CANADA’S MOST INNOVATIVE HOSPITALS

PAGE 56

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PAGE 66

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(ON THE COVER) SEAN PRIOR/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; (THIS PAGE) ROGER LeMOYNE
reader’s digest

CONTENTS

Features 42 56
heart health

30
cover story
Ping and Gaston
Fostering a pair of duck-
lings brought new joy to
10 Life-Saving
Innovations Coming to
a Hospital Near You
DEMENTIA our home—until I dis- How health-care work-
WARNING SIGNS covered what awaited ers and institutions are
A guide to 13 symptoms them back at the farm. revolutionizing surgery,
you should never BY OLIVIA STREN patient care, cancer
ignore. treatment—and more.
BY MARK WITTEN 48 BY LAUREN McGILL

drama in real life

Last Breath

74
Two friends dove into
the underwater tunnel.
Only one came out.
BY CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS

rd.ca 1
reader’s digest

66 70 74
history life lesson society
National Treasure The Power of No Bearing Witness
A closer look at the How does helping In his latest assignment
butter tart, from its fas- someone out take for UNICEF, photogra-
cinating origins to its over your entire life? pher Roger LeMoyne
status as Canada’s most Why it’s okay to turn captures the resilience
famous dessert. down favours. and determination of
BY EMMA WAVERMAN BY LEAH RUMACK people displaced by
FROM COTTAGE LIFE
ethnic conflict in the
Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
BY GARY STEPHEN ROSS

82
heart
Golden Years
My mom’s 80th birth-
day tattoo is just the
latest example of her

30 wild, newfound inde-

pendence.
BY MARK ANGUS HAMLIN
FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL

86
editors’ choice
Catching Up
I hadn’t seen my child-
hood best friend in 20
years. Would we finally
talk about that terrible
night from so long ago?
BY CATHRIN BRADBURY
FROM THE BRIGHT SIDE
JAIME HOGGE
 Departments
Humour
(ILLUSTRATION) JARETT SITTER; (L’ABBÉ) LAUREN TAMAKI

4 Editor’s Letter 41
Life’s Like That
6 Contributors
7 Letters 55
Laughter, the Best
20 Points to Ponder Medicine
big idea
8 Group Effort 64
As Kids See It
A mentorship
program that 81
helps vulnerable Word Play
youth succeed.
BY RAIZEL ROBIN 18
good news medical mystery

22 15 Five Reasons
to Smile
BY ALI AMAD
27 Something
in the Air
If it wasn’t bed bugs
or allergies, why
ask an expert
was she waking
18 Can I Learn to
up with her eyes
Like Poetry?
swollen shut?
We quiz poet
BY LISA BENDALL
and professor
Sonnet L’Abbé. reader’s digest
book club
BY MICAH TOUB
96 The Creep
health Every month we
22 Fire in the Belly recommend a new
More stress brings must-read book.
more heartburn, BY EMILY LANDAU
but there are easy 98 Brainteasers
ways to beat it.
BY VIVIANE FAIRBANK
100 Trivia
101 Word Power
24 News From the
World of Medicine 103 Sudoku
BY SAMANTHA RIDEOUT 104 Crossword

rd.ca 3
reader’s digest

a dog, any dog—

just get him a dog
EDITOR’S LETTER already (please!).
But we weren’t
the only Cana-

Gone to dians with this

idea. Last year,

the Dogs the demand for

pets of all kinds overwhelmed
humane societies and rescue services,

W
e’ve always had a dog in the and if you wanted a dog from a breeder
house. Our last one, Charlie, you had to get onto a long waiting list.
was a mystery mix and too We were about to give up when we
clever for his own good. He’d open heard about a litter of Labrador-
doorknobs with his mouth. He’d snatch Bernese pups on a dairy farm three
bread off a counter if you blinked. One hours north. Our new dog started off
January, a neighbour called me at work very wiggly and cute but grew very
to ask if I knew that Charlie had big very fast. We called him Ripley
unlocked a second-floor window and because he ripped everything in sight
was dancing on our icy porch roof, with his sharp puppy teeth. Nine
barking at the mailman. months later, he’s snatching bread off
Charlie died in 2017, after 16 hijinks- the counter and we couldn’t be happier.
filled years. By the end, he was so Did you adopt a pet during the pan-
arthritic that he had trouble getting demic? Please send me an email
out of his bed, but he still made the at [email protected] and tell me all
effort to meet me at the door. It felt about your new housemate and
wrong to replace him. how they changed your life. We’ll
The events of 2020 changed my include our favourite stories in
mind. A new dog promised an upcoming issue of
pure joy in a bleak time. Plus, Reader’s Digest.
several studies have shown
that pets help us cope better
with all kinds of stresses. The
DANIEL EHRENWORTH

deciding factor: our kinder-

gartner, unable to see his
friends because of an abun-
dance of COVID caution,
declared he was ready for

4 june 2021
 P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E R E A D E R ’ S D I G E S T M A G A Z I N E S C A N A D A L I M I T E D, M O N T R E A L , C A N A D A

Christopher Dornan chairman of the board

James Anderson publisher and national sales director
Barbara Robins vice president and legal counsel
Mark Pupo editor-in-chief
deputy editor Lauren McKeon art director John Montgomery
executive editor, associate art director Danielle Sayer
digital Brett Walther
senior editor Micah Toub graphic designer Pierre Loranger
associate editor Robert Liwanag content operations
assistant editor, manager Lisa Pigeon
digital Erica Ngao circulation director Edward Birkett
contributing editors Rosie Long Decter,
Samantha Rideout contributors: Ali Amad, Genevieve Ashley, Lisa
editorial intern Nuha Khan Bendall, Cathrin Bradbury, Natalie Castellino, Daniel
proofreader Katie Moore Ehrenworth, Nikki Ernst, Viviane Fairbank, Emily
senior researcher Lucy Uprichard Goodman, Mark Angus Hamlin, Jaime Hogge, Susan
researchers Ali Amad, Martha Beach, Camilleri Konar, Emily Landau, Roger LeMoyne,
Sydney Hamilton, Christopher Matthews, Lauren McGill, Liam Mogan,
Beth Shillibeer, Amy van Barbara Olson, Ally Jaye Reeves, Raizel Robin, Gary
den Berg, Sophie Weiler, Ross, Brianna Roye, Leah Rumack, Julie Saindon, Beth
Sean Young Shillibeer, Fraser Simpson, Jarett Sitter, Olivia Stren,
copy editors Chad Fraser, Amy Harkness, Lauren Tamaki, Conan de Vries, Myriam Wares, Emma
Richard Johnson Waverman, Jeff Widderich, Mark Witten, Victor Wong

THE READER’S DIGEST ASSOCIATION (CANADA) ULC

Corinne Hazan financial director
Mirella Liberatore product manager, magazine marketing

national account executives

Steven DeMelo, Melissa Silverberg
marketing and research director Kelly Hobson
head of marketing solutions and new product development Melissa Williams
production manager Lisa Snow

TRUSTED MEDIA BRANDS

Bonnie Kintzer president and chief executive officer
Bruce Kelley chief content officer, reader’s digest

VOL. 198, NO. 1,180 Copyright © 2021 by Reader’s Digest Magazines We acknowledge
Canada Limited. Reproduction in any manner in whole or in part in English or with gratitude the
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rd.ca 5
reader’s digest

CONTRIBUTORS
MARK WITTEN OLIVIA STREN
Writer, Toronto Writer, Toronto
“Dementia Warning “Ping & Gaston”
Signs”
Stren is a National
Witten’s stories have appeared in The Magazine Award-nominated free-
Walrus, Toronto Life, Canadian Living lance writer who has been published
and Today’s Parent. His health and in Elle, Toronto Star, Marie Claire
science reporting has received numer- Australia and Fashion magazine. She
ous industry accolades, including specializes in style, culture, travel and
prizes from the Science Writers and personal essays about parenting. In
Communicators of Canada and the her career, Stren has interviewed the
Canadian Nurses Association. Check likes of Jane Fonda, Oscar de la Renta
out his latest story, about overlooked and Martin Short, among others.
dementia symptoms, on page 30. Read her story on page 42.

ROGER LeMOYNE JARETT SITTER

Photographer, Montreal Illustrator, Calgary
“Bearing Witness” “Fire in the Belly”
(WITTEN) WENDY TAMMINEN; (SITTER) MIKE TAN

LeMoyne is an award- Sitter’s illustrations,

winning photographer who has doc- which can best be described as
umented conflicts and human rights absurdist and playful, have appeared
issues in over 50 countries. His work in the Virginia Quarterly Review. He
has appeared in Time, The Globe and has also provided cover illustrations
Mail, Life and Maclean’s, as well as for The Believer. A graduate of the
UNICEF’s fundraising photo library. University of Lethbridge, his anima-
He’s currently working on a book tions have been featured at the Juno
about Port-au-Prince, Haiti. See his Awards as well as in Much Music
images of displaced-persons camps Video Award-nominated music vid-
in the Congo on page 74. eos. See his drawing on page 22.

6 june 2021
 TURN DOWN THE VOLUME
LETTERS “Shhhhh...” (March 2021) reminded
me of when Highway 407 was being
planned in the Whitevale area of Pick-
ering, Ont., in the 1980s. Residents
were concerned about traffic noise,
so planners used quieter asphalt—not
concrete—to surface a four-kilometre
stretch of the highway, along with an
earth berm to partially block out tire
noise. I later asked one of the locals
about the 407, and they told me they
didn’t notice any added noise at all!
— RON BROWNSBERGER,
Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.
HOME DELIVERY
I was delighted to see my old high FINAL MOMENTS
school friend Liz MacInnis on the I was moved to tears by the line “I think
cover of the March 2021 issue. She he was waiting until you got back” in
deserves to be commended for her vol- “Horse of a Different Colour” (October
unteer work at Red Cedar Café, a non- 2020). It made me think of my mom’s
profit that prepares and delivers free passing several years ago. My wife and
food to people in need across Victoria. I made the drive from Edmonton to
They help seniors, people with or her nursing home in Prince George,
PUBLISHED LETTERS ARE EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY

recovering from COVID-19, those B.C. Unfortunately my dad and sister

who’ve lost work recently and anyone couldn’t get there in time. In fact, Mom
else dealing with food insecurity. faded away minutes before they arrived.
— HEATHER MacDOUGALL, Montreal — DAVE BOWMAN, Edmonton

CONTRIBUTE
Send us your funny jokes and anecdotes, and if we publish one in a print FOR SERVICE TO SUBSCRIBERS Pay your bill, view your account
edition of Reader’s Digest, we’ll send you $50. To submit, visit rd.ca/joke. online, change your address and browse our FAQs at rd.ca/contact.

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rd.ca 7
reader’s digest

BIG IDEA

A mentorship program that helps

vulnerable youth succeed

Group Effort
BY Raizel Robin
photograph by brianna roye

M
USTAFA EL AMIN knows about drugs—sometimes clearing $20,000 a
overcoming barriers—and month—he decided to try it himself. In
how finding a good mentor 2000, he was arrested and sentenced
can help. At age six, he fled Sudan as to a year in juvenile detention.
a refugee with his parents and four “I realized that for my whole child-
siblings. His family settled in London, hood, I had been in survival mode,” El
Ont., in 1992. They struggled to make Amin says. He wanted a different life.
ends meet and his parents’ marriage Upon release, he married his girl-
crumbled. El Amin’s father returned to friend. He had little guidance for how
Sudan in 1996, and his mother did the to move forward, but one thing was
same two years later. El Amin, then 14 certain: he was never going back. He
years old, was left to fend for himself. got jobs in construction and, in 2008,
He bounced between an older he and his wife had their first child,
brother’s house and friends’ homes, a  daughter. His resolve to change
but nothing seemed to work out. He strengthened. “I wasn’t parented. I
often ate at a local shelter. When he couldn’t do that to my daughter,” he
saw other kids making money selling says. “I couldn’t not be there.”

8 june 2021
Mustafa El Amin
in one of the
Toronto spaces
he uses to hold
workshops for
aspiring artists
and musicians.
reader’s digest

Around that time, he read Midnight: that provided $70,000 annually in seed
A Gangster Love Story, by Sister Soul- money to help fund MyStand activities.
jah—a coming-of-age tale about a “We ask the youth in our programs,
Sudanese refugee in Brooklyn. El Amin where are they at? Where do they want
emailed the author, who became a to go? Then we create a life plan,” says
mentor. Souljah helped El Amin see El Amin, “to do whatever they dream of.
how homelessness, incarceration and It could be going back to college, getting
war gave him strength. a job.” The next step is to build specific
activities and schedules to make sure
they can achieve the goals they’ve set.
“WE ASK YOUTH WHAT Some have gone on to work in the
THEY WANT AND THEN music and film industries. And when
CREATE A LIFE PLAN they encounter barriers like El Amin did
as a teen—low self-esteem, feeling they
TO DO WHATEVER don’t belong—MyStand helps them
THEY DREAM.” find a healthy way through it.
Some of the first participants have
become mentors themselves. Christo-
El Amin wanted to do the same for pher Ambanza credits MyStand for
youth who face similar troubles. In helping him after he was released from
2014, he began working at Youth the Toronto South Detention Centre in
Action Network, eventually becoming 2017. Through workshops and mentor-
managing director. Soon after, he ship, he learned film editing skills.
launched MyStand, a Toronto non- Ambanza now wants to tell the story of
profit for disadvantaged youth. It has his neighbourhood, focusing on its
since provided mentorship to 300 strong sense of community and cultural
racialized youth in the Greater Toronto history. In 2019, with El Amin’s guid-
Area—a group often vulnerable to vio- ance, he received grants to produce
lence and incarceration. his documentary. Today he mentors
MyStand invites young people to other youth interested in film.
workshops on topics such as financial To build on these successes, El Amin
literacy, mental health and developing has big plans for MyStand, including
self-esteem. They’re then paired with hiring more staff, finding dedicated
staff who once faced similar chal- space out of which to run programs,
lenges—and overcame those barriers and also one day expanding to Van-
to build successful careers. In 2017, couver. As for his daughter, who is now
El Amin received a three-year grant 13, he says, “I’ve done right by her, and
from the Ontario Trillium Foundation it feels so good to say that.”

10 june 2021
 VO
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 CELEBRATING OUR 2021
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 GOOD NEWS
Five Reasons to smile

BY Ali Amad

Veena Sahajwalla
launched the world’s first
e-waste microfactory.

A SOLUTION TO THE WORLD’S WASTE

australia According to the UN, humans second, which has been operational
throw out about 11.2 billion tonnes of since 2019, repurposes scrapped plas-
trash every year. But Veena Sahajwalla, tics into filaments for use in 3-D print-
a materials scientist and engineer at ers. Both sites are funded by UNSW
the University of New South Wales and are housed within the university.
(UNSW) in Sydney, has devised a novel The microfactories, which are still in
approach to tackle the world’s garbage the development phase, range in size
problem and revolutionize recycling: from 50 to 100 square metres, and are
waste microfactories. capable of operating with as few as two
While most recycling plants refash- workers. “Recycling is normally seen
ion old materials into new versions of as very much about large infrastruc-
the same product, Sahajwalla’s micro- ture and massive facilities,” says Saha-
factories utilize thermal technology jwalla. “What I wanted to do was turn
to “re-form” them into something com- that notion on its head.”
pletely different. Her first microfactory, In January, she began testing a third
ANNA KUCERA

launched in 2018, transforms discarded microfactory—the first to be imple-

computer circuit boards into metal mented in a commercial setting.
alloys such as copper and tin. Her Working in partnership with a local

rd.ca 15
reader’s digest

recycling business, the microfactory An Innovative Shelter

turns used clothing and glass into for the Homeless
building materials and tiles. Her efforts
are already drawing plenty of interest germany This past winter, a fear of
from businesses in Australia. catching COVID-19 in shelters drove
many of the country’s homeless to sleep
Cranes Return From in the streets, where at least 20 people
the Brink of Extinction froze to death, the highest recorded
number in 24 years. In January, to help
united kingdom The common crane tackle this problem, the southern Ger-
once used to live in England’s wetlands, man city of Ulm piloted sleeping pods
but in the 1600s overhunting and loss in parks and other public areas to keep
of natural habitat drove them to extinc- the city’s homeless warm.
tion in the U.K. Recent conserva- The windproof and waterproof
tion efforts have helped the prototypes, dubbed “Ulmer
bird stage a remarkable Nests,” are made of wood.
comeback. About 2.5 metres long and
Also known as the Eur- 1.4 metres high, they can
asian crane, the bird is a fit two people each, lying
little over a metre tall, with side by side on a sleeping
grey plumage and a bare surface. The pods are also
red crown. Over a five-year equipped with sensors for
period starting in 2010, the smoke and CO2.
Great Crane Project relocated 93 Homelessness has been on the
birds from Germany, where they had rise in Germany in recent years, with
been thriving for the past 12 years, to an estimated 678,000 people without
southwest England. A 2020 survey permanent housing. If the Ulmer Nests
revealed that these efforts have been an prove a success, a nationwide rollout
unmitigated success: the U.K.’s popu- could soon follow—and potentially save
PIOTR KRZESLAK/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

lation now totals more than 200 cranes, countless lives.

including 64 breeding pairs that have
produced 23 chicks. Protecting Seniors
With more than 160 species going Against Anti-Asian Hate
extinct globally in the past decade
alone, there’s hope that the crane’s united states Five residents of Cali-
return will inspire worldwide efforts to fornia’s Bay Area decided to take
restore vanished animals back to the action after a series of pandemic-
places they used to roam. related racist physical assaults on

16 june 2021
 elderly Asian-Americans. One attack Chinatown residents can fill out a
resulted in the death of an 84-year-old form on CIO’s website or call or text
Thai immigrant. a phone line to request a chaperone,
In February, they founded Compas- whether it’s to accompany them to a
sion in Oakland (CIO), a volunteer-run doctor’s appointment or help them
initiative that provides chaperones for buy groceries. By March, more than
seniors afraid of walking alone in the 800 volunteers had already signed up
city’s Chinatown area. “I wanted our as chaperones, and that number has
elders to know that I see their fear and increased even more following a
I stand with them,” says co-founder notorious shooting in Atlanta this past
Jess Owyoung, a 37-year-old student spring, during which six women of
counsellor who is of Chinese descent. Asian descent were killed.
ACTS OF KIND NESS

Lebanon’s English-Teaching Sisters

In 2015, 19-year-old Spanish “We mainly work with Syrian ref-
exchange student Janira Taibo met ugees, but we accept students of all
13-year-old Salah, a Syrian Civil War backgrounds and abilities,” says
refugee, on the streets of Beirut, Taibo. She runs the school with her
Lebanon. The two struck up a friend- twin sister, Tamar, two other Spanish
ship, and Taibo began teaching Salah co-founders and a team of 53 volun-
COURTESY OF TAMAR TAIBO

English. That friendship was the teer teachers and support staff that
inspiration for 26 Letters (the num- includes Salah, now 19.
ber of letters in the English alpha- Lebanon is in the middle of a
bet), a Beirut school that offers free Syrian refugee crisis: an estimated
education in English, math and other 1.5 million Syrian refugees currently
subjects to 100 students between reside there, with about 88 per cent
the ages of three and 21. living in extreme poverty.
For the sisters, there’s much more
that still needs to be done in a coun-
try that’s also been ravaged by the
pandemic. “Our aim is to help break
the cycle of poverty our students’
families are trapped in,” says Taibo.
“We’ve learned the importance of
having a purpose, and we’ve
found ours here.”

