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David Mayernik is an architect, artist, writer, educator and most of all, he is a life-long student. David grew up in Allentown Pennsylvania. As he tells us during this episode, even at a young age of two he already loved to draw. He says he always had a pencil and paper with him and he used them constantly. His mother kept many of his drawings and he still has many of them to this day.   After graduating from University of Notre Dame David held several positions with various architectural firms. He always believed that he learned more by teaching himself, however, and eventually he decided to leave the professional world of architecture and took teaching positions at Notre Dame. He recently retired and is now Professor Emeritus at Notre Dame.   Our conversation is far ranging including discussions of life, the importance of learning and growing by listening to your inner self. David offers us many wonderful and insightful lessons and thoughts we all can use. We even talk some about about how technology such as Computer Aided Design systems, (CAD), are affecting the world of Architecture. I know you will enjoy what David has to say. Please let me know your thoughts through email at michaelhi@accessibe.com.     About the Guest:   David Mayernik is an architect, artist, writer, and educator. He was born in 1960 in Allentown, Pennsylvania; his parents were children of immigrants from Slovakia and Italy. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and the British Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, and has won numerous grants, awards and competitions, including the Gabriel Prize for research in France, the Steedman Competition, and the Minnesota State Capitol Grounds competition (with then partner Thomas N. Rajkovich). In 1995 he was named to the decennial list of the top forty architects in the United States under forty. In the fall of 2022, he was a resident at the Bogliasco Foundation in Liguria and the Cini foundation in Venice.   His design work for the TASIS campus in Switzerland over twenty-eight years has been recognized with a Palladio Award from Traditional Building magazine, an honorable mention in the INTBAU Excellence Awards, and a jury prize from the Prix Européen d'Architecture Philippe Rotthier. TASIS Switzerland was named one of the nine most beautiful boarding schools in the world by AD Magazine in March 2024. For ten years he also designed a series of new buildings for TASIS England in Surrey.   David Mayernik studied fresco painting with the renowned restorer Leonetto Tintori, and he has painted frescoes for the American Academy in Rome, churches in the Mugello and Ticino, and various buildings on the TASIS campus in Switzerland. He designed stage sets for the Haymarket Opera company of Chicago for four seasons between 2012 and 2014. He won the competition to paint the Palio for his adopted home of Lucca in 2013. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in New York, Chicago, London, Innsbruck, Rome, and Padova and featured in various magazines, including American Artist and Fine Art Connoisseur.   David Mayernik is Professor Emeritus with the University of Notre Dame, where for twenty years he taught in the School of Architecture. He is the author of two books, The Challenge of Emulation in Art and Architecture (Routledge, UK) and Timeless Cities: An Architect's Reflections on Renaissance Italy, (Basic Books), and numerous essays and book chapters, including “The Baroque City” for the Oxford Handbook of the Baroque. In 2016 he created the online course The Meaning of Rome for Notre Dame, hosted on the edX platform, which had an audience of six thousand followers. Ways to connect with David:   Website: www.davidmayernik.com Instagram: davidmayernik LinkedIn: davidmayernik EdX: The Meaning of Rome https://www.edx.org/learn/humanities/university-of-notre-dame-the-meaning-of-rome-the-renaissance-and-baroque-city     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:17 Well, hi and welcome once again. Wherever you happen to be, to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to chat with David Mayernik, unless you're in Europe, and then it's David Mayernik, but either way, we're glad to have him. He is an architect. He is an award winning architect. He's an author. He's done a number of things in his life, and we're going to talk about all of those, and it's kind of more fun to let him be the one to talk more about it, and then I can just pick up and ask questions as we go, and that's what we'll do. But we're really glad that he's here. So David, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   David Mayernik ** 01:57 Oh, thanks so much. Michael, thanks for the invitation. I'm looking forward to it.   Michael Hingson ** 02:02 Well, I know we've been working on getting this set up, and David actually happens to be in Italy today, as opposed to being in the US. He was a professor at Notre Dame for 20 years, but he has spent a lot of time in Europe and elsewhere, and I'm sure he's going to talk about that. But why don't we start, as I mentioned earlier, as I love to do, tell us kind of about the early David growing up.   David Mayernik ** 02:25 Well, so my both of my parents passed away several years ago, and when I was at my mom's funeral, one of our next door neighbors was telling my wife what I was like when I was a kid, and she said he was very quiet and very intense. And I suppose that's how I was perceived. I'm not sure I perceived myself that way I did. The thing about me is I've always drawn my mom. I mean, lots of kids draw, but I drew like credibly, well, when I was, you know, two and three years old. And of course, my mother saved everything. But the best thing about it was that I always had paper and pencil available. You know, we were terribly well off. We weren't poor, but we weren't, you know, well to do, but I never lacked for paper and pencils, and that just allowed me to just draw as much as I possibly could.   Michael Hingson ** 03:16 And so I guess the other question is, of course, do you still have all those old drawings since your mom kept   David Mayernik ** 03:23 them? Well, you know? Yeah, actually, after she passed, I did get her, Well, her collection of them. I don't know that all of them. My father had a penchant for throwing things away, unfortunately. So some of the archive is no longer with us, but no but enough of it. Just odds and bits from different areas of my life. And the thing is, you know, I was encouraged enough. I mean, all kids get encouraged. I think when they're young, everything they do is fabulous, but I had enough encouragement from people who seem to take it seriously that I thought maybe I had something and and it was the kind of thing that allowed me to have enough confidence in myself that I actually enjoyed doing it and and mostly, my parents were just impressed. You know, it just was impressive to them. And so I just happily went along my own way. The thing about it was that I really wanted to find my own path as somebody who drew and had a chance in high school for a scholarship to a local art school. I won a competition for a local art school scholarship, and I went for a couple of lessons, and I thought, you know, they're just teaching me to draw like them. I want to draw like me. So for better or worse, I'm one of those autodidacts who tries to find my own way, and, you know, it has its ups and downs. I mean, the downside of it is it's a slower learning process. Is a lot more trial and error. But the upside of it is, is that it's your own. I mean, essentially, I had enough of an ego that, you know, I really wanted to do. Things my way.   Michael Hingson ** 05:02 Well, you illustrate something that I've believed and articulate now I didn't used to, but I do now a lot more, which is I'm my own best teacher. And the reality is that you you learn by doing, and people can can give you information. And, yeah, you're right. Probably they wanted you to mostly just draw like them. But the bottom line is, you already knew from years of drawing as a child, you wanted to perhaps go a slightly different way, and you worked at it, and it may have taken longer, but look at what you learned.   David Mayernik ** 05:37 Yeah, I think it's, I mean, for me, it's, it's important that whatever you do, you do because you feel like you're being true to yourself somehow. I mean, I think that at least that's always been important to me, is that I don't, I don't like doing things for the sake of doing them. I like doing them because I think they matter. And I like, you know, I think essentially pursuing my own way of doing it meant that it always was, I mean, beyond just personal, it was something I was really committed to. And you know, the thing about it, eventually, for my parents was they thought it was fabulous, you know, loved great that you draw, but surely you don't intend to be an artist, because, you know, you want to have a job and make a living. And so I eventually realized that in high school, that while they, well, they probably would have supported anything I did that, you know, I was being nudged towards something a little bit more practical, which I think happens to a lot of kids who choose architecture like I did. It's a way, it's a practical way of being an artist and and that's we could talk about that. But I think that's not always true.   Michael Hingson ** 06:41 Bill, go ahead, talk about that. Well, I think that the   David Mayernik ** 06:44 thing about architecture is that it's become, well, one it became a profession in America, really, in the 20th century. I mean, it's in the sense that there was a licensing exam and all the requirements of what we think of as, you know, a professional service that, you know, like being a lawyer or a doctor, that architecture was sort of professionalized in the 20th century, at least in the United States. And, and it's a business, you know, ostensibly, I mean, you're, you know, you're doing what you do for a fee. And, and so architecture tries to balance the art part of it, or the creative side, the professional side of it, and the business side. And usually it's some rather imperfect version of all of those things. And the hard part, I think the hardest part to keep alive is the art part, because the business stuff and the professional stuff can really kind of take over. And that's been my trial. Challenge is to try to have it all three ways, essentially.   Michael Hingson ** 07:39 Do you think that Frank Lloyd Wright had a lot to do with bringing architecture more to the forefront of mindsets, mindsets, and also, of course, from an art standpoint, clearly, he had his own way of doing things.   David Mayernik ** 07:54 Yeah, absolutely he comes from, I mean, I wouldn't call it a rebellious tradition, but there was a streak of chafing at East Coast European classicism that happened in Chicago. Louis Sullivan, you know, is mostly responsible for that. And I but, but Right, had this, you know, kind of heroic sense of himself and and I think that his ability to draw, which was phenomenal. His sense that he wanted to do something different, and his sense that he wanted to do something American, made him a kind of a hero. Eventually, I think it coincided with America's growing sense of itself. And so for me, like lot of kids in America, my from my day, if you told somebody in high school you wanted to be an architect, they would give you a book on Frank Lloyd Wright. I mean, that's just, you know, part of the package.   Michael Hingson ** 08:47 Yeah, of course, there are others as well, but still, he brought a lot into it. And of course there, there are now more architects that we hear about and designers and so on the people what, I m Pei, who designed the world, original World Trade Center and other things like that. Clearly, there are a number of people who have made major impacts on the way we design and think of Building and Construction today,   David Mayernik ** 09:17 you know, I mean America's, you know, be kind of, it really was a leader in the development of architecture in the 20th century. I mean, in the 19th century was very much, you know, following what was happening in Europe. But essentially, by the 20th century, the America had a sense of itself that didn't always mean that it rejected the European tradition. Sometimes it tried to do it, just bigger and better, but, but it also felt like it had its, you know, almost a responsibility to find its own way, like me and, you know, come up with an American kind of architecture and and so it's always been in a kind of dialog with architecture from around the world. I mean, especially in Europe, at Frank Lloyd Wright was heavily influenced by Japanese architecture and. And so we've always seen ourselves, I think, in relationship to the world. And it's just the question of whether we were master or pupil to a certain extent,   Michael Hingson ** 10:07 and in reality, probably a little bit of both.   David Mayernik ** 10:12 Yeah, and we are, and I think, you know, acknowledging who we are, the fact that we didn't just, you know, spring from the earth in the United States, where we're all, I mean, essentially all immigrants, mostly, and essentially we, you know, essentially bring, we have baggage, essentially, as a culture, from lots of other places. And that's actually an advantage. I mean, I think it's actually what makes us a rich culture, is the diversity. I mean, even me, my father's family was Slovak, my mother's family Italian. And, you know from when I tell you know Europeans that they think that's just quintessentially American. That's what makes you an American, is that you're not a purebred of some kind.   Michael Hingson ** 10:49 Yeah, yeah. Pure purebred American is, is really sort of nebulous and and not necessarily overly accurate, because you are probably immigrants or part other kinds of races or nationalities as well. And that's, that's okay.   David Mayernik ** 11:08 It's, it's rich, you know, I think it's, it's a richer. It's the extent to which you want to engage with it. And the interesting thing about my parents was that they were both children of first generation immigrants. My mom's parents had been older Italian, and they were already married, and when they came to the States, my father's parents were younger and Slovak, and they met in the United States. And my father really wasn't that interested in his Slovak heritage. I mean, just, you know, he could speak some of the language, you know, really feel like it was something he wanted to hold on to or pass along, was my mom was, I mean, she loved her parents. She, you know, spoke with him in Italian, or actually not even Italian, the dialect from where her parents came from, which is north of Venice. And so she, I think she kind of, whether consciously or unconsciously, passed that on to me, that sense that I wanted to be. I was interested in where I came from, where the origins of my where my roots were, and it's something that had an appeal for me that wasn't just it wasn't front brain, it was really kind of built into who I was, which is why, you know, one of the reasons I chose to go to Notre Dame to study where I also wound up teaching like, welcome back Carter, is that I we had a Rome program, and so I've been teaching in the Rome program for our school, but we, I was there 44 years ago as a student.   Michael Hingson ** 12:28 Yeah. So quite a while, needless to say. And you know, I think, well, my grandmother on my mother's side was Polish, but I I never did get much in the way of information about the culture and so on from her and and my mom never really dealt with it much, because she was totally from The Bronx in New York, and was always just American, so I never really got a lot of that. But very frankly, in talking to so many people on this podcast over almost the last four years, talking to a number of people whose parents and grandparents all came to this country and how that affected them. It makes me really appreciate the kind of people who we all are, and we all are, are a conglomerate of so many different cultures, and that's okay, yeah? I mean,   David Mayernik ** 13:31 I think it's more than okay, and I think we need to just be honest about it, yeah. And, you know, kind of celebrate it, because the Italians brought with them, you know, tremendous skills. For example, a lot of my grandfather was a stone mason. You know, during the Depression, he worked, you know, the for the WPA essentially sponsored a whole series of public works projects in the parks in the town I grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And Allentown has a fabulous park system. And my grandfather built a lot of stone walls in the parks in the 1930s and, you know, all these cultures that came to the states often brought, you know, specialized skills. You know, from where they they came from, and, and they enriched the American, you know, skill set, essentially, and, and that's, you know, again, that's we are, who we are because of that, you know, I celebrated I, you know, I'm especially connected to my Italian heritage. I feel like, in part because my grandfather, the stone mason, was a bit of jack of all trades. He could paint and draw. And my mom, you know, wrote poetry and painted. And even though she mostly, you know, in my life, was a was a housewife, but before she met my father, and they got married relatively late for their day, she had a professional life in World War Two, my mom actually went to Penn State for a couple of years in the start of at the start of the war, and then parents wanted her to come home, and so she did two years of engineering. Penn State. When she came back to Allentown, she actually got a job at the local airplane manufacturing plant that was making fighter planes for the United States called company called volte, and she did drafting for them. And then after World War Two, she got a job for the local power company drafting modern electrical kitchens and and so I've inherited all my mom's drafting equipment. And, you know, she's, she's very much a kind of a child of the culture that she came from, and in the sense that it was a, you know, artistic culture, a creative culture. And, you know, I definitely happy and proud of   Michael Hingson ** 15:37 that. You know, one of the things that impresses me, and I think about a lot in talking to so many people whose parents and grandparents immigrated to this country and so on, is not just the skill sets that they brought, but the work ethic that they had, that they imparted to people. And I think people who have had a number of generations here have not always kept that, and I think they've lost something very valuable, because that work ethic is what made those people who they were   David Mayernik ** 16:08 absolutely I mean, my Yeah, I mean my father. I mean absolutely true is, I mean tireless worker, capable of tremendous self sacrifice and and, you know, and that whole generation, I mean, he fought in World War Two. He actually joined, joined the Navy underage. He lied about his age to get in the Navy and that. But they were capable of self, tremendous self sacrifice and tremendous effort. And, you know, I think, you know, we're always, you know, these days, we always talk about work life balance. And I have to say, being an architect, most architects don't have a great work life balance. Mostly it's, it's a lot of work and a little bit of life. And that's, I don't, you know. I think not everybody survives that. Not every architects marriage survives that mine has. But I think it's, you know, that the idea that you're, you're sort of defined by what you do. I think there's a lot of talk these days about that's not a good thing. I I'm sort of okay with that. I'm sort of okay with being defined by what I do.   Michael Hingson ** 17:13 Yeah, and, and that that's, that's okay, especially if you're okay with it. That's good. Well, you So you went to Notre Dame, and obviously dealt with architecture. There some,   David Mayernik ** 17:28 yeah. I mean, the thing, the great thing about Notre Dame is to have the Rome program, and that was the idea of actually a Sicilian immigrant to the States in the early 20th century who became a professor at Notre Dame. And he had, he won the Paris prize. A guy named Frank Montana who won the Paris prize in the 1930s went to Harvard and was a professor at Notre Dame. And he had the good idea that, you know, maybe sending kids to five years of architecture education in Indiana, maybe wasn't the best, well rounded education possible, and maybe they should get out of South Bend for a year, and he, on his own initiative, without even support from the university, started a Rome program, and then said to the university, hey, we have a Rome program now. And so that was, that was his instinct to do that. And while I got, I think, a great education there, especially after Rome, the professor, one professor I had after Rome, was exceptional for me. But you know, Rome was just the opportunity to see great architecture. I mean, I had seen some. I mean, I, you know, my parents would go to Philadelphia, New York and, you know, we I saw some things. But, you know, I wasn't really bowled over by architecture until I went to Rome. And just the experience of that really changed my life, and it gave me a direction,   Michael Hingson ** 18:41 essentially. So the Rome program would send you to Rome for a year.   