We continue reframing resilience with Dr. Poppy Gibson, a lecturer in education whose key interests involve children’s psychological development and mental health, and wellbeing in education. Nat had actually previously met Poppy when writing for a journal that she edits, and after doing some digging found out some really significant similarities! We talk about how both Nat and Poppy almost died, and Poppy’s children’s book about how to talk about death with kids. All kinds of trauma are navigated here, but somehow we ended up laughing a lot — and briefly crying!

Links:
When They Died by Poppy Gibson & Alfred Russo
For more from Poppy, follow her on Instagram and Twitter

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Many famous people have been through the doors of Laurie May, co-founder and president of Elevation Pictures, one of Toronto Life's most influential Torontonians, and this episode's guest. We talked about our mothers and our own experiences of motherhood, what it means to be resilient in the face of hard business decisions as a woman in leadership, manifesting gratitude, and, of course, some celebrities. We could have kept going, to be honest!

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If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.

Reframeables returns with a new six-episode series on female-focused resilience! Our first guest is Jenn Harper, the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty — a cosmetics company which aims to help every Indigenous person see and feel their value in the world while developing sustainable colour cosmetics that won’t end up in a landfill. Jenn has been featured as Chatelaine’s Woman of the Year in 2019 and was on Canadian Business’ New Innovators list and Entrepreneur Magazine’s Woman of Influence list in 2022.

Link:
Cheekbone Beauty

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If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.

We often have conversations with folks who have written books. In this episode of Reframeables, Nat has a thoughtful conversation with child therapist Niomi Cherney, who’s in the midst of drafting her very own book on how to talk to loved ones with opposing viewpoints — think Trump supporter at one end of the table, and leftist liberal at the other. Essentially, this episode is their attempt to reframe mental health in times of crisis — or what it means to survive and thrive in difficult times. I actually know Niomi from my early mom days, walking to and from school with Niomi, who was at that time a childcare provider for a child who was the same age as Violet. I knew even then how special she was, so caring and creative with her kids. When she reached out to join us on Reframeables, I was excited to pick up where we left off.

Nat and Niomi talk about socially conscious self-care, how Niomi finds the strength to show up for her young clients who have lived through traumas at very young ages, and what we can all learn from her self-care strategies as a therapist. They go on to talk about conflicts with loved ones whose values bump with our own, how the term ‘crisis’ has been flattened, and what it might mean to reclaim it. Finally, Niomi shares about her activist work with Independent Jewish Voices to support the ongoing crisis in Palestine. This is a smart and honest reflective conversation that you won’t want to miss — whether you are a parent of a young one navigating their own challenges, or simply someone working to balance their own mental health in these challenging times.

Link:
Follow Niomi on Instagram

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If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.

For this episode of Reframeables, we had the opportunity to speak with award-winning poet and novelist Canisia Lubrin about her new book Code Noir. After the interview, she sent the Reframeables duo an email, calling us both badass and tender, which is probably the best compliment we’ve ever been given — so there’s that. For context about her book, in 1685 France’s King Louis XIV passed a decree consisting of 59 articles meant to govern not only chattel slavery but Black subjecthood throughout France and its colonies. The document was called “le code noir.” Lubrin’s novel is written around and against these articles. In our interview, we talked about so many things: identity, and why Canisia isn’t interested in it; green underwear, and why this writer’s words make us hot (literally); poetry as something that originates in the body, not the mind. Our reframing takeaway? The art of the interview isn’t achieved in a straight line — or maybe we reframed the art of conversation as a whole. Either way, we had a blast.

Canisia Lubrin is a writer, critic, professor, poet, and editor. Originally from St. Lucia, she now lives in Whitby, Ontario. Her books include Voodoo Hypothesis, The Dyzgraphxst, and Code Noir. Canisia is currently poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart, and has taught at Humber College, University of Toronto, and University of Guelph.

Links:
Code Noir
A Conversation with Canisia Lubrin by Rosie Long Decter for Vallum Mag
Follow Canisia on Instagram

We love hearing from our listeners! Leave us a voice message, write to the show email, or send us a DM on any of our socials.

If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.

We are reframing the productivity narrative with Instagram and Substack-famous sketch artist Nishant Jain — otherwise known as the Sneaky Artist. Nishant trained as an engineer, almost got his PhD, and then switched tracks to make art in public — sneakily. Now his full-time gig is sketching with a recognizable yellow fountain pen so that he can’t erase anything — he’s very committed to the line. And if you’re ever in Vancouver, you might just happen upon one of his drawings left behind in a café or a public library. With Nishant, we talked about how he believes that everyone can be an artist and the inspiration he got from living in Chicago, where he watched a lot of bad stand-up comedy. We also unpacked productivity culture, art for art’s sake, and whether we can even have human experiences anymore without making content about them. And we heard about his new baby — who he’s now sketching too.

Nishant Jain is a writer, artist and podcaster in Vancouver. As a Sneaky Artist, he draws the people around him in the spaces he inhabits, finding moments of accidental beauty in ordinary places on ordinary days. He shares his work and ideas with thousands of readers on Substack and Instagram.

Links:
At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell
For more from the Sneaky Artist, follow him on Instagram and Substack or check out his website

We love hearing from our listeners! Leave us a voice message, write to the show email, or send us a DM on any of our socials.

If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.

On this episode of Reframeables, we are reframing rage with author Kathryn Mockler. She spoke with us about the despair of writing and editing climate justice work, and how she’s moved forward from rage and exchanged hurt for the earth for human connection. She calls it ‘post-hope,’ though instead of ‘hope,’ her preferred word is ‘possibility’ — a possibility for shared concerns in community, be it in her writing or in her teaching.

Kathryn Mockler is a writer, screenwriter, experimental filmmaker, editor, and publisher and the author of the story collection Anecdotes (Book*hug Press, 2023). She co-edited the print anthology Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Books, 2020) and is the publisher of the Watch Your Head website. Her films have screened at TIFF, EMFA, the Palm Springs Film Festival and most recently at the Arizona Underground Film Festival and REELPoetry/HoustonTX. She runs the literary newsletter Send My Love to Anyone.

Links:
Anecdotes
For more from Kathryn, check out her website

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If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.

This week, we are reframing fiction as truth-telling with novelist, playwright, and clothing line creator Claudia Dey. You’ll hear our conversation filled with so many truths born of fiction, creating constraints to create, and the companionship of language. We talk about Claudia’s newest novel Daughter, and Hamlet, and theatre school memories of Claudia’s play Trout Stanley. We also get into how we can’t waver from value systems in terms of what we put out in the world. For Claudia, that shows up in her books and her clothing brand. For us here, it’s tied to who we bring on the show.

Claudia Dey is a bestselling novelist, playwright, and essayist based in Toronto. She has written the novels Stunt, Heartbreaker, and Daughter, as well as the plays Beaver, The Gwendolyn Poems, and Trout Stanley. Other writing of hers has appeared in The Paris Review, The Believer, Toro, and The Globe and Mail. Claudia is also the co-founder of the clothing line Horses Atelier.

Links:
Daughter
Horses Atelier
For more from Claudia, follow her on Instagram and take a look at her website

We love hearing from our listeners! Leave us a voice message, write to the show email, or send us a DM on any of our socials.

If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon, where you can also hear bonus episodes, or tipping us on Ko-fi. Subscribe to the Reframeables Newsletter. Follow us on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube too.