Tamar Taibo (L) and

Janira Taibo rd.ca 17
reader’s digest

ASK AN EXPERT

Can I Learn to
Like Poetry?
We quiz poet and professor
Sonnet L’Abbé

BY Micah Toub
illustration by lauren tamaki

Many of my friends say they don’t

understand poetry, and that’s a senti-
ment I’ve shared at times. Why can it
feel so daunting?
Our brains like it when we line up expe-
riences into a beginning, a middle and That makes sense. What can I gain
an end. But that’s just one way of using from digging in anyway?
language to represent our experi- One of the things that poets talk a lot
ence. Poetry often maps the way a about is “making it new.” A good
mind works associatively, moving from poem makes you see something in a
thought to thought, exploring feelings way you’ve never seen it before, and
or moments. That’s not true always— after you’ve read the poem, you can’t
there are lots of narrative poems—but un-see it that way.
I think that’s one of the reasons people There’s a poem by the Canadian
say they don’t like poetry. writer John Steffler, “That Night We

18 june 2021
Were Ravenous,” where he almost hits being bullied, go viral. It really reso-
a moose while driving and describes nated with people, and it allowed peo-
the animal as “a team of beavers try- ple to speak more openly about their
ing to operate stilts.” That image really experiences with bullying.
stayed with me. I first read it 20 years
ago, and I thought, yes, totally, you
are capturing the moose and its weird A GOOD POEM MAKES
leggy movement. YOU SEE SOMETHING IN
Speaking of that “aha” moment, a A WAY YOU’VE NEVER
study from 2017 found that people SEEN IT BEFORE.
listening to a poem for the first time
got goosebumps, even if they didn’t
fully understand it. And Dionne Brand has been a voice
Poems use repetition and sound and for the diasporic Black community for
the vowel and breath on the ear. That decades. She asks people to think about
can have the same impact on us as sing- how language can either be used to help
ing does. And mothers sing to their social justice come about or instead
babies to calm them down, right? uphold the status quo. For example, in
No Language Is Neutral, she wrote about
Is it acceptable, then, for someone Black lesbian desire in beautiful poems
to connect with a poem in a musical that also subtly exposed how the liter-
way only? ary language of the era upheld sexist
If you find it pleasurable, then yes. and homophobic norms.
There’s no one way to experience a
poem. Thanks. I’ll check those out. Any prac-
tical tips you can share as I begin?
Amanda Gorman’s reading of her Read slowly and read out loud. But
poem “The Hill We Climb” at Presi- also, when I read a new poem, I don’t
dent Biden’s inauguration got people worry if I don’t get it on the first read.
talking about race in America, and Being with a poem is kind of like being
it made them feel hopeful. How has with a good painting—you can take in
poetry been used to address social a whole painting and look at it in a sec-
issues in Canada? ond, but to appreciate all the choices
Shane Koyczan, who performed spoken that were made, you have to spend some
word poetry at the 2010 Olympics in time with it.
Vancouver, later had a video of his poem SONNET L’ABBÉ, A PROFESSOR AT VANCOUVER ISLAND
UNIVERSITY, PUBLISHED HER THIRD COLLECTION OF
“To This Day,” about the experience of POETRY, SONNET’S SHAKESPEARE, IN 2019.

rd.ca 19
reader’s digest

POINTS TO PONDER

As you get older, you become much

more all right with yourself—and
it is yourself that you’re spending
all that time with, isn’t it?
–Actor and comedian Mary Walsh

I feel like we’re sitting ducks—

(WALSH) SHAWN GOLDBERG/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; (SINGARATNAM) ADRIENNE GARNEAU

especially Asian women.
–Amy Go, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council
for Social Justice, IN RESPONSE TO ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE IN CANADA AND THE U.S.

Culture is what makes us human beings. It’s

the thing that sustains us when we’re restricted
to the essentials and we’re isolated.
–Trumpeter Suresh Singaratnam

HOME MEANS SAFE. It’s hard to build, plan

IT MEANS LOVE. BUT and design for experiences
RIGHT NOW I CAN’T FIND
ANYTHING IN SYRIA LIKE in cities that you haven’t
I FIND HERE IN CANADA. had in your own life.
–Syrian Reham Abazid, WHO CAME –Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City:
TO SAINT JOHN, N.B., WITH HER FAMILY IN 2016 A Field Guide, ARGUING WHY CITY PLANNING
AS A GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED REFUGEE NEEDS TO BECOME MORE INCLUSIVE

20 june 2021
 In Ontario, there is
no response and no
sense of urgency.
–Dr. Gillian Kolla, SPEAKING TO THE 59 PER CENT
INCREASE IN OPIOID-RELATED DEATHS IN
THE PROVINCE IN THE FIRST 11 MONTHS OF 2020

I THINK WE SHOULD THERE WAS NO

STOP ALLOWING
OURSELVES TO BE PARTY HERE.
(KOLLA) COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO; (DRAKE) KATHY HUTCHINS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

SHOCKED EVERY –Vancouver’s Mohammad Movassaghi,

WHO HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH BREAKING
YEAR BY THE REGULATIONS AGAINST LARGE GATHERINGS
DISCONNECT DURING THE PANDEMIC

BETWEEN IMPACTFUL
MUSIC AND THESE This is a tough time.
AWARDS. Stop looking at the scale.
–Drake, IN RESPONSE TO THE LACK OF
DIVERSITY IN THE 2021 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS Start trying to be as
healthy as you can while
being as happy as you can.
–Ian Patton, registered exercise
physiologist and director of advocacy and
public engagement for Obesity Canada

It may be time that, instead

of just living on earth, we
also live on the moon.
–Chris Hadfield, astronaut
and chairperson of the
Open Lunar Foundation

rd.ca 21
reader’s digest

M
ORE THAN A year into the
pandemic, many people have
grown used to a new lock-
HEALTH down lifestyle: staying home, exercis-
ing less and eating more—all while
experiencing greater levels of stress
and anxiety.
“All of this contributes to worsen-
ing gut function,” says Christopher
Andrews, the lead physician at the
Calgary Gut Motility Centre, adding
that heartburn is on the rise. Some
experts have even given the trend a
name—“pandemic stomach”—and
last December there was a temporary
shortage of antacid medication in the
United States.
Heartburn, a fiery sensation in the
chest or upper belly, is the painful
effect of the stomach’s acid and diges-
tive enzymes creeping into the esoph-
agus. When you swallow food or liquid,
your esophageal sphincter, the muscle
around the bottom of your esophagus,
relaxes to allow the contents to move
down, then closes to prevent backup.
Fire in But if that muscle weakens or is unable
to close completely, stomach acid
the Belly might rise, causing irritation.
Diet is the most common culprit:
acidic foods such as grapefruits, hot
More stress brings more sauce or coffee increase the amount of
heartburn, but there are acid in your stomach, while chocolate,
alcohol and high-fat foods, such as
easy ways to beat it cheese or avocados, stimulate the
release of hormones that loosen the
BY Viviane Fairbank sphincter. Spicy food can also increase
illustration by jarett sitter uncomfortable sensations in the gut.

22 june 2021
 Heartburn occurs in bodies of all Occasional heartburn isn’t a prob-
sizes, ages, ethnicities and genders, lem, but experiences of frequent indi-
but researchers have found that over- gestion should push you to prioritize
weight people are more at risk. Accord- a healthier lifestyle. According to a
ing to a major 2006 study, overweight recent study of 9,000 heartburn patients,
and obese participants were two to following a five-step health plan—
three times more likely to experience maintaining a sensible body weight,
frequent heartburn than those with a eating well, exercising, not smoking
healthy weight. This may be because of and limiting coffee, tea and carbon-
the increased pressure on the gut, ated beverages—can decrease symp-
Andrews says, which can push stom- toms by 40 per cent. Andrews also tells
ach acid up. Changes in diet, such as his patients to avoid eating close to
the recent tendency of people to lean bedtime: “If you lie down when your
on carbs and comfort food in lock- stomach is full, it’s much easier for
down, can also lead to more bloating things to come up.”
and gas in the digestive tract—again Over-the-counter antihistamines
putting a squeeze on the gut. can help by blocking the release of
stomach acid, while antacid medica-
LIFESTYLE CHANGES tions can temporarily relieve pain in
the esophagus. But if you experience
CAN REDUCE HEARTBURN heartburn more than three times a
SYMPTOMS BY

40%
week over a long period of time, you
should visit a doctor. Frequent acid
contact might scar your esophagus—
and, if left untreated, increases your
risk of esophageal cancer. You should
also consult a doctor if, in combination
Stress and anxiety are factors with heartburn, you experience diffi-
because the sympathetic nervous sys- culty swallowing, vomiting, weight loss
tem—which triggers the body’s “fight or anemia. A physician can prescribe
or flight” response—also interacts with stronger medication or may recom-
the enteric nervous system, which mend esophageal surgery to repair or
regulates digestion. In fact, during replace your damaged sphincter.
life-threatening situations, a person’s Though heartburn is currently on
digestion might slow down or even the rise, Andrews believes the uptick is
completely stop. At the same time, short-term. “Once life comes back to
stress can leave the nerves in the gut normal, I’m optimistic about things
overly sensitive. getting better,” he says.

rd.ca 23
reader’s digest

The Best Shoes for

News from the Knee Osteoarthritis
WORLD OF
MEDICINE
If you suffer from osteo-
arthritis in one or both
of your knees, you’ve
probably heard con-
BY Samantha Rideout flicting advice about
what kind of footwear
will help you feel and
function as well as pos-
sible. Some experts rec-
ommend stable, sup-
portive shoes with
cushioning, while oth-
ers believe that flat,
flexible, barefoot-style
shoes are better at
decreasing symptoms.
When Australian scien-
tists recently put both
STRENGTH TRAINING options to the test,
users reported more
BENEFITS EVERYONE pain reduction and
On average, people lose three to eight per cent of fewer adverse events—
their muscle mass during every decade after their such as knee swelling
30s—but strength training can slow this decline. and sore ankles—when
In fact, according to a Sports Medicine review, all they wore shoes that
seniors—regardless of their sex—have a lot to gain are more stiff and sup-
from resistance exercises, whether they’re pump- portive. Although the
ing iron or simply doing squats, push-ups and sit- right shoes won’t solve
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/EVEMILLA

ups. While men tend to build more muscle from those issues on their
these activities, both women and men progress own, together with
similarly when you look at gains relative to body exercise, weight man-
size. Fighting off age-related muscle loss isn’t the agement and medica-
only perk: resistance training can improve stamina, tion, they can help
balance, flexibility and bone density, which can make it easier to live
translate into a lower risk of falls. with osteoarthritis.

24 june 2021
 Dyslexia Brings A New Plant-Based
Challenges—But Insect Repellent
Also Strengths
COVID-19 Keeping mosquitoes
Vaccinations Are There might be more to and ticks at bay is about
Safe if You Have dyslexia than difficulties more than avoiding
Allergies with reading, suggests a itchy bites: these bugs
California study. Partici- sometimes transmit
Although it’s possible pating children watched serious infections such
to have an allergic reac- emotionally evocative as West Nile virus, Lyme
tion to a vaccine, the videos, such as a baby disease and tropical
likelihood is extremely laughing or a woman diseases like Zika and
low—around one in a who was about to vomit. malaria. If you’re hesi-
million. This means The kids with dyslexia tant about using syn-
that COVID-19 shots showed stronger reac- thetic insect repellents
are safe even for the tions, as measured by such as DEET, you
great majority of people signs such as their facial could instead try noot-
(SYRINGE) PETER DAZELEY/GETTYIMAGES.COM; (BOY) MORSA IMAGES/GETTYIMAGES.COM

who are allergic to a expressions and breath- katone, a compound

certain food or some- ing rate. It’s possible found in grapefruit skin
thing in their environ- that because their and Alaskan yellow
ment. If you’re still wor- brains work differently, cedar trees. Nootkatone
ried, guidelines from a many children with is already used around
Harvard-led team of dyslexia experience the world as a food fla-
allergists suggest you their emotions more vouring and a fragrance.
stick around for the rec- intensely. While this The American Environ-
ommended 15 minutes can contribute to sharp mental Protection
after you receive your social skills, kids with Agency registered it last
vaccine (30 if you have a dyslexia may also need summer as an insect
history of anaphylaxis). extra support when it repellent, paving the
That way, if you start to comes to processing way for new products
react severely, the staff strong negative feel- to hit shelves as early
will be able to adminis- ings, in order to avoid as next year. Unlike
ter an EpiPen. These are depression and anxiety. other plant-based
supposed to be on-site repellents such as citro-
already, but you should nella, nootkatone’s
bring your own if you’ve effects don’t wear off
had anaphylaxis before, quickly; instead, they
just to be sure. last up to several hours.

rd.ca 25
reader’s digest

Why Seniors Are More The Danger

Vulnerable to Summer Heat of Skipping
Mammograms
Seniors are at higher risk for heat-related illnesses
than younger folks, and a new Canadian study has If you’ve missed a
highlighted a fascinating reason why: they sweat routine breast-
more when they’re running low on body fluids. screening appointment
When it’s hot out and you’re being active, you because of the pan-
start perspiring, which helps your body regulate demic, schedule one
its temperature downward. It also makes you lose sooner rather than
fluid, which in turn increases the concentration later. In a study of
of sodium in your blood. When this concentration Swedish women, those
gets high (when the body gets dehydrated, in other who’d attended their
words) a younger adult will stop sweating as much, last two mammograms
begin to feel overheated and thirsty—and likely before a breast cancer
reach for a glass of water. But older adults’ bodies diagnosis were 29 per
tend to be less responsive to dehydration. For cent less likely to die,
them, a lot of sweating—and fluid loss—may con- compared to those
tinue, and they won’t necessarily feel uncomfort- who’d only made it
ably thirsty. This ability to keep pushing yourself to one of them.
may sound like a superpower, but it’s actually a
reason to be extra careful: it puts you at a higher Afternoon Naps
risk of heat exhaustion, heat stroke and heat Are Mind Boosters
stress-related cardiovascular problems.
As a result, older people may need reminders In China, taking a daily
to drink water while being nap is considered part
active during a heat wave. It’d of a healthy lifestyle. NATTAWUT LAKJIT/EYEEM/GETTYIMAGES.COM

be prudent, for example, to A new study of Chinese

set a recurring alarm on your seniors backs that idea
watch or smartphone in up: those who habitu-
those situations. ally took an afternoon
Also, since you can’t neces- snooze lasting two
sarily rely on your thirst, you hours or less showed
could watch for other signs significantly better cog-
of dehydration, including nitive performance, as
infrequent urination, dark- measured by skills such
coloured urine, fatigue, con- as orientation, language
fusion and dizziness. and memory.