David Mayernik ** 18:46 Yeah, which is unusual too, because a lot of overseas programs do a semester. We were unusual in that the third year out of a five year undergraduate degree in architecture, the whole year is spent in Rome. And you know, when you're 20 ish, you know, 20 I turned 21 when I was over there. It's a real transition time in your life. I mean, it's, it was really transformative. And for all of us, small of my classmates, I mean, we're all kind of grew up. We all became a bit, you know, European. We stopped going to football games when we went back on campus, because it wasn't cool anymore, but, but we, we definitely were transformed by it personally, but, it really opened our eyes to what architecture was capable of, and that once you've, once you've kind of seen that, you know, once you've been to the top of the mountain, kind of thing, it can really get under your skin. And, you know, kind of sponsor whatever you do for the rest of your life. At least for me, it   Michael Hingson ** 19:35 did, yeah, yeah. So what did you do after you graduated?   David Mayernik ** 19:40 Well, I graduated, and I think also a lot of our students lately have had a pretty reasonably good economy over the last couple of decades, that where it's been pretty easy for our students to get a job. I graduated in a recession. I pounded the pavements a lot. I went, you know, staying with my parents and. Allentown, went back and forth to New York, knocking on doors. There was actually a woman who worked at the unemployment agency in New York who specialized in architects, and she would arrange interviews with firms. And, you know, I just got something for the summer, essentially, and then finally, got a job in the in the fall for somebody I wanted to work with in Philadelphia and and that guy left that firm after about three months because he won a competition. He didn't take me with him, and I was in a firm that really didn't want to be with. I wanted to be with him, not with the firm. And so I then I picked up stakes and moved to Chicago and worked for an architect who'd been a visiting professor at Notre Dame eventually became dean at Yale Tom Beebe, and it was a great learning experience, but it was also a lot of hours at low pay. You know, I don't think, I don't think my students, I can't even tell my students what I used to make an hour as a young architect. I don't think they would understand, yeah, I mean, I really don't, but it was, it was a it was the sense that you were, that your early years was a kind of, I mean an apprenticeship. I mean almost an unpaid apprenticeship at some level. I mean, I needed to make enough money to pay the rent and eat, but that was about it. And and so I did that, but I bounced around a lot, you know, and a lot of kids, I think a lot of our students, when they graduate, they think that getting a job is like a marriage, like they're going to be in it forever. And, you know, I, for better or worse, I moved around a lot. I mean, I moved every time I hit what I felt was like a point of diminishing returns. When I felt like I was putting more in and getting less out, I thought it was time to go and try something else. And I don't know that's always good advice. I mean, it can make you look flighty or unstable, but I kind of always followed my my instinct on that.   Michael Hingson ** 21:57 I don't remember how old I was. You're talking about wages. But I remember it was a Sunday, and my parents were reading the newspaper, and they got into a discussion just about the fact that the minimum wage had just been changed to be $1.50 an hour. I had no concept of all of that. But of course, now looking back on it, $1.50 an hour, and looking at it now, it's pretty amazing. And in a sense, $1.50 an hour, and now we're talking about $15 and $16 an hour, and I had to be, I'm sure, under 10. So it was sometime between 1958 and 1960 or so, or maybe 61 I don't remember exactly when, but in a sense, looking at it now, I'm not sure that the minimum wage has gone up all that much. Yes, 10 times what it was. But so many other things are a whole lot more than 10 times what they were back then,   David Mayernik ** 23:01 absolutely, yeah. I mean, I mean, in some ways also, my father was a, my father was a factory worker. I mean, he tried to have lots of other businesses of his own. He, you're, you're obviously a great salesman. And the one skill my father didn't have is he could, he could, like, for example, he had a home building business. He could build a great house. He just couldn't sell it. And so, you know, I think he was a factory worker, but he was able to send my sister and I to private college simultaneously on a factory worker salary, you know, with, with, I mean, I had some student loan debt, but not a lot. And that's, that's not possible today.   Michael Hingson ** 23:42 No, he saved and put money aside so that you could do that, yeah, and,   David Mayernik ** 23:47 and he made enough. I mean, essentially, the cost of college was not that much. And he was, you know, right, yeah. And he had a union job. It was, you know, reasonably well paid. I mean, we lived in a, you know, a nice middle class neighborhood, and, you know, we, we had a nice life growing up, and he was able to again, send us to college. And I that's just not possible for without tremendous amount of debt. It's not possible today. So the whole scale of our economy shifted tremendously. What I was making when I was a young architect. I mean, it was not a lot then, but I survived. Fact, actually saved money in Chicago for a two month summer in Europe after that. So, you know, essentially, the cost of living was, it didn't take a lot to cover your your expenses, right? The advantage of that for me was that it allowed me time when I had free time when I after that experience, and I traveled to Europe, I came back and I worked in Philadelphia for the same guy who had left the old firm in Philadelphia and went off on his own, started his own business. I worked for him for about nine months, but I had time in the evenings, because I didn't have to work 80 hours a week to do other things. I taught myself how to paint. And do things that I was interested in, and I could experiment and try things and and, you know, because surviving wasn't all that hard. I mean, it was easy to pay your bills and, and I think that's one of the things that's, I think, become more onerous, is that, I think for a lot of young people just kind of dealing with both college debt and then, you know, essentially the cost of living. They don't have a lot of time or energy to do anything else. And you know, for me, that was, I had the luxury of having time and energy to invest in my own growth, let's say as a more career, as a creative person. And you know, I also, I also tell students that, you know, there are a lot of hours in the day, you know, and whatever you're doing in an office. There are a lot of hours after that, you could be doing something else, and that I used every one of those hours as best I could.   Michael Hingson ** 25:50 Yeah. Well, you know, we're all born with challenges in life. What kind of challenges, real challenges did you have growing up as you look back on it?   David Mayernik ** 26:01 Yeah, my, I mean, my, I mean, there was some, there was some, a few rocky times when my father was trying to have his own business. And, you know, I'm not saying we grew up. We didn't struggle, but it wasn't, you know, always smooth sailing. But I think one of the things I learned about being an architect, which I didn't realize, and only kind of has been brought home to me later. Right now, I have somebody who's told me not that long ago, you know? You know, the problem is, architecture is a gentleman's profession. You know that IT architecture, historically was practiced by people from a social class, who knew, essentially, they grew up with the people who would become their clients, right? And so the way a lot of architects built their practice was essentially on, you know, family connections and personal connections, college connections. And I didn't have that advantage. So, you know, I've, I've essentially had to define myself or establish myself based on what I'm capable of doing. And you know, it's not always a level playing field. The great breakthrough for me, in a lot of ways, was that one of the one of my classmates and I entered a big international competition when we were essentially 25 years old. I think we entered. I turned 26 and it was an open competition. So, you know, no professional requirements. You know, virtually no entry fee to redesign the state capitol grounds of Minnesota, and it was international, and we, and we actually were selected as one of the top five teams that were allowed to proceed onto the second phase, and at which point we we weren't licensed architects. We didn't have a lot of professional sense or business sense, so we had to associate with a local firm in Minnesota and and we competed for the final phase. We did most of the work. The firm supported us, but they gave us basically professional credibility and and we won. We were the architects of the state capitol grounds in Minnesota, 26 years old, and that's because the that system of competition was basically a level playing field. It was, you know, ostensibly anonymous, at least the first phase, and it was just basically who had the best design. And you know, a lot of the way architecture gets architects get chosen. The way architecture gets distributed is connections, reputation, things like that, but, but you know, when you find those avenues where it's kind of a level playing field and you get to show your stuff. It doesn't matter where you grew up or who you are, it just matters how good you are, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 28:47 well, and do you think it's still that way today?   David Mayernik ** 28:51 There are a lot fewer open professional competitions. They're just a lot fewer of them. It was the and, you know, maybe they learned a lesson. I mean, maybe people like me shouldn't have been winning competitions. I mean, at some level, we were out of our league. I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say, from a design point of view. I mean, we were very capable of doing what the project involved, but we were not ready for the hardball of collaborating with a big firm and and the and the politics of what we were doing and the business side of it, we got kind of crushed, and, and, and eventually they never had the money to build the project, so the project just kind of evaporated. And the guy I used to work with in Philadelphia told me, after I won the competition, he said, you know, because he won a competition. He said, You know, the second project is the hardest one to get, you know, because you might get lucky one time and you win a competition, the question is, how do you build practice out of that?   Michael Hingson ** 29:52 Yeah, and it's a good point, yeah, yeah.   David Mayernik ** 29:55 I mean, developing some kind of continuity is hard. I mean, I. Have a longer, more discontinuous practice after that, but it's that's the hard part.   Michael Hingson ** 30:07 Well, you know, I mentioned challenges before, and we all, we all face challenges and so on. How do we overcome the challenges, our inherited challenges, or the perceived challenges that we have? How do we overcome those and work to move forward, to be our best? Because that's clearly kind of what you're talking about here.   David Mayernik ** 30:26 Yeah, well, the true I mean, so the challenges that we're born with, and I think there are also some challenges that, you know, we impose on ourselves, right? I mean, in this, in the best sense, I mean the ways that we challenge ourselves. And for me, I'm a bit of an idealist, and you know, the world doesn't look kindly on idealist. If you know, from a business, professional point of view, idealism is often, I'm not saying it's frowned upon, but it's hardly encouraged and rewarded and but I think that for me, I've learned over time that it's you really just beating your head against the wall is not the best. A little bit of navigating your way around problems rather than trying to run through them or knock them over is a smarter strategy. And so you have to be a little nimble. You have to be a little creative about how you find work and essentially, how you keep yourself afloat and and if you're if you're open to possibilities, and if you take some risks, you can, you can actually navigate yourself through a series of obstacles and actually have a rich, interesting life, but it may not follow the path that you thought you were starting out on at the beginning. And that's the, I think that's the skill that not everybody has.   Michael Hingson ** 31:43 The other part about that, though, is that all too often, we don't really give thought to what we're going to do, or we we maybe even get nudges about what we ought to do, but we discount them because we think, Oh, that's just not the way to do it. Rather than stepping back and really analyzing what we're seeing, what we're hearing. And I, for 1am, a firm believer in the fact that our inner self, our inner voice, will guide us if we give it the opportunity to do that.   David Mayernik ** 32:15 You know, I absolutely agree. I think a lot of people, you know, I was, I for, I have, for better or worse, I've always had a good sense of what I wanted to do with my life, even if architecture was a you know, conscious way to do something that was not exactly maybe what I dreamed of doing, it was a, you know, as a more rational choice. But, but I've, but I've basically followed my heart, more or less, and I've done the things that I always believed in it was true too. And when I meet people, especially when I have students who don't really know what they love, or, you know, really can't tell you what they really are passionate about, but my sense of it is, this is just my I might be completely wrong, but my sense of it is, they either can't admit it to themselves, or they can't admit it to somebody else that they that, either, in the first case, they're not prepared to listen to themselves and actually really deep, dig deep and think about what really matters to them, or if they do know what that is, they're embarrassed to admit it, or they're embarrassed to tell somebody else. I think most of us have some drive, or some internal, you know, impetus towards something and, and you're right. I mean, learning to listen to that is, is a, I mean, it's rewarding. I mean, essentially, you become yourself. You become more, or the best possible self you can be, I guess.   Michael Hingson ** 33:42 Yeah, I agree. And I guess that that kind of answers the question I was was thinking of, and that is, basically, as you're doing things in life, should you follow your dreams?   David Mayernik ** 33:53 You know, there's a lot, a lot of people are writing these days, if you read, if you're just, you know, on the, on the internet, reading the, you know, advice that you get on, you know, the new services, from the BBC to, you know, any other form of information that's out there, there's a lot of back and forth by between the follow your dreams camp and the don't follow your dreams camp. And the argument of the don't follow your dreams camp seems to be that it's going to be hard and you'll be frustrated, and you know, and that's true, but it doesn't mean you're going to fail, and I don't think anybody should expect life to be easy. So I think if you understand going in, and maybe that's part of my Eastern European heritage that you basically expect life to be hard, not, not that it has to be unpleasant, but you know it's going to be a struggle, but, but if you are true to yourself or follow your dreams, you're probably not going to wake up in the middle of your life with a crisis. You know, because I think a lot of times when you suppress your dreams, they. Stay suppressed forever, and the frustrations come out later, and it's better to just take them on board and try to again, navigate your way through life with those aspirations that you have, that you know are really they're built in like you were saying. They're kind of hardwired to be that person, and it's best to listen to that person.   Michael Hingson ** 35:20 There's nothing wrong with having real convictions, and I think it's important to to step back and make sure that you're really hearing what your convictions are and feeling what your convictions are. But that is what people should do, because otherwise, you're just not going to be happy.   David Mayernik ** 35:36 You're not and you're you're at one level, allowing yourself to manipulate yourself. I mean, essentially, you're, you know, kind of essentially deterring yourself from being who you are. You're probably also susceptible to other people doing that to you, that if you don't have enough sense of yourself, a lot of other people can manipulate you, push you around. And, you know, the thing about having a good sense of yourself is you also know how to stand up for yourself, or at least you know that you're a self that's worth standing up for. And that's you know. That's that, that thing that you know the kids learn in the school yard when you confront the bully, you know you have to, you know, the parents always tell you, you know, stand up to the bully. And at some level, life is going to bully you unless you really are prepared to stand up for something.   Michael Hingson ** 36:25 Yeah, and there's so many examples of that I know as a as a blind person, I've been involved in taking on some pretty major tasks in life. For example, it used to be that anyone with a so called Disability couldn't buy life insurance, and eventually, we took on the insurance industry and won to get the laws passed in every state that now mandate that you can't discriminate against people with disabilities in providing life insurance unless you really have evidence To prove that it's appropriate to do that, and since the laws were passed, there hasn't been any evidence. And the reason is, of course, there never has been evidence, and insurance companies kept claiming they had it, but then when they were challenged to produce it, they couldn't. But the reality is that you can take on major tasks and major challenges and win as long as you really understand that that is what your life is steering you to do,   David Mayernik ** 37:27 yeah, like you said, and also too, having a sense of your your self worth beyond whatever that disability is, that you know what you're capable of, apart from that, you know that's all about what you can't do, but all the things that you can do are the things that should allow you to do anything. And, yeah, I think we're, I think it's a lot of times people will try to define you by what you can't do, you   Michael Hingson ** 37:51 know? And the reality is that those are traditionally misconceptions and inaccurate anyway, as I point out to people, disability does not mean a lack of ability. Although a lot of people say, Well, of course it, it is because it starts with dis. And my response is, what do you then? How do you deal with the words disciple, discern and discrete? For example, you know the fact of the matter is, we all have a disability. Most of you are light dependent. You don't do well with out light in your life, and that's okay. We love you anyway, even though you you have to have light but. But the reality is, in a sense, that's as much a disability is not being light dependent or being light independent. The difference is that light on demand has caused so much focus that it's real easy to get, but it doesn't change the fact that your disability is covered up, but it's still there.   