, this movie showcases how people can learn how to be kind and understanding to those who are different just as easily as they can be indoctrinated into bigotry. It's a message that's especially important, given the rise of anti-Semitism in Germany (https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/auschwitz-75-years-anti-semitism-germany-1.5441314). Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Emily Chang’s Brotopia (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/547571/brotopia-by-emily-chang/) exposes the toxic monoculture of masculinity in the Silicon Valley. For Lin, it solidifies the conviction that journalists make compelling arguments in good stories backed up by a wealth of examples, so she recommends the book not just as an example of the perniciousness of promoting sameness, but for its energetic style. Many good reviews have persuaded Margrit to go back to watching Russian Doll on Netflix (https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80211627), and they’re here to urge more people to enjoy its hopeful message that resilience comes not from individual struggle, but from finding your community of people who are not the same as you. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

We take stock and look forward in this New Year’s episode. Lin talks about the lasting mark Tanya Talaga’s Seven Fallen Feathers (Episode 7: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-3zipj-a30adc) left on her consciousness as a settler in Canada. It fuels Lin’s resolve to attempt a zero-waste lifestyle in the year to come. Margrit remembers Tales of City (Episode 20: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-7dnnq-b5490f) fondly and rejoices in being immersed in young-adult literature for the care and empathy it shows its characters. Seeing some of that empathy working in the world and learning how to do nothing guilt-free are some of the things Margrit looks forward to. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Lin appreciated the cultural respect that went into centering a Latina character and story in the movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold (https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/dora-and-the-lost-city-of-gold). The film uses a fictional myth instead of appropriating existing ones, while the title-character actor drew on relatives for language coaching, and the result is a highly enjoyable adventure film. Hi-lo is a publishing category for stories that present high-interest themes to struggling readers. Margrit recommends Paul Coccia’s Cub (https://www.orcabook.com/Cub-P4021.aspx) for its fast-paced plot that sacrifices neither emotional depth nor character development in satisfying the low readability requirement of the category. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.

Love Boat: Taiwan (https://www.loveboat-taiwan.com/about) is a documentary showcasing the experience of diasporic Chinese and Taiwanese youth who took part in one of the longest-running summer programs in the world. Lin recounts her own experiences and juxtaposes them with the documentary interviewees’ while also providing a historical & political background for context. What are the implications of retelling the same stories over and over? Grounded in the Netflix show Lucifer (https://www.netflix.com/title/80057918), we examine this questions from a cultural and economic perspective. Join the conversation on Twitter at @World_ofStories or email us at worldofstoriespodcast@gmail.com.