26 june 2021
 MEDICAL MYSTERY

Something
in the Air
If it wasn’t bed bugs or
allergies, why was she
waking up with her eyes
swollen shut?
Although Brisco washed her bed-
ding and mattress cover on a hot cycle,
BY Lisa Bendall she continued to get outbreaks. They
illustration by victor wong weren’t frequent, only about every
other month, but they gradually inten-
sified. Soon Brisco was having epi-

I
N 2016, JANICE BRISCO, a Thornhill, sodes in which her entire face was red
Ont. funeral-home worker in her and swollen. At the end of 2017, the
mid-60s, started finding the occa- reaction was more severe than ever:
sional bump on her face. They often her face turned deep purplish-red, her
appeared at bedtime as a single rose- skin drew painfully tight, and her eye-
coloured welt, about the size of an lids, hit the hardest, swelled so that her
insect bite, or a small cluster. By morn- eyes almost closed.
ing, the bumps were usually swollen, “My husband said I looked like Rocky
red and itchy, and would take a few after a big fight!” she says. “It hurt, and
days to settle down. “I was wondering, it was quite scary, because I could
do I have bedbugs?” she says. “What in hardly see.” She booked an emergency
the world is it?” appointment with her family doctor,

rd.ca 27
reader’s digest

who was alarmed by her condition. when people apply these products
He recommended an antihistamine regularly. Brisco’s reactions, being
for a suspected allergic reaction and intermittent, didn’t fit. Brisco couldn’t
referred her to an allergist for testing. think of anything she used only spo-
It was two or three days before her skin radically. But without answers, she
started to clear up again. risked steadily worsening reactions, as
In January 2018, Brisco saw the aller- her immune system learned over time
gist, who conducted skin prick testing, to build an ever-stronger response.
in which tiny amounts of allergens are
scratched into the skin. She had minor
reactions to a few substances, like cats THE REACTIONS
and ragweed, but nothing that would ONLY GET WORSE
account for her attacks. “I was back to AS YOUR IMMUNE
square one, not knowing what it was,”
she says. SYSTEM RAMPS UP
Shortly after, at a routine appoint- ITS RESPONSE.
ment with her dermatologist, Brisco
mentioned the episodes and shared
some photos. Intrigued, the doctor sug- Skotnicki decided to conduct patch
gested Brisco see Dr. Sandy Skotnicki, testing. Flat, square packets, less than
a dermatologist in the department of a centimetre in size and each holding a
medicine at the University of Toronto. pad soaked with a tiny amount of a spe-
Skotnicki specializes in contact derma- cific substance, are taped to a patient’s
titis, a skin reaction from touching an back for 48 hours and then removed.
allergen or irritant—as opposed to an After another 48 hours, the patient is
allergy to something eaten or inhaled, examined for reactions. Dozens of sub-
which is what the skin prick testing stances can be tested at once, but since
had looked for. there are several thousand potential
When Brisco finally made it to the skin allergens, the dermatologist must
top of Skotnicki’s waiting list that decide which sets (called “trays”) to
August, the doctor was immediately use. Skotnicki has special trays for
certain the cause was something com- hairdressers, mechanics and other
ing into contact with her skin. “Janice occupations; she asks about hobbies
had these dramatic, explosive photos like painting and stamp collecting.
with incredible swelling and weeping,” “With contact dermatitis, you’re kind
she recalls. Often, contact dermatitis of like a detective,” she says.
occurs when something is applied to She started Brisco with the stan-
the skin, such as face cream, especially dard tray of 85 substances, including

28 june 2021
cosmetic ingredients and clothing dyes. bumps first appeared. The oils had
“My whole back, shoulder to shoulder, been recommended by a neighbour,
down almost to my waist, was covered and Brisco quickly became a fan, using
with little white square patches,” says different kinds for different reasons.
Brisco. Aside from the itchy adhesive She used citrus oils like lime or grape-
tape, she couldn’t tell what was hap- fruit as mood boosters, and she found
pening under the patches for the first peppermint invigorating. And then, on
two days. But after these were occasion, she’d used the offending lav-
removed, while Brisco waited for her ender to help with sleep, or blends that
follow-up appointment, she saw in the included ylang-ylang as a pick-me-up.
mirror that some squares of skin were Of course, when essential oils are
obviously inflamed. launched into the air, they come into
When Brisco came in for her exam, contact with skin. “The eyelids are so
Skotnicki noted where her skin had thin, they get allergic reactions first,”
become an angry red and covered in a says Skotnicki. If Brisco had continued
rash. Brisco tested positive to lavender using the oils, the reactions would have
and lemongrass, and was most highly become more extreme over time, and
allergic to ylang-ylang, a tropical fra- the itchy rashes would have spread to
grant tree whose extract has gained other areas, like her ears and neck, and
popularity as a beauty-product ingre- become debilitating. Around two to
dient. The substances Brisco had four per cent of the population is aller-
reacted to are found in shampoos and gic to chemicals in their day-to-day
perfumes, but they had something else products, often without knowing it, says
in common: they’re sold as essential Skotnicki. “They suffer for a long time.”
oils. At a recent conference, Skotnicki Armed with her diagnosis, Brisco
had learned about a rising incidence can now safely avoid the essential oils
of allergic patients who used diffusers, she’s allergic to, and she’s careful not
which disperse essential-oil particles to get too close to her diffuser. She also
into the air to benefit mood or mental uses fragrance-free beauty and clean-
function. Now, she questioned Brisco. ing products.
“I was diffusing daily,” Brisco says, It’s been a lesson for Skotnicki, too.
who’d started using an array of essen- “After Janice, I’ve asked every patient
tial oils a couple of years before the about essential oil diffusers!”

Do Your Part
There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
MARSHALL McLUHAN

rd.ca 29
 COVER STORY

DEMENTIA

30 june 2021
 reader’s digest

WARNING
SIGNS
A guide to
13 symptoms
you should
never ignore
BY Mark Witten
reader’s digest

when he couldn’t clearly discern the

road’s edge and slid into the ditch
during a snowstorm. He was unharmed,
but his anxiety mounted, and he
decided to talk to his family doctor.
When Chow described his difficulties
with typing and driving—both related
to motor skills—his physician initially
referred him to a specialist in Parkin-
son’s disease. That condition was ruled
out because he didn’t have hand or leg
stephen chow knew something was off tremors. In May of 2014, Chow got an
when he started making more typos appointment with Dr. Carmela Tarta-
and spelling errors in his work emails. glia, a cognitive neurologist specializ-
This was in 2010, and Chow, 51 at the ing in early-onset dementia at Toronto
time and living in Scarborough, was an Western Hospital.
IT specialist for Ontario’s Ministry of Tartaglia suspected Chow’s symp-
Government and Consumer Services. toms were visual-spatial processing
He tried to ignore the mistakes at first, problems, a warning sign of Alzhei-
but the situation became more obvious mer’s disease—and she noted one sub-
when attempts to punch in his pass- tle but telltale clue. “Stephen’s writing
word kept failing. He found it gradu- difficulties became more apparent in
ally harder to focus and perform sim- Cantonese,” she says. “It’s his first lan-
ple, familiar tasks, such as calculating guage, and Cantonese is a more visual
numbers or putting his signature on a language than English.”

(PREVIOUS SPREAD) SEAN PRIOR/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

document. “Everything was all messed Weeks later, an MRI showed a shrink-
up, and I didn’t know what to do about age of cortical tissue in the back of his
it,” he says. Not wanting his wife, Eva, brain—the region involved in process-
and two adult sons to worry, he kept it ing what and how we see—and bio-
a secret from them, hoping he could markers identified in his cerebrospinal
just muddle through. fluid 18 months later finally confirmed,
Instead, over the next several years, six years after Chow first noticed his
more alarming symptoms appeared. As symptoms, that he had early-onset Alz-
Chow made the daily 90-minute drive heimer’s disease.
to and from work, he had trouble see-
ing the centre line on the road, as well chow is one of about 700,000 Canadi-
as the cars beside him. In early 2014, ans living with dementia. Although the
his patchy vision almost killed him rate of people who develop dementia

32 june 2021
has been declining for decades due to But getting to that stage requires
healthier lifestyles, the total number is noticing that something is wrong—
still projected to double over the next and letting somebody know.
15 years because of the aging popula- “The first time I knew Steve had a
tion. Each year, more than 75,000 Cana- problem was when he called me from
dians are diagnosed with some form of Dr. Tartaglia’s office,” says Eva. Once the
dementia. Around 10 per cent are under diagnosis was made, she realized there
the age of 65. had been indications. She just wasn’t
Early detection of dementia is import- aware of what to look for.
ant so that the person diagnosed, and Here are 13 signs that you should be
their family members, can take steps to assessed for dementia:
slow and mitigate the effects of the dis-
ease through lifestyle changes. Ideally, 1. YOUR PERSONALITY
that would mean seeing a family doc- CHANGES
tor, undergoing specialized testing and
receiving a formal diagnosis within six Inappropriate behaviour is an early
months or a year after noticing symp- symptom of damage to the brain’s
toms. But according to an Australian frontal lobes, which regulate our social
study, on average, it took two years for judgment.
people to make an initial visit to a doctor “People with this dysfunction might
and over three years for a firm diagnosis. undress in public, talk about people’s
People often associate dementia with private parts or say ‘That person is stu-
memory loss, but in many cases this is pid,’” explains Dr. Robin Hsiung, neu-
not the first sign. In fact, dementia can rologist and associate professor at the
affect many different areas of the brain, UBC Hospital Clinic for Alzheimer
and scientists now understand that Disease and Related Disorders. “They
symptoms differ based on where in the lose social graces and forget that what
brain changes occur. With this know- they’re saying or doing isn’t right.”
ledge, doctors now use advanced tools, These symptoms are often seen in
such as brain scans and protein bio- frontotemporal dementia (FTD), but
markers, to make earlier, more specific also when Alzheimer’s or vascular
dementia diagnoses. dementia affect the frontal lobes. If

700,000
Number of
Canadians living
with dementia

rd.ca 33
reader’s digest

they’re not recognized, they can be par- more positive, like a grandmother
ticularly unsettling. who looks out the window and sees
“The worst symptoms for families to her grandchildren playing in the play-
deal with are when there is a person- ground, but no one is there.”
ality shift and the person becomes Researchers believe that visual hal-
increasingly agitated or even paranoid lucinations may be caused by damage
and suspicious,” says Carrie Bourassa, to the brain’s visual-processing sys-
a professor at the University of Sas- tem, in combination with the disease’s
katchewan’s college of medicine who disruption of the sleep cycle—so that
specializes in dementia and aging in the visions might actually be dreams
Indigenous populations. breaking into waking consciousness.
Unusual behaviour can sometimes be
confused with psychiatric conditions, 3. YOU STRUGGLE
such as bipolar disorder or schizophre- WITH VOCABULARY
nia, and brain imaging can help rule
out or support a diagnosis of dementia. Word-finding difficulties are a com-
mon early sign of dementia. You might
2. YOU SEE THINGS have trouble finding the right words
THAT AREN’T THERE during conversations or when naming
objects, sometimes substituting the
Recurring visual hallucinations may be wrong word. People affected in this
an early symptom of Lewy body or Par- way pause while speaking, use filler
kinson’s disease dementia, although words and frequently rely on “it” or
people with Alzheimer’s disease can “they” instead of specific names for
experience them, too. These can be things. Researchers at the University of
as simple as seeing flashing lights or as Wisconsin-Madison found that these
elaborate as encountering animals and word-finding problems increased sig-
people that aren’t real. nificantly in the span of just two years
“Sometimes the hallucinations are for people developing dementia.
quite frightening, like seeing a wolf or Language can, in fact, be affected
a bear trying to break through the win- before memory problems emerge. An
dow,” says Hsiung. “Other times they’re Arizona State University study analyzed

10%
Rate of people diagnosed
JAIME HOGGE

with dementia who are

under the age of 65

34 june 2021
Stephen and Eva
Chow at their
Toronto home.
reader’s digest

former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s Tartaglia notes that visual-spatial

press conferences and found speech processing problems are especially
changes more than a decade before he prevalent as an early sign of Lewy body
was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. dementia, which can affect a similar
To assess whether your word-finding area of the brain.
challenges are related to a shrinkage in
the language areas of your brain, pay 5. YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT
attention to when and how often this TO KEEP FOCUSED
happens. It could simply be a result of
being tired or stressed—and can be In addition to visual-spatial processing
caused by anxiety, depression, stroke issues, Chow also had trouble with con-
and delirium, as well. centration due to shrinkage in his fron-
tal lobe. “That made writing, reading
4. YOUR VISION IS PATCHY and driving difficult and affected his
ability to do high-level tasks as an IT
Problems with spatial awareness can be specialist,” says Tartaglia.
caused by cataracts or glaucoma, but Beyond Alzheimer’s, any other kind of
they’re also an early sign of dementia. dementia can affect this area of the
This was the case with Chow, whose first brain—but note that an inability to focus
Alzheimer’s symptoms were caused by can also be caused by anxiety, depres-
a shrinkage of the area of the brain cru- sion and side effects to medication.
cial to his ability to accurately perceive
the world three-dimensionally. 6. YOU FORGET WHERE
“A patient with posterior cortical atro- YOU’VE PUT THINGS
phy may see the world in a patchy visual
field,” explains Hsiung. “If the person is It’s not unusual to occasionally forget
focusing in front while driving, he can’t where you stashed your keys. But if
see things off to the side. And if he’s you find that you’re doing this regu-
changing lanes, he can’t see other cars larly, leaving the stove burner on or
beside him.” Meanwhile, when Chow frequently forgetting recent events and
made mistakes typing, he was having conversations, this could be a warning
trouble seeing the whole keyboard. sign. Commonly, says Hsiung, people

80%
Percentage of dementia
cases that are diagnosed
as Alzheimer’s disease

36 june 2021
 changes in memory, language, prob-
lem solving, mood and behaviour.

Vascular dementia, the second-

most-common type, happens when
there is a blockage to the brain’s
blood supply, which causes brain
cells to be deprived of oxygen and
die. Strokes, transient ischemic
attacks and blood-vessel disease are
common causes of vascular dementia
and can affect different brain areas.

Lewy body dementia is caused

by abnormal deposits of a protein
called alpha-synuclein inside the
Dementia, brain’s nerve cells. This protein,
which destroys brain cells, is also
but What Kind? found in people with Parkinson’s
disease. Areas of the brain involved
Rather than one specific disease, in thinking, movement and visual
dementia describes a group of symp- processing are most affected.
toms that are caused by disorders
affecting the brain. There are more Frontotemporal dementia mainly
than a dozen types of dementia, affects the frontal and temporal brain
including rare conditions and others areas and accounts for about 20 per
that may develop from other brain cent of cases of early-onset demen-
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

disorders, like Parkinson’s disease tia. Changes in personality and

or Huntington’s disease. behaviour are more apparent in the
Here are the five most diagnosed early stage, while memory decline
forms of dementia: often doesn’t occur until later.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most Mixed dementia occurs when a

common type of dementia, account- person has at least two different types
ing for up to 80 per cent of all diag- of dementia, most often Alzheimer’s
noses. Generally, Alzheimer’s affects disease and vascular dementia. Stud-
most areas of the brain as it pro- ies reveal it’s much more common
gresses and can therefore involve than previously thought.

rd.ca 37
reader’s digest

with this type of memory loss will ask bells. “When you have frontal-lobe
loved ones the same questions over damage, you lose judgment and can
and over again. make rash, impulsive financial deci-
“Families can help a lot in recogniz- sions,” says Tartaglia. “A frugal person
ing these early symptoms, because if starts giving away more money or buy-
the person’s memory is poor, they won’t ing things they don’t need—like a fur-
remember the problems they have in nace from a door-to-door salesperson.”
remembering,” he says. She’s seen patients who did significant
This sign is one that often points to damage to their families’ finances, as
Alzheimer’s disease. In this type of well as CEOs of companies who lost mil-
dementia, the hippocampus—the brain lions because nobody noticed the signs.
area involved in forming, storing and A combination of declining decision-
retrieving memories—may be affected making skills and memory can also
first. In fact, short-term memory loss is lead to financial lapses. A 2020 JAMA
the most common symptom among Internal Medicine study found that peo-
people with Alzheimer’s disease, ple with dementia started missing bill
whereas it’s less often an early sign in payments up to six years before they
vascular dementia and Lewy body were diagnosed.
dementia, and rarely in FTD.
Medications and depression can also 8. YOU’RE
affect memory, so it’s important to EMOTIONALLY FLAT
check with your doctor, who might rec-
ommend a screening test, such as the According to a University of Cambridge
Montreal Cognitive Assessment—30 study, a lack of interest or motivation
questions which quickly identify abnor- can predict the onset of dementia
mal brain function. many years before other cognitive
symptoms do, especially in people
7. YOU’RE SUDDENLY with FTD, who may be diagnosed as
BAD WITH MONEY early as age 45.
Hsiung cautions, however, that apa-
A pattern of uncharacteristically poor thy can sometimes be confused with
financial decisions should set off alarm depression, as the difference between

10.4
Estimated population,
in millions, of Canadian
seniors in 2037

38 june 2021
 45
Age at which frontotemporal
disorder can be diagnosed, often
following personality changes
them is subtle; a psychiatric assessment Motor problems are also common
is often required to tell them apart. with Lewy body dementia, but other
“In both, a person may sit on the sofa neurodegenerative conditions, such
all day long,” he says, explaining that the as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis,
key difference is how much their mood should be considered, as well.
ranges. If someone becomes tearful
when they hear a sad story, this could 10. YOU’VE BECOME
be depression, but it’s apathy if the per- INSENSITIVE
son shows no emotional response. If
it’s the latter, Hsiung says, it could be According to a 2016 Neuroscience
the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease, Research Australia report, loss of empa-
FTD or vascular dementia. thy is a core symptom in some people
diagnosed with FTD. It’s related to loss
9. YOU’RE NOT MOVING of grey matter in the social brain. These
AS WELL AS USUAL patients are unaware of the impact of
their behaviour on others, and they
Difficulties with movement and per- lose both the ability to understand
forming physical activities in the right other people’s emotions and to share
sequence can be an early sign of dam- in their feelings.
age to the parietal lobe, which is related “You may not care about your family
to motor skills—and this is one of the anymore,” says Tartaglia. “Or a family
signs that Eva thinks she overlooked in member is crying, but you don’t recog-
her husband. Three years before his nize they are sad.”
diagnosis, the couple began to partici-
pate in dragon-boat racing. Chow had 11. YOU NO LONGER GRASP
always been a well-coordinated athlete CONCEPTS YOU ONCE DID
and handyman, but during training he
struggled to learn the basic stroke tech- Problems with tasks that require
nique. “The coach kept telling him, abstract thinking, such as understand-
‘This is the way you do it.’ Steve didn’t ing numbers or reading a house plan—
get it very well, and he was upset with especially if that was a strength before—
the coach,” says Eva. are an early symptom that can be

rd.ca 39
reader’s digest

caused by damage in the frontal and developed a virtual-reality navigation

parietal lobes. For Chow, this appeared test that has proven to be better at
early at work in his inability to make identifying early Alzheimer’s disease
simple calculations, but it also impeded than FDA-approved neuropsycholo-
his long-held role as the manager of his gical tests currently considered to be a
family’s finances. After his diagnosis, gold standard for early diagnosis.
Eva took over those duties. “We built a running track in our back-
yard so Steve could jog safely every day
12. YOU’RE MORE ANXIOUS without getting lost,” says Eva.