David Mayernik ** 38:47 No, it's true. I mean, I think actually, yeah, knowing. I mean, you're, we're talking about knowing who you are, and, you know, listening to your inner voice and even listening to your aspirations. But also, I mean being pretty honest about where your liabilities are, like what the things are that you struggle with and just recognizing them, and not not to dwell on them, but to just recognize how they may be getting in the way and how you can work around them. You know, one of the things I tell students is that it's really important to be self critical, but, but it's, it's not good to be self deprecating, you know. And I think being self critical if you're going to be a self taught person like I am, in a lot of ways, you you have to be aware of where you're not getting it right. Because I think the problem is sometimes you can satisfy yourself too easily. You're too happy with your own progress. You know, the advantage of having somebody outside teaching you is they're going to tell you when you're doing it wrong, and most people are kind of loath do that for themselves, but, but the other end of that is the people who are so self deprecating, constantly putting themselves down, that they never are able to move beyond it, because they're only aware of what they can't do. And you know, I think balancing self criticism with a sense of your self worth is, you know, one of the great balancing acts of life. You.   Michael Hingson ** 40:00 Well, that's why I've adopted the concept of I'm my own best teacher, because rather than being critical and approaching anything in a negative way, if I realize that I'm going to be my own best teacher, and people will tell me things, I can look at them, and I should look at them, analyze them, step back, internalize them or not, but use that information to grow, then that's what I really should do, and I would much prefer the positive approach of I'm my own best teacher over anything else.   David Mayernik ** 40:31 Yeah, well, I mean, the last kind of teachers, and I, you know, a lot of my students have thought of me as a critical teacher. One of the things I think my students have misunderstood about that is, it's not that I have a low opinion of them. It's actually that I have such a high opinion that I always think they're capable of doing better. Yeah, I think one of the problems in our educational system now is that it's so it's so ratifying and validating. There's so we're so low to criticize and so and the students are so fragile with criticism that they they don't take the criticism well, yeah, we don't give it and, and you without some degree of what you're not quite getting right, you really don't know what you're capable of, right? And, and I think you know. But being but again, being critical is not that's not where you start. I think you start from the aspiration and the hope and the, you know, the actually, the joy of doing something. And then, you know, you take a step back and maybe take a little you know, artists historically had various techniques for judging their own work. Titian used to take one of his paintings and turn it away, turn it facing the wall so that he couldn't see it, and he would come back to it a month later. And, you know, because when he first painted, he thought it was the greatest thing ever painted, he would come back to it a month later and think, you know, I could have done some of those parts better, and you would work on it and fix it. And so, you know, the self criticism comes from this capacity to distance yourself from yourself, look at yourself almost as as hard as it is from the outside, yeah, try to see yourself as other people see you. Because I think in your own mind, you can kind of become completely self referential. And you know, that's that. These are all life skills. You know, I had to say this to somebody recently, but, you know, I think the thing you should get out of your education is learning how to learn and like you're talking about, essentially, how do you approach something new or challenging or different? Is has to do with essentially, how do you how do you know? Do you know how to grow and learn on your own?   Michael Hingson ** 42:44 Yeah, exactly, well, being an architect and so on. How did you end up going off and becoming a professor and and teaching? Yeah, a   David Mayernik ** 42:52 lot of architects do it. I have to say. I mean, there's always a lot of the people who are the kind of heroes when I was a student, were practicing architects who also taught and and they had a kind of, let's say, intellectual approach to what they did. They were conceptual. It wasn't just the mundane aspects of getting a building built, but they had some sense of where they fit, with respect to the culture, with respect to history and issues outside of architecture, the extent to which they were tied into other aspects of culture. And so I always had the idea that, you know, to be a full, you know, a fully, you know, engaged architect. You should have an academic, intellectual side to your life. And teaching would be an opportunity to do that. The only thing is, I didn't feel like I knew enough until I was older, in my 40s, to feel like I actually knew enough about what I was doing to be able to teach somebody else. A lot of architects get into teaching early, I think, before they're actually fully formed to have their own identities. And I think it's been good for me that I waited a while until I had a sense of myself before I felt like I could teach somebody else. And so there was, there was that, I mean, the other side of it, and it's not to say that it was just a day job, but one of the things I decided from the point of your practice is a lot of architects have to do a lot of work that they're not proud of to keep the lights on and keep the business operating. And I have decided for myself, I only really want to do work that I'm proud of, and in order to do that, because clients that you can work for and be you know feel proud of, are rather rare, and so I balanced teaching and practice, because teaching allowed me to ostensibly, theoretically be involved with the life of the mind and only work for people and projects that interested me and that I thought could offer me the chance to do something good and interesting and important. And so one I had the sense that I had something to convey I learned. Enough that I felt like I could teach somebody else. But it was also, for me, an opportunity to have a kind of a balanced life in which practice was compensated. You know that a lot of practice, even interesting practice, has a banal, you know, mundane side. And I like being intellectually stimulated, so I wanted that. Not everybody wants   Michael Hingson ** 45:24 that. Yeah, so you think that the teaching brings you that, or it put you in a position where you needed to deal with that?   David Mayernik ** 45:32 You know, having just retired, I wish there had been more of that. I really had this romantic idea that academics, being involved in academics, would be an opportunity to live in a world of ideas. You know? I mean, because when I was a student, I have to say we, after we came back from Rome, I got at least half of my education for my classmates, because we were deeply engaged. We debated stuff. We, you know, we we challenged each other. We were competitive in a healthy way and and I remember academics my the best part of my academic formation is being immensely intellectually rich. In fact, I really missed it. For about the first five years I was out of college, I really missed the intellectual side of architecture, and I thought going back as a teacher, I would reconnect with that, and I realized not necessarily, there's a lot about academics that's just as mundane and bureaucratic as practice can be so if you really want to have a satisfying intellectual life, unfortunately, you can't look to any institution or other people for it. You got to find it on your own.   46:51 Paperwork, paperwork,   David Mayernik ** 46:55 committee meetings, just stuff. Yeah, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 47:00 yeah. Yeah, which never, which never. Well, I won't say they never help, but there's probably, there's probably some valuable stuff that you can get, even from writing and doing, doing paperwork, because it helps you learn to write. I suppose you can look at it that way.   David Mayernik ** 47:16 No, it's true. I mean, you're, you're definitely a glass half full guy. Michael, I appreciate that's good. No. I mean, I, obviously, I always try to make get the most out of whatever experience I have. But, I mean, in the sense that there wasn't as much intellectual discourse, yeah, you know, as my I would have liked, yeah, and I, you know, in the practice or in the more academic side of architecture. Several years ago, somebody said we were in a post critical phase like that. Ideas weren't really what was driving architecture. It was going to be driven by issues of sustainability, issues of social structure, you know, essentially how people live together, issues that have to do with things that weren't really about, let's call it design in the esthetic sense, and all that stuff is super important. And I'm super interested in, you know, the social impact of my architecture, the sustainable impact of it, but the the kind of intellectual society side of the design part of it, we're in a weird phase where it that's just not in my world, we just it's not talked about a lot. You know,   Michael Hingson ** 48:33 it's not what it what it used to be. Something tells me you may be retired, but you're not going to stop searching for intellectual and various kinds of stimulation to help keep your mind active.   David Mayernik ** 48:47 Oh, gosh, no, no. I mean, effectively. I mean, I just stopped one particular job. I describe it now as quitting with benefits. That's my idea of what I retired from. I retired from a particular position in a particular place, but, but I haven't stopped. I mean, I'm certainly going to keep working. I have a very interesting design project in Switzerland. I've been working on for almost 29 years, and it's got a number of years left in it. I paint, I write, I give lectures, I you know, and you obviously have a rich life. You know, not being at a job. Doesn't mean that the that your engagement with the world and with ideas goes away. I mean, unless you wanted to, my wife's my wife had three great uncles who were great jazz musicians. I mean, some quite well known jazz musicians. And one of them was asked, you know, was he ever going to retire? And he said, retire to what? Because, you know, he was a musician. I mean, you can't stop being a musician, you know, you know, if, some level, if you're really engaged with what you do, you You never stop, really,   Michael Hingson ** 49:51 if you enjoy it, why would you? No, I   David Mayernik ** 49:54 mean, the best thing is that your work is your fun. I mean, you know, talking about, we talked about it. I. You that You know you're kind of defined by your work, but if your work is really what you enjoy, I mean, actually it's fulfilling, rich, enriching, interesting, you don't want to stop doing that. I mean, essentially, you want to do it as long as you possibly can. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 50:13 and it's and it's really important to do that. And I think, in reality, when you retire from a job, you're not really retiring from a job. You're retiring, as you said, from one particular thing. But the job isn't a negative thing at all. It is what you like to do.   David Mayernik ** 50:31 Yeah. I mean, there's, yeah, there's the things that you do that. I mean, I guess the job is the, if you like, the thing that is the, you know, the institution or the entity that you know, pays your bills and that kind of stuff, but the career or the thing that you're invested in that had the way you define yourself is you never stop being that person, that person. And in some ways, you know, what I'm looking forward to is a richer opportunity to pursue my own avenue of inquiry, and, you know, do things on my own terms, without some of the obligations I had   Michael Hingson ** 51:03 as a teacher, and where's your wife and all that.   David Mayernik ** 51:06 So she's with me here in LUCA, and she's she's had a super interesting life, because she she she studied. We, when we were together in New York, she was getting a degree in art history, Medieval and Renaissance studies in art history at NYU, and then she decided she really wanted to be a chef, and she went to cooking school in New York and then worked in a variety of food businesses in New York, and then got into food writing and well, food styling for magazines, making food for photographs, and then eventually writing. And through a strange series of connections and experiences. She got an opportunity to cook at an Art Foundation in the south of France, and I was in New York, and I was freelancing. I was I'd quit a job I'd been at for five years, and I was freelancing around, doing some of my own stuff and working with other architects, and I had work I could take with me. And you know, it was there was there was, we didn't really have the internet so much, but we had FedEx. And I thought I could do drawings in the south of France. I could do them in Brooklyn. So, so I went to the south of France, and it just happens to be that my current client from Switzerland was there at that place at that time, scouting it out for some other purpose. And she said, I hear you're architect. I said, Yeah. And I said, Well, you know, she said, I like, you know, classical architecture, and I like, you know, traditional villages, and we have a campus, and we need a master plan architect. And I was doing a master plan back in Delaware at that time, and my wife's you know, career trajectory actually enabled me to meet a client who's basically given me an opportunity to build, you know, really interesting stuff, both in Switzerland and in England for the last, you know, again, almost 29 years. And so my wife's been a partner in this, and she's been, you know, because she's pursued her own parallel interest. But, but our interests overlap enough and we share enough that we our interests are kind of mutually reinforcing. It's, it's been like an ongoing conversation between us, which has been alive and rich and wonderful.   Michael Hingson ** 53:08 You know, with everything going on in architecture and in the world in general, we see more and more technology in various arenas and so on. How do you think that the whole concept of CAD has made a difference, or in any way affected architecture. And where do you think CAD systems really fit into all of that?   David Mayernik ** 53:33 Well, so I mean this, you know, CAD came along. I mean, it already was, even when I was early in my apprenticeship, yeah, I was in Chicago, and there was a big for som in Chicago, had one of the first, you know, big computers that was doing some drawing work for them. And one of my, a friend of mine, you know, went to spend some time and figure out what they were capable of. And, but, you know, never really came into my world until kind of the late night, mid, mid to late 90s and, and, and I kind of resisted it, because I, the reason I got into architecture is because I like to draw by hand, and CAD just seemed to be, you know, the last thing I'd want to do. But at the same time, you, some of you, can't avoid it. I mean, it has sort of taken over the profession that, essentially, you either have people doing it for you, or you have to do it yourself, and and so the interesting thing is, I guess that I, at some point with Switzerland, I had to, basically, I had people helping me and doing drawing for me, but I eventually taught myself. And I actually, I jumped over CAD and I went to a 3d software called ArchiCAD, which is a parametric design thing where you're essentially building a 3d model. Because I thought, Look, if I'm going to do drawing on the computer, I want the computer to do something more than just make lines, because I can make lines on my own. But so the computer now was able to help me build a 3d model understand buildings in space and construction. And so I've taught myself to be reasonably, you know, dangerous with ArchiCAD and but the. Same time, the creative side of it, I still, I still think, and a lot of people think, is still tied to the intuitive hand drawing aspect and and so a lot of schools that gave up on hand drawing have brought it back, at least in the early years of formation of architects only for the the conceptual side of architecture, the the part where you are doodling out your first ideas, because CAD drawing is essentially mechanical and methodical and sort of not really intuitive, whereas the intuitive marking of paper With a pencil is much more directly connected to the mind's capacity to kind of speculate and imagine and daydream a little bit, or wander a little bit your mind wanders, and it actually is time when some things can kind of emerge on the page that you didn't even intend. And so, you know, the other thing about the computer is now on my iPad, I can actually do hand drawing on my iPad, and that's allowed me to travel with it, show it to clients. And so I still obviously do a lot of drawing on paper. I paint by hand, obviously with real paints and real materials. But I also have found also I can do free hand drawing on my iPad. I think the real challenge now is artificial intelligence, which is not really about drawing, it's about somebody else or the machine doing the creative side of it. And that's the big existential crisis that I think the profession is facing right now.   Michael Hingson ** 56:36 Yeah, I think I agree with that. I've always understood that you could do free hand drawing with with CAD systems. And I know that when I couldn't find a job in the mid 1980s I formed a company, and we sold PC based CAD systems to architects and engineers. And you know, a number of them said, well, but when we do designs, we charge by the time that we put into drawing, and we can't do that with a CAD system, because it'll do it in a fraction of the time. And my response always was, you're looking at it all wrong. You don't change how much you charge a customer, but now you're not charging for your time, you're charging for your expertise, and you do the same thing. The architects who got that were pretty successful using CAD systems, and felt that it wasn't really stifling their creativity to use a CAD system to enhance and speed up what they did, because it also allowed them to find more jobs more quickly.   David Mayernik ** 57:35 Yeah, one of the things it did was actually allow smaller firms to compete with bigger firms, because you just didn't need as many bodies to produce a set of drawings to get a project built or to make a presentation. So I mean, it has at one level, and I think it still is a kind of a leveler of, in a way, the scale side of architecture, that a lot of small creative firms can actually compete for big projects and do them successfully. There's also, it's also facilitated collaboration, because of the ability to exchange files and have people in different offices, even around the world, working on the same drawing. So, you know, I'm working in Switzerland. You know, one of the reasons to be on CAD is that I'm, you know, sharing drawings with local architects there engineers, and that you know that that collaborative sharing process is definitely facilitated by the computer.   Michael Hingson ** 58:27 Yeah, information exchange is always valuable, especially if you have a number of people who are committed to the same thing. It really helps. Collaboration is always a good thing,   David Mayernik ** 58:39 yeah? I mean, I think a lot of, I mean, there's always the challenge between the ego side of architecture, you know, creative genius, genius, the Howard Roark Fountainhead, you know, romantic idea. And the reality is that it takes a lot of people to get a building built, and one person really can't do it by themselves. And So collaboration is kind of built into it at the same time, you know, for any kind of coherence, or some any kind of, let's say, anything, that brings a kind of an artistic integrity to a work of architecture, mostly, that's got to come from one person, or at least people with enough shared vision that that there's a kind of coherence to it, you know. And so there still is space for the individual creative person. It's just that it's inevitably a collaborative process to get, you know, it's the it's the 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Side architecture is very much that there's a lot of heavy lifting that goes into getting a set of drawings done to get

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Monday, August 4, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Mauler feels like Sandra Bullock in his new home, Rush refuses to pee himself as an adult,  Jenni is afraid of Brady butt juice, and Brady flexes his childhood talent of turning a light on and off. Love the podcast? Leave us a review!

In Episode 92, hosts Ryan MacNeil and Neal Andreino sit down with two powerhouse voices in Atlantic Canada's mortgage space — Daniel Cox, Team Lead and founder of United Group Mortgage Alliance, and Hannah Martens, rising star broker based in Charlottetown, PEI. This energizing conversation dives into their unique career paths, the evolution of brokerage culture in Eastern Canada, and their shared commitment to client education, mentorship, and community impact.Daniel shares how his military background helped shape the systems and discipline behind one of Atlantic Canada's fastest-growing brokerages. Meanwhile, Hannah opens up about carving her own path from military life to finance, the importance of team culture, and why she thrives helping first-time buyers navigate today's complex market.Show Notes:00:00 – Opening banter: downsizing, moving pains & morning coffees02:07 – Meet the guests: Daniel Cox and Hannah Martens from United Group Mortgage Alliance03:05 – Daniel's story: from military air traffic control to mortgage leadership06:07 – Hannah's journey: from injury in service to building a career in finance08:00 – The origin and expansion of Mortgage Alliance in Atlantic Canada15:04 – Switching brokerages: Hannah's honest take on choosing culture over comfort20:17 – Building team culture, training-based brokerages, and market specialization25:01 – What makes a great broker? Grit, curiosity, and communication29:00 – PEI vs NS: Market updates, pricing, down payment assistance programs35:20 – Atlantic optimism vs economic uncertainty: Two perspectives on what's next43:00 – The CMA Atlantic turnaround: Advocacy, education, and leadership in actionResources:Keystone Capital GroupCPLP Instagram: @cplpodcastKeystone Instagram: @keycapgroupFind Neal On:Instagram: @neal.andreinoLinkedInFind Ryan on:LinkedInE-mail: ryan@keycap.ca