Mood changes, such as depression and once chow was properly diagnosed, his
anxiety, can be early signs of dementia anxiety about his symptoms decreased
that start well before people begin to and he became calmer. “Eva is the
experience memory loss, according model caregiver because she wants to
to a 2015 Neurology study. Tartaglia do what’s best for Stephen and encour-
notes that, especially with Lewy body ages him to do things,” says Tartaglia.
dementia, non-anxious people can This has included joining Alzheimer
become anxious much of the time. Society of Toronto programs and sup-
They may exhibit persistent worry, fear port groups for people with early-onset
or agitation, commonly triggered by dementia, practising daily meditation
going outside the home or being sep- and getting regular aerobic exercise.
arated from a family member. But perhaps most importantly, with
Eva’s encouragement, Chow began to
13. YOU GET LOST share his dementia diagnosis with the
MORE OFTEN people in his life. “I felt better after I
told my family and friends,” he says.
Losing navigational skills, and the abil- “They were very supportive, and it took
ity to create a mental map of your envi- a load off my shoulders. I learned that
ronment, can be one of the earliest you should tell people what you’re
dementia symptoms. In fact, in 2019, noticing sooner rather than later and
University of Cambridge researchers not keep it to yourself.”

Always New
To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be
always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely fresh.
To live is to be willing to die over and over again.
PEMA CHODRON, WHEN THINGS FALL APART

40 june 2021
 services on Zoom.
LIFE’S LIKE THAT Naturally, some of us
had difficulty figuring
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: PETR SOCHMAN/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS 2020; BERNHARD ESTERER/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS 2020;

out how it works. One

Nature’s Bloopers I just sat on a whoopee day during mass, an
The Comedy Wildlife cushion and it broke. exasperated parishio-
Photography Awards Maybe it’s time to get ner said, “It’s just like
recognize nature’s silliest a treadmill. a seance: ‘Susan, are
moments, captured for — STEVE PATTERSON, you there? Susan,
posterity. We wrote comedian can you hear me?’”
equally silly captions for — MARGOT GRANT,
these recent finalists.
Multitasking Skills Gibsons, B.C.
I used to check my
phone twice while Any time I see a couple
watching a movie. Now jogging together, I try
I check the movie twice to figure out which one
while on my phone. of them is unhappy
“Talk to the hand, — @DANADONLY about it.
sweetheart.” — @LIZHACKETT
Masks are the new kid
socks: they multiply all I love contactless deliv-
over your house and you ery! They just throw the
can never find one when slop at my door and I
KRÀNITZ ROLAND/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS 2020

you urgently need it. run out like a little pig.

— MEENA HARRIS, lawyer — @ACECHHH

“Can you believe what Fear of Missing Out Netflix: We know

he’s wearing?” 2019: Jealous of exactly what movie
vacation photos you’re talking about,
2021: Jealous of but we don’t have it.
vaccination photos — @GIFTEDASIA
— GIULIA ROZZI, comedian

Send us your original

Technical Difficulties jokes! You could earn $50
Because of the pan- and be featured in the
demic, our church magazine. See page 7 or
“I’ve got to be me!” switched to doing rd.ca/joke for details.

rd.ca 41
reader’s digest

42 june 2021
 HEART

Fostering a pair of ducklings brought

new joy to our home—until I discovered
PIXEL-SHOT/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

what awaited them back at the farm

BY Olivia Stren

rd.ca 43
reader’s digest

O
ver the past year, I’ve into their more obstreperous, feath-
found myself justify- ered teenaged fowl-hood. This pro-
ing all manner of what gram helps fund the farm and, I told
you might call non- myself, generously provides us with
essential purchases in what we’d been lacking: joy, sponta-
the name of lockdown. neity and fellowship.
I ordered a hand-knit cotton sweater
from Spain and throw cushions from “WE’RE GETTING ducklings!” I proudly
Sweden, but the most delightful and, announced. Joaquin replied with some-
um, let’s say, unusual thing I “added to thing along the lines of “What?”
cart” was a pair of Pekin ducklings. I explained that, for $165, the farm
This happened last June, when my would bring us everything we need-
husband, Joaquin, my five-year-old ed—“chick Gatorade,” a heat lamp,
son, Leo, and I were in month three of food and bedding (a bale of pine shav-
lockdown. By then, I had long shut- ings) and also an activity for Leo.
tered the charade that was our home “Okay. When do we get them?” he
school, and there were no summer said gamely, at which point, I smugly
camps and no play dates. If there was a concluded that I had married wisely.
playdate, I was the playmate—and I was “You never really know a man until
exhausted. Even our two cats seemed you’ve divorced him,” said Zsa Zsa
increasingly oppressed by our con- Gabor. Yes, or until you’ve adopted live-
stant presence, pining for Precedented stock together in a pandemic.
Times, when the house was their pri- About 10 days later, on a sunny
vate hotel and humans would only June morning, a man from the farm
occasionally pop in, like housekeeping. arrived at our downtown Toronto
So there I was scrolling Instagram, doorstep. In what will remain the best
retreating into the seeming perfection delivery moment of my life, he handed
of other people’s lives, when I spotted over a shoebox housing a pair of new-
a friend’s photo of two tiny golden born chicks.
ducklings in her living room. I mes- Leo and I held them in our hands,
saged her immediately. She explained each one a tiny, almost weightless par-
that she was fostering the babies for a cel of silky gold. Their webbed feet,
farm in rural southern Ontario. You clementine-orange, felt soft and satiny
can adopt the newborns and parent against our palms, and their glossy lit-
them as long as you like—typically, the tle beaks were unexpectedly warm.
farm explains on its website, the usual Leo immediately cast himself as their
foster lasts a few weeks, until the duck- father, and they accepted the role hap-
lings waddle from their downy infancy pily, waddling at his heels and slipping

44 june 2021
 on our hardwood floors, like Bambi on himself scarce when it came to the
an ice rink. He decided to call one of dirty work.
the ducklings Gaston, after his favou- “It’s okay, Mummy, I’ll let you clean
rite cartoon character, and I named that mess,” he’d so generously offer. At
the other one Ping, after the Chinese this point, while serving as parent,
duck hero from one of my favourite cook, playmate, cleaner and head but-
childhood books. ler to Leo, I also had duck husbandry
Leo kissed Ping and Gaston on their to add to the list.
beaks and they nipped at his lips,
which he concluded meant they loved AFTER A FEW WEEKS, the ducklings at
him. He then decided that they must least tripled in size, and the fairy tale
need a bath after a long trip from the took a turn. As much as we loved Ping
country. He filled a Tupperware bin and Gaston, they’d become an armful,
with water, which filled me with a surge and I began to think it was time to return
of relief. (It was an activity! Without an them. It was only then, however, that I
iPad!). So much of parenting, especially realized that I didn’t know what would
pandemic parenting, comes down to happen to them back at the farm. When
guilt management. And our
new family members delivered
me from mine. When Leo low-
ered them into the bin, they
took to water like, well, ducks.
Afterwards, we swaddled them
to keep them warm.
If the pandemic had plunged
us all into chaos, at least this
kind had a madcap charm. The
messiness was, also, literal, of
course. For the ducks, the world
is not so much a stage as it is a
toilet—you can’t house-train
a duck the way you can a dog.
COURTESY OF OLIVIA STREN

I had read that as a foster duck

parent, you can fashion tiny dia-
pers. One surely could do such Leo with his
a thing, but I did not. And while ducklings
on the day
Leo was happy to share love
they arrived.
and Cheerios, he swiftly made

rd.ca 45
reader’s digest

I called to find out, the woman on the Potter book. Bunnies hopped around
phone, annoyed by this line of inquiry, sunlit grasses; a wooden swing hung
tersely suggested that I refer to the last from an old tree; miniature horses were
page in my “duckling manual”—a beak- enjoying a gambol about the pasture;
orange folder that had arrived with our and grown-up ducks promenaded
pets. In fine print, I read to my horror about, their plumage white and plump
that they’d likely serve as a “wonderful as summer clouds. If the owner had
supper” at a wedding or a banquet. We offered to adopt me, too, I would have
had been fostering these animals, hadn’t happily moved in. We left our ducks
we, not fattening them for a meal? and headed home, feeling the sadness
We couldn’t keep them, but I also of empty nesters (forgive the pun).
couldn’t drive them back to their The duck’s home farm never fol-
demise. And this is how I found myself lowed up with me or attempted to get
launching a sort of duck-adoption them back. But a couple of months
agency, frantically emailing and calling later, the adoptive parents got in touch
animal sanctuaries in hopes of find- to send me a photograph of Ping and
ing them a safe home. Meanwhile, the Gaston. They were adults. In their
ducks flirted with adolescence, awk- snowy splendour, they were strolling
wardly sprouting snowy feathers. (Ping, about with six other ducks.
the taller of the two, looked like he “They have a great duck life!” she
might take up smoking.) wrote, “free to roam and be with their
After about a week and a half, I was friends.” They somehow found what
losing hope. Then I received an email the pandemic has taken from us all—
from a lovely woman who lives on a freedom and the comfort of commu-
hobby farm in Port Perry. She was look- nity. I felt a certain swell of maternal
ing for more ducklings. She was vegan. pride, nostalgic for their golden baby-
She was perfect! hood and for the duck days of the
We chauffeured Ping and Gaston to pandemic summer. Finding them this
their new home, and as we crunched country house of dreams was the best
over the gravel road, I felt as if we were thing I did in 2020. Also, maybe the
slipping into the pages of a Beatrix only thing.

Sunny Words
Summer afternoon—summer afternoon;
to me those have always been the two most beautiful
words in the English language.
HENRY JAMES

46 june 2021
 Bright
Ideas for
Healthy
Living
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 DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

Two friends dove into the

dark underwater tunnel.
Only one came out.

LAST BREATH
BY Christopher Matthews
illustrations by federico gastaldi

48 june 2021
reader’s digest
reader’s digest

for years and often spent holidays

together. Both shared a passion for
scuba diving. Antonio was self-taught,
while Horst had completed a diploma
course back home.
Luciano and Antonio had double air
tanks, holding around 100 minutes of
breathing time. Horst and a German
friend had only one tank, or about 50
minutes of air. But since they would
dive no deeper than nine metres, it
was more than enough to take a quick
look at the cave and get back to the
boat. Horst was bringing his underwater
camera and a flashlight. It was 3:30 on
a beautiful August afternoon.
“Okay, let’s go!” Antonio shouted,
the handsome nine-metre-long cabin flipping backward over the side. With
cruiser bobbed at anchor in the crystal- Antonio in the lead, the four divers
blue water of the Adriatic, about 150 moved parallel to the reef for almost
metres off the southern Italian coast. half an hour, while Antonio searched
“You’ll see, it’s an incredible sight,” for a gap. He was about to give up when
Antonio Giovine was telling his Ger- he found it and signalled the others
man friend Horst Hartmann. The day to follow. By this point, they’d been
before, Antonio had gone scuba diving underwater for 45 minutes. Horst and
off the small coastal village of Polig- his friend were already using their
nano a Mare, where they were vaca- emergency air supplies.
tioning. In an underwater passage in Antonio pointed to the tunnel as if
the reef, he had found a cave where to ask, “Are you going in?” Horst’s
fresh water mixed with salt water, cre- friend shook his head and motioned
ating strange optical effects. he was going back to the boat. Luciano
On board the boat with Antonio would go with him. But Horst nodded
and Horst was a group of relatives and enthusiastically. Antonio hesitated
friends, including Luciano, Antonio’s but decided there was no problem.
brother and the owner of the boat. The cave was only a few yards inside the
Horst, a cheerful airport employee tunnel. It would take his friend little
from Frankfurt, Germany, and Anto- time to reach it, shoot a couple of pic-
nio, both 27 years old, had been friends tures and resurface.

50 june 2021
 Antonio remained below and watched A jet of air geysered out. He tried to
Horst approach the cave entrance and inhale it but coughed on a mixture of
switch on his flashlight. Then, with a air and water. The regulator’s outlet
thumbs-up sign to his friend, he slid valve must have gotten fouled.
into the inky darkness. Antonio pulled on his air hose, and
As the minutes went by, Antonio it came back. He inserted the mouth-
started to feel a hard ball of tension in his piece but immediately started cough-
stomach. Horst is sure taking his time, ing again. He couldn’t last much lon-
he thought. What on earth is he doing? ger. Where is Horst? He prayed his
Has he forgotten he is on reserve? friend had made a breath-held dash
Then: Maybe something’s wrong! for the surface.
Kicking out with his fins, Antonio
started into the hole. Just then he caught
a glimmer of light ahead. It grew stron- ANTONIO SUCKED AT HIS
ger. It was Horst. MOUTHPIECE BUT THERE
Thank God, Antonio started to think WAS NOTHING LEFT.
but stopped in mid-thought. Horst was
only three or four yards away, but the LEGS THRASHING, HE
flashlight beam was dancing erratically. MADE FOR THE EXIT.
There is something wrong!
Before he knew it, Horst was on Anto-
nio, grabbing for his air hose, trying Paddling through the muddy water,
to pry it from his mouth. Instinctively his backpack clutched to his chest,
Antonio tried to pull away. Then he real- Antonio found Horst’s flashlight, lying
ized Horst wanted to share his air. It’s on the bottom, and picked it up. Ahead,
called buddy breathing—one mouth- the tunnel floor sloped gently upward.
piece is passed between two divers, one It had to be the way out. His legs thrash-
exhaling while the other breathes in. He ing, Antonio made for the exit. He would
must be out of air, Antonio thought. see daylight at any moment.
He opened his mouth to release the The tunnel began climbing almost
hose, but Horst, in his panic, knocked vertically. Antonio sucked hard on the
Antonio’s mask off. Unable to see or mouthpiece, but there was nothing left.
breathe, his lungs almost bursting, Anto- He dropped the useless tanks and swam
nio turned to his last resort: sucking the for the exit with his last strength.
air directly from his reserve tank. Antonio’s head broke the surface, and
On the verge of blacking out, Anto- he gulped huge breaths of air into his
nio wriggled out of his backpack har- burning lungs. But where was the bright
ness and opened the tap on the tank. blue summer sky? Looking up, he saw

rd.ca 51
reader’s digest

only solid rock. The space around his passageway. It was Horst. He was dead.
head was not much larger than an Cataldo used all his strength to push
upside-down wash basin. He’d taken a and pull the body out of the tunnel. He
wrong turn and emerged in a tiny air knew that two men had entered the
pocket in the reef. Without air tanks, reef, and his years of experience told
he was trapped. He could only wait for him the other diver, lost even further
death. He started to scream and went in the maze, must be dead, too. He
on screaming until he had no voice left. considered going back in but decided
against it because of the incoming
as the minutes passed and Antonio and dark, the muddy water and the lack of
Horst failed to surface, Luciano knew help. Too risky.
he had to get help. He swam to the boat Nico Fumai, chief frogman with
and used his cellphone to call the the Bari Fire Brigade, was at home on
nearest rescue squad, the fire brigade his way to bed at 11:30 p.m. when the
in Taranto, some 65 kilometres away. phone rang.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m., Taranto’s It was headquarters calling: “Did you
head diver, 52-year-old Cataldo Pala- hear what happened out at Polignano?”
dino, entered the tunnel. Eight metres the duty officer asked.
inside, his flashlight caught a dark Yes, Nico answered, he’d heard about
shape floating against the roof of the it on the radio link.