No trend has taken the private equity industry by storm quite like that of semi-liquid and evergreen funds. Data from consultancy Bfinance shows that at least $30 billion has been raised via private equity semi-liquid funds since 2020 – a figure that represents just 10 percent of the overall semi-liquids universe. In this episode, Ajay Pathak, a partner and co-chair of Goodwin's UK business, joins PEI senior editor Adam Le to discuss how management fees and carried interest are calculated; whether the typical 2-and-20 model prevalent in traditional drawdown funds make sense to apply to semi-liquid funds; whether charging carried interest on net asset value on both a realised and unrealised basis really make sense; and more.

Tony Dolan tells of the current Irish curtural connections that sustain the Irish traditions in PEI

Pat Duffy talks about the conditions that the Irish faced on Arrival in PEI

Mauler shares a cup of Earl Grey with Gwyneth Paltrow, Rush leaves the room with his tail between his ears, Jenni almost spent COVID looking like your great aunt Ethel, and Brady hand-bombs Jenni's lasagna while carrying a futon. Love the podcast? Leave us a review!

On the phone-in: Diane Leblanc, who's the past-president of the Nova Scotia Bird Society, answers questions about birding. And off the top, we hear about workshops on PEI by the Campobello Whale Rescue Team for fishers and members of the public about whale entanglements. We also hear about a proposed development in Rothesay, NB.