52 june 2021
 “We need your help,” the officer Nico turned on his flashlight and
told him. entered the tunnel. Four metres, five.
“No problem,” he replied. A fork ahead. He caught his breath.
He called his three other diveteam From a hole in the rock to the right, a
members. “Rendezvous tomorrow huge, shining black eye stared at him.
morning at 5:30 a.m.,” he told them. A conger eel. He tugged the rope twice
At his kitchen table, Nico, a muscular to let his deputy know that everything
45-year-old veteran diver, began plan- was okay and, keeping his gaze fixed
ning the next morning’s operations. on the eel, cautiously advanced down
The thought that now entered his mind the first right fork.
struck him with the force of a falling There was something glinting on
brick. Who said there’s another corpse the tunnel floor ahead: a diver’s mask.
in the tunnel? That guy may be alive! I’m on the right track, Nico thought,
He called his team again. “Rendez- pocketing the mask. Then he found
vous an hour earlier, at 4:30 a.m.” Horst’s camera caught under a ledge.
By 6:41 a.m. on Sunday, Nico’s team Getting closer.
was positioned outside the tunnel on
board a six-metre inflatable dinghy.
Nico was suited up and ready to dive. DANGLING BETWEEN
He had connected two air hoses to his TWO ROCKS WAS A PAIR
twin tanks so two people could breathe OF PALE LEGS WEARING
off them. His deputy would stay at the
cave entrance and pay out the lifeline BLACK FINS. AND ONE
tied to his waist. As always before a dive, WAS MOVING!
Nico prayed. Then he went overboard.

antonio “dreamed” he was drowning. The tunnel started climbing. He

Then he forced himself awake to find should be more than 18 metres into
he was gagging: his throat was full of the reef, he judged. The walls around
water. His head must have slipped him now widened and he found him-
underwater when he dozed off. He self inside a narrow chamber.
couldn’t feel his limbs anymore. The What his flashlight beam showed
cold was taking over his body. I’m next stunned Nico. Dangling between
dying, he thought. He was too tired to two massive rocks above him was a pair
feel scared. Dying was like turning off of pale legs wearing black fins. And
a computer, he decided. You switch it one of the legs was moving! When Nico
off and the screen goes blank. No rea- reached out to touch it, a hand came
son to be frightened. down and closed around his left wrist.

rd.ca 53
reader’s digest

Nico knew the young man must be picked up the slack. They made ago-
kept from panicking. He gently passed nizingly slow progress. Linked to the
the mouthpiece of his reserve regula- same tanks, they had to move like Sia-
tor up over his head, through the sur- mese twins. Finally they came to the
face of the water to where Antonio’s eel, which surveyed them from its
face must be. He heard him take a cou- den. Seconds later they were out in the
ple of breaths before handing the air blue-grey light of the open sea.
hose back down. Antonio is trying to “He’s alive! He’s alive!” Nico screamed
buddy breathe with me, Nico realized. as they broke the surface. “Get some
How incredible that, after 17 hours in warm clothes.”
this hole, he is still lucid! The frogmen lifted Antonio’s limp
Nico had to show Antonio that he body from the water and radioed for
could keep the hose. He took the an ambulance. As they waited, the
mouthpiece out of his own mouth and, men rubbed and massaged Antonio.
holding this and the reserve, passed “You can’t die now,” Nico told him.
them both up. This time Antonio kept “You’ve got to live.”
one hose and handed back the other. At the closest hospital, Antonio was
Pulling on Antonio’s arm, Nico treated for exposure, exhaustion and
coaxed him underwater. Now he saw an edema caused by nearly drown-
the young man’s face: pale, boyish fea- ing. Doctors said he would not have
tures with a stubbly beard and flowing, survived more than another hour in
shoulder-length hair. Antonio shook the cave—hypothermia would have
his head, his eyes wide with terror, and stopped his heart.
retreated back to the surface. When Nico finally climbed back into
Nico understood. Antonio wouldn’t his van to head home, he doubled over,
submerge unless he could see where sobbing. He felt he had taken part in a
he was going. Luckily there was the miracle. Somehow an unseen hand
mask he’d found. He handed it up. that had guided Antonio to a tiny air
Antonio put it on and returned under pocket had guided him there, too.
the surface. Where he should have found death, he
Slipping the guide rope into Anto- had met life.
nio’s hand, Nico pushed him headfirst
into the tunnel. Antonio didn’t have On September 13, 1992, Nico Fumai
enough strength to swim, so Nico and his men were awarded the presti-
had to keep pushing him from behind, gious international “Captain Coura-
checking at the same time that he was geous” prize for bravery at sea.
still breathing. The guide rope stayed
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE JUNE 1994
taut, as, outside the tunnel, his deputy EDITION OF READER’S DIGEST.

54 june 2021
 Over lunch at a fast-
LAUGHTER food restaurant, I was
the Best Medicine telling my friend about
a teenager who had
rear-ended my car.
Taste Test Game, Set, Match The teen blamed me
I wonder what the The depressing thing for the accident.
trial-and-error process about tennis is that “She called me every
was like for the first no matter how much dirty name in the book,”
people who ever ate I play, I’ll never be I said.
mushrooms: “This one as good as a wall. I Just then, I looked
tastes like beef, this played a wall once. over to the next table,
one killed Brian imme- They’re relentless. where two nine-year-
diately, and this one — MITCH HEDBERG, old boys had been pay-
makes you see God for comedian ing close attention to
a week.” my story.
— @GOULCHER Plot Points One said to the other,
I’m sick of characters “There’s a book?”
My dad constantly tells in movies and TV — GCFL.NET
me I’ll never amount shows taking off their
to anything because I glasses when things
Send us your original
always procrastinate. get real. That’s when jokes! You could earn $50
I’ll show him. Just you want your glasses and be featured in the
you wait. the most! magazine. See page 7 or
— REDDIT.COM — @SHUTUPMIKEGINN rd.ca/joke for details.

THE BEST JOKE I EVER TOLD

By Andrea Jin

My family and I are from China, and I’m the only one
who speaks English. We drew straws for it and I lost.
DALE LEUNG

Andrea Jin is a Vancouver-based comedian.

Her comedy album, Grandma’s Girl, is out now.

rd.ca 55
reader’s digest
 HEALTH

10 LIFE-
SAVING
INNOVATIONS
COMING TO A
HOSPITAL
NEAR YOU
How health-care workers
and institutions are
revolutionizing surgery,
patient care, cancer
treatment—and more

BY Lauren McGill
illustration by myriam wares

rd.ca 57
reader’s digest

THE TRAUMA ROOM skill and knowledge to work on the

BLACK BOX next trauma patient and, hopefully,
Emergency-room doctors are not so dif- save another life.
ferent from the rest of us: they learn best
from their own mistakes. But memories THE RISE OF
aren’t perfect—especially in high-stress TELEHEALTH
situations—and the speed and com- Virtual health care has steadily gained
plexity of what happens in a trauma traction in Canada since 2015, when
room can make it hard to recall exact Toronto emergency-room physician
details. To remedy that, the trauma team Brett Belchetz founded Maple, the
at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto country’s first national telemedicine
decided to take a cue from the aviation platform. Three years later, Canadians
industry. They installed a black box in completed over one million telehealth
their trauma room, allowing them to consultations—a 500 per cent jump
later pinpoint an exact time when things in less than a decade. Unsurprisingly,
went right—or started to fall apart. the pandemic has further increased
remote visits. In 2020, Maple added
more than a million new patients and
EACH TEST SHOWED its consultation volumes tripled.
THE DRONE ARRIVED The platform is now open 24 hours
a day, seven days a week and offers
SEVEN CRUCIAL patients access to a doctor in two min-
MINUTES EARLIER utes or less. Patients can see a doctor
THAN THE AMBULANCE. either by video, instant message or
phone call, depending on their needs—
whether it’s an on-screen check-in with
“This is about reimagining trauma a family doctor or a virtual visit with a
resuscitation so we can get factual feed- specialist. Such convenience raises the
back on performance,” says Dr. Chris question: why would anybody want to
Hicks, trauma physician who helped return to the pre-pandemic system of
lead the project. The black box can crowded, boring waiting rooms? Luck-
record everything that happens using ily, now many of us won’t have to.
360-degree cameras, wall-mounted “Around 50 to 70 per cent of medical
microphones and connections to the issues can be treated virtually, without
patient’s vital signs. Once the team a hands-on physical exam,” says
finishes working on a patient, doctors Belchetz. Even better news: the pan-
can review everything that hap- demic has prompted some provincial
pened—arming themselves with the governments, like B.C.’s, to cover the

58 june 2021
 Toronto General oncologists
use a robot arm for surgery.

platform’s costs (it operates as a private, using a lens and a screen, and dissect-
fee-based service). This new frontier of ing cancerous tissue from its healthy
health-care delivery also promises to counterpart—enabling a patient to
alleviate hospital staffing shortages and keep their nipple. (In typical mastec-
a lack of doctors in rural areas long after tomies, the nipple is not spared at all.)
the COVID-19 pandemic. The healing process is also faster with
the nipple kept intact, allowing a
THE ROBOT patient to undergo immediate breast
THAT PERFORMS reconstruction and gain a more nat-
MASTECTOMIES ural post-op appearance—a game
Robot-assisted surgery offers patients changer for the one in eight Canadians
the hope of smaller incisions, faster who will experience breast cancer in
recovery and less noticeable scars. In their lifetime.
November 2019, Toronto General Hos-
pital received a new robot surgeon—a THE APP THAT
robotic arm that specializes in mastec- MANAGES YOUR
tomies, a first in Canada. And in Feb- CANCER CARE
ruary 2020, Dr. Tulin Cil, the hospital’s When Laurie Hendren was diagnosed
chair of breast surgery oncology, and with breast cancer in 2014, she
her team became the first doctors to assumed she’d have fast, up-to-date
successfully perform a robot-assisted access to her test results and treatment
nipple-sparing mastectomy. plans. But she quickly discovered that
The use of the robotic arm assists this wasn’t the case: the process for
UHN

in visualizing deeper into the breast, viewing our own medical info is both

rd.ca 59
 A drone is
prepped for a life-
saving delivery.

challenging and time-consuming, THE DRONE THAT

involving several forms, a trek to the DELIVERS EMERGENCY
hospital’s medical records office and a SUPPLIES
wait of up to 30 days. Canada’s vast terrain makes it diffi-
As a computer scientist, Hendren cult—and in some cases impossible—
saw a better way: an app. She worked to send urgent medicine and supplies
with doctors at McGill University to its most remote areas. InDro Robot-
Health Centre, where she was receiving ics, a drone company based in Salt
treatment, to develop and launch Opal Spring Island, B.C., is set to change
in 2019. The free app is customized that. In August 2019, InDro pilots flew
for cancer patients and provides swift a drone carrying Narcan, an EpiPen
access to medical data, lab results, and a prescription medication from
medical notes and treatment plans. London Drugs in Duncan, B.C., to
“This project was unique because three locations on Salt Spring Island. It
it was led by Laurie,” says radiation was the first successful drone delivery
oncologist Dr. Tarek Hijal. “The ideas of emergency medications over the
came from her, and she vetted every Pacific Ocean. The 37-kilometre flight
step. Her insights are what made the took only 11 minutes—saving enough
end result so powerful.” time to make a critical difference.
Sadly, Hendren died shortly after The next month, the company part-
INDRO ROBOTICS

Opal’s launch, but her app is now used nered with Michael Nolan, chief of the
throughout the entire MUHC Cancer Renfrew County paramedic service in
Centre, and plans are underway to rural Ontario, which serves an area of
bring it to hospitals across the country. 7,250 square kilometres of densely

60 june 2021
 reader’s digest

forested, sparsely populated rural ter- These brainy beds can also help pre-
rain. Nolan’s idea was to test how fast vent falls: if an at-risk patient starts
the drones could deliver a defibrillator. climbing out, sensors rearrange the
Several test flights were conducted, bed into a bowl shape, providing extra
and each time, the drone arrived seven seconds for a nurse or caregiver to
life-saving minutes earlier than the arrive. The beds also monitor vital signs
ambulance. Renfrew paramedics have and will alert staff if a patient’s heart
since acquired a small fleet of drones, rate spikes or drops. Patients can expect
which they now use almost every day to snuggle into a smart bed in the future
in their emergency services. as more hospitals make the switch.
Thanks to these successes, the Cana-
dian Transport Agency granted InDro THE VIRTUAL
Robotics the first commercial drone CARE ASSISTANT
licence in the country in November Joyce Dingwell has lived at St. Joseph’s
2020. Currently, the company is work- Continuing Care in Cornwall, Ont., for
ing on increasing their flight distance five years. As a small subacute care hos-
to 200 kilometres—potentially saving pital, the facility rehabilitates patients
even more lives. who have experienced strokes and hip
fractures, while also looking after long-
THE COMFORTABLE term patients with conditions such as
HOSPITAL BED multiple sclerosis and ALS. At 82, Din-
More than a quarter of Canadian gwell’s vision loss meant she relied on
patients develop pressure ulcers, or staff for everything from turning on the
bedsores, from remaining in one radio to phoning a friend. But what if,
position for too long during hospital staff wondered, there was a simple fix
stays. These wounds are tricky to treat to give her more independence?
and can increase the risk of sepsis and In 2019, with the rise of voice-
even death. activated devices as their inspiration,
To combat this, four Ontario hospi- staff headed to a nearby electronics
tals have tested swapping out their store and bought a Google Home. The
regular beds for ones that use artificial smart speaker connects to Google
intelligence to gently move a person Assistant, which lets Dingwell use her
lying on them. The Swedish-made Ably voice to text, call, check her calendar,
bed, for example, predicts a patient’s control her music, set timers, hear the
movements and then uses adjustable weather, get the latest news and more.
longitudinal motion springs to redis- “It’s been so easy to figure out,” she says.
tribute their weight, significantly Buoyed by their success, staff next
reducing the risk of sores. installed kits in the rooms of Liz Mullin

rd.ca 61
reader’s digest

and Scott MacIntyre,

both of whom have
MS. The first thing
Mullin did was some-
thing she hadn’t done
by herself in years:
turn on her TV and
change the channel.
MacIntyre uses the
device to control his
room fan, lamp and television—all Neurosurgeon Dr. Adam Sachs uses
without calling the nurses for help. The virtual reality wands to manipulate
staff now hopes to use what they’ve a 3-D image of the brain.
learned to help other long-term care
facilities and hospitals set up voice- tech. Usually, a neurosurgeon uses
activated devices for their residents. generic brain maps for DBS. But with
a VR headset, Sachs can view and
THE VR GOGGLES THAT manipulate 3-D MRIs and CT scans of
IMPROVE BRAIN SURGERY a patient’s own brain. This drastically
For Canadians living with Parkinson’s improves precision and, thus, chances
disease, deep brain stimulation (DBS) of success—like a fingerprint, our brains
can provide an entire decade of addi- are unique to us, and even the smallest
tional independent living. With DBS, variances can make a big difference.
a neurosurgeon places electrodes in a While this approach is still under devel-
certain area of the brain, allowing it to opment, 3-D tech will likely be used in
receive impulses that remove or reduce the future in every surgery imaginable.
tremors. The electrodes are controlled
by a small generator placed in the THE HEALING
patient’s chest. There’s only one hitch: POWERS OF ART
for it to be effective, the placement Medical research has repeatedly
must be precise, and each electrode shown that nature has powerful heal-
is no thicker than a human hair. That ing effects. One 2010 study, published
can be difficult for even the most in the Health Environments Research &
THE OTTAWA HOSPITAL

experienced surgeon to manage. Design Journal and conducted inside

To help get it right, Dr. Adam Sachs, a simulated hospital patient room,
a neurosurgeon at the Ottawa Hospital, found that seeing art and nature can
decided to try another up-and-coming relieve stress and pain by lowering
medical innovation: 3-D virtual-reality both blood pressure and sensory pain

62 june 2021
responses. Unfortunately, most older from being a doctor to being a patient
hospitals have limited window views and saw a stark contrast between her
and few accessible outdoor spaces, textbook knowledge and her actual
making it difficult for patients to get experience. She decided to share her
those added healing benefits. That’s story to help other doctors bridge the
why some Canadian hospitals have physician-patient disconnect and, in
decided to get creative. turn, offer more informed care.
In 2020, Kemptville District Hospital Since 2018, Ashdown has spoken at
teamed up with a local photography over 20 medical conferences and to
club in Ontario to bring the therapeu- thousands of health-care professionals,
tic powers of nature into its hallways. urging them to put patients’ experi-
Together, nurses and artists chose 20 ences first. Today, she’s helping other
large-scale nature images of recogniz- patients learn how to improve their side
able regional landmarks. Next, they of the conversation. Together with the
printed the soothing images on easily Ottawa Hospital, Ashdown helped cre-
sanitized canvas and hung them in ate a two-day storytelling workshop,
accessible hallways, where patients teaching patients how to better voice
using wheelchairs or walkers pass by. their experiences of illness and disease.
After the photos were installed, one The first was held in October 2019, with
elderly patient who was making slow 10 patients, and the program has con-
progress toward recovery told staff she tinued online during the pandemic. She
finally felt energized—she wanted to says many doctors have realized that
get out of the hospital so she could care is too often done to the patient, not
revisit the local landmarks herself. with them—and that needs to change.
Ashdown hopes to expand her
THE DOCTORS workshop to other hospitals and, with
WHO LISTEN it, the idea that doctors must listen to
Traditionally, doctors learn about dis- their patients more. “Sharing patient
ease through textbooks and lectures— stories can give doctors a different
but rarely from patients themselves. view that would not otherwise be
Dr. Lynn Ashdown experienced this accessible to them,” she says. “It
firsthand after an accident in 2014 left increases compassion and contributes
her paralyzed. In an instant, she went to patient-centred care.”

Antique Appreciation
One should never be the oldest thing in one’s house.
PATSY CLINE

rd.ca 63
reader’s digest

AS KIDS SEE IT

“Are you sure I’m not allergic to broccoli and Brussels sprouts?
Maybe you should check again.”