The rise in the numbers of Nepalis migrating to Japan in recent decades has been phenomenal — and I think overshadowed by movement to countries like the US, UK and Australia. Today the Asian country is by far the top destination for students going abroad to earn degrees and, in many cases, a path to settlement in the country. I doubt that you would ever guess that the origin of today's migration to Japan is colonial Britain's presence in Nepal's neighbour, India. I'll leave today's guest, visual anthropologist Dipesh Kharel, to draw out that thread for you. He says that the link has led to a current population of about 230,000 Nepalis in Japan — five times more than the number of Indian migrants. One sign of how fully settled they have become in their new country is that many women no longer return to Nepal to give birth. By the way, Dipesh mentions the Japanese currency, the yen, a couple of times. As of today, 1 Nepali rupee was worth 1.07 yen. ResourcesAbout Dipesh KharelNepali students' destinations (2023-24)Tell us how we're doing, or just say hiSupport the showYou can subscribe to Nepal Now for as little as $3 a month. Your support will help to cover the costs of editing the show and for our hosting platform. And you'll also get a shout-out in a future episode. You can also show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:LinkedInInstagram BlueSkyFacebook Sign up to our newsletterMusic by audionautix.com.Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole and Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studios. Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Pastor Cody Bolton preaching at Cornerstone Baptist Church, Stratford, PEI on Sunday/20/July/2025

The rise in the numbers of Nepalis migrating to Japan in recent decades has been phenomenal — and I think overshadowed by movement to countries like the US, UK and Australia. Today the Asian country is by far the top destination for students going abroad to earn degrees and, in many cases, a path to settlement in the country. I doubt that you would ever guess that the origin of today's migration to Japan is colonial Britain's presence in Nepal's neighbour, India. I'll leave today's guest, visual anthropologist Dipesh Kharel, to draw out that thread for you. He says that the link has led to a current population of about 230,000 Nepalis in Japan — five times more than the number of Indian migrants. One sign of how fully settled they have become in their new country is that many women no longer return to Nepal to give birth. By the way, Dipesh mentions the Japanese currency, the yen, a couple of times. As of today, 1 Nepali rupee was worth 1.07 yen. ResourcesAbout Dipesh KharelNepali students' destinations (2023-24)Tell us how we're doing, or just say hiSupport the showYou can subscribe to Nepal Now for as little as $3 a month. Your support will help to cover the costs of editing the show and for our hosting platform. And you'll also get a shout-out in a future episode. You can also show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:LinkedInInstagram BlueSkyFacebook Sign up to our newsletterMusic by audionautix.com.Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole and Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studios. Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

On the phone-in: Wildlife biologist Bob Bancroft answers questions about birds and animals in the Maritimes. And off the top of the show, we hear about an event on PEI called the "Stick Together Hockey Fest". And in New Brunswick, there's a new hockey club for girls in Fredericton.

A lot is covered in this short but sweet episode! Some brief Hockey talk, East Coast Summers, Listener Question, and Meeting Amazing People on the Golf Course!   Terry Ryan answers listener questions, talks about the differences between PEI and Newfoundland, and his favorite classic Sports Teams You can now watch episodes of Tales with TR on YouTube! Head over to https://www.youtube.com/@THPN to watch the latest episode Check out TerryRyan.ca Terry Ryan answers listener questions! Welcome to Tales with TR: A Hockey Podcast presented by The Hockey Podcast Network. Join former Montreal Canadiens' first-round draft pick & Shoresy star Terry Ryan, as he talks about the sport of Hockey, brings on various guests, and shares tales of his life and professional hockey career. Host: Terry Ryan @terryryan20 Network: @hockeypodnet Editor: Isha Jahromi - "The City Life Project" on Youtube Sponsored by: Draft Kings - Use promo code THPN at sign-up for exclusive offers https://tinyurl.com/DRAFTKINGSPROMOTHPN MAKE SURE YOURSELF/FRIENDS/FAMILY TO GO SIGN UP FOR A GAMETIME AND APPLY/"REDEEM CODE" USING PROMO CODE: THPN

Send us a textSaahil's path to McKinsey was anything but typical. He started in law school in India, built two startups, earned an MBA at UVA Darden, and ultimately broke into consulting. In this episode, he shares exactly how he translated his legal and entrepreneurial skills into a top‑tier consulting offer.Listen in for practical tips on consultifying your resume, networking from a non‑traditional background, and preparing for McKinsey's PEI and case interviews. If you're a lawyer - or in any other non‑traditional field - wondering if consulting is possible, Saahil's story will show you how to make it happen.Additional Resources:Accelerate your transition to consulting with Black Belt, the world's #1 consulting prep programPrevious Strategy Simplified episode: From Law to Consulting: How to Make the Leap SuccessfullySubscribe to Management Consulted on YouTubePartner Links:Stax is hiring! See open roles and requirementsReal Talk About MarketingAn Acxiom podcast where we discuss marketing made better, bringing you real...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyConnect With Management Consulted Schedule free 15min consultation with the MC Team. Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube! Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and industry insights! Join an upcoming live event - case interviews demos, expert panels, and more. Email us (team@managementconsulted.com) with questions or feedback.

Terry Ryan answers listener questions, talks about the differences between PEI and Newfoundland, and his favorite classic Sports Teams You can now watch episodes of Tales with TR on YouTube! Head over to https://www.youtube.com/@THPN to watch the latest episode Check out TerryRyan.ca Terry Ryan answers listener questions! Welcome to Tales with TR: A Hockey Podcast presented by The Hockey Podcast Network. Join former Montreal Canadiens' first-round draft pick & Shoresy star Terry Ryan, as he talks about the sport of Hockey, brings on various guests, and shares tales of his life and professional hockey career. Host: Terry Ryan @terryryan20 Network: @hockeypodnet Editor: Isha Jahromi - "The City Life Project" on Youtube Sponsored by: Draft Kings - Use promo code THPN at sign-up for exclusive offers https://tinyurl.com/DRAFTKINGSPROMOTHPN MAKE SURE YOURSELF/FRIENDS/FAMILY TO GO SIGN UP FOR A GAMETIME AND APPLY/"REDEEM CODE" USING PROMO CODE: THPN

On the phone-in: We talk with hiking experts Michael Haynes in NS and James Donald in NB about hiking trails in the Maritimes. And off the top of the show, we speak with HRM Councillor Kathryn Morse about Premier Tim Houston's letter regarding council's decision about Morris Street. We also hear from a landlord on PEI whose property was damaged before she could evict the tenants.

On the phone-in: Two beekeepers take your questions about beekeeping and off the top a goose problem at lakes in Dartmouth and a donation of land on PEI in memory of beloved parents

Undoubtedly the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign has been a success. In less than five years it has led the identification and return to Nepal of about 160 religious icons — statues, paintings, and more. These were stolen from this country and displayed or stored in public museums and private collections globally since Nepal opened to the world in the 1950s. Now what? The aim of the NHRC is to have these gods and goddesses (devi-devta in Nepali) returned to their communities, we learn in today's chat with Alisha Sijapati, a founding member and former director of the campaign. Some have made that journey, such as the Lakshmi-Narayan statue taken from Patko Tole in Patan in 1984, but most have not. Blocking their way is a lack of resources and underpinning that, an absence of understanding of the importance of heritage to the health of this country, she adds. Today's episode is an update to our conversation in October 2021 with NHRC member Rohan Mishra, titled Recovering Nepal's Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture. I encourage you to search for it wherever you're listening now. If you want more of these interviews, sign up to be a supporter wherever you're listening by clicking on the Support the Show link.For those of you in Nepal, the NHRC will take another step towards raising the profile of the living heritage of the stolen gods and goddesses in an exhibition at Patan Museum from July 31st to August 4th.  ResourcesNepal Heritage Recovery CampaignPrevious episode - Recovering Nepal's Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture Lain Singh Bandel Juergen SchickTell us how we're doing, or just say hiSupport the showYou can subscribe to Nepal Now for as little as $3 a month. Your support will help to defray the costs of making the show. And you'll also get a shout-out in a future episode. You can also show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:LinkedInInstagram BlueSkyFacebook Sign up to our newsletterMusic by audionautix.com.Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole and Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studios. Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

On the phone-in: Barry Walker and Eric Murphy provide advice to listeners about cooling and heating systems like heat pumps. And off the top of the show, we hear from a landlord on PEI whose property has been damaged by tenants. She wants to have them evicted. We also hear about Saint John City Council's vote on the expansion of the Spruce Lake Industrial Park.

Canada Immigration Monthly PNP selection Summary for month ending June Good day ladies and gentlemen, this is IRC news, and I am Joy Stephen, an authorized Canadian Immigration practitioner bringing out this monthly PNP snapshot. I am coming to you from the Polinsys studios in Cambridge, Ontario |  This month, Provinces picked 5,132 candidates for possible Nominations and the following Provinces picked Candidates for PNP nominations: Alberta, Manitoba, PEI, Ontario, New Brunswick | Province | Date | Total selection (Number) | PNP Video Link | Manitoba | June 12 2025 | 36 | https://polinsys.co/mby | Manitoba | June 26 2025 | 492 | https://polinsys.co/mby | Prince Edward Island | June 19 2025 | 52 | https://polinsys.co/pey | Ontario | June 3 2025 | 3719 | https://polinsys.co/ony | Ontario | June 6 2025 | 72 | https://polinsys.co/ony | Alberta | June 3 2025 | 36 | https://polinsys.co/aby | Alberta | June 5 2025 | 18 | https://polinsys.co/aby | Alberta | June 10 2025 | 33 | https://polinsys.co/aby | Alberta | June 17 2025 | 39 | https://polinsys.co/aby | Alberta | June 18 2025 | 5 | https://polinsys.co/aby | Alberta | June 19, 2025 | 22 | https://polinsys.co/aby | New Brunswick | June 16 2025 | 322 | https://polinsys.co/nby | New Brunswick | June 17 2025 | 286 | https://polinsys.co/nby You can always access past monthly PNP selection news by visiting this link: https://myar.me/tag/pnpm/. Furthermore, if you are interested in gaining comprehensive insights into the Provincial Express Entry Federal pool Canadian Permanent Residence Program or other Canadian Federal or Provincial Immigration programs, or if you require guidance after your selection, we cordially invite you to connect with us through https://myar.me/c. We highly recommend participating in our complimentary Zoom resource meetings, which take place every Thursday. We kindly request you to carefully review the available resources. Should any questions arise, our team of Canadian Authorized Representatives is readily available to address your concerns during the weekly AR's Q&A session held on Fridays. You can find the details for both of these meetings at https://myar.me/zoom. Our dedicated team is committed to providing you with professional assistance throughout the immigration process. Additionally, IRCNews offers valuable insights on selecting a qualified representative to advocate on your behalf with the Canadian Federal or Provincial governments, which can be accessed at https://ircnews.ca/consultant. 