My four-year-old knowledge, inter- teachers had first

brother was sitting on rupted: “And then the names and thought
my mother’s lap as they doctor pulled me out of they slept in the school.
looked at pregnancy your mouth!” — ANDREW SCHIAVONE,
photos from his baby — CORINNE A. GIESBRECHT, comedian
album. Turning the Winnipeg
page, she tenderly Me: No TV until you eat
explained, “This is I can’t imagine learning your lunch.
CONAN DE VRIES

when I went to the hos- on Zoom and seeing My four-year-old: That’s

pital, and then…” the inside of a teacher’s not the attitude I want
My brother, quick to house. When I was a to hear.
showcase his medical kid, I didn’t know — @ANNADOESNTWANT2

64 june 2021
One day, my seven- My daughter turned five today. She’s
year-old was staring at currently having a meltdown because,
my face.
Me: What is it, sweetie? according to her, she “still looks four.”
My seven-year-old: Is — @AOTAKEO
my nose weird, too?
— @THISONESAYZ There is no stronger Years ago I took my lit-
acting performance tle girl to the park. We
When I was a kid, I than a kid who pre- stopped at the pond
helped wash my dad’s tended to fall asleep in where children fed the
car. When I saw a spot the car so they could be ducks. One kid noticed
that wouldn’t disappear carried into the house my daughter watching
with the sponge, I by their parents. and offered some of his
grabbed sandpaper. My — @DADMANN_WALKING bread cubes. “Thank
dad never let me wash you,” my daughter said,
the car again. At the mall, my four- then ate them.
— REDDIT.COM year-old son, Rudy, and — @WYVERNANDSTAR
I ran into an old high
While working from school teacher of mine, One morning our three-
home, I had 15 minutes who greeted us happily. year-old son climbed
between calls and went My son asked who that into bed with us. He
to play with my kid. She person was, and I wanted his dad to read
handed me a stuffed explained. A puzzled Little Red Riding Hood
animal to watch, said Rudy then asked, to him, but his dad
she had a meeting “Mom, how can he still wasn’t awake yet and
and left. be alive?” had already read
— @NOTMYTHIRDRODEO — ANA DIAZ, Guelph, Ont. him the story the night
before. Our son pouted
My four-year-old neigh- When I got my first dog, and said, “Dad, it’s
bour is thrilled to learn I was seven and he was your responsibility.”
that I walk the same one—or seven in dog — DARLENE WILLIAMS,
dog every day. years. I remember cry- Winnipeg
Kid: This looks like the ing when he turned
same dog as last time. two because I didn’t
Send us your original
Me: It is. think a 14-year-old dog jokes! You could earn $50
Kid: Dad, it’s the same would want to hang out and be featured in the
dog as last time! with me. magazine. See page 7 or
— MOLLY PRIDDY, writer — @TREV97 rd.ca/joke for details.

rd.ca 65
 HISTORY

A CLOSER LOOK
AT THE BUTTER
within its fragile pastry shell and its
TART, FROM ITS
sticky filling of butter, sugar, syrup
and egg, the butter tart holds Canada’s FASCINATING
memories of long weekends, country
bakeries, recipes handed down through ORIGINS TO
ITS CROWNING
generations—and an eternal debate
over raisins.

AS CANADA’S
Though it is made from pantry sta-
ples, the alchemy of a butter tart’s ingre-
dients makes for something all its own.
And its simplicity means you’ll usually
have what you need on hand to whip MOST FAMOUS
DESSERT
up a dozen. Plus, they freeze well (some
say they taste even better frozen, espe-
cially on a hot summer day).

NATIONAL
But why do butter tarts and Canada
seem so inseparable?
For me, it’s the memory of eating
oozing tarts on a cottage deck in the
midday sun, followed by a dive into
the lake to wash off all the sticky resi-
TREASURE
due. Often, it was too hot to bake our
own, so my family and I would drive BY Emma Waverman
into town and wait in line for butter FROM COTTAGE LIFE
tarts at the local café, sometimes shar- photograph by liam mogan
ing one on the car ride home.

66 june 2021
reader’s digest
reader’s digest

Whatever your own experience, the perhaps homemakers who had dairy,
butter tart is firmly tied to our Cana- eggs, flour, lard and brown sugar put
dian identity. People become lifelong them together into a humble tart to
devotees to the tart, pledging undying feed farmhands, family and visitors
loyalty to their local bakery or their year-round. This, she says, explains the
mother’s version. butter tart’s similarities to Quebec’s
But where did the butter tart come sugar pie (which contains whipping
from? And is it still a butter tart if you cream); the butter tart is a parallel
add bacon? Here’s the surprisingly con- invention born of necessity and similar
troversial story of this sweet little treat. circumstances. “Why is it,” she asks,
“that Canadians can’t just accept that
CONTROVERSY #1 we made something ourselves?”
THE INVENTION OF
THE BUTTER TART
CONTROVERSY #2

NATIONAL
DESSERT STATUS
The exact origin of the iconic tart is
unknown. Some credit the filles du roi:
the young French women who settled Does the butter tart deserve icon sta-
in New France between 1663 and 1673 tus in our broad and diverse country?
to marry voyageurs. They combined If nostalgia and history are reason
their knowledge of pastry with the enough, then the answer is yes. In 2019,
ingredients on hand and, according Canada Post even put the butter tart
to the Canadian Encyclopedia, cre- on a limited-edition stamp. (It did not,
ated butter tarts. sadly, taste like a butter tart.)
Others look to settlers from the “bor- If that’s not enough, then also con-
der counties” between Scotland and sider age and geographic supremacy:
England, who arrived in Canada in butter tarts date to at least the early
the 1800s toting Ecclefechan tarts, also 1900s and are popular from Newfound-
called border tarts. Food writer Eliza- land to B.C. But what about Nanaimo
beth Baird believes the treat, filled with bars, a latecomer to the handheld
dried fruit and made in a pie tin, evolved dessert scene, having originated in the
into the butter tart. Further proof? Immi- 1950s? Well, a 2018 voting bracket
grants from the same region also set- created by Daybreak North, a CBC
tled in Georgia, home to pecan pie. radio show in B.C., still crowned butter
However, culinary historian Liz tarts the champion holiday treat over
Driver, author of Culinary Land- Nanaimo bars.
marks: A Bibliography of Canadian Okay, so they’re nationally revered,
Cookbooks, 1825–1949, suggests that but are they a Canadian icon? South of

68 june 2021
the border, Americans have largely sides met over butter tarts (yes, really)
remained unaware of our beloved tart— and decided to co-exist.
their loss. In classic Canuck fashion,
many Canadians find it more reason to CONTROVERSY #4
propel the tart to icon status. THE PERFECT
CONTROVERSY #3 BUTTER TART
TOURS, TRAILS raisins or no raisins? Our passion over

AND TENSION the addition of dried fruit has become

an ongoing conversation among Cana-
Across the country, tens of thousands dians. Perhaps it’s what keeps our coun-
of Canadians have taken part in festi- try together: we love to bicker over
vals and tours that celebrate the not- something so small and so sweet.
so-humble butter tart. It seems every nuts vs. no nuts: While some (includ-
small bakery, especially in rural Ontario, ing me) feel that walnuts or pecans
sells them—some displaying ribbons take the tart into pie territory, others
and awards from taste-offs and festi- prefer a little crunch.
vals. The largest festival is Ontario’s other add–ins: Formerly restricted
Best Butter Tart Festival, which has to raisins, currants and nuts, fillings
been running since 2013 in Midland. have started to reflect our country’s
(In its inaugural year, the festival sold diverse cuisines. For creative bakers
out of 10,000 tarts by 11 a.m.) Before the tarts are a canvas to experiment
the pandemic, more than 65,000 peo- with flavours such as cardamom,
ple came for one butter tart–filled day Nutella, ginger and miso. Some tarts
in June every year. (The festival will definitely push the classic recipe—
recommence in 2022.) there are versions filled with cheese-
In 2006, bakeries and businesses in cake or that taste like poutine. Bacon
Wellington County, Ont., launched is becoming a popular add-in and
Canada’s first self-guided tourist trail bolsters the case for eating butter
dedicated to these treats. In 2011, the tarts at breakfast.
Kawarthas Northumberland tourism runny or firm? Do you like them so
board started a butter tart tour of more gooey that you’ll need a swim after, or
than 50 stops through the Kawartha firm enough to eat one-handed while
Lakes district, Northumberland County, doing chores? Until you find your
and Peterborough, Ont. The Welling- favourite, maybe you’ll just have to keep
ton trail team was not pleased and sent testing them all.
a cease-and-desist letter to the new © 2020, EMMA WAVERMAN. FROM “THE SURPRISINGLY
CONTROVERSIAL STORY OF THE BUTTER TART,” COTTAGE
tour. Things calmed down after the two LIFE ( JULY 6, 2020), COTTAGELIFE.COM

rd.ca 69
 LIFE LESSON

THE
OWER

O
P

N
OF

karen chapelle, a 50-year-old metal-

work artist in Toronto, has always had
trouble saying no when people ask
Why it’s okay to her for favours. Usually, she’ll respond
turn down favours with a knee-jerk yes—and just as often
find herself regretting it.
“It’s a natural thing for me to want
BY Leah Rumack to help people,” says Chapelle. “It’s a
illustration by ally jaye reeves good feeling to be useful and needed.”
The problem, she adds, is that she has

70 june 2021
reader’s digest

unintentionally trained everyone in To turn down favours without guilt—

her life to expect a yes to their requests, or with less guilt, anyway—Newman
no matter what they are. says to remember that saying yes in the
Chapelle knows her “okaying” to moment means you’ll have to say no
favours, whether requested by co- to somebody or something else later
workers, friends or her family, often at on. View it, she says, as a time manage-
the expense of her own finances, time ment issue as opposed to a good-
or mental health, isn’t good for her. But person-o’meter.
it’s been a hard habit to break. “A lot of us tend to think we can
Many of us get sucked into saying always fit one more thing in,” she says.
yes—even when we’d really rather “But the more you say yes to someone,
not—to avoid conflict, because we feel the more you’re going to be targeted.”
sorry for others, or because we even Always being the go-to person can be
feel ashamed when we put ourselves flattering at first, she adds, until you
first. If you have difficulty figuring out realize you have no time left for yourself.
when, or how, to say no, here are Newman says it can be useful to
some tips for breaking the cycle of make a list of the people whom you
what one psychologist calls “the dis- want to help, and decide in advance
ease to please.” what your general boundaries are
when it comes to demands on your
PRIORITIZE YOUR TIME time. Do you exercise every day at 3?
Learning how to take better care of Do you need to be in bed by 9? Do you
yourself often goes hand in hand with have a standing lunch date every Sat-
learning that you’re allowed to put your urday? Keep these things in mind when
own needs and wants first, and that you’re considering adding to your load
doing so doesn’t make you a jerk. In fact, the parent council fundraiser.
consistently putting yourself last is likely If you don’t want to completely turn
to leave you drained and annoyed—a someone down, Newman suggests put-
sure path to jerky behaviour. ting specific limits on the scope of the
Dr. Susan Newman is an American ask instead—and sticking to it. “Keep-
social psychologist and the author of ing in mind your own needs isn’t self-
The Book of No: 365 Ways to Say It and ish,” she says, “it’s self-preservation.”
Mean It—and Stop People-Pleasing
Forever. Newman’s book argues that LISTEN TO YOUR GUT
always being there for others (to your How can you tell if the favour that’s
own detriment) doesn’t necessarily being asked of you is one you’re going
make you a nicer person; it just makes to resent doing later? Oh, you’ll know.
you miserable. As the bestselling author Sarah Knight

72 june 2021
put it in her 2019 self-help book F*ck personal boundaries, and you’ve
No!: How to Stop Saying Yes When You decided that no, your neighbour can-
Can’t, You Shouldn’t, or You Just Don’t not borrow your lawn mower again.
Want To, any time she felt saying yes But how do you actually say no without
was a bad idea, a little warning voice damaging your relationships or stress-
piped up in her head. She had to learn ing yourself out?
to stop stifling it. In time, the more she “Avoid lengthy explanations,” coun-
truthfully said no to things she didn’t sels Newman. “As soon as you say, ‘Oh,
want to do, the more she was able to I can’t because I have to walk my
get in tune with herself and give other mother-in-law’s dog,’ you’re leaving
things an enthusiastic yes. wiggle room for them to debate with
“If it’s something you really want to you.” It’s sufficient to simply say, “No,
do, you don’t tense up when you’re I can’t do it.”
asked,” explains Newman, “and you’re If that kind of bluntness makes you
happy to do it because it’s for someone uncomfortable, Newman suggests
you trust will likely reciprocate at some keeping at the ready phrases like
point down the road.” While favours “Maybe next time” and “Thanks for
aren’t a scoresheet that need to be asking, but I’m overloaded right now.”
perfectly balanced, she adds, nobody Most importantly, she says, don’t
wants to feel like they’re at the mercy waste time worrying that the person
of a “user” or a “taker”—that person you’ve refused is sitting around think-
who is always asking for something and ing about what a pill you are. They’re
rarely plans on giving anything back. probably not thinking about you at all
Newman says it’s always prudent to and have already moved on to their
be wary of classic taker tactics, such as next target.
flattery (“Oh, but you have to make the Chapelle jokes that she’s spent
baby shower cake because you’re “many, many” hours in therapy learn-
the best at it!”); playing on your sympa- ing how to say no to favours, but it still
thies (“I’ve just been so busy with doesn’t come easily to her. She’s work-
my sick iguana, I haven’t been able ing on being able to say no sometimes
to work enough hours to pay rent”); and not feel terrible for doing so. Often
or pressuring you for an immediate she still does feel guilty, but she’s learn-
answer so you don’t have time to con- ing to live with it. Her new attitude
sider your options. has come with some valuable lessons:
“When you never say no, people take
SAY THE WORD advantage of you, and if you start doing
OK, so you’ve made your chosen favours for the wrong person, you can
people lists, you’ve figured out your get into a lot of trouble.”

rd.ca 73
reader’s digest

A temporary camp
in the Democratic
Republic of the
Congo’s province
of Ituri.

74 june 2021
 SOCIETY

BEARING WITNESS

In his latest assignment for UNICEF, photographer

Roger LeMoyne captures the resilience and
determination of people displaced by ethnic conflict
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

BY Gary Stephen Ross

reader’s digest

the eastern Democratic Republic of the

Congo. The DRC is the second-largest
country in Africa, and its eastern prov-
inces are home to a vast catastrophe.
Ethnic hatred, resource disputes and

Today,
lack of lawful governance have led to
the slaughter of untold thousands of
innocents and the displacement of 4.68
million as of last November.
The intimate empathy of LeMoyne’s
everybody’s a photographer. Millions photos makes it easy to forget that he
of images are uploaded to the Inter- begins each assignment as a stranger
net each day, mainly to Facebook and to his subjects. Does he have a special
Instagram. We have pretty sunsets, gift for self-effacement, a chameleon-
staged food and smiling selfies to last like way of blending in?
an eternity. “Great photo!” friends “The people in these photos can’t
enthuse online. isolate themselves with walls and doors,
But a great photo is more than just a the way people in the West do,” he says.
captured moment. As Roger LeMoyne’s “In a refugee camp, lives are more
work shows us, a great photo serves as porous, more open. And people in
a portal to another time and place, extreme poverty have bigger things to
opening eyes and hearts by sensi- worry about than a guy with a camera.”
tively bearing witness. It speaks of, At day’s end, LeMoyne returns to a
and to, the world. guest house and dinner. He’s keenly
LeMoyne is a 66-year-old Montrealer. aware of his own good fortune, but
He studied cinema at Concordia Uni- other emotions complicate his grati-
versity and, in 1985, took a self-financed tude: frustration, anger, humility and
trip to Papua New Guinea. He sold pho- awe in the face of the human capacity
tos from that trip to Destination, a travel to endure.
magazine of the day. A few years later, “The world’s inequality wasn’t lost
in Manhattan, he walked into a UNICEF on me as a young person,” he says, “but
office on a whim. There, his portfolio with all our advances, it’s stunning that
earned him his first commission, to we still haven’t addressed the core
shoot in Niger. He has since worked in issues—nutrition, security, clean water.
40-odd countries, recording poverty, It staggers the mind that during the
migration and human-rights abuses. three decades since I started this work,
Last fall, UNICEF sent LeMoyne to the world has become not a better place,
document the humanitarian crisis in but an even more unfair one.”

76 june 2021
A mother registering
her children for
school in a camp
in Mweso.

rd.ca 77
reader’s digest

78 june 2021
Clockwise from top left:
A Congolese soldier
pushes a motorbike
laden with produce; a
boy carrying firewood
for cooking fires; Roger
LeMoyne (right) with
his UNICEF driver,
Michel Uyterrhaegen;
children greeting
visitors in a camp in
Bunia, Ituri Province;
a view of a camp on the
outskirts of Fataki, Ituri
Province; nurse Ange
Amani provides a lesson
on nutrition at a health
station run by UNICEF
NGO partner Heal Africa
in Kizimba, North Kivu.

rd.ca 79
reader’s digest

Clockwise from top:

Thousands of people
live at a church in
Drodro, using it as
a sanctuary from the
violence that has
driven them from their
villages; five-year-
old Sifa Havugimana
waits for her turn
to be monitored for
malnutrition; a youth
adjusts his COVID-19
mask in front of
murals depicting
demobilization of
children associated
with armed groups.

80 june 2021
 I handed her the flowers.
“You shouldn’t of!”
WORD PLAY she said.
I took them back.
“Have,” I whispered.
— @ISCOFF

I used to love correcting

people’s grammar, until
I realized that I loved
having friends more.
— MARA WILSON, actress

Trick Question
Q: Which word becomes
shorter after you add
two letters to it?
A: Short.
— ABIGAIL OGLE, newscaster

“Waiter! There’s a dangling participle People found guilty of

in my alphabet soup!” not using punctuation
deserve the longest
Q: Why is nostalgia Mind Your Language sentence possible.
like grammar? I just noticed a typo in a — @SIXTHFORMPOET
A: We find the present text I sent two days ago
tense and the past and now I have to move I’ve been reading the
perfect. to a new city and thesaurus lately,
— UPJOKE.COM change my name. because a mind is a ter-
— JOSH GONDELMAN, writer rible thing to garbage.
Q: What’s the difference — @DINOKITTEN
between a cat and a Red Flags
SUSAN CAMILLERI KONAR

comma? Q: Why should you

Send us your original
A: One has claws at the never date an
jokes! You could earn
end of the paws. The apostrophe? $50 and be featured
other is a pause at A: They’re too in the magazine. See
the end of a clause. possessive. page 7 or rd.ca/joke
— @ANDREW_MASON1 — @WHATTHEFOOLE for details.

rd.ca 81
 HEART

My mom’s 80th birthday tattoo is

just the latest example of her wild,
newfound independence

GOLDEN
YEARS BY Mark Angus Hamlin FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL
illustration by genevieve ashley

when your mother enters her ninth hill to the family cottage in Gatineau,
decade, you make a point of being her mental faculties seem to have
a little extra vigilant for any signs of remained largely intact. But when she
decline—memory loss, bouts of repe- got inked after turning 80 last Septem-
tition, a general acceleration of age- ber, I had to wonder.
related deterioration. To celebrate Mom’s landmark birth-
Thankfully, my mother has been day, we were planning a large party,
blessed with good health, and although but then, of course, everything had to
she now needs to take someone’s arm be cancelled because of COVID-19.
while walking slowly up and down the After all, her entire social circle is high

82 june 2021
reader’s digest

risk, composed as it is of septuagenar- turns out, she had barely spent any
ian and octogenarian friends from her time alone, after hiring a taxi driver to
book (wine) club, her garden (wine) show her around Istanbul for a few
club and her church. days. He took her to all the sites—the
Instead, we arranged a small outdoor souks, mosques and restaurants. He
family lunch on the deck at the lake. introduced her to a rug vendor, “a lovely
My mother looks just like many fellow,” and she bought some rugs.
grandmothers. She is short, plump and The vendor had taken her address
white-haired. She’s rosy-cheeked details and promised to ship them to
and jolly, and when she laughs her Canada. They would be arriving in
eyes almost seem to disappear behind three or four weeks. My mother
those chubby cheeks. She comes from beamed as she told this story. The rug
an old, traditional Catholic family in vendor and my mother apparently
Ottawa, where she currently lives. She struck up quite a friendship and she
was a career civil servant, first in had told him to please drop by if he
England and then in Canada. In short, were ever in Canada.
she didn’t do crazy stuff.
That all changed a few years ago. She
began to surprise my older brother and SHE’D BOOKED A
me with bouts of what she described SEVEN-NIGHT TRIP
as “independence.” At the time, we TO TURKEY. ALONE.
merely saw them as examples of irre-
sponsibility and possibly age-related BECAUSE SHE HAD
questionable judgment. NEVER BEEN.
In early 2015, the year she turned 75,
she informed us she’d booked a seven-
night trip to Turkey. Alone. Because We couldn’t believe how naive she
she had never been. Of course, that had been and duly sat her down to
was absurd. There was no way my explain that she had been duped. The
brother and I could allow that. A vul- vendor had her money (and plenty of
nerable, little old lady wandering the it, as she had declined to haggle). She
streets of Istanbul on her own, not neither had nor would she be receiving
speaking a word of Turkish, with no any rugs. And, of course, she had no
knowledge of the laws and customs of possible recourse.
the land—it was out of the question! Well, we were wrong.
She paid no attention to us. Off she To our great shock, her rugs did
went. When she returned, she told us arrive some weeks later, along with a
it had been a wonderful success. As it lovely note from Mustafa. To our even

84 june 2021
greater surprise, the following year My brother and I eyed each other.
Mustafa himself arrived in Canada. He Was she joking? Recent history would
called our mother to inform her he was say no. What the heck does Mom know
in Ottawa. about tattoos? She goes to church,
“I invited him over and he came by not to tattoo parlours. And really, an
for a cup of tea. They drink a lot of tea 80-year-old woman going to a tattoo
in Turkey,” my mother told my horri- parlour during a pandemic? It seemed
fied brother and me. so absurd we really didn’t believe it.
She hardly knew this man! But Six days later, she had a very tasteful
again, she paid us little attention and butterfly on the outside of her left ankle.
told us to stop being silly. My brother and I wondered: Is she
At 77, she did a similar thing while on not thinking straight? And if so, is it
a Caribbean cruise with her younger because she’s getting on a bit? But
sister. Upon disembarking in Cuba, she while my brother and I worried about
wandered off on her own, flagged down her, Mom showed us that she was still
a motorcycle rickshaw and had the sound of mind. In fact, maybe she’s
driver “show her around the island” for thinking straighter than most of us.
several hours. Of course, she neglected Her streak of independence seems to
to inform her sister of her plans (“she be thoughtfully based on a realization
would have worried”), causing my aunt that life is to be lived, and when there’s
to spend the entire afternoon searching relatively little of it left, it needs to be
for our mother. My aunt didn’t find her lived, well, now. It reminded me of the
until Mom returned just before the ship line from The Shawshank Redemption:
was due to depart. She had been sam- “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
pling a local drink with “some very nice Like most of us during the pandemic,
Cubans” at a bar “somewhere off in the she has spent lots of time away from
forest, just a shack of a place, really.” many of the people she loves. The tattoo
Still, her 80th birthday was when she was her way of flipping 2020 the bird.
really outdid herself. Sitting on the cot- And we couldn’t be prouder of her.
tage deck for a physically distanced, I don’t think Mom knows what her
outdoor birthday lunch with her sib- next big “thing” is. She’s a little old lady
lings and children, Mom informed us who sits in her apartment in Ottawa,
that she had decided the time had but she won’t sit still much longer.
come to get a tattoo. Her first. It would Sure, she’s prone to folly, though
be her 80th birthday present to herself. maybe that’s what we need right now.
She had been thinking about it for Some pointless, wonderful folly.
some time, apparently, and her mind © 2021, MARK ANGUS HAMLIN. FROM “A TATTOO FOR
TURNING 80?,” THE GLOBE AND MAIL ( JANUARY 5, 2021),
was made up. THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM

rd.ca 85
 EDITORS’ CHOICE

I hadn’t seen my childhood best friend

in 20 years. Would we finally talk about that
terrible night from so long ago?
C AT C H I N G U P
BY Cathrin Bradbury FROM THE BRIGHT SIDE
illustration by nikki ernst

86 june 2021
reader’s digest

Hello Meryl. This is my best

60th birthday present.

(PREVIOUS SPREAD, STREET IMAGE) GRIMSBY HISTORICAL SOCIETY/FACEBOOK

Long time no see. xx Cathrin
I tapped my note to Meryl the same 12 or 13, might have gone out for an
night she sent me a birthday text. It epic winter adventure, leaping over the
was our first communication, I should ice hills that rimmed the shore of Lake
mention, in 20 years. We’d met as Ontario. Newly 60, that sounded like at
schoolgirls when we were six and were least one broken hip. Meryl wrote back
each other’s first friend. It wasn’t that within minutes, and we were off.
we’d meant to drift apart—it was just I thought about the first time I saw
life, really—but after so many years the Meryl across a paved schoolyard in
silence between us had become too Grimsby, Ont., our hometown. (I’ve
deep to breach. This birthday text was changed Meryl’s name, at her request,
momentous, in other words. Let’s call for this story.) She was dark-eyed and
it Stage One of the reunification. watchful, like me, and it was like rec-
The temperature outside my Toronto ognizing something important in
house had nosedived to -18 C. It was myself. Meryl, in her first text back,
the kind of night when Meryl and I, at suggested we meet in the real world,

88 june 2021
but that felt a bit hasty. Sometimes I memories made my version of things
didn’t think about Meryl at all, some- less dubious. It had been a long time,
times I thought about her a lot, but if ever, since I’d felt that I was a reliable
the one constant was that she was keeper of the past.
safely situated in the past. This one- We caught up on our adult lives, too,
text-away Meryl was very present, and as we texted back and forth. She still
I proceeded with caution. worked as a florist, as she had when
As we texted back and forth over the we’d last spoken. And she’d stayed in
next few days, Meryl was the first to the same Ontario town she’d moved
relax into randomness, describing a to when she married, and raised her
bird or tree outside the window of her three daughters there. Still in the same
home, or remembering some old boy- house, it is now yellow.
friend or other. We lingered on the soft Our moms were a steady topic. They
pillow of nostalgia but didn’t smother were both 91 and both living. Or, to put
ourselves with it. it another way, they were both 91 and

I CALLED FROM UNDER MY COVERS, AND SHE

ANSWERED UNDER HERS. WE PICKED UP WHERE
WE LEFT OFF—WE UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER.

The memory-syncing part was cool both dying. My mom had just lost the
and mysterious. When Meryl men- part of her mind that would have
tioned the Tea Room on top of the remembered our childhood, while Viv-
Grimsby escarpment, a rickety stick ian was in her right mind but couldn’t
building suddenly appeared in my talk properly after a recent stroke
mind. It was made of logs, wrote Meryl, affected her speech. Our mothers’ con-
and the Tea Room stopped wobbling. nection to each other, separate from
Giving it shape together made our Meryl and me, was mostly invisible to
memories, if not free of falsehood—we us growing up, but it was a subterra-
both tilted toward the positive—then nean current in our lives. Meryl was
at least real. The magnificent magnolia the first person I texted when my
tree at Livingston and Main needed mom collapsed, and after she died, I
no prompting: Big! Bold! Pink! But remembered that I hadn’t asked about
more satisfying than putting Grimsby Meryl’s father, Clayton, a handsome,
back together again was that Meryl’s broad-shouldered man with a head of

rd.ca 89
reader’s digest

thick black hair. Clay died 12 years ago, train that gets you in at 5 on Friday ...
wrote Meryl. Is it a GO train or a real train? —which
On March 15 at 7 p.m., 11 days after was when I realized how old we’d
Mom’s funeral, Meryl and I had the become. Of course, I lost her at Union
Phone Call. Our first phone call, I’ll Station. Where are you?!? … I am here!!
mention again, in 20 years. I was ner- … Where is here?? Cue 15 more texts
vous enough to think of texting that until I saw Meryl across the chaos of
I was sick, or tired, or sad—at least two the station’s endless renovation. Her
of which were true. I called Meryl from head leaned left like the first time I
under my covers, and she answered saw her. We laughed as we hugged and
from under her covers, and we picked mostly stared at each other on the sub-
up where we’d left off. Neither of us way until we got to my house.
finished our sentences, instead let- After a night in Toronto, our plan
ting our thoughts dangle dementedly. was to return to our childhood home-
“I just think … Here’s what I’d say town. The next morning, we took the
about that … My strong feeling there bus to Grimsby, about two hours away.
is…” Our conversation would have been The sun was high and bright but gave

WE EXCHANGED AT LEAST 15 TEXTS

ABOUT THE TIME OF HER ARRIVAL. I REALIZED
HOW OLD WE’D BECOME.

mind-numbingly inane to anyone else, no heat. We walked past the giant pink
but we understood each other. We’d magnolia tree, now severely pruned,
grown up in the same place, we saw and bought flowers to put on Meryl’s
things the same way, we didn’t need to father’s grave, which was on the escarp-
explain ourselves. ment. We walked the path to the top,
That Meryl and I were moving irre- and just as we called out our hous-
vocably toward the Meeting filled me es—“there, there”—like we did when
with unease. We chose the weekend we were kids, two red-tailed hawks
of April 25, when she was to arrive by circled overhead, their tails turning
train at Union Station early on a Friday golden in the sunshine. They cocked
evening. There were at least 15 texts their heads to look at us, as if we were
about the time of this arrival—Meryl, I the unexpected ones. Meryl took the
woke up thinking you should get the hawks as a sign, I wasn’t sure of what.

90 june 2021
(PHOTOS) COURTESY OF CATHRIN BRADBURY; (PHOTO FRAMES) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/KEMIE

The author at age 6 (left) and

attending Expo 68 at age 12.

We made our way to Clay’s grave, intimacy. “I think of Vivian as more my

where we put our flowers on the stone own age,” I said. “Of course that’s not
Vivian had designed; it would soon be right, but you know what I mean.”
hers as well. Meryl lingered under the “I can’t wait to tell her you said that.
struggling sun, and I stayed a little ways She liked being one of us.”
back until she was ready to leave. I poked at my arugula salad. “I’m
sorry I didn’t know Clay died, Meryl.”
BACK IN TORONTO that evening, we had I wiped the smudge of lipstick off my
dinner at a midtown bistro, and finally wine glass with my napkin and won-
got to the hard conversation, about the dered not for the first time how people
night when Meryl tried to kill herself. didn’t leave crumbs or smudges, a tal-
“I can’t believe Vivian is 91,” I said. I’d ent I couldn’t master. Meryl’s place
asked for seats at the bar because I and glass were both pristine, like her
thought it would be more intimate to memory. Even when I thought I knew
be side by side, but I saw my mistake something, like the right direction to
right away. To Meryl, with people on take in traffic (so, so rare) or the turn
either side and a bartender hustling in of a story from the past, I mostly kept
front, the bar felt like a decision against it to myself. There were other ways to

rd.ca 91
reader’s digest

get at the truth. Also, I didn’t care about could I have forgotten that? I racked
being right the way some people did, my brain for a new subject.
that was the simple fact. Meryl looked at me calmly. I was
“When I saw the hawks today, I kind beginning to suspect that I was the pan-
of thought it was your mom and my icker, not she. “No, I want to,” she said
dad, protecting us.” after a while. “I mean, I never have, but
“I love that,” I said, but really I was I want to now.”
having a hard time concentrating. It We both paused then, and I thought
hadn’t been a plan, exactly, to talk about about the part of the story I knew. It
that long-ago night, but after 24 hours would have been a couple of years after
of conversation, it had begun to seem the creek-bed climb. Meryl was 14, and
pathologically evasive not to. Forty- she took enough pills to die. Vivian
five years had passed, enough time per- rushed her to the hospital, barely in
haps to finally broach the subject. time to save her life.
“So I guess there are a couple of “Things weren’t great at home in that
things we haven’t talked about this time, you’ll recall,” Meryl said finally.
weekend. Like that night?” She looked me straight in the face

WE’D FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGED THE THING

THAT WAS NEVER DISCUSSED. WE’D SAID IT
OUT LOUD. THAT WAS PLENTY.

Meryl didn’t change the subject so and waited. “Yeah,” I said, although I
much as make her way toward it, ahead didn’t really recall, or perhaps only
of us in the distance. “Remember the faintly. We’d finally acknowledged the
time we climbed the mountain by thing we’d never discussed. We’d said
the creek bed? We would have been 12 out loud that it had happened, and that
or so. I remember that.” was enough. That was plenty.
“I think so.” I saw the faintest sparkle “You weren’t depressed or anything,”
of a creek as I dabbed my finger at a I said.
lingering crumb. “We don’t have to Meryl kept looking at me, until she
talk about that night.” seemed to make a decision to leave it
Talking about difficult things was there. “I often think if my mom hadn’t
not who we were, Meryl and me. Not come to my room and asked me if I
talking was what bound us, even. How wanted pizza, I’d be dead now. I often

92 june 2021
wonder about that.” She looked down she felt kind of funny. “Cool,” I’d said,
at her lap, then up again at me. “And and went back to watching Star Trek or
your mother was very kind in that time. whatever was on TV. But as we talked
She tried to help me, after. She took me on our shaky bar stools, what happened
to see a priest and told me I could talk after that call took on more shape.
to her anytime.” “I’m pretty sure my mom told your
“I remember being mortified that mom, and that’s why Vivian went into
she took you to a priest, of all things.” I your room.” My words seemed to ring
rolled my eyes, which made me wob- out, although I was speaking quietly.
ble slightly on my bar stool. “No, that’s not how it happened,”
“I think maybe I’m more religious Meryl said, and I might have left it
than you are now.” Meryl let me absorb there because she’d been right about
this new idea of her before she contin- everything else. “It was dinnertime.
ued her story. “Your mom taking me My mom thought I was hungry.” Meryl
to a priest was an act of concern. There smoothed her napkin on her lap and
wasn’t therapy or anything remotely spoke again without looking up. “How
like that. It was a private, shameful would your mom even have known?”

MY HEART WAS POUNDING. I WAS GETTING IN

THE WAY OF HOW MERYL REMEMBERED THAT
NIGHT, BUT MY WORDS CAME TOO FAST.

event. Even now, it’s a shameful event. My heart was pounding. I was get-
No one, not even you and me, Cath- ting in the way of how Meryl remem-
rin—we never talked about it.” It wasn’t bered that night, but my words were
exactly an accusation. too fast for me. “She knew because
I skated over the fact that it had taken when I hung up the phone, I told her,”
me almost five decades to mention that I said, and I knew that it was true.
night and instead went back to what I Even though, at 15, I’d made hiding
knew: that Meryl had called me and told things from Mom a defining purpose
me she’d taken pills from the medicine of my teenage life, I must have under-
cabinet. I thought she was trying to get stood that Meryl’s life, and in a way
high, our steady preoccupation once mine too, depended on my telling
we became teenagers, and asked her if Mom, because what might life have
it felt good. She said it did, but also that been if my best friend had died that

rd.ca 93
reader’s digest

night—on my watch? Not great, was “I’m proud of myself, how I rallied,”
my guess. Now, sitting side by side Meryl said. It was a statement, for both
with Meryl, I wasn’t only sure that my of us. “It took longer than people real-
memory of that night was accurate, I ized.” All weekend I’d been carrying
cared that it was. around the idea that I needed to take
“If that’s true, then it was your mother care of Meryl, and in that moment, I
who saved my life,” Meryl said. She let it go. She didn’t need looking after
looked directly at me. “If that’s true, by anyone.
then it was you who saved my life.” Back at my house, we put on our
“Well, you called me, so I guess you mothers’ pyjamas, as we’d agreed we
saved your own life.” would. We were both wearing our
We both took time to settle after that. mothers’ clothes a lot at this point. I
I became so lost in my thoughts that wore Mom’s red and black silk muu-
when I looked at Meryl again, I was muu with its massive flapping arms.
surprised to see her still sitting beside This muumuu had been her sister
me. She looked like she’d wandered a Mary’s, and Mom never washed it
long way too. because it smelled of Mary and now I

I’D BEEN CARRYING AROUND THE IDEA THAT

I NEEDED TO TAKE CARE OF MERYL. SHE DIDN’T
NEED LOOKING AFTER BY ANYONE.