On the phone-in: Automotive expert, Doug Bethune, gives advice to listeners. And off the top of the show, we speak with Bob MacLeod, president of the PEI Shellfish Association. He discusses the discovery of a new disease on PEI that affects oysters called Dermo.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's episode is with someone who has successfully built a wealth solutions business tailored to her firm's unique strengths, expertise, and investment track record.Martina Sanow is a Partner and Head of Hg Wealth, where she is focused on building the firm's wealth solutions offering built out of the $85B AUM firm, Hg, that invests in enterprise software.Hg, one of the top 10 largest PE firms globally based on the PEI 300 ranking, has built an impressive investment engine focused mission-critical enterprise software companies. The firm has built a portfolio that is a “transatlantic ecosystem of software and services businesses” — representing over $180B in collective enterprise value across its 55 portfolio companies.Martina has been at the firm for almost 16 years. She has been an integral part of building the firm into what it is today, helping Hg grow from $2B in AUM to $85B in AUM, previously as Deputy COO and now building the Hg Wealth business. Hg's first wealth offering, Fusion, its flagship evergreen fund that provides access to non-US investors to Hg's private equity funds and co-investment opportunities, has exceeded $1B in NAV just 12 months after its launch.Martina is thoughtful, strategic, and long-term oriented when it comes to building a solution that amplifies Hg's strengths and resonates with the wealth channel. We had a fascinating discussion about how a scaled specialist like Hg can stand out in the wealth channel, unpacking the essence of who Hg is as a firm and how they've expressed who they are as they've built their wealth business.We covered:Hg's evolution as a firm.Why Hg focuses on mission-critical enterprise software companies and why it's a compelling investment thesis.Building a wealth business that fits the mission, ethos, and strategy of the firm.Understanding the complexity of evergreen funds.How Martina and team think about managing dealflow and investor demand in their Fusion fund.Learnings applied from HgTrust, the publicly listed UK investment trust, to figuring out how to educate and build brand in the wealth channel.Why does ownership structure matter when it comes to building a wealth business? How being privately owned informs how Hg builds their wealth business.Why Europe, why now?Thanks Martina for coming on the show to share your wisdom and expertise at the intersection of enterprise software, private equity, and private wealth.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency.To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products.Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus' technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Introduction and Message from Ultimus, our Sponsor01:55 Welcome to the Podcast01:58 Introducing Martina Sanow04:36 Martina's Background and Experience05:10 Hg's Specialization in Software05:57 Building a Team and Culture06:54 Importance of Cognitive Diversity07:26 Building a Diverse Team09:28 Innovating in Wealth Business10:14 Hg's Strategic Mindset11:51 Hg's Entrepreneurial Journey12:00 Maintaining Entrepreneurial Culture13:10 Specialization in B2B Software14:47 Focus on DPI and Cash Back16:17 Criteria for A-Quality Businesses16:58 Investing in Mission Critical Software18:11 Visma Case Study19:23 Challenges and Opportunities in Europe33:13 Evergreen Structures: Impact on Investment Teams33:44 Balancing Capital Raising and Deal Flow34:13 Investment Strategies and Allocation34:54 Managing Subscriptions and Demand35:53 Balancing Wealth and Institutional Demand36:06 Privately Owned Firm Benefits36:37 Realization Committee and Evergreen Structures37:52 Long-Term Company Partnerships39:11 Liquidity Management Challenges39:55 Investor Strategies for Evergreen Funds41:40 Institutional Adoption of Evergreen Funds42:48 Evolution of Institutional Mindset43:26 Retail vs. Wealth Investors44:01 Listed Trust and Wealth Business Insights45:54 Building the Wealth Business47:29 Strategic Importance of Wealth Capital48:54 Innovation in Wealth Management49:28 Partnerships and Holistic Solutions50:58 Future of Wealth Management Products52:44 Brand Building and Education55:00 Software as a Core Investment56:19 Community and Founder Investments59:28 Value Creation and Network Benefits01:00:15 Portfolio Synergies and Acquisitions01:01:36 Concluding Thoughts and Favorite InvestmentsEditing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

On the phone-in: Appliance repair technician, Aaron Publicover, answers questions from listeners. And off the top of the show, we speak with Trish Carter who's a business woman in Wood Islands, PEI. She discusses the latest problems with the ferry service between PEI and NS.

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party's political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China's surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power, examining the historical development of China's surveillance state, its relationship to economic modernization and political liberalization, and what might destabilize it in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party's political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China's surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power, examining the historical development of China's surveillance state, its relationship to economic modernization and political liberalization, and what might destabilize it in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party's political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China's surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power, examining the historical development of China's surveillance state, its relationship to economic modernization and political liberalization, and what might destabilize it in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party's political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China's surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power, examining the historical development of China's surveillance state, its relationship to economic modernization and political liberalization, and what might destabilize it in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Elias Makos is joined by Dan Delmar, co-founder of the PR and content firm TNKR Media and Caryma Sa’d, lawyer sole practice and Journalist independent / freelancer based in Toronto on a National Edition of the Big 5. Happy Canada Day! This year certainly seems like a special one. Many would say that Donald Trump’s talk of annexing Canada has sparked a defensive nationalism. Let’s talk trade, shall we? Of course by now we all know that Canada caved to the Trump administration’s demand to ditch the Digital Services Tax on tech giants. Let’s talk trade, shall we? Of course by now we all know that Canada caved to the Trump administration’s demand to ditch the Digital Services Tax on tech giants.

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party's political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surveillance state. Though renowned for high-tech repression, China's surveillance system is above all a labor-intensive project. Pei delves into the human sources of coercion at the foundation of CCP power, examining the historical development of China's surveillance state, its relationship to economic modernization and political liberalization, and what might destabilize it in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Wrap up Season 2 with four world premieres - including one from The East Pointers - a musical Canada Day celebration from Gordon Belsher, and a chat with Ivan Yeger, in partnership with the Immigrant and Refugee Services Association of PEI. isletunes is all genres. All decades. All-inclusive. And all PEI!Grab isletunes merch of all descriptions on Spring at https://isletunes.creator-spring.com.Donate to the podcast through PayPal at https://tinyurl.com/isletunespaypal - thank you!!Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive videos: https://www.patreon.com/isletunes.Become an isletuner on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky!

What happens when an author sets another book at the location of a few of your personal favorites?  Squeals?  Yep.  Pumped fists?  Absolutely. Impatience to get your grubby paws on it?  Oh, yeah. Listen in to see why this book is making a big splash. note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you. There's something about how some authors can make you love what you generally wouldn't choose. Liz Johnson definitely fills that role for me. All the swoony romance I usually avoid... if Liz writes it, bring it on.  Probably because she writes such great characters and stories that make the story so much more than guy meets girl and hearts and flowers ensue. I absolutely loved Sometimes You Stay. The awkward guy. The broken girl.  The confidence that he knows who he is, even as he doubts himself. The determination to keep living her best life, far away from her past. The unexpected love that makes them both confront their personal demons. They have related problems--each rooted in very different situations. And the way Johnson shows that contrast in the similar--beautiful. Oh, yeah. and the audio is brilliant. :) Sometimes You Stay by Liz Johnson  He was never going to leave the island, and she wasn't going to stay. But if she walked away, she would always wonder . . . For digital content creator Cretia Martin, home is wherever her carry-on suitcase lands. And it's constantly landing in new places as she travels the world. She's never been interested in settling in one spot--after all, houses are just places that collect junk and tie you down. But when she literally bumps into local dog breeder Finn Chaffey on Prince Edward Island and all the tools of her trade end up in the harbor, she can't exactly leave until she gets things sorted out. Finn is horrified by the part he played in the accident and offers to help, arranging for Cretia to stay with a friend at the beautiful Red Door Inn. The longer Cretia is forced to remain in one place, the more she discovers what she's been missing with life on the road--and the more she wants to see Finn and his business succeed. But helping him means staying put, the one thing she always swore she wouldn't do, and risking the only thing she's never put on the line--her heart. You can still get Sometimes You Stay for 30% off and FREE SHIPPING from BakerBookHouse.com Find out more about Liz  on her WEBSITE.  And follow her on BookBub and GoodReads! Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at: Apple Castbox Google Play Libsyn RSS Spotify Amazon and more!

Send us a textFabulous fiddle music from fiddle wizards from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, including Richard Wood, Billy MacInnis, Cynthia MacLeod, Catherine Moller and Courtney Hogan from PEI and Rufus Guinchard, Emile Benoit and Kelly Russell from Newfoundland and Labrador.https://www.facebook.com/ron.moores.18

On the phone-in: Listeners call and share their stories about the National Parks and National Historic Sites that they find most interesting in the Maritimes. And off the top of the show, the Governor of Maine visits NB. And we hear an update about some ferry cancellations between NS and PEI.

Stick close to home with Oakdrive, Negative J, and the début single of Kendra Little, get worldly with the sounds of Güiza and NODACOB, and get hip to what goes into this year's series of DiverseCity festivals. isletunes is all genres. All decades. All-inclusive. And all PEI!Grab isletunes merch of all descriptions on Spring at https://isletunes.creator-spring.com.Donate to the podcast through PayPal at https://tinyurl.com/isletunespaypal - thank you!!Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive videos: https://www.patreon.com/isletunes.Become an isletuner on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky!

Off Course is back this week with a fantastic show and this is episode 257. Hosted by Dan Edwards, each Friday he gives you a deep look into the world of golf and equipment in a way unlike any other podcast has done before. Today, Brad Holder from PEI joins the show to discuss the […] The post Off Course – The PEI Portfolio appeared first on The Hackers Paradise.

This podcast is sponsored by Antech Diagnostics Michelle Evason, BSc, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), MRCVS, serves as Global Director, Veterinary Clinical Education for Antech Diagnostics (MARS). She has worked in general practice, academia, specialty clinical practice, and in the animal health industry. Michelle has published on numerous infectious diseases, antimicrobial stewardship, nutrition, spectrum of care, veterinary- and pet-owner education related topics. She keeps busy (and humble!) with 2 teenage daughters, 1 husband, multiple 4-legged creatures, and numerous imperfect projects in various stages of completion on her farm in PEI, Canada.

On the phone-in: We have a discussion about fireworks -- both consumer fireworks and the organized shows. Our guests are Dr Hugh Chisholm and Jason Woodside on PEI. And off the top of the show, we hear about a new dictionary by the Wolastoqey Nation in NB.