“It wasn’t a condition, you know,” didn’t wash it because it smelled of

she said. “It was an episode. That’s how Mom. That’s 30 years of smell on one
I think of it.” muumuu. Meryl came out of my spare
“Yes, I get that.” bedroom in her mother’s leopard-
“I don’t talk about it because I print silk pyjamas.
don’t want to be defined by it. I’m not “Very Vivian,” I said.
defined by it.” “Very Vivian,” she said. Meryl liked to
“I think that’s true,” I said. “It was an repeat my words; it was her empathy.
incident, not a lifelong affliction.” Inci- The next day, she left Toronto with a
dent, episode, that night, that time, simple, factual question she could take
before, after—we were careful with our to her mother about the sequence of
words. The other words felt too violent, events that night. They hadn’t talked
and further from the truth. about it either, so it wasn’t a small thing

94 june 2021
when Meryl sat with Vivian and asked ordinariness was this hugeness, like
her, “Mom, did you come to my room Meryl said.
that night because Mrs. Bradbury had Six weeks after Meryl’s visit, Vivian
called you?” And my mom locked eyes died, and it was remarkable how that
with me, her eyes wide and so much midtown bistro conversation hap-
pain in them, and she didn’t have the pened when it did, exactly between
words, but she nodded yes. Meryl the deaths of our mothers. It changed
wrote this to me right away. To have things for Meryl and me after that—if
this talk finally when she could no lon- only we could have told our moms.
ger talk. It was strange, Cathrin. It was Meryl would have asked Vivian to for-
sad. It was huge. give her and told her how glad she was
I read the note from Meryl in my to have lived that night. And I’d have
kitchen and started to cry, my tears told Mom that I finally understood
plopping onto the round white table. she had been my ally in important and
It sounds dramatic to say that, because even life-saving ways. My idea of her
getting the details right about that changed, but not only that, a new idea
long-past night was simple enough. of myself began to take hold, a more
Mom, Vivian and I would have done reliable, less rickety one, like the Tea
anything to save Meryl, so it didn’t Room on the escarpment. I noticed
matter who told whom. But knowing something begin to grow in myself. A
that it was all four of us, and that Viv- voice, maybe.
ian and Meryl had been able finally
EXCERPTED FROM THE BRIGHT SIDE, BY CATHRIN
to nod that truth to each other? And BRADBURY. COPYRIGHT © 2021, CATHRIN BRADBURY.
PUBLISHED BY VIKING CANADA, AN IMPRINT OF
knowing for sure that I hadn’t gone PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA LIMITED.
REPRODUCED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE
back to my Star Trek show. Beside the PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Greatest Weakness
Cell phones are so convenient that they’re an inconvenience.
HARUKI MURAKAMI, NOVELIST

Do I want to be on the subway looking

at these people, or do I want to be in my phone
looking at my people?
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, MEDIA THEORIST

You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative.

The jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers.
WALTER LIPPMANN, JOURNALIST

rd.ca 95
reader’s digest

reader’s digest

BOOK CLUB

THE CREEP
by Michael LaPointe
$23, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

who wrote it: When Canadian writer

Michael LaPointe was a kid, he’d keep
himself busy by writing pulpy mini-
novels based on TV shows and movies.
Years later, as a freelance journalist
reporting for a magazine about a
vicious feud over an infamous pearl,
he found himself travelling to remote
cities to interview people suspected
of hiring contract killers. Electrified
and terrified by those experiences,
he picked up his childhood pastime,
infusing The Creep—his debut thriller—
with all the heart-pounding doom
and anxiety he’d experienced as a
crime reporter.
Every month, what it’s about: In the paranoid months
we recommend a new after 9/11, Whitney Chase, a hard-
drinking magazine journalist, is on
must-read book. Here’s staff at the Harper’s-esque magazine
what you need to know. The Bystander. But she has a secret: in
her previous jobs, she fabricated sto-
ries, embellished details and invented
BY Emily Landau characters. She’s always tempted to fall
back on bad habits. But now Whitney

96 june 2021
has stumbled upon the story of a life-
time. Rubicon, a flashy biotech arm of Get More RD
a sprawling conglomerate, has devised
a formula to produce synthetic blood
for transfusions, potentially saving
FOR FREE!
thousands of lives. It seems too good
to be true—and it is. Soon, Whitney is Sign up for the Daily
unravelling a nefarious global con- Digest newsletter.
spiracy and learning the gruesome
truth about this liquid concoction. All More laughs, more health
the while, a vengeful magazine fact- advice, more housekeeping
checker lurks on the periphery, threat- hacks and brainteasers—and
ening to uncover Whitney’s own his-
tory of professional misconduct.
more, more, more! A roundup
of our top stories, every
why you’ll love it: Like all high- morning in your inbox.
velocity thrillers, this one is loaded
with grisly twists and outlandish sce- rd.ca/newsletter
narios. But it also taps into the fears
that linger in all of our newsfeeds: the
unchecked power of corporations,
the reliability of our news media, the
murky ethics of biotech innovations.
Whitney, meanwhile, is a great addi-
tion to the pantheon of charmingly
unlikable characters, those enigmas
who skate the line between lovable
and deplorable. She’s droll and canny,
with a hard-shelled knack for self-
preservation, yet she’s always locked
in a desperate battle against her own
worst instincts. The novel builds as
much tension around her seemingly
inevitable relapse as it does around the
macabre blood experiments at Rubi-
con. It’s eerie, sharp and a little zany—
the perfect escapist read for a rainy
cottage weekend.
reader’s digest

BRAINTEASERS

21 14 19 23 4 8 22

1 to 25 24 1 20
Moderately difficult Move the
numbers from the outer ring
onto the board. Each number 3 18
must be placed in one of the five
cells that lie in the direction 17 9
indicated by its chevron. The

(1 TO 25) JEFF WIDDERICH; (MATHELOGICAL) FRASER SIMPSON; (FAVOURITE THINGS) EMILY GOODMAN
numbers must snake together 13 5
vertically, horizontally or diago-
nally so they link in sequence
from 1 to 25. (For example, 2 6 12
must be adjacent to both 1 and
3.) There’s only one solution. 25 15 16 11 2 7 10
Can you find it?

Mathelogical Favourite Things

Difficult Each A B C Easy Amar, Oriana, Rosa and
letter in the grid Brodie each have a different
stands for one D E F favourite activity from among
of the whole the following: rock climbing,
numbers from kayaking, cooking lessons and
1 through 9. No G H J zip-lining. Can you figure out
two of them rep- who likes what, based on the
resent the same following clues?
number. With the help of the clues, can Q Amar’s favourite activity isn’t
you figure out which letter stands for what? rock climbing.
1. B × F = the two-digit number AB Q Oriana is afraid of heights.
2. B + J = G Q Rosa can’t do her favourite
3. D × D = the two-digit number BC activity without a harness.
4. One of the rows contains only Q Brodie likes to keep his feet
odd numbers. on solid ground at all times.

98 june 2021
 Trains
Moderately difficult This map
shows Luisa, her destination 80 km
and three train routes she can 60 km
take to get there. Each segment 50 km
of track has a different speed 30 km
limit, indicated by the speeds A 120 km/h
shown. The distances of each 15
segment are indicated by B 0
km
their colours and the legend
C 10
0k /h
m/
to the right. Presuming that h
120 km/h

90 km
each train always goes at the

10
0
top permitted speed and

km

h /
/h
doesn’t stop anywhere along
the way, which route (A, B or C)
120 km/h
is the fastest?

Dominoes
Easy A standard double-six set of 28 dominoes has been arranged in a rectangle.
Can you draw in the lines to show the placement of the dominoes? We’ve listed the
28 dominoes so you can cross them off as you find them.
(TRAINS) SUE DOHRIN; (DOMINOES) FRASER SIMPSON

For answers, turn to PAGE 103

rd.ca 99
reader’s digest

11. The proposed Jane

TRIVIA Goodall Act seeks to ban
all imports of what animal
product into Canada?
BY Beth Shillibeer
12. According to legend,
Pharaoh Pepi II had ser-
1. Prince William’s 6. Which Star Trek actor vants cover themselves in
Earthshot Prize promises stormed the beach at what substance in order to
one million pounds for Normandy during World lure flies away from him?
solutions to what kind of War II as part of the Cana-
global problem? dian infantry? 13. At 4,528 metres,
Mount Kirkpatrick is the
2. Tunnels, road 7. What British screen highest peak of which
closures and human- legend reads bedtime mountain chain?
assisted crossings aid stories on her new pod-
the migration of what cast for families? 14. Rubik’s Cubes, magic
animals in Europe squares and logic puzzles
and Canada? 8. Velocipede, penny far- are examples of what
thing, gravel, randonneur branch of mathematics?
3. What was distinctive and folding are all types
about baseball pitcher of what?
Jackie Mitchell, who
struck out Babe Ruth 9. Which centenarian
and Lou Gehrig during was featured on the cover
a 1931 exhibition game? of Guinness World Records
2021 after breaking two
4. What fiction genre records in 2020 and pass-
addresses the effects of ing away earlier this year?
climate change? 15. In efforts to create
10. Astronauts have bespoke products, some
5. What European compared what attribute beauty companies are
country plans to house of outer space to hot collecting DNA from cli-
all of its residents metal, seared steak and ents to map the micro-
by 2027? raspberries? biome of what organ?
ISTOCK.COM/D3DAMON

tica. 14. Recreational maths. 15. The skin.

10. Its smell. 11. Elephant ivory and trophies. 12. Honey. 13. Transantarctic Mountains, Antarc-
4. Cli-fi. 5. Finland. 6. James Doohan (Scotty). 7. Julie Andrews. 8. Bicycle. 9. Captain Tom Moore.
Answers: 1. Environmental issues. 2. Toads and frogs. 3. She was a 17-year-old girl.

100 june 2021

 WORD POWER
10. melatonin—
A: colour of brain tissues.
B: brain-freeze sensation.
The human brain is amazingly complex. C: hormone that helps
Make some new connections in yours with regulate sleep cycles.
this cerebral quiz. 11. endorphins—
A: effects of loneliness on
the mind. B: pain-
BY Samantha Rideout
relieving peptides.
C: medical brain images.

1. neurodiversity— 5. neuroethics—A: study 12. amygdala—

range of A: differences in of ethical issues in neuro- A: almond-shaped brain
brain function. B: brain- science. B: forms required region involved in emo-
cell types. C: opinions. for neurosurgery. C: ethics tion. B: herb preventing
of artificial intelligence. cognitive decline. C: ani-
2. hemisphere— mal without a brain.
A: shape of the brain. 6. lesion—A: neuron
B: one half of the cere- connection. B: moment 13. meninges—
brum. C: helmet used to of disorientation. C: dam- A: people of exceptional
record brain activity. aged body region. intelligence. B: standard-
ized cognitive tests.
3. glymphatic system— 7. genome—A: gene that C: membranes that
system that A: clears affects the risk of stroke. cushion the brain.
waste from the brain and B: gene-naming system.
spinal cord. B: regulates C: complete set of genes 14. psychoactive—
brain temperature. in an organism. A: affecting the mind.
C: carries signals between B: fully alert. C: using
the brain and body. 8. fissures—A: grooves most of the brain.
on the brain. B: thought
4. oxytocin— A: medica- habits. C: automatic activ- 15. proprioception—
tion for attention deficit ities such as blinking. A: awareness of others’
hyperactivity disorder. feelings. B: perception of
B: hormone and neuro- 9. frontal lobes—brain the body’s position and
transmitter involved in area involved in A: orien- movement. C: hallucina-
social bonding. C: tech- tation. B: self-control. tion brought on by sleep
nique for inducing calm. C: colour perception. deprivation.

rd.ca 101
reader’s digest

WORD POWER people with lesions in the emotion; as, Amygdala

ANSWERS brain helps scientists
learn how its different
damage can affect the
ability to feel afraid.
parts function.
13. meninges—C: mem-
1. neurodiversity— 7. genome—C: complete branes that cushion the
A: range of differences in set of genes in an organ- brain; as, Childhood vac-
brain function; as, Autism ism; as, At least a third of cines help protect the
is part of humanity’s nat- the genes in the human meninges from life-
ural neurodiversity. genome are expressed threatening infections.
primarily in the brain.
2. hemisphere—B: one 14. psychoactive—
half of the cerebrum; as, 8. fissures—A: grooves A: affecting the mind; as,
Despite popular belief, on the brain; as, Fissures Mantreh didn’t enjoy the
people don’t tend to use allow humans to fit a large psychoactive effects of
one brain hemisphere cerebral cortex into a rel- cannabis.
more than another. atively small skull.
15. proprioception—
3. glymphatic system— 9. frontal lobes— B: perception of the
A: system that clears B: brain area involved in body’s position and move-
waste from the brain and self-control; as, The fron- ment; as, Proprioception
spinal cord; as, The glym- tal lobes are found right lets you sense where your
phatic system operates behind the forehead. limbs are, even when
mainly during sleep. your eyes are closed.
10. melatonin—C: hor-
4. oxytocin—B: hormone mone that helps regulate
and neurotransmitter sleep cycles; as, The brain CROSSWORD
involved in social bond- produces melatonin in ANSWERS
ing; as, Oxytocin is popu- response to darkness.
larly called “the cuddle FROM PAGE 104
chemical.” 11. endorphins—
A L I B I T O U T
B: pain-relieving peptides;
P E N I N R O S A
5. neuroethics—A: study as, Produced naturally by P A D O F P A P E R
of ethical issues in neuro- the body, endorphins inter- U C P L T E
science; as, The uses of act with the same brain M A N S P R E A D
brain-stimulation tools are receptors as opioid drugs. I T A L A S N O
C R I B N O T E S
a hot topic in neuroethics. S I L A B E
12. amygdala— F O S S I L D I G S
6. lesion—C: damaged A: almond-shaped brain L U S T L O A T H
body region; as, Studying region involved in E T S Y Y O N G E

102 june 2021

 BRAINTEASERS
ANSWERS SUDOKU

'30.
1"(&
 #:
Jeff Widderich

7 5 4 3
6
9 8
2 1 5 3
Mathelogical 3 9 6 8
2 4 9
7 8 6
5 3 1
6 5 2 4
Favourite Things
4 9
Amar likes to zip-line,
Oriana likes to kayak,
1
Rosa likes rock climbing
and Brodie enjoys cook-
4 8 2 7
ing lessons.
To Solve This Puzzle
Trains
Route A, which will take Put a number from 1 to 9 in
70 minutes. each empty square so that: SOLUTION
1 3 7 2 8 4 6 9 5
Dominoes )every horizontal row and 6 5 2 9 3 7 1 4 8
vertical column contains all 9 8 4 5 6 1 2 3 7
nine numbers (1-9) without 4 9 1 7 2 3 5 8 6
repeating any of them; 2 7 8 6 5 9 3 1 4
3 6 5 4 1 8 9 7 2

)each of the outlined 3 x 3

5 4 3 1 7 6 8 2 9
7 1 6 8 9 2 4 5 3
boxes has all nine numbers, 8 2 9 3 4 5 7 6 1
none repeated.

rd.ca 103
reader’s digest

CROSSWORD

Four Quarters 37 Knick-knack website

38 Major Toronto artery

DOWN
BY Barbara Olson 1 TikTok or Trello
2 Grassland
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 Like Jody Wilson-
Raybould, politically:
10 11 Abbr.
4 About-the-author bit
12 13 5 For kicks and giggles
6 Andrews role Maria von
14 15 16 ___
7 Alley-___
17 18 19 8 Like a chocolate teapot,
it is said
20 21 22 9 Tam pattern, often
13 Mac rivals
23 24 25 26
16 Tokyo, before 1868
17 Send off, as Christmas
27 28
cards
29 30 31 32 33 34 18 Neighbour of Greece:
Abbr.
35 36 19 Canadian funnywoman
Lara
37 38 20 Suffix with “robot”
and “hero”
21 Boozy, gooey sponge
ACROSS 17 Guy’s dwelling? cake
1 Crime cover story? 20 Slanted writing: Abbr. 24 “So gross!”
6 Extol the virtues of 22 Come ___ surprise (be 25 ___-Wan Kenobi
10 With ___ hand (poised expected) 26 Brit’s “boob tube”
to sign) 23 Thoughts jotted about 30 Deflating sound?
11 Noted bus rider Parks one’s dwelling? 31 “Yabba dabba ___!”
12 Dwelling liable to tear in 27 Part of RSVP 32 Newsman Hanomansing
the wind and get soggy 28 “Honest” US prez 33 Texter’s “ta ta”
in the rain? 29 Really, really old dwelling? 34 Ship’s pronoun
14 Jason Kenney’s grp. 35 ___ for life (joie de vivre)
15 Smartphone network std. 36 Very reluctant (to) For answers, turn to PAGE 102

104 june 2021