Talking to Prakash Gurung made me realize that not all migrant workers from Nepal are leaving the country out of necessity. When I interviewed him last year the 26-year-old told me about his failed migration attempts – as both a student and a migrant worker – but I got the sense that he had options in-country as well; he just preferred the idea of leaving. I think there are many people in similar circumstances — they could find a job here at home, but believe that abroad they might be able to save more money, live in better conditions, or have more promising future prospects, for themselves and/or their family. One year later Prakash has shelved his migration plans. In their place he has chosen an unusual path—learning classical guitar. A guitar player since his teenage years, Prakash says that playing classical requires much more discipline than playing and singing rock songs, including hours of daily practice. He's found a teacher to guide him on that journey. As you'll hear, Prakash is now talking about finding satisfaction and inner peace on his musical quest. This is a huge turnaround from the half-hearted pledges he was making when we talked in 2024, and a pleasant surprise to me. Want more of these interviews? Sign up to be a supporter wherever you're listening by clicking on the Support the Show link.Tell us how we're doing, or just say hiSupport the showYou can subscribe to Nepal Now for as little as $3 a month. Your support will help to defray the costs of making the show. And you'll also get a shout-out in a future episode. You can also show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:LinkedInInstagram BlueSkyFacebook Sign up to our newsletterMusic by audionautix.com.Thank you to PEI in Bakhundole and Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studios. Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

The Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, has withstood war, terror and pandemic — but on Monday, it was brought to a halt by its own striking staff, who say the institution is crumbling under the weight of mass tourism.Thousands of stranded and confused visitors, tickets in hand, were corralled into unmoving lines by I.M. Pei's glass pyramid."It's the Mona Lisa moan out here," said Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwaukee, the United States. "Thousands of people waiting, no communication, no explanation. I guess even she needs a day off."The Louvre has become a symbol of tourism pushed to its limits. As hot spots from Venice to the Acropolis race to curb crowds, the world's most iconic museum, visited by millions, is hitting a breaking point of its own.Just a day earlier, coordinated anti-tourism protests swept across southern Europe. Thousands rallied in Mallorca, Venice, Lisbon and beyond, denouncing an economic model they say displaces locals and erodes city life.The Louvre's spontaneous strike erupted during a routine internal meeting, as gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and what one union called "untenable" working conditions.It's rare for the Louvre to close its doors. It has happened during war, during the pandemic, and in a handful of strikes. But seldom has it happened so suddenly, without warning, and in full view of the crowds.What's more, the disruption comes just months after President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a sweeping decade-long plan to rescue the Louvre from precisely the problems now boiling over — water leaks, dangerous temperature swings, outdated infrastructure, and foot traffic far beyond what the museum can handle.But for workers on the ground, that promised future feels distant."We can't wait six years for help," said Sarah Sefian, a front-of-house gallery attendant and visitor services agent. "Our teams are under pressure now. It's not just about the art — it's about the people protecting it."At the center of it all is the Mona Lisa — a 16th-century portrait that draws modern-day crowds more akin to a celebrity meet-and-greet than an art experience.Roughly 20,000 people a day squeeze into the Salle des Etats, the museum's largest room, just to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci's enigmatic woman behind protective glass. The scene is often noisy, jostling, and so dense that many barely glance at the masterpieces flanking her — works by Titian and Veronese that go largely ignored.Macron's renovation blueprint, dubbed the "Louvre New Renaissance", promises a remedy. The Mona Lisa will finally get her own dedicated room, accessible through a timed-entry ticket. A new entrance near the Seine River is also planned by 2031 to relieve pressure from the overwhelmed pyramid hub.But Louvre workers said the 700 million to 800 million euros ($730 million to $834 million) renovation plan masks a deeper crisis. While Macron is investing in new entrances and exhibition space, the Louvre's annual operating subsidies from the French state have shrunk by more than 20 percent over the past decade — even as visitor numbers soared.The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year — more than double what its infrastructure was designed to accommodate. Even with a daily cap of 30,000, staff say the experience has become a daily test of endurance, with too few rest areas, limited bathrooms, and summer heat magnified by the pyramid's greenhouse effect.

On the phone-in: Guests Don Mills and David Campbell discuss their new book called "Toward Prosperity: The Transformation of Atlantic Canada's Economy.". And off the top of the show, Dr David Antle expresses concerns about PEI's proposed operational guidelines.

Original Broadcast Aired: Sunday June 15th 2025 – Race Time Radio Live 5pm ET With Your Host: Joe Chisholm  Watch Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSY0sLrrZ-8 Featuring: - Congratulations to Treyten Lapcevich No.70 wins his first ARCA Series event at Berlin - Jake Sheridan No.52 sets it in victory lane at Peterborough in APC United Racing Series - We will catch up with No.14 Chase Pinsonneault racing ASA Stars Tour at Madison and Slinger  - Cory Hall No.83 claims victory in Super Late Model Series at PEI back to back 1st at Scotia Speedworld - Carson Nagy No.93 wins the DAYCO Super Series at Peterborough Speedway - Brandon McFarlane will be racing for Ed Hakonson Racing Team 3Red NASCAR Canada at Sunset Speedway in Barrie, Ontario - Plus Congrats to Korbin Thomas winning WESCAR at Lake Williams   #Motorsports #StockCarRacing #ShortTrackAsphaltTracks  

Get into some father-son musicmaking Island style for Daddy's Day, Ava + Lily not wanting you to be something you're not, and the earliest - and most recent - work from Lennie Gallant's long career. isletunes is all genres. All decades. All-inclusive. And all PEI!Grab isletunes merch of all descriptions on Spring at https://isletunes.creator-spring.com.Donate to the podcast through PayPal at https://tinyurl.com/isletunespaypal - thank you!!Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive videos: https://www.patreon.com/isletunes.Become an isletuner on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky!

In this sambaad, Madhu Raman Acharya, Shiv Raj Bhatt, Kshitiz Dahal, and host Dikshya Singh explore Nepal's evolving trade landscape—its participation in multilateral, regional, and bilateral frameworks, and why the country has yet to fully leverage these arrangements. Despite benefits like duty-free market access through its LDC status, Nepal faces challenges in integrating into regional value chains and lacks a clear strategy for the post-LDC transition. The discussion highlights the need for stronger domestic policy, outward-oriented diplomacy, and industrial development to move beyond a narrow export base and prepare for a more resilient trade future.This is a live recording of the panel discussion at Project Sambaad. ⁠⁠⁠Project Sambaad⁠⁠⁠ is a collaborative platform that promotes in-depth conversations that critically examine Nepali society and its policy-making space. Through Project Sambaad, PEI and like-minded organisations seek to explore broad, impactful questions that contribute to a wider dialogue on the politics and development of Nepal and the South Asia region.Just a quick heads-up—this is a live recording of the conversation, so the audio quality might not always be perfect. Also, you'll hear a mix of Nepali and English throughout the conversation—hope you enjoy!!

The growth of private equity fundraising is slowing down. The 300 firms that feature on the 2025 edition of the PEI 300 – Private Equity International's annual ranking of the industry's biggest fundraisers – collectively raised $3.29 trillion over the preceding five years. While still a record high for the industry, the level of year-on-year growth is a departure from prior iterations. On average, the PEI 300 grows by 11 percent in total capital raising each year. The 0.3 percent rise in this year's ranking may therefore be a cause for concern, market sources tell us. In this episode of Spotlight, PEI editor Helen de Beer, senior editor Adam Le and Americas correspondent Hannah Zhang delve into the reasons behind this fundraising flatline and examine some of the bright spots that exist beyond the headline numbers. Click here to see this year's PEI 300 ranking and full coverage. Click here to learn more about the Nexus conference in Orlando, February 22-25, 2026

The Canadian real estate market shows a clear geographic divide as of April 2025, with key differences between regions, we are also joined by our amazing hosts from across the country for some boots on the ground updates. Ontario and B.C. are experiencing price declines , while other provinces like PEI, Quebec and Alberta are seeing price growth. Population Shifts: Ontario lost 32,000 people and B.C. lost 10,000 to interprovincial migration in 2024, while Alberta gained 53,000 new residents, significantly impacting housing demand patterns. Ontario and B.C. show increasing inventory and softening demand, while Alberta, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada maintain tight inventory levels with sustained demand and competitive conditions. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) | BMO Global Asset Management Buy & sell real estate with Ai at Valery.ca Get a mortgage pre-approval with Owl MortgageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's in your drinking water? On Prince Edward Island, the provincial testing program shows potable water in some communities have higher levels of toxic “forever chemicals” than is recommended by Health Canada. To what extent this affects other provinces is unclear – PEI is currently the only province that systematically tests water supplies to make sure they hit federal targets for toxic chemicals.Patrick White is The Globe's water reporter. He explains the safety concerns surrounding “forever chemicals” in our water, why the health agency revamped its guidelines and looks into why other provinces are slow to adapt.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In this episode of PODS by PEI, PEI colleague Shreeya Rana sits down with Raj Gyawali, tourism entrepreneur and founder of Social Tours Pvt. Ltd., to explore how sustainable and community-based tourism can redefine Nepal's future.Raj shares personal stories from his two-decade journey in tourism, unpacks the value of local communities in the tourism value chain, and challenges conventional development models. From livable destinations to people-first tourism, this conversation offers deep insight into what makes Nepal's tourism product truly unique—and what needs to change.Topics covered:The shift from adventure to experience-based tourismThe flower power movement and Nepal's 1960s tourism boomGrassroots sustainability in rural tourismThe real contribution of tourism to Nepal's economyNavigating climate change and over-tourismIf you care about responsible travel, Nepal's development, or the intersection of tourism, identity, and community, this episode is a must-listen.***About Raj Gyawali: Raj has over two decades of experience working specifically on responsible tourism in practice – on the ground developing his company Social Tours as the first tour company in Asia to be sustainability certified.As a consultant, he helps governments and communities develop more sustainable practices, and inserts sustainability strategies in government plans.Raj's work ranges from training guides in more sustainable practices, to educating customers on the practice of responsibility in tourism as travelers, developing more sustainable tourism offerings, as well as guiding governments and stakeholders in putting sustainable procedures into action.***If you liked the episode, hear more from us through our free newsletter services, PEI Substack: Of Policies and Politics (⁠ ⁠⁠https://policyentre.substack.com/welcome⁠⁠⁠ ), and click here (⁠ ⁠⁠https://patreon.com/podsbypei⁠⁠⁠ ) to support us on Patreon!!

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the attacks on Canadians' right to assemble -- from Toronto's so-called bubble law to PEI police telling peace activists to buy a $2 million insurance policy. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian journalist Nora Loreto reads the latest headlines for Wednesday, May 21, 2025.TRNN has partnered with Loreto to syndicate and share her daily news digest with our audience. Tune in every morning to the TRNN podcast feed to hear the latest important news stories from Canada and worldwide.Find more headlines from Nora at Sandy & Nora Talk Politics podcast feed.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast