reader’s digest

CONTENTS

32 Reinventing 37 All the Trimmings

30
Features
Christmas
The joys of making our
own traditions.
A first-time host, a
rock-solid turkey and
an oven on the fritz.
cover stories BY PHILIP PREVILLE What could go wrong?
THE TRUE BY MEGAN MURPHY

MEANING OF 35 The Harsh Truth

40 Up in Lights
CHRISTOPHER WAHL

About Santa
CHRISTMAS ’Twas the night before When kind neighbours
Christmas and I needed and festive decorations
on the cover:
a straight answer. helped ease our loss.
illustration by cornelia li BY ANNE T. DONAHUE BY REBECCA MEISER

94

rd.ca 1
reader’s digest

44 52 62
environment crime perspective
Floating Life The Hunt for the If They Can Do It,
A unique Dutch Santa Bandit Why Can’t I?
neighbourhood is In December 1962, How an Indigenous
showing how cities three men robbed a kid from small-town
can prepare for rising Montreal-area bank Saskatchewan became
sea levels. and stole $143,000. One a seven-time Stanley
BY SHIRA RUBIN of them was wearing a Cup champion.
FROM THE WASHINGTON POST
very strange disguise. BY BRYAN TROTTIER
FROM ALL ROADS HOME: A LIFE
BY JANA G. PRUDEN
ON AND OFF THE ICE
FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL

70
heart
Talking to Siri
My son has found
his soulmate.
BY OLIVIA STREN

74
life lesson
Letting Go
Tips on providing
end-of-life care for
your pet.
BY LAUREN McKEON

78
heart
Our Challah
What baking with
my toddler taught me
about parenthood.

74
BRIANNA ROYE

BY COREY MINTZ
FROM TVO.ORG

2 december 2022
 82
health
Winning the War
on Cancer
These exciting
breakthroughs are
reason for real hope.
BY LIA GRAINGER

92
humour
My Letter to Santa
BY RICHARD GLOVER
(CHALLAH) ISTOCK.COM/MLUDZEN; (ILLUSTRATION) SPENCER ASHLEY

94
profile
Sarah Polley

102
Knows Herself
With a new film and
a collection of essays,
the acclaimed director,
writer and actor is
looking back to
move forward.
BY SARAH LISS
102
inspiration
106
editors’ choice
FROM THE WALRUS
Stroke of Luck The Nightmare Nurse
Is it possible to change Brigitte Cleroux was

78 our fortune?
BY GALADRIEL WATSON
FROM THE WASHINGTON POST
repeatedly fined, fired
and jailed for treating
patients across Canada
without a license. How
was she able to keep it
up for two decades?
BY SARAH TRELEAVEN
FROM MACLEAN’S

rd.ca 3
reader’s digest

Departments
7 Contributors Humour
8 Letters 17
Life’s Like That
20 Points to Ponder
51
big idea Laughter, the Best
10 Wishful Thinking Medicine
A Nova Scotia
60
charity makes
As Kids See It
seniors’ dreams
come true. 101
BY ANICKA QUIN Season’s Greetings

18
good news

(MOISTURIZER) MARIAH BARNABY-NORRIS; (GLOBES) NICK FERRARI; (ANDREW GALLICI) LAUREN TAMAKI
14 Five Reasons
to Smile
BY ROBERT LIWANAG medical mystery
27 Brain Drain

22
He couldn’t get
relief from his

24 headaches and
joint pain.
BY ANNA-KAISA WALKER
ask an expert
18 Should We Save reader’s digest
book club
Malls? 118 Give a Great Read
We quiz Andrew Books make
Gallici, retail excellent gifts.
designer. Here are 15 of the
BY COURTNEY SHEA
year’s most talked-
health about titles.
22 Hydration Station BY EMILY LANDAU
Why moisturizing 122 Brainteasers
is a must.
BY ALLISON BAKER
124 Trivia
125 Word Power
24 News From the
World of Medicine 127 Sudoku
BY SAMANTHA RIDEOUT 128 Crossword

4 december 2022
 P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E R E A D E R ’ S D I G E S T M A G A Z I N E S C A N A D A L I M I T E D, M O N T R E A L , C A N A D A

Christopher Dornan chairman of the board

James Anderson publisher and national sales director
Barbara Robins vice president and legal counsel
executive editor, senior art director John Montgomery
digital Brett Walther deputy art director Danielle Sayer
associate editor Erica Ngao graphic designer Pierre Loranger
contributing editors Rosie Long Decter, content operations
Samantha Rideout, manager Lisa Pigeon
Stéphanie Verge circulation director Edward Birkett
editorial intern Talia Kliot
contributors: Spencer Ashley, Diane Baher, Allison Baker,
proofreader Jonathan Furze Mariah Barnaby-Norris, Derek Bowman, Justin Carter, Robert
senior researcher Lucy Uprichard Carter, Anne T. Donahue, Jonathan Dyck, Richard Glover, Emily
researchers Martha Beach, Goodman, Alex Gorodskoy, Lia Grainger, Susan Camilleri
Emily Baron Cadloff, Konar, Emily Landau, Maya LeMaitre, Cornelia Li, Sarah Liss,
Madeline Lines, Robert Liwanag, Rob Lutes, Lauren McKeon, Rebecca Meiser,
David Warner Corey Mintz, Megan Murphy, Ronit Novak, Barb Olson, Philip
Preville, Jana Pruden, Anicka Quin, Samantha Rideout, Darren
copy editors Chad Fraser, Rigby, Brianna Roye, Shira Rubin, Pete Ryan, Julie Saindon,
Amy Harkness, Courtney Shea, Beth Shillibeer, Fraser Simpson, Olivia Stren,
Richard Johnson Lauren Tamaki, Sarah Treleaven, Bryan Trottier, Anna-Kaisa
Walker, Galadriel Watson, Jeff Widderich, Victor Wong

THE READER’S DIGEST ASSOCIATION (CANADA) ULC

Corinne Hazan financial director
Mirella Liberatore product manager, magazine marketing

national account executives Melissa Silverberg

director, research and insights lab Kelly Hobson
head of marketing solutions and new product development Melissa Williams
graphic designer, marketing solutions Kelly Stinziano
project manager, marketing solutions Angele Asube
production manager Lisa Snow

TRUSTED MEDIA BRANDS

Bonnie Kintzer president and chief executive officer
Bonnie Munday editor-in-chief, international editions

VOL. 201, NO. 1,195 Copyright © 2022 by Reader’s Digest Magazines We acknowledge
Canada Limited. Reproduction in any manner in whole or in part in English or with gratitude the
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6 december 2022
 reader’s digest

CONTRIBUTORS
DEREK BOWMAN CORNELIA LI
Puzzle Designer, Winnipeg Illustrator, Toronto
“On Ice” “The True Meaning
of Christmas”
Bowman regularly
contributes crosswords and cryp- Li’s artwork captures the complexity
toquotes to Reader’s Digest and the of human emotion by evoking differ-
Winnipeg Free Press. His work has ent moods with colours and textures.
(BOWMAN) RON BENDER; (DONAHUE) AMY McNEIL; (LI) NATASHA NICHOLSON; (RYAN) ANGELA LEWIS

also appeared in The New York Times, She has collaborated with clients
the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street such as The New Yorker, the National
Journal and Games World of Puzzles Basketball Association, Penguin Ran-
magazine. He has also created puz- dom House, the National Film Board
zles for clients like McDonald’s Can- and others. Her illustrations can be
ada. Try to solve his latest crossword found on the cover and in “The True
challenge on page 128. Meaning of Christmas” on page 30.

ANNE T. DONAHUE PETE RYAN

Writer, Cambridge, Ont. Illustrator, Nelson, B.C.
“The Harsh Truth “Winning the War
About Santa” on Cancer”

Donahue writes first-person pieces Ryan’s illustrations have been featured

about pop culture for CBC Arts and in advertisements, books and publica-
The Globe and Mail. She published tions including Time, The New Yorker
her first collection of personal essays, and The Wall Street Journal. He creates
Nobody Cares, in 2018. She also stud- graphic images that reimagine every-
ies history at Wilfrid Laurier Univer- day situations in ways that offer the
sity, and is currently working on her viewer something unexpected. He has
second book, Small Tornadoes. Read been awarded a gold and silver medal
about the day she found out the from the Society of Illustrators. See his
truth about Santa Claus on page 35. contribution to this issue on page 82.

rd.ca 7
reader’s digest

LETTERS

’TIS THE SEASON

The December issue of Reader’s Digest
has always been a favourite of mine. It
brings back memories of my father, who
passed away in 2009. When I moved out,
he got me a subscription and it became
an annual Christmas gift—one I looked
forward to receiving each year. To this
day, it brings me so much joy to read all
the heartwarming and inspiring stories.
— DOUG WOOD, Napanee, Ont.

IN LOVING MEMORY
When I got married in 1982, my mother- THE PERFECT PRESENT
in-law, who had noticed how much I I was always aware of Reader’s Digest,
enjoyed Reader’s Digest, gave us a sub- but I rediscovered it when I spotted
scription as a gift. Later, when I would several well-loved issues on a commu-
visit my mom, who was dealing with nity bookshelf. I felt a sense of history
dementia, I would take an issue coming from them, and it made me
with me and read to her from it. This wonder about all the stories that each

PUBLISHED LETTERS ARE EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY

ritual brought us comfort and peace. issue contained. The one thing I asked
The magazine continues to remind me for last Christmas was a subscription,
of those two marvellous ladies. and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.
— LORRAINE LUND, High Prairie, Alta. — ANDREW GREEN, Thunder Bay, Ont.

CONTRIBUTE
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8 december 2022
 A SPECIAL INTEREST SECTION BY MEDIAPLANET

Collaborating to Optimize Diabetes

Care and Treatment in Canada
s a leader in diabetes research explore cutting-edge

A globally, Canada is home to many topics such as type 2

reader’s digest

BIG IDEA

A Nova Scotia charity makes dreams come true for seniors

Wishful Thinking
BY Anicka Quin
photograph by justin carter

L
IKE MANY GREAT ideas, Katie kind of thing. “It was the first time in
Mahoney’s started small. In years that someone had made a day
2014, a friend nominated her to about her,” says the 30-year-old. “That
perform an act of kindness as part of a acknowledgement gave her a sparkle.”
Facebook challenge. Mahoney wanted Their shared experience got
to choose someone who regularly gave Mahoney thinking. How many other
back to the Halifax community and seniors might benefit from that kind of
knew right away whom to pick: a dedicated attention? And had some
79-year-old senior named Eleanor of those seniors deferred their aspi-
Wagner, who not only dropped off rations because they’d been busy car-
baked goods for the staff at the pub ing for others?
where Mahoney worked but also vol- At the time, there was a gerontology
unteered at the local homeless shelter. student working at the pub alongside
Mahoney wanted to get to know Mahoney. Cara Chisholm, now 31, was
Wagner better, so she asked that they equally intrigued by these questions,
spend a day together—picking up gro- and together the pair came up with a
ceries, getting their nails done, that plan: they would find local seniors

10 december 2022
Cara Chisholm (left)
and Katie Mahoney
have fulfilled dozens
of wishes to date.
reader’s digest

with long-time dreams and work to spend the day searching out amethysts
fulfill those wishes. They even settled and agates on the beach.
on a name for their new charity: We “If you lose the sense of purpose that
Are Young, or WAY for short. having a passion can give you, your self-
By 2017—after organizing golf tour- confidence goes down,” says Mahoney.
naments to raise funds, securing “Now, Victor has regained some of his
grants, rallying donors and enlisting self-confidence—and his sense of
volunteers—they were ready to grant humour. We want to show that anything
their first wish. is possible with the support of others.”
Realizing a wish can also flip an age-
old script. At one of her grandson’s
IN 2019, THE hockey games, 77-year-old Colleen
FOUNDERS SECURED A Tanner mentioned to a friend that
ZAMBONI SO A SENIOR she’d always wanted to ride a Zam-
boni. “I never thought I’d get to be on
COULD FULFILL HER one—it was a guy thing and a guy
WISH OF RIDING ONE. sport, and that’s the way it was,” says
Tanner, who lives in Sydney, N.S.
Then her friend reached out to WAY,
WAY has since delivered on 38 and the team brought Tanner to Hali-
dreams and counting—ranging from fax in 2019, where they secured a two-
a helicopter trip over a childhood seater for her to co-pilot. “I just loved
blueberry-picking spot to travelling to it,” says Tanner. “That people like me
Toronto to watch a Blue Jays game. get an opportunity to do something
Seniors can nominate themselves or be they’d really like to do is a wonderful
nominated by someone else; wishes are thing. It’s exhilarating.”
then assessed by a community commit- While their organization operates
tee that looks at addressing factors such solely in Nova Scotia, Mahoney and
as age-related physical barriers, social Chisholm have their own dreams.
isolation and financial need. Each WAY wish is chronicled on video,
Melanie Elliott nominated her part- and that’s intentional—the pair want
ner, 78-year-old Victor Altheim, to go people watching to be inspired to fulfill
rockhounding—a hobby he’d given up a wish for a senior in their own com-
when it became too physically difficult munity. “We want to create a nation-
to access the cove where he hunted for wide movement that shifts how we as
geodes. The team at WAY chartered a a society view, value and support
boat for him and his son in the fall of seniors,” says Mahoney. “That is the
2021 so they could reach the cove and impact we’re trying to create.”

12 december 2022
 THE 2022 READER'S DIGEST
TRUSTED BRAND TM

AWARDS
For the past 14 years, Reader’s Digest has conducted an annual Trusted BrandTM
Study to uncover which brands Canadians trust most. In 2022, 4,000 votes were
tallied to identify the winning brands across 35 categories such as consumer
packaged goods, insurance companies and Canadian retailers.

We are pleased to showcase the following 2022 Trusted BrandTM winners!

 GOOD NEWS
Five Reasons to smile

Club member
BY Robert Liwanag Yasin with BLM,
a rescue horse

HORSES EMPOWER AND EQUIP YOUTH

united states Take a walk through the 1970s, FSURC was officially founded
community of Strawberry Mansion in as a non-profit in 2004 and is funded
northern Philadelphia and you might mainly through private donations—it
think you’ve stepped into a scene from has raised more than $350,000 through
the Old West—except in these streets, crowdfunding.
Black cowhands ride their horses The club keeps 15 horses and
alongside cars and trucks. The area, instructs young people from the area
which was the setting for the 2020 film how to ride, train and care for the ani-
Concrete Cowboy starring Idris Elba, mals, while also teaching life skills
has been home to stables for more such as teamwork and self-discipline.
than 100 years but, since the 1980s, it “The kids stay out of trouble because
has also been a haven for youth look- they’re always here with the horses,”
ing to escape gang violence. Ferrell says. “They don’t have time to
Known throughout the neighbour- get into trouble.”
HANNAH GAUDITE

hood as “El-Dog,” 83-year-old Ellis He estimates that more than 100

Ferrell Jr. runs the Fletcher Street Urban youths have been a part of the club
Riding Club (FSURC). Though itera- and says that some have gone on to
tions of the club have existed since the become firefighters, police officers and,

14 december 2022
 reader’s digest

in one case, a jockey. “They’ve become Justin Trudeau and primatologist

like a family,” he says. “Taking care of Jane Goodall helped plant the project’s
the horses teaches them respect for 10-millionth tree.
other people and for themselves.” Thanks to the re-greening effort,
Greater Sudbury now boasts some of
A Mining City Goes Green the cleanest air in Ontario, and there’s
hope it can inspire other municipali-
canada Greater Sudbury in northern ties to follow suit.
Ontario was once one of the largest pro-
ducers of nickel on the planet, but the Challenging the Stigma
2008 global financial crisis and dwin- of Stammering
dling reserves led to a sharp decline in
output. The area’s nickel mining was united kingdom More than 1.5 million
also notorious for causing air pollution adults in Great Britain report having
and was even at one time the largest a stammer, according to a survey by
source of sulphur dioxide in the world. the British Stammering Association
For more than 40 years, however, the (STAMMA). Of that number, around 70
city has embraced a very different pur- per cent of British adults try to hide it
suit: tree-planting. Since 1978, nearly by choosing their words more carefully
13,000 volunteers have transformed or speaking less. The stigma attached
roughly 3,400 out of 80,000 hectares of to the disorder can often lead to low
barren landscapes—the devastating self-esteem and social isolation for the
result of nearly a century’s worth of people it affects; to help combat that,
mining and smelting—into thriving the organization is transforming the
greenery. Last July, Prime Minister public’s perception of stammering.
Since 2018, STAMMA has launched
a series of awareness campaigns. One
such campaign, “No Diversity Without
Disfluency,” calls for broadcast media
to feature more people who stammer.
E-BELYUKOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

“It is time to end the zero visibility

of stammering,” said Jane Powell, CEO of
STAMMA. “Until we hear and see peo-
ple who stammer in the media, people
will continue to respond inappropri-
ately.” The organization has already
collaborated with one radio show to
hire a broadcaster with a stammer.

rd.ca 15
reader’s digest

Refugees Harness the by discrimination and, in many

Power of Storytelling cases, violence.
According to New York-based founder
jordan Built around the belief that Mohsin Mohi Ud Din, the key to the
everyone has a right to tell their own workshops is that they are taught by
stories, an organization in Jordan is other refugees, creating a unique
hosting mindfulness, creative writing community that’s “for the people, by
and public-speaking workshops for the people.”
more than 1,500 refugees. The ses- The results are compelling, he says:
sions, which have also been held in participants have reported reduced
cities across Turkey, Lebanon and Ger- aggression and improved communica-
many, are hosted by #MeWe Interna- tion skills. At the end of the sessions,
tional. The non-profit was founded in they’re invited to tell their stories
2014 and helps participants work through theatre productions, book proj-
through severe trauma brought on ects and the like.

ACTS OF KIND NESS

Fostering Global Tech Talent
In rural Kenya, 4,000 students across computer science. Upon returning to
10 schools are busy sharpening Kenya after graduation, she founded
their computer skills on refurbished her own school, Zawadi, which
machines. They learn everything became a launching pad for TechLit.
from basic typing to coding to robot- Her organization now works with
ics, and even take part in remote American colleges and businesses
tutorials with NASA scientists. Before to source the recycled computers.
participating in these classes, how- For Cheboi, TechLit is about more AUGUSTANA COLLEGE, COURTESY OF TECHLIT AFRICA
ever, very few of the students even than just giving children a pastime:
knew what a computer was. she hopes the students will use
The project, TechLit Africa, is their newfound skills to find
the brainchild of Nelly Cheboi, professional opportunities.
a 29-year-old software engi- “If all you have is your small
neer who grew up in poverty in village, then your thinking is
the Kenyan village of Mogotio. small,” Cheboi says. “But
In 2012, she received a full schol- once you come to the Inter-
arship to attend college in net, you become global—and
Illinois, where she by being global, you can
discovered a love for help the world.”

16 december 2022
 minutes in literally
LIFE’S LIKE THAT any direction.
— @EDBURMILA

Silly Signage Tough Nut

I love eating pistachios
because not only do you
get a snack, you also get
a reminder of how weak
your fingernails are.
— @JANINEANNETT

Tiny Thrills
A carnival ride, except
it’s just me playing with
the height adjuster on
my office chair.
— @QUEENVOFCOFFEE

Run Down
I will not be going the
extra mile. I barely fin-
ished the first one.
My washer keeps beep- Puppy Love — @JZUX
ing at me to signal that My husband just asked
it needs to be cleaned. me in the kindest voice I used to play sports.
This is where I draw if I wanted some water, Then I realized you can
the line. and I said, “I’d love buy trophies. Now I am
— @XTINA_CRAWFORD some.” I turned around good at everything.
and he was carrying the — DEMETRI MARTIN,
I used to walk by a place dog’s water bowl to her. comedian
called the Finnish Hall. — @ADALIMON
I would wonder, when
Send us your original
JOSHUA LECLERC

are they going to finish In Canada, you don’t jokes! You could earn $50
the hall? open Google Maps and and be featured in the
— PATRICIA DUVAL, type in “Tim Hortons.” magazine. See page 8 or
North Vancouver, B.C. You just drive three rd.ca/joke for details.

rd.ca 17
reader’s digest

ASK AN EXPERT

Should We
Save Malls?
We quiz Andrew Gallici,
retail designer

BY Courtney Shea
illustration by lauren tamaki

Malls were an institution in decline

even before 2020. Was the pandemic
the final nail in their coffin? Um, more stores?
I have been working in retail design for Certainly that is one possibility: subdi-
30 years, and for almost just as long viding and having more retailers. But I
I’ve been hearing about the fall of the don’t think it solves the underlying
mall, the end of brick and mortar. This problem, which is that malls are no
isn’t a death, but I think it is time for a longer community gathering spaces,
recalibration. The pandemic expedited as they were in the past. For a while
certain behaviours—the shift to shop- now, people have gone to malls for
ping online, for one. Now retailers and one reason: to buy stuff. This is what’s
landlords need to ask themselves known as a single modality, whereas
questions like “Do we need as many more and more, our society is multi-
stores?” and “Do they need to be quite modal. People want to be able to do
this big?” Maybe brand X no longer multiple things at one location, so why
requires a 2,500-square-foot space; not reinvent malls around that idea?
maybe 1,000 is enough. And then what Instead of a department store as the
happens with all that extra space? mall’s anchor, you could have a fitness

18 december 2022
centre, doctors’ offices or a university feels like individual character has
campus. Having storage facilities in given way to sameness.
malls in urban centres could mean That is definitely true, and in part it’s
people living around there don’t have consumers’ fault. In the Internet age,
to go to a warehouse in the middle of we expect everything to be immedi-
nowhere to access their stuff. What ate and exactly as we want it. Develop-
about different time-of-day uses, so a ers and mall owners have responded
restaurant that is busy during the eve- by making sure that every mall has
ning could be a WeWork-style work- every store, which is how we get the
space during the day? Or a commu- homogeneity you mention. I think
nity space for children’s art classes, so consumers are reassessing their prior-
that parents could drop their kids off ities after the pandemic, and charac-
and go get other things done? The pos- ter—specifically, expressing the char-
sibilities are endless. acter of the community in which a mall
is situated—will make a comeback.
You mention that malls were, at one
point in time, gathering places and I read a headline saying that Canadi-
that we’ve moved away from that. ans were bullish on in-real-life shop-
How come? ping? Is that good news for malls?
I think the answer is simply that there The idea that Canadians are keen to be
are a lot more options. Thirty years ago, back doing anything in real life after
we hung out at the mall because where the pandemic shouldn’t surprise any-
else were we going to go? These days one. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end
young people, and all people, have so of e-commerce any more than the pan-
many choices—not just for shopping demic meant an end to in-person rit-
but for eating, for spending time online. uals. The role of stores and how they
When I work with retail clients, say a fit into a company’s overall calculation
clothing brand, they often perceive their will change: maybe you want to order
competition as other fashion brands, clothing online to try on at home, but
which I find funny because that’s not you want to return it to a store because
how it works anymore. People have that’s more convenient. If people are
finite amounts of time and disposable still coming to stores, there is an oppor-
income, and they may be choosing a tunity for a mall location to bring that
fun night out over a new sweater. much more value.

Would malls be more successful if Andrew Gallici is a Toronto-based

they better reflected the communi- retail-design director at Gensler, a
ties they exist in? In recent years, it global design and architecture firm.

rd.ca 19
reader’s digest

POINTS TO PONDER

No words to I’D SAY PROGRESS

HAS BEEN GLACIAL
describe it. IN THE LAST
Feeling pretty NUMBER OF YEARS.
awesome. –Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives researcher
–12-year-old golfer Lucy Lin Katherine Scott, ON THE
OF VANCOUVER, ON BECOMING PROVINCES THAT HAVE YET
THE YOUNGEST PLAYER TO QUALIFY TO INSTATE GENDER-BASED
FOR THE CP WOMEN’S OPEN PAY-EQUITY LEGISLATION

PHOTOS: (LIN) GOLF CANADA; (O’BONSAWIN) FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

I believe my experience as a francophone
First Nations woman, a parent, a lawyer,
a scholar and a judge provides me with
the lived understanding and insight into
Canada’s diversity because I, and my life
experience, are part of that diversity.
–Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin, ON BECOMING THE FIRST
INDIGENOUS PERSON TO SERVE ON THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA

WHERE’S MY When minutes

CREAM CHEESE? and seconds count,
WHERE’S LIBERTÉ?
–Montreal’s St-Viateur Bagel this will save lives.
manager Saul Restrepo, RELAYING HIS –B.C. MP Todd Doherty, ON THE NATIONAL
CUSTOMERS’ QUERIES AFTER THE BELOVED SUICIDE-PREVENTION AND MENTAL-HEALTH-
SCHMEAR WAS DISCONTINUED CRISIS HOTLINE THAT WILL COME ONLINE IN 2023

20 december 2022
 Activism, for me, feels natural and organic.
It feels worse when I’m not actively engaged.
And I don’t think it stems from feeling some
sort of pressure or obligation. I hope it
comes from a place of, inherently, empathy.
PHOTOS: (QUEEN ELIZABETH II) ALESSIA PIERDOMENICO/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; (PAGE) DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

–Elliot Page

SHE WOULD PROCLAIM I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT

‘IT WAS GOOD TO BE SCIENCE AND ART ARE VERY
HOME’ WHEN SIMILAR, TRYING TO
RETURNING TO HER DISCOVER THE MYSTERIES
BELOVED CANADA. OF THE WORLD AND
SHE WAS INDEED AT THE UNIVERSE. THEY BOTH
HOME HERE, AND HAVE THAT URGE.
CANADIANS NEVER –B.C. poet Donna Kane
CEASED TO RETURN
HER AFFECTION.
–Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I’m excited about characters
ON THE PASSING OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II that live outside the various
mainstream ideas of femininity,
where their vocation and their
passion are the most prevalent
aspect of who they are as people.
–Canadian actor Kelly McCormack,
ON HER ROLE IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

You don’t stop playing

because you get old, you get
old because you stop playing.
–Ray Newman of Winnipeg, ON PLAYING IN A
SENIORS’ HOCKEY LEAGUE AT 89 YEARS OLD

rd.ca 21
reader’s digest

HEALTH

W
ALK INTO ANY pharmacy
and you’ll see rows of mois-
turizers, all promising some-
thing different. Figuring out which ones
could work for you can seem over-
whelming, especially because, accord-
ing to the Harvard Medical School,
“moisturizer” is more of a marketing
label than a scientific one.
Generally speaking, though, it’s an
umbrella term for products with three
categories of ingredients: emollients,
humectants and occlusives. Put simply,
“a moisturizer hydrates skin and
improves its texture,” says Dr. Lisa Kel-
lett, a dermatologist in Toronto.

How Moisturizers Work

Hydration Our skin consists of three layers: the
hypodermis (the deepest, made up of
Station fat, nerves and blood vessels), the
dermis (the in-between layer, which
includes nerves, blood vessels, hair
Why moisturizing is a must follicles and sweat glands) and the epi-
dermis (the outermost layer of skin).
BY Allison Baker Throughout the day, water from the
illustration by mariah barnaby-norris dermis evaporates through the epider-
mis and into the air via a process called
transepidermal water loss (TEWL). On

22 december 2022
average, a person loses between 300 powder—has anti-inflammatory prop-
and 400 millilitres of water per day erties that soothe itchy, dry skin. And
through their skin. Though this is a lactic acid, a naturally occurring chem-
natural bodily process, environmental ical exfoliant, helps rejuvenate the skin
factors and medical conditions like by removing dead cells and boosting
eczema can contribute to a higher rate collagen production.
of TEWL and lead to dry, scaly or
cracked skin. How to Choose
This is where moisturizers come in. Age, environment and skin type are
Emollients, like butters and oils, factors to consider when choosing a
smooth the skin by filling spaces moisturizer, says Kellett. For instance,
between dead cells, while humectant our skin loses oil glands as we age,
ingredients (including salicylic acid) meaning a thicker moisturizer to pre-
work by pulling water from the dermis vent dryness may be in order. Simi-
up to the epidermis, increasing topical larly, anyone living in a cold or windy
skin hydration. Occlusives work to pre- environment should opt for a
vent TEWL by creating a barrier atop petrolatum-based pick, as it provides
the epidermis, making it more difficult a barrier from the elements.
for water to escape. On the other hand, a petrolatum-
based moisturizer might not be best
Common Ingredients for people with acne-prone or oily
Perhaps the most recognizable occlu- skin. For them, Kellett recommends a
sive ingredient is petrolatum, a greasy water-based one, which is lighter and
petroleum by-product. (You likely won’t clog pores. And for those who
know it as Vaseline.) While it may not want to avoid petrochemicals, there
be as popular in its pure jelly form as are alternatives, like products with
it once was, it remains one of the most beeswax, olive oil or shea butter, that
effective moisturizers available, and are also effective at trapping moisture
petrolatum-based products make up a in the skin.
large portion of the market. In the end, the best moisturizer is the
Many ingredients found in moistur- one you’ll use, says Kellett. And making
izers have medical benefits in addition it part of your daily routine is as simple
to hydrating properties. Petrolatum, as brushing your teeth: once in the
for example, can speed the healing of morning and once in the evening, ide-
scrapes by creating a barrier between ally after you bathe. Not only is your
the skin and the outside world. face clean then, but the moisturizer will
Colloidal oatmeal—an emollient seal in the excess water on your still-wet
made by grinding oat grain into a skin, providing extra hydration.

rd.ca 23
reader’s digest

How to Prevent
Recurring Kidney
BY Samantha Stones
Rideout
If you’ve had a kidney
stone, your chances of
reliving that excruciating
experience within five
years are around 30 per
cent. However, the right
foods could reduce that
risk, says new research
from the Mayo Clinic.
By asking first-time
kidney-stone patients
about their dietary hab-
its and monitoring

PHOTOGRAPH BY NICK FERRARI; PROP STYLIST: LISA EDSALV FOR BERNSTEIN & ANDRIULLI
which of them went on
to form more stones, the
co-authors concluded
that consuming 1,200
milligrams per day of
COFFEE CAN LEAD calcium—found in
foods such as dairy
TO IMPULSE BUYS products, leafy greens
If you’re holiday shopping this month, be careful and sardines—could be
what you bring to sip on. As an experiment, scien- helpful for prevention.
tists gave away beverages outside stores in France They also recom-
and Spain. They offered regular coffee to 150 shop- mended getting more
pers and decaf coffee or water to 150 more. On potassium, which is in
average, the shoppers who drank caffeine spent many fruits and veg-
50 per cent more money. They bought a comparable gies, including bananas,
number of utilitarian products (utensils, say) but oranges and mush-
splurged more on fun items, like scented candles. rooms. Meanwhile, peo-
Caffeine often creates a state of “energetic arousal” ple who haven’t had a
that enhances the appeal of non-essential goods, stone and want to avoid
the researchers explained. Something to keep in getting one should
mind if exceeding your budget causes you stress. drink plenty of fluids.

24 december 2022
 The Underestimated
Value of “Just
Thinking”
Fear of Vaccines
Imagine being alone Can Cause Side
with your thoughts, Effects
(MARIJUANA) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/DAVELONGMEDIA; (WOMAN) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/RIDOFRANZ; (NEEDLE) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/FLOORTJE

without distractions.
Stronger Cannabis Sound boring? You People who are afraid
Means Greater might like it more than of vaccines for any rea-
Addiction Risk you expect. Researchers son (including getting
at Kyoto University in a needle) are more
Over the past decade, Japan asked partici- likely to feel light-
the number of people pants to sit and let their headed when they get
seeking treatment for mind wander for 20 a shot, according to a
cannabis addiction has minutes. Beforehand, study from Ohio State
increased by 76 per cent, the study subjects rated University. A possible
according to the Euro- how they thought they explanation: for some,
pean Monitoring Cen- would feel about the fear can cause nervous-
tre for Drugs and Drug task. Afterward, they system dysregulation
Addiction. During that reported how they had and affect the flow of
same time, the average actually felt. blood to their brain.
strength of cannabis On average, the activ- If you have this prob-
products increased ity was more enjoyable lem, try crossing your
around the world. and engaging than legs, then tightening the
A review published they’d anticipated. Pre- muscles in your thighs,
in The Lancet Psychiatry vious studies suggest abdomen and buttocks
linked higher concentra- this kind of activity can for five seconds, releas-
tions of THC—the main help people enhance ing for five seconds
psychoactive ingredient their creativity, solve and repeating from the
in these products—with problems and even find moment you’re about to
a greater likelihood of more meaning in life. get your shot until you
developing cannabis- stand up from the chair.
use disorder. So if The idea is to temporar-
you’re going to partake ily raise your blood
but want to minimize pressure, which should
the risks, you should help to stave off dizzi-
choose one of the lower- ness by circulating more
potency options. blood to your head.

rd.ca 25
reader’s digest

More Long-Covid Symptoms Revealed Quitting Smoking

Could Improve
For an estimated one out of 10 sufferers, Covid-19 Psoriasis
causes symptoms that linger after 12 weeks. To
provide the best possible care for these patients, Smoking brings a
it would be useful to know which of their ailments higher risk of psoriasis,
are from long Covid and which might be due to concludes a Chinese-
something else. led data analysis of
To help unravel this puzzle, British researchers more than a million
looked at the medical records of roughly 486,000 people. On the bright
people who’d been diagnosed with Covid-19 three side, quitting seemed
months prior and compared them to control sub- to raise the chances of
jects who had similar demographic characteristics, seeing this common
lifestyles and medical histories, except they’d never but burdensome skin
contracted the virus. This approach allowed the sci- condition clear up.
entists to pinpoint common complaints among the
people who’d been infected. This Is Your Brain
Issues included some that had already been on Junk Food
associated with long Covid, such as fatigue, short-
ness of breath and an altered sense of smell. How- Food that has been sig-
ever, the study also revealed lesser-known symp- nificantly transformed
toms, including hair loss, reduced libido, bowel from its original state
incontinence, and limb swelling. is known to medical
Even though most subjects suf- researchers as “ultra-
fered from only a few of these processed.” Examples
issues, the study validates include chicken nug-
the patients who claim that gets, instant soup and
long Covid has a broad ice cream. In a recent
range of possible effects study published in the
that cannot be entirely European Journal of
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/BLACKJACK3D

explained away by life- Nutrition, Australian

style habits or other researchers found that
medical conditions. seniors with a habit of
The same investigators eating ultra-processed
also identified risk factors products performed
for long Covid, which more poorly on a test of
included smoking, obesity language and execu-
and being female. tive function.
 MEDICAL MYSTERY

Brain Drain
He couldn’t get relief from
his headaches and joint pain

BY Anna-Kaisa Walker
illustration by victor wong

D
WANE UNRUH CAN pinpoint the the bizarre sensation he began to feel
date it all started: Monday, Sep- in his head. Standing up for more than
tember 11, 2017. That morning, a few minutes was agonizing and made
the 56-year-old Ottawa civil servant him vomit. “It was like a flat iron press-
woke up with a strange and terrible ache ing down on my brain,” he recalled.
in his arms and legs that he’d never felt “Calling it a headache really wouldn’t
before. “It was a deep bone pain that do it justice.”
just took over,” he says. Although he Maxed out on the recommended
hauled himself out of bed to commute dose of over-the-counter pain relievers,
to his management job with Service he went to his family doctor, who sent
Canada, it wasn’t long before he headed out half a dozen referrals to various spe-
back home again. He lay down on the cialists. Based on UnRuh’s blood work,
living room sofa, thinking he’d just a rheumatologist ruled out arthritis
need to wait it out. and lupus, which can both cause joint
But a day later, the limb pain was even pain and inflammation. A workup from
worse. “I remember lying there writh- an internist turned up nothing unusual,
ing, like I was trying to crawl out of my and a psychiatrist concluded that the
skin,” he says. Even more worrying was pain was unlikely to be psychosomatic.

rd.ca 27
reader’s digest

UnRuh wondered if his symptoms would yield more answers. But after
were somehow related to a rare blood just 15 minutes together, the doctor
disorder that had turned up on a rou- declared that UnRuh’s symptoms were
tine checkup two years prior: monoclo- “not neurological.”
nal gammopathy of undetermined Even after nearly a year of fruitless
significance, or MGUS, a condition that tests, UnRuh was determined not to
causes bone marrow to produce an lose hope. He turned to online patient
abnormal protein. communities for clues, and one day, a
It raised UnRuh’s risk of developing member of a tissue disorder support
multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that group posted about SIH—spontaneous
affects plasma cells in the blood. MGUS intracranial hypotension.
also predisposed him to developing
amyloidosis, another bone-marrow dis-
order that can cause kidney, heart, liver UNRUH WOULD
and intestinal issues—as well as nerve INVOLUNTARILY
problems, which he thought might be BLURT OUT RANDOM
causing his mysterious pain.
But after ordering a fat-pad biopsy, WORDS LIKE “FIDDLE”
a hematologist found no evidence of OR “SKITTLE.”
either condition. “I remember her tell-
ing me, ‘If it’s amyloidosis, I’ll eat my
shorts,’” UnRuh says. A clinical geneticist Involving abnormally low levels of
diagnosed him with a rare connective- cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)—the clear
tissue disorder, Loeys-Dietz syndrome. liquid that surrounds, supports and
Symptoms can include headaches and protects the brain and spinal cord—SIH
joint pain, but it didn’t fully explain the is linked to a tear or hole in the dura
rest of what UnRuh was experiencing. mater, the outer membrane that sur-
In addition to the pain and nausea, he rounds the brain and spinal cord. As the
now suffered from constant brain fog, CSF fluid leaks out, the brain can sag
fatigue, difficulty swallowing, skin sen- downwards within the skull, putting
sitivity, vocal tics, involuntary limb jerk- pressure on its lower structures and
ing and a ringing in his ears. He strug- causing symptoms that sounded very
gled to find words for basic everyday familiar to UnRuh, especially the head
objects and became unable to work. pain that worsened upon standing.
“There were days when all I could do A local blogger who suffered from
was lie in the dark,” he says. the condition gave him the name of
UnRuh was hopeful that meeting a neurologist who had treated her—
with a neurologist at a local hospital Dr. Roberto Giaccone, affiliated with

28 december 2022
the Ottawa Hospital. At UnRuh’s first in the dura, most likely somewhere in
appointment, Giaccone spent almost the spinal column.
two hours asking questions and exam- In March of 2019, after six months on
ining him before tentatively diagnos- a waiting list, UnRuh finally found him-
ing him with a CSF leak. self in an operating room at the Ottawa
According to Giaccone, about 70 Hospital, where an interventional anes-
per cent of CSF-leak patients present thesiologist drew blood from an artery
with symptoms outside of the classic in UnRuh’s hand and then injected it
textbook examples like nausea, neck into his lower spine toward the site of
pain and those headaches while the suspected leak. “I remember lying
upright. For example, UnRuh was on my side on the table and the ringing
afflicted with verbal tics—he’d invol- in my ears suddenly stopped,” UnRuh
untarily blurt out random words like says. “I thought, What’s that noise? Then
“fiddle” or “skittle.” “Because symp- I realized it was clarity.”
toms can depend on which nerves are After 15 to 20 per cent of epidural
being compressed, it can be difficult to blood patches, the CSF leaks reoccur.
diagnose,” Giaccone says. But three years after his procedure,
For further confirmation, UnRuh sent UnRuh remains in the clear and the
his MRI images to a leading neurolo- vast majority of his symptoms have
gist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center abated. Even though he sometimes
in Los Angeles. The doctor confirmed struggles with memory and focus,
that although the leak wasn’t obviously UnRuh is back working full-time after
visible on the scans, he agreed with undergoing a 10-week physical and
Giaccone’s tentative diagnosis. Neu- cognitive retraining program with an
rologists at Duke University in North occupational therapist.
Carolina also concurred and recom- Despite more than a year and a half
mended UnRuh get something called of suffering, UnRuh considers himself
an epidural blood patch. lucky to have gotten a relatively quick
The procedure involved injecting the diagnosis and to be almost fully recov-
patient’s own blood into the epidural ered after a single procedure. “At Dr.
space between the dura mater and the Giaccone’s office they called me the
spinal vertebrae. With luck, the blood miracle man,” he says with a laugh. “I
would form a clot and seal off the hole think that’s probably true.”

Find Your Path

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.
DOLLY PARTON

rd.ca 29
 COVER STORY

The

of
Four holiday stories to warm your heart,
tickle your funny bone and inspire you
to reimagine tradition
illustrations by cornelia li

30 december 2022
reader’s digest
reader’s digest

years later, as i grew up and caught

Reinventing glimpses of my friends’ traditions, I came
Christmas to realize that we weren’t the only house-
BY PHILIP PREVILLE hold with holiday quirks. Every family
Christmas is an elaborate performance
in the late 1960s my father purchased that looks weird from the outside—
a fake Christmas tree from Canadian that’s precisely the source of its charm.
Tire. It had long plastic needles, forest My brothers and I, even in adulthood
green with a hint of neon, and it smelled and scattered across the continent,
of chemicals. Its natural habitat was always made the late-December pil-
indoors amid polyester curtains and grimage to our parents’ cottage in Can-
shag carpet. No one could ever mistake more, Alberta, and to the familiar com-
it for an actual tree. forts and lifelong relationships that
My four older brothers and I adored reconnected us to each other and to
that tree. Every year the five of us looked ourselves. I never even imagined cele-
forward to the mid-December Sunday, brating Christmas anywhere else until
after Mass, when our father would reach I got married.
up to the highest shelf in the basement
storage room and pull down the box of
tree parts for us to assemble: first the WE WANTED TO
aluminum stand, then the broomstick GIVE OUR CHILDREN
trunk, then the branches of varying THE SAME JOYS OF
lengths. My father padded the box
with old newspapers, and we’d laugh CHRISTMAS THAT WE
at the headlines featuring politicians, KNEW AS KIDS.
athletes and celebrities of yore. It was
a ritual all our own, and we delighted
in it every year. When you marry someone, the say-
Other kids—and parents—were ing goes, you marry their family as
politely aghast at our tree. They said well, and that includes their holiday
Christmas wasn’t Christmas without rituals. When Lynn and I were wed in
a real tree, and there was no point tell- 2003, we did what most young couples
ing them how wrong they were. We do: we visited both our parents’ homes
knew it was absolutely possible to invest for the holidays.
love and joy and gratitude in a fake Living in Peterborough, Ontario, we
tree, because that’s what we did. And drove to Montreal to celebrate Christmas
our tree radiated as much true warmth Eve with Lynn’s parents and brother
as anyone’s. and his family, where Christmas was

32 december 2022
never complete without herring salad, for baby feedings and early bedtimes.
apparently a German tradition. Christ- But we never acknowledged to each
mas morning was then spent travelling, other how exhausting our holiday rou-
as we flew to Calgary and drove to Can- tine had become, because we wanted
more for the ever-growing Preville fam- to give our children the same joys of
ily gathering ’round the ol’ fake tree. Christmas that we knew as kids.
Then Lynn gave birth to our first son, The other thing we didn’t acknowl-
and a few years later, to his twin baby edge was that those holiday joys were
brothers, and Christmas turned into a waning fast. Travel weariness was only
nightmare: long drives with three part of the problem; our relationships
squirmy kids in the back, followed by with our parents and siblings were
long flights with our family of five increasingly stilted. We were all profes-
squeezed into three economy seats sionals with careers and parents with
strewn with board books and binkies. kids, yet in both households everyone
My family’s brood had swollen to the treated each other like the teenagers
point where we no longer fit in my par- we once were, not the adults we had
ents’ home, so we’d set ourselves up in a become. Christmas was stuck in time,
rented condo and shuttle back and forth and so were we.

rd.ca 33
reader’s digest

It all came to a head during the why? We do it to reconnect with the

Quarantine Christmas of 2011. That’s family roles and relationships that
the year we and our three sons came shaped us in our formative years, but
down with norovirus on the flight to it’s a double-edged sword.
Calgary. We holed up in our rented Since Lynn and I are the youngest
condo and spent the first 48 hours void- in our families, that often meant being
ing our gastrointestinal tracts and the treated like, and behaving like, the
next 48 trying to ward off my mother, “kid sibling” again. Those roles no lon-
who see-sawed between loving concern ger bear any resemblance to us, but
(“I made you some chicken soup!”) they are hard-wired. In moments like
and browbeating (“Enough is enough, Christmas, so laden with tradition and
come join the family!”). expectation, it’s nearly impossible to
rewrite the script.
Once we got back to Peterborough,
WE’VE ADOPTED MANY Lynn and I vowed to blow Christmas up
OF MY FAVOURITE and rebuild it from scratch. We’d cele-
FAMILY TRADITIONS, brate it in our own home and develop
our own traditions, some borrowed,
BUT WE ABANDONED some new. It was not an easy transition.
THE FAKE TREE. We bargained hard about which of our
respective family rituals would remain
part of our own hybrid Christmas.
We couldn’t get out of Canmore fast The herring salad made the cut; I’ve
enough. By the time we did I was so come to enjoy it. And while we’ve
strung out that, with my extended fam- adopted many of my favourite family
ily present to wave goodbye, I backed traditions—including tourtière for
the minivan into a signpost on the way breakfast on Christmas morning—we
out of the parking lot, leaving the abandoned the fake tree. Lynn said
bumper dangling. I drove to the airport Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas
in silence, knowing, with a mix of res- without a real tree. There was no point
ignation and determination, that I was telling her how wrong she was.
done going home for the holidays. So now, every year, we bring a Nova
Scotia pine into the house. I’ve put my
every family christmas is an elaborate own stamp on the ritual by sawing a
performance, and we are all so attached puck-shaped disc from the bottom of
to our part in the play that we lose each trunk; I’ve labelled and saved
track of both the script and the audi- them all, and they adorn our hearth
ence. Who are we performing for, and every December. In any event, the tree

34 december 2022
itself is less important than the love “Santa’s not real.”
and joy and gratitude you invest in it— It was 1994, and at age nine I was
and who you do it for. My tree is no way too old to still believe in Santa
longer a monument to my brothers and Claus. And yet, blindsided by Julia’s
parents but to my wife and kids, a casual response to my Santa enthusi-
change that was long overdue. asm that year, I doubled down and
We finally made each other the focus branded Julia a liar. After all, movies
of our Christmas, and we’ve never had taught me that Christmas magic
gone back. outweighed what I’d already begun
suspecting as fact. What did she know,
anyway? I had it on good authority that
The Harsh Truth one year, my dad heard sleigh bells
About Santa and hoofs on our roofs himself.
BY ANNE T. DONAHUE But by Christmas Eve, I was con-
sumed by the feeling that Julia wasn’t
‘twas the night before Christmas, and wrong; that the concept of Saint Nick
all through my head, were the haunt- didn’t really make sense, and that there
ing three words my friend Julia said: was no way the mall Santa I was staring

rd.ca 35
reader’s digest

at while standing next to my parents My mother, forever honest, simply

could possibly make it to the North looked at me.
Pole and back to Cambridge, Ontario, “Well, sweetie, what do you think?”
by nightfall. That was enough. I wasn’t stupid.
My dad headed off to buy a new suit Neither of us was. So as if I were Wil-
for the holidays, and my mom led me lem Dafoe in Platoon, experiencing a
to Shoppers Drug Mart. I gazed at the slow death at the hands of his enemies,
chocolate while analyzing the Christ- I crumbled under my new cold, cruel
mas music playing over the store reality, devoid of magic, and I wailed
speakers. With each mention of Santa for my lost innocence. Which is what I
Claus or red-nosed reindeer I started was still doing as we walked across the
to feel warm. Sick. Like I’d stumbled concourse to Tip Top to meet my dad,
upon a truth I was never meant to who was revelling in his new blazer.
know, and would be forever cursed by “What do you guys think—” he
its effects. I silently followed my mom started to ask, the grin on his face van-
up to the register, and felt the words ishing as he saw me in tears. “Oh my
rising, knowing there’d be no turning God, what now?” My mom gave a sim-
back once they tumbled out. ple, grave answer: “She knows.”
“Knows what?!”
“SANTA’S NOT REAL!” I wept among
“SANTA’S NOT REAL!” the pleated slacks, button-ups and sen-
I WEPT AMONG THE sible sports coats, all while trying to hide
PLEATED SLACKS, my outburst from the salesman whose
biggest concern was now whether my
BUTTON-UPS AND dad would be going through with his
SPORTS COATS. purchase. (He did.) By the time we
made it to the car, I was crying quietly,
gazing out the window and vowing
“Mom,” I said, as the cashier rang us never to forget the pain their decep-
through. “Are you and Dad Santa?” tion had caused.
The cashier began scanning items At home, I sat miserably on the liv-
faster and faster, her widened eyes glued ing room floor, reconciling with the
to the digital display. I didn’t wait for a fact that our Christmas tree was an
response before pressing on. obvious farce; an empty symbol that
“Is Santa real?” was no longer a testament to Santa’s
The cashier was moving at record generosity. I bet my parents had even
speed, desperate to get me and my eaten the cookies and milk I’d left
impending meltdown out and away. under it simply because they could.

36 december 2022
 “You know,” my mom said as my dad perfectionist. I was the people-pleasing,
tended to his new tweed treasure, “I attention-seeking middle child. And
know this is hard, but now you’ve got Kerry, the baby, was charming, sensi-
to help keep the magic alive for your tive and entirely lacking in self-
little cousin. You get to help make her discipline. We were, as much as I hate
Christmases feel extra special.” to admit it, clichés.
This made me perk up. Suddenly, I
understood the true meaning of Christ-
mas: not presents or folklore or the AT THE RIPE OLD AGE
man in red, but power. The power to OF 27, OUR FAMILY’S
give and the power to take away. As my MARTHA STEWART
first act of this newfound adulthood, I
agreed never to ruin Santa Claus for HOSTED HER FIRST
anyone. But I also vowed to keep tabs CHRISTMAS DINNER.
on my enemies—like Julia who tried to
strip me of the magic of Christmas and
would always be on my naughty list. Kate wrapped gifts in brown paper,
A list even more powerful than with perfectly tied bows on top, and dil-
Santa Claus’s. igently passed around hors d’oeuvres
as people opened their presents. I was
unnecessarily effusive about the tube
All the Trimmings socks and plastic earrings I received
BY MEGAN MURPHY from a great aunt: “Wow! They’re for my
feet! And it doesn’t matter that I don’t
hosting christmas dinner is a big job. have my ears pierced, I can do that
A rite of passage, really. I’m in my early before dessert if you like!” And Kerry
forties and, to this day, I have yet to would be gushed over by our grand-
oversee the cooking of the Yuletide mother because, apparently, she was a
turkey. I assume it’s because I don’t genius for knowing how to dress her
have children, as hosting in my family new Barbie.
usually falls to the households still get- As we’ve aged and matured, I like to
ting visits from Santa. Either that or think our pre-determined traits have
they think I’m a terrible cook. become more nuanced.
I am lucky to have a close relation- When I was 25, there was a seismic
ship with my two sisters. Growing up, shift as our family was forced to rede-
we tended to seamlessly correspond fine itself. Our dad, who was a beloved,
with birth-order stereotypes. The larger than life figure in our world,
eldest, Kate, was a responsible, bossy died from cancer. The hole he left was

rd.ca 37
reader’s digest

palpable. Who would become our new Christmas, our candles were battery
sage elder? Who would sit opposite my operated, our turkey was a pre-stuffed
mother at the table? When our extended frozen Butterball and our tree looked
family inevitably got on each other’s like the bobble department in Sears
nerves at the next holiday gathering, had thrown up on it. The holiday was
who would lighten the mood? homey and carb-filled.
Newly married Kate and her hus- My sister Kate, on the other hand,
band, Shane, lived in a split-level prepared for her inaugural hosting sor-
house in our hometown of Peterbor- tie by making wreaths, folding napkin
ough, Ontario. A year after our father’s swans and decorating her tree with
passing, our family’s Martha Stewart colour-coordinated fabric, tinsel and
volunteered to host her first Christmas tiny white lights. And the pièce de
dinner at the ripe old age of 27. There résistance: a fresh, not-even-remotely-
would be 12 mouths to feed, our Butterball turkey.
extended family included. The chal- On December 25, 2005, we gathered
lenge was on! at Kate’s and opened our stockings while
As a 1980s parent, my mom was a sipping wine and nibbling on appetizers
casserole-and-jelly-mould type. At that looked like they’d been plucked

38 december 2022
from a magazine spread. My dad, who culinary shortcomings of our domes-
had a mischievous sense of humour, tically challenged mother.
was famous for his joke gifts, a ritual “Everything is ruined! I didn’t know
we wanted to continue after his death. a real turkey needed to be defrosted!”
Kerry received a sparkly wand so she she cried, looking defeated as her oven
could relive her stint in the grade-school mitts hung off the ends of her arms like
baton-twirling club. Mom got a pair of sagging lobster claws. Ever the support-
full-bottomed underwear with “Granny ive younger sister, I burst into laughter,
Panties” splashed across the derrière. grabbed my boots and a shovel and
Shane was gifted a bag of BBQ flavoured cut a path through the heavy snow to
crickets, because it was just gross the barbecue. We transferred the bird
enough to be funny. to the back deck, uncorked more wine
We were proud of ourselves for car- and headed into the den filled with
rying on Dad’s tradition, despite our starving aunts to break the news.
grief. Still, the clock was ticking, bel-
lies  were grumbling and best
behaviours were starting to fray. IT WAS A PERFECT
Cooking a turkey is more compli- STORM: THE OVEN HAD
cated than one might think. It includes STOPPED WORKING
brining and basting and, apparently,
math. A bird requires five hours of AND THE TURKEY WAS
thawing per pound, and then 13 min- STILL ROCK SOLID.
utes of cooking per pound after that.
This was all too cumbersome for our
mother, so when Butterball invented While the turkey was on the grill,
the pre-stuffed, cook-from-frozen fowl, Kerry twirled her baton to the Rocky
she thought she’d died and gone to theme song, my mom donned her new
Christmas-dinner heaven. granny panties over her dress pants
Having never seen our mother cook and Shane passed around handfuls of
anything but Butterball, my sister, days BBQ crickets—which go surprisingly
earlier, had put her fresh turkey into well with a chilled chardonnay.
the freezer to keep it, well, fresh. When At midnight, the bird was ready to be
I entered the kitchen at 7:30 p.m. for an carved, the side dishes were micro-
ETA on the gravy boat, I found Kate in waved and the pleasantly pickled guests
a state of panic. It was a perfect storm: sat down to devour Kate’s holiday
the oven had stopped working and the repast. A frozen bird and a broken oven
turkey was still rock solid. She’d been forced us to let go of our usual expec-
duped by both General Electric and the tations as to how Christmas should go.

rd.ca 39
reader’s digest

Subsequently, we’d all been freed sparkles were dripping onto the porch.
from our assigned roles. We were all On the front lawn, he inflated a large
allowed to just…be. No one made Frosty the Snowman and a Rudolph
passive-aggressive comments about the with a glowing red nose. The whole
consistency of the mashed potatoes, place looked like a scene from a Christ-
no one was told to take their elbows off mas storybook.
the table and no one had a bad time. It Anthony Sr., 60, had outdone him-
turns out that hosting Christmas din- self, as if the brightness of the lights
ner wasn’t so hard after all. It just could counter some of the darkness of
required everything to go perfectly the Covid-19 pandemic. “It was just
wrong, so it could be perfectly right. such a rough year that he tried his best
to make it extra special,” Sara says.
On Christmas Eve, the whole house
Up in Lights twinkled with lights, and gifts were piled
BY REBECCA MEISER under the tree. Everyone was looking
forward to spending Christmas Day
for some, putting up Christmas deco- together as a family.
rations is yet another holiday chore.
But for the Pascucci family, stringing
lights and decorating the yard of their TAKING DOWN THE
home in Bethpage, New York, was LIGHTS FELT LIKE A
always a time of celebration. FINAL ACT OF CLOSURE
Starting in early November, Anthony
Pascucci, the family patriarch, and his THE SIBLINGS WEREN’T
older sister, Connie, would visit local READY TO TAKE.
stores to check out new decorations
and to dream up their vision for that
year’s extravaganza. Then Connie got a call: someone she
Anthony’s son, Anthony Jr., and worked with had tested positive for
daughter, Sara, shared the home, Covid. Though Connie didn’t have any
and they pitched in as well. Anthony symptoms, she decided to get tested right
Jr. helped with the wiring, while Sara away. Her rapid test came back positive.
hung ornaments on the tree inside the Anthony Sr., Anthony Jr. and Sara
house, playing “White Christmas” over decided they should get tested too.
and over to keep everyone in the spirit. When their results came back, they all
In 2020, as in every other year, learned that they also had Covid. Sadly,
Anthony Sr. strung colourful lights all they agreed their Christmas celebra-
around their roof until it looked as if tion would have to be cancelled.

40 december 2022
 At first, everyone’s symptoms seemed had to figure out the mortgage pay-
to be manageable. But right after the ments and transfer the utility bills. And
new year, on January 4, Anthony Sr. perhaps hardest of all, she had to try to
started having trouble breathing. explain to her 18-month-old son, Rob-
Anthony Jr. took him to the hospital, bie, the concept of death. It was almost
where he was admitted. too much to take.
Five days later, Connie began feeling But when she pulled up to the house
weak and wouldn’t eat. Sara called an at the end of another long day, the
ambulance, but Connie died before twinkling Christmas lights brought her
they got to the hospital. Less than a a spark of joy. “It made us happy to see
week later, Anthony Sr. passed away. them,” she says.
Sara says the following weeks were The lights were one of the last
the worst of her life. Grief left her dou- mementos Sara and Anthony Jr. had
bled over in pain. On top of that, “we of their beloved family members when
were still recovering from Covid our- they were still alive and healthy. Taking
selves,” she says. them down felt like a final act of clo-
In addition to helping to plan funer- sure she and her brother weren’t ready
als for her father and her aunt, Sara to take. So they kept them up.

rd.ca 41
reader’s digest

One day in February, Sara received it was especially tough to lose loved
a typed note in the mail. “Take your ones around the holidays.
Christmas lights down! It’s Valentine’s The prevailing sentiment from
Day!!!” the unsigned letter read. friends old and new: keep the Christ-
Sara looked at the paper in shock. mas lights up.
Then she got angry. “We were already “I know what it feels like to lose
dealing with so much,” she says. someone and not want to put their
Sara could have bottled up that anger, things away. It’s very hard,” one man
but she decided to write about it instead. told her when he stopped by with a
“I wanted to remind people that we all bouquet of roses. Thoughtful neigh-
had a tough year. We all have been bours sent meals and cards.
through so much and people should “I wasn’t expecting that much sup-
be a little more caring toward each port,” Sara says. “But having it helped
other,” she says. us get through a rough time, just know-
ing that people could relate.”
And then something strange began
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS to happen. Sara was driving back from
AND DECORATIONS work one day when she noticed that
WERE REAPPEARING Christmas lights and decorations were
appearing—or reappearing—on her
ON THE NEIGHBOURS’ neighbours’ houses.
HOUSES. The mystery had a sweet explanation:
her neighbours had gotten together
and decided, collectively, to hang their
She shared the letter on Facebook, lights back up in honour of Anthony Sr.
adding a note of her own: “If you know and Connie.
of a person who would do something “I couldn’t believe someone would
so insensitive like this, please pass send her this letter,” neighbour Karen
along my message.” She ended the McGuggart told The Washington Post.
post with the following: “Be kind to “Losing her wonderful dad, whom all
people because you never know what the neighbours loved, and her beauti-
they are going through.” ful aunt, who was always smiling, is
Sara’s inbox quickly filled with words such a tragedy. We were heartbroken.”
of support. A local news station learned The support didn’t stop with the
what had happened and ran a segment decorations. When the man formerly
about it. People started sending Sara named Frank Pascuzzi—who legally
letters and Facebook messages about changed his name to Santa Claus—saw
how they’d lost relatives, too, and how Sara’s story on TV, he decided to take

42 december 2022
his Santa suit out of seasonal retire- She never learned the identity of
ment. (He spends the holidays dress- the person who sent the note. But for the
ing up as Santa and making appear- Pascucci family, that one mean-spirited
ances for local organizations.) act was far outweighed by so many
On Valentine’s Day, Claus rode down more acts of kindness. “The good does
Sara and Anthony Jr.’s street in a car outweigh the bad and most people
parade he had helped organize. One have good hearts,” Sara says.
of the first cars in line blasted “Frosty A few weeks after the surprise Valen-
the Snowman” while some 60 others tine’s Day Christmas parade, Sara and
followed in vehicles decked out with Anthony Jr. finally took down their hol-
flashing Christmas lights. iday decorations. Sara said it was hard—
“We wanted them to see that the com- “but not as hard as I think it would
munity was behind them,” Claus says. have been if we didn’t experience all
Sara, her brother and her son stood that support and love.”
outside their house and waved to the The family plans to keep putting on a
passing crowd. It had snowed the night bright, colourful Christmas. “We aren’t
before, so the neighbourhood was cov- going to make it a sad holiday. We will
ered with a dusting of white powder. It keep the tradition going,” Sara says.
was as if all of the world were conspir- And if they make their display
ing to make sure Sara and her family bright enough, she believes her dad
had a proper Christmas. “We got a little and aunt might even be able to see it
bit of joy back that night,” Sara says. from heaven.

Significant Alterations
All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows
his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.
SOPHOCLES

Bending beats breaking.

BETTY GREENE

When people are ready to, they change. You can’t

make them change if they don’t want to, just like when
they do want to, you can’t stop them.
ANDY WARHOL

Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine.

ROBERT C. GALLAGHER

rd.ca 43
reader’s digest

For the residents

of Schoonschip,
the chance to go
swimming is just a
few steps from home.
 ENVIRONMENT

T N
F LO A I G LI F E
A unique Dutch neighbourhood is showing how
cities can prepare for rising sea levels

BY Shira Rubin FROM THE WASHINGTON POST

photos by ilvy njiokiktjien

rd.ca 45
reader’s digest

marjan de blok readjusts her body

weight as she treads along the jetty
linking a floating community on a
canal off the River IJ. Through the
whipping winds, she shouts greetings
to many of her neighbours.
On the day I visited, in autumn 2021,
heavy rains and 80-kilometre-an-hour
winds had put Amsterdam, just a short Marjan de
ferry ride away, on alert. But in the Blok with her
northern neighbourhood of Schoons- family in her
chip, life carried on mostly as usual. De floating home
Blok visited with neighbours while the
homes glided up and down their steel Schoonschip can serve as a proto-
foundational poles with the movement type for the more than 600 million
of the water below. people—close to 10 per cent of the
“It feels like living at the beach, with world’s population—who live near
the water, the saltiness of the air the  coast and less than 10 metres
and the seagulls,” she says. “But it also above sea level. As the effects of cli-
feels special because, initially, we were mate change intensify, sea levels are
told that building your own neighbour- forecast to rise somewhere between 30
hood is just impossible.” and 240 centimetres this century, and
A long list of European lawmakers, storms are expected to increase in fre-
urban planners, entrepreneurs and quency and intensity. In the summer
citizens have visited Schoonschip to of 2021, at least 220 people died in
see the real-life manifestation of an Germany and Belgium from a once-in-
idea that once seemed like science 400-year rain event. In Zhengzhou,
fiction. De Blok, a Dutch reality-TV China, 630 millimetres of rain fell in
director, has shown them Schoonschip’s one day, killing nearly 300 people.
patchwork of environmentally focused By the end of this century, the kind of
social projects: lush floating gardens intense precipitation events that would
beloved by the water birds; a commu- typically occur two times per century
nity centre featuring floating architec- will happen twice as often, and more
ture diagrams; and a nearby on-land extreme events that would occur once
vegetable patch. But the homes’ every 200 years will become up to four
industrial-chic design and their imme- times as frequent, according to a study
diate proximity to the city, she says, are published last year by a team at the
what surprise visitors the most. University of Freiburg.

46 december 2022
Schoonschip is setting an
example for communities
coming to grips with rising
sea levels around the world.

the netherlands has long contended emerging in Amsterdam, Rotterdam

with water—nearly a third of the coun- and Utrecht.
try is below sea level and close to two- These homes are relatively low-tech,
thirds is flood-prone. Since the Middle constructed off-site and weighted by
Ages, Dutch farmer collectives have basins filled with recycled, water-
drained water to make room for agri- resistant concrete, then pulled across
cultural land. The groups evolved into the water by tugboats and moored in
regional water boards that keep the place. Heavy pieces, such as pianos,
land dry using canals, dikes, dams and are counterweighed with bricks on the
sea gates. Water management is such opposite side of the house, and inte-
a normal part of Dutch discourse that rior design is carried out in line with
many citizens are surprised to be the Dutch principle of gezelligheid, or
asked about it, assuming it is common “coziness.” Many rooms are outfitted
in every country. with modular furniture that can be
The Dutch have historically lived on easily disassembled or reassembled to
water. As international commerce flour- accommodate life changes, such as the
ished in the 17th century, foreign trades- birth of children.
people moored their boats to the land “It’s evident that sea waters will rise,
to sell their goods. In the 1970s, people and that many big cities are really close
started converting boats into homes. to that water,” says Schoonschip resi-
And over the past decade, Dutch dent Sascha Glasl, whose architectural
water-management strategists have firm, Space & Matter, designed several
sought to embrace, rather than resist, of the community’s homes. “It’s amaz-
the rising sea levels brought on by cli- ing there isn’t more of this innovation
mate change, with floating communities and building on water being executed.”

rd.ca 47
reader’s digest Eelke Kingma
helped design
Schoonschip’s
renewable-
De Blok, who has no engineering, energy grid.
architecture or hydrological training,
says that she never intended to spear-
head a movement in floating urban
development. In 2009, she had become
disenchanted with her life in Amster-
dam. She worked all the time, bought
things she rarely used and had little
time to see friends.
On a cold winter day, she visited a
solar-panelled floating event venue
called GeWoonboot as part of a series of
short documentaries she was shooting
on sustainable living. She was stunned
by its contemporary feel, its immediacy
to the water and the city, and its use of Amsterdam Dance and Music Tower,
experimental sustainability practices. with dance clubs, a revolving restau-
“Before I visited that boat, I wasn’t rant and an observation deck. The
really conscious that I didn’t like the grassy Overhoeks Promenade, which
way I was living,” she says. served as a gallows from the 15th to the
When she asked friends if they had 18th century, hosts the hulking, mod-
interest in building a floating commu- ernistic Eye Film Museum. The NDSM
nity, she was unprepared for the del- wharf is peppered with artist collec-
uge of responses. She cut off the list tives, vintage shops and a luxury hotel.
at 120 people. When “Schoonschip” is made into a
She scouted waters around Buikslo- verb, “to do schoonschip,” it means “to
terham, a 100-hectare post-industrial cleanse.” Aiming to make a different
area that had been largely abandoned kind of community, De Blok had resi-
after manufacturers—including Shell dents sign a manifesto committing to
and the Fokker airplane factory—left constructing, insulating and finishing
the city for lower-wage countries in the their homes with eco-friendly materi-
second part of the 20th century. When als such as straw, burlap and bamboo.
she learned that the city was planning They also informally signed up for
to develop tens of thousands of hous- eating together, swimming together
ing units in the area, she thought, We and conducting their lives largely in
could be pioneers here. common view of one another, with
In Buiksloterham, the 22-storey curtains rarely drawn. They use a
Shell tower has been rebranded as the WhatsApp group to request services or

48 december 2022
 Schoonschip has
created a strong
sense of community.
Here, residents hang
decorative lights
among the houses.

borrow items from neighbours, includ- residents themselves. Siti Boelen, a

ing bikes and cars. Dutch television producer, mediated
The neighbourhood feels like an between the Schoonschip representa-
extended block party, mostly because tive committee and the local munici-
many residents are De Blok’s friends pality. Glasl, the architect, helped
or friends of friends, including col- design the jetty that connects the
leagues from the entertainment indus- houses to each other and to the land.
try. Most joined the project in their 20s Eelke Kingma, a resident and renew-
and 30s, when they had no kids and able tech expert, joined a community
ample time to invest in building a task force that co-designed the neigh-
community. Twelve years later, those bourhood’s smart grid system. Resi-
young couples have young families. dents collect energy from more than
During the summer, their children 500 solar panels and 30 efficient heat
jump out of their bedroom windows pumps drawing from the water below.
directly into the water. On clear winter They store it in enormous batteries
nights, the neighbourhood gleams below the homes and sell any surplus
with soft lighting and buzzes with the to each other, and to the national grid.
hum of chattering residents on their An AI program under development
top-floor porches. “When it’s dark and will use the homes’ smart meters to
all the lights in the houses are on, it inform residents when they can earn
feels like a film set,” De Blok says. the most from selling their electricity,
To realize Schoonschip’s sustain- based on energy-market fluctuations.
ability goals, De Blok drew on the This would make Schoonschip the first

rd.ca 49
reader’s digest

residential neighbourhood in the coun- the Korail Bosti slum of Dhaka, Ban-
try to turn a profit from generating gladesh. Children attended remote
energy, Kingma says. classes in it during the day, and adults
The program is being monitored in used it to develop business projects at
collaboration with 15 European com- night. In 2019, the container was relo-
panies, universities and institutions cated to a slum near Alexandria, Egypt,
organized by the European Commis- where it remains stationed.
sion, which supports renewable “We want to upgrade cities near the
energy experiments in the hopes of water,” says Koen Olthuis, a Waterstudio
scaling them up across the continent. architect. “Now we’re at a tipping point
where it’s actually happening. We’re
over the past decade, the floating- getting requests from all over the world.”
house movement has been gaining After two decades of planning, his
momentum in the Netherlands. The firm, along with Dutch Docklands,
government is amending legislation to which specializes in floating develop-
redefine floating homes as “immov- ments, will oversee construction on a
able homes,” rather than boats, to sim- 200-hectare lagoon off Malé, in the
plify the process of obtaining permits. Maldives. The city sits less than one
Amsterdam and Rotterdam are metre above sea level, making it very
reporting a sharp uptick in requests for vulnerable. The simply designed com-
permits to build on the water. The plex will house 20,000 people; pumps
trend is coinciding with a national will draw from deep-sea water, and
water-awareness campaign for an era the homes’ artificial coral-clad hulls
in which climate change is already a will encourage marine life.
fact of life. The government launched “We can cope with the challenges of
an app called Overstroom ik? (Will I sea-level rises,” Olthuis says, pointing
flood?) that allows residents to check to the success of Dutch and interna-
if their area is at risk of flooding. tional projects.
The people behind Schoonschip and In Schoonschip, De Blok hopes that
other floating neighbourhoods, office one day everyone will be able to live in
buildings and event spaces across the communities built in harmony with
Netherlands are increasingly being the natural environment. “Living on
consulted for projects across the world. water does something to you, being
In 2013, the architectural firm aware that under your house, every-
Waterstudio, which designed several thing is moving,” she says. “There’s
of Schoonschip’s houses, sent a float- some magic to it.”
ing, Internet-connected converted
THE WASHINGTON POST (DECEMBER 17, 2021), COPY-
cargo container called “City App” to RIGHT © 2021 BY THE WASHINGTON POST

50 december 2022
 crowd replies, “There’s
LAUGHTER a calendar behind you.”
the Best Medicine — GCFL.NET

Silent Threat
Cheap Fix of music do you like?” Mimes are known to
How much does a roof “Well, I’m a huge metal commit unspeakable
cost? Nothing—it’s on fan,” the other replies. acts.
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— @THEPUNNYWORLD
My mom told me never Pastry Fan
Me: Something is fishy to steal kitchen utensils. The bakery I order from
here. But it’s a whisk I’m will- is delicious. I would eat
Red herring: [acts very ing to take. their playdough.
casual] — @MARIANA057 — ANN MARIE TOWELL,
— @MXMCLAIN Calgary
The Longest Day
Hard-Core Energy A man giving a long-
Send us your original
Two giant windmills winded speech says, jokes! You could earn $50
are standing in a field. “I’m sorry I talked so and be featured in the
One turns to the other long. I left my watch at magazine. See page 8 or
and asks, “What kind home.” A voice from the rd.ca/joke for details.

THE BEST JOKE I EVER TOLD

By Ajahnis Charley

I love being non-binary so much that I

stopped doing binary things. I said goodbye
to the binary. I don’t flip light switches on or
off anymore. I got dimmers.

Ajahnis Charley is a co-founder of Canada’s first all-

WADE HUDSON

Black sketch comedy ensemble, Untitled Black Sketch

Project. Follow them on Instagram @ajahnischarley.

rd.ca 51
 CRIME

The
Hunt
In December 1962,
three men robbed a Montreal-
area bank, making off with
$143,000. One of them wore
for the a very unusual disguise.

IT HAD BEEN a busy morning inside the Canadian

Imperial Bank of Commerce at 6007 Côte de Liesse,
BY Jana G. Pruden
a small branch in an area of industry and business
FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL in Ville Saint-Laurent, just west of Montreal. It was
illustration by jonathan dyck Friday, December 14, 1962, the last payday before
Christmas, and a decorated evergreen shimmered

52 december 2022
reader’s digest
reader’s digest

beside the door. About a dozen cus- Santa knew it was payday and the
tomers waited in line. The date on the bank would be stocked with money.
calendar had not been changed for He wanted it all. Santa swore and
the day and still read 13. cursed. He spoke in English, but to
One customer had just finished Holmes and others lying on the bank
cashing a cheque and was walking out floor, his accent sounded unmistak-
when suddenly, in the doorway of the ably French-Canadian.
vestibule, there was Santa Claus. He To guard against thefts, even bank
wore the full suit, hat, boots and managers didn’t have the complete safe
beard, along with a pair of smoked combinations, and so Robert Wishart,
clip-on sunglasses. There were two another bank employee, nervously
men with Santa who appeared to have approached to add his numbers. The
stockings covering their faces. banker loaded the spoils of the vault
“This is a holdup!” Santa said. into a pillowcase.
With the money from the tellers’
cages, there was $78,850 in savings
SANTA KNEW IT WAS bonds, $57,470 in travellers’ cheques
PAYDAY AND THE BANK and $6,646 in cash—including a
WOULD BE STOCKED “dummy bundle,” currency numbered
sequentially from one to 100 so it could
WITH MONEY. HE be tracked in case of a robbery. When
WANTED IT ALL. Santa wasn’t looking, Wishart surrepti-
tiously pressed the silent alarm.

Santa carried a Belgian FN assault VILLE SAINT-LAURENT POLICE consta-

rifle that had recently begun to circulate bles Denis Brabant and Claude Mari-
in Montreal after a series of thefts at neau were out driving around in a new
army-surplus stores in Quebec. He police ambulance when a dispatch
ordered everyone to the floor, and the about a bank robbery came over the
bank’s staff and customers scrambled radio. At 34, Marineau had been with
to get down. Then he headed toward the force for 15 years. Brabant, who
the vault. was 30, had been an officer for eight.
Santa called out for the bank man- The two were road-testing the new
ager, and, after a moment’s hesitation, station wagon, part of a police ambu-
Robert Holmes stood and identified lance system that allowed officers with
himself to the robber. first aid training to respond to medical
“Do you want to die?” Santa asked. emergencies, in addition to their reg-
Holmes did not. ular duties. Marineau was supposed to

54 december 2022
be off work, getting ready for Christ- way out. With no other exit, he smashed
mas with his wife and their three chil- a window in the lunchroom with the
dren, but plans had changed and he’d butt of his rifle, then dragged himself
taken the shift. through a tangle of venetian blinds,
It had been a hot year for holdups. jumping out to the frozen ground and
Two bandits had been killed and running off through a field.
a policeman wounded as a result of a
robbery in Montreal in May, and two OUTSIDE, TWO MORE officers arrived
more stickup men were killed during a to find Brabant face down on the
bank heist at a shopping centre in July. ground and Marineau propped up
Brabant and Marineau were close to against the rear wheel of the vehicle. A
Côte de Liesse and volunteered to take cluster of bullet holes pierced the front
the call. They pulled into the parking corner panel of the police ambulance,
lot in the black and white Plymouth and there were two holes in the wind-
wagon. The force’s crest was painted shield, the glass crackling around them
on the doors, and a single cherry siren like broken ice. Within minutes, there
light sparkled on top. One of the rob- were police roadblocks around the
bers saw the vehicle approaching and area, alerts going out to train stations,
yelled out to the others. Santa left the the airport and bus terminals.
vault and bounded toward the door. By the following week, when Con-
Marineau pulled his revolver from its stables Brabant and Marineau were
holster as he stepped from the vehicle. laid to rest with full honours in a som-
It all happened so fast. bre civic ceremony, a manhunt was
Bullets rattled against metal. An offi- in full swing. The story of the ruthless
cer’s head rose from the police car, Santa bandit and his gang was front-
then fell from view. Santa disappeared page news across the country. Munic-
back into the bank, then returned, he ipal, provincial and federal police had
and the lookout man heading to a sto- combined forces, with either 1,000 or
len white Oldsmobile they had wait- 2,000 officers involved, depending
ing. Though the officers were already which news reports you believed.
mortally wounded, Santa fired on Either way, it was one of the biggest
them again—17 times. With the road manhunts in Quebec’s history.
blocked by an approaching police car, Police conducted a series of raids at
the robbers sped off into a field, then various underworld hangouts in Mon-
careered back onto the highway and treal, and a steady stream of characters
were gone. were hauled in for questioning. The
Left behind, the third suspect ran getaway car had been found aban-
back through the bank, looking for a doned in the nearby town of Mount

rd.ca 55
reader’s digest

Royal, with the red Santa suit and Hospital unconscious. Upon waking,
$78,850 in stolen savings bonds inside. he couldn’t speak or communicate
The bonds were traceable and there- and was paralyzed on his right side,
fore worthless on the streets, as were having apparently suffered a stroke.
the stolen travellers’ cheques. News- There was $1,297 in cash in Reeves’s
paper ads announced a reward of pockets. It was an unusually large sum
$25,000 for information that led to the of money, and when a man claiming
capture of the suspects. to be Reeves’s brother attempted to
claim his personal effects—and the
cash—a nurse called the police.
IF CONVICTED WITH Twenty-nine of the bills in his pocket
NO RECOMMENDATION were numbered bills from the Côte de
Liesse robbery.
FOR MERCY, THE At a press conference in Montreal on
PENALTY WOULD January 14, 1963, exactly one month
BE DEATH. after the stickup, Inspector Gérard
Houle named Reeves as one of the
suspects, along with two other known
While the identities of the Santa robbers, Jean-Paul Fournel and
bandit and the robber he left with Georges Marcotte. Reeves remained
were a mystery, the suspect who fled unable to submit to an interrogation.
through the back window of the bank Instead, it was an outside informant
had doffed his disguise during the who implicated the three men, telling
escape. He had been observed both by police they’d attempted to recruit him
a receptionist at the Town and Country to take part in the robbery scheme.
Motel— where he had burst in and Marcotte and Fournel were in their
asked to use the phone—and then by 30s and had long criminal histories;
the driver of a delivery truck with the two men had met while serving
whom he had hitched a ride. A police sentences for armed robbery. Marcotte
sketch showed a slender-faced man had been in police custody since late
with deep-set eyes, thin lips and pro- December, after being picked up on an
truding, slightly uneven ears. unrelated firearms charge. After the
holdup, Fournel had fled to Edmonton
LATE ON THE night of December 21, and then Saskatoon, but he was
Jules Reeves, a 30-year-old resident of arrested at gunpoint by police who laid
a rooming house in Montreal’s east in wait in his darkened apartment
end, collapsed and was rushed to hos- when he returned to Montreal later
pital. Reeves arrived at Notre-Dame that January.

56 december 2022
 Of the three men, it was only Four- robbed a garage and was sentenced to
nel’s involvement that was beyond eight years for armed robbery.
question. The police sketch released Reeves continued to be unrespon-
during the manhunt looked almost sive after his stroke, and Fournel, as a
exactly like him. While no one could key witness for the prosecution, had
conclusively identify the man in the had his own trial deferred. Marcotte
Santa suit, Fournel quickly aligned him- would be tried alone and only for the
self with the prosecution, identifying murder of Constable Marineau at first.
Marcotte as both the Santa and the killer It was a big case and prosecutors were
of the two policemen. Soon, Marcotte taking no chances. If convicted with no
was set to stand trial for capital murder. recommendation for mercy, the pen-
alty would be death.
THE TRIAL BEGAN in February, right None of the Crown witnesses could
around Marcotte’s 33rd birthday. He identify Marcotte as having taken part
was a striking man, with black hair, in the robbery, but that was little pro-
thick-framed eyeglasses and a thin, tection against the evidence of Fournel,
sculpted moustache that hung per- who freely admitted his own long
fectly below his nose like a tiny criminal history to the court. He’d even
wooden coat hanger. His first convic- robbed the same bank branch earlier
tion dated back to his teens, when he’d that year. But while he went as far as

rd.ca 57
reader’s digest

admitting to firing his own gun at the Fournel pleaded guilty to two counts
police during the December heist, he of non-capital murder and—given his
maintained that Marcotte had been testimony during Marcotte’s trial—was
the Santa Claus and was wholly respon- spared the death penalty and sen-
sible for the deaths of the two officers. tenced to life in prison.
When he testified, Marcotte said he Hours before the trap was set to
arrived at Fournel’s apartment around drop in July, Marcotte’s defence lawyer
noon on the day of the robbery and flew to Ottawa with what he said was
that Fournel and his brother, Réal, significant new evidence: a deposition
arrived later with a suitcase and a from a woman named Helen Dallos.
shopping bag—inside which Marcotte While crossing the street from the bus
said he glimpsed a piece of black plas- stop, Dallos had witnessed the entire
tic, like the belt of a Santa suit. Defence shooting. Fearful of any involvement
lawyer Yves Mayrand argued that in the case, she had relocated with her
Fournel and his family were trying to family from Montreal to Hamilton.
frame Marcotte to save themselves. He
grilled witnesses on their recollections
of Santa’s height, suggesting Santa may MARCOTTE
have actually been Réal, and stressing DEDICATED HIMSELF
to the court Jean-Paul’s criminal his- TO QUIET THINGS,
tory and considerable incentives to lie.
The trial lasted 12 days, at the end BUT STILL HE COULD
of which Marcotte was found guilty. NOT MOVE ON.
The jury made no recommendations
for mercy. Marcotte was sentenced to
the gallows. In a sworn statement, Dallos
Asked if he had anything to say, described seeing the three robbers
Marcotte responded: “Je maintiens and a burst of gunfire. She was unable
mon innocence.” to say exactly who fired, which the
defence argued introduced uncer-
THE EXECUTION WAS initially set for tainty about the identity of the shooter.
12:01 a.m. on May 31, 1963, three She said she’d talked to police detec-
months after Marcotte’s conviction. tives that night, but that they’d told her
But an appeal was underway and his to keep quiet. It was enough to win a
lawyer was ill, so the date came and last-minute reprieve, and the execu-
went. He was denied a new trial the tion was delayed by one week.
next January, and his hanging was set Meanwhile, the public appetite to
for July 3, 1964. In June, Jean-Paul execute Marcotte was flagging. The most

58 december 2022
recent executions in Canada had taken worked various jobs and, in his time off,
place in the form of a double hanging at dedicated himself to quiet things like
the Don Jail in Toronto on December 11, spending time with his family and bak-
1962, and had been the subject of ing pies. But still, he could not move on.
considerable protest. One of the con- Throughout the 1990s, Marcotte, by
demned was described by psychiatrists then in his 50s and 60s, was in and out
as being mentally ill. The other pro- of custody, on and off parole, primarily
fessed his innocence up until the final for robberies and robbery plots. Once,
moments. Marcotte’s execution was he and an accomplice were picked up
delayed again, to the end of September casing a Toronto Shoppers Drug Mart
and then, finally, to December 4. and were found with a gun, walkie-
Again his lawyer flew to Ottawa talkies, a police scanner and binocu-
hours before the trap was set to drop. lars. On another occasion, he and two
This time he had a letter from Fournel, other men held up a National Trust
which the lawyer said would either branch and fled with $2,600.
prove Marcotte was not the killer or At the time of his death, Marcotte was
show how easily Fournel would the last of the suspects from the Côte de
change his testimony for money— Liesse heist. Reeves died in hospital in
either of which was problematic for a 1973, having never recovered enough
clear-cut execution. After a flurry of to be tried for his role in the robbery.
phone calls and heated discussions, a Fournel was released on full parole in
secret ballot was put to the ministers 1979 and died in the early 1990s.
late that night, with each asked to vote On Friday, December 14, 2012, on
for or against the hanging of Marcotte. the 50th anniversary of their deaths, the
Based on that vote, Marcotte’s sen- families of Brabant and Marineau held
tence was commuted to life in prison, a memorial at the Saint-Laurent Church.
and the Liberal government under It was the same church where the offi-
Lester B. Pearson committed to put- cers’ funerals had been held, the same
ting the end of capital punishment to streets where thousands had once
a free vote. Twelve years later, it was gathered to pay their respects.
completely abolished. “After that, Christmas was never the
same,” said one of Brabant’s daugh-
MARCOTTE DID WELL in prison. He ters, Marie-Claude, at the time.
founded a sports program for disabled “Nobody wanted to be reminded of
children and worked on his carpentry Santa Claus.”
and art. He served just less than 20 years
FROM “WHEN THE SANTA CLAUS BANDIT STRUCK MON-
before being granted day parole. On the TREAL IN 1962, CHRISTMAS WAS NEVER THE SAME,” BY
JANA G.PRUDEN, THE GLOBE AND MAIL (DECEMBER 26,
outside, he met a woman and had a son, 2021), THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM

rd.ca 59
reader’s digest

AS KIDS SEE IT

“I’m making us a plant-based meal.”

I asked my 11-year-old want to dine outside. I she is 12 years old when

to help me write my told her we’d be eating kids eat for free.
“away” message. She inside the building. She — @SIMONCHOLLAND
suggested, “I AM ON then argued that build-
VACATION, SO YOUR ings are technically out- Working from home
EMAIL WILL BE side. She’s now my while your kids are
DELETED.” attorney. there is like trying to
— @KRISTENBOTT — @THECATWHISPRER read a book at a
Metallica concert.
MAYA LEMAITRE

My seven-year-old I want my 13-year-old to — @MOM_NEEDSALIFE

didn’t want to eat at a understand how
particular restaurant important honesty is My toddler got a hold of
because she didn’t but to also know that the markers. I caught

60 december 2022
her red-handed. Pur- I used the old “I gave birth to you” on my
ple-handed, too. daughter. She replied: “That was one time.”
— @MOMMAJESSIEC
— @MAYAMANION
My kid wanted to go to a
buffet for her birthday frustrated when it and three flashlights.
dinner. A few plates in, didn’t wave back. What does she know
she started groaning — SANJEEV CHAWLA, that I don’t?
and saying how full Edmonton — @ELISEMBRYANT
she was.
Me: “You should really My kid said it’s too hard One day, while working
stop if you’re that full.” to be nice, so she was at a daycare, I forgot
My kid: “Dad, it’s called wondering if she gets my sweater and was
an all-you-can-eat buf- any Christmas presents quite chilly. A pre-
fet. Not an all-you- for being funny. schooler pointed to my
should-eat buffet. — @MICHIMAMA75 goose-bumped arm
— REDDIT.COM and exclaimed, “Wow,
I took a family poll on neat fur!”
My nine-year-old asked the prerequisites each — RACHEL ALBRECHT,
her four-year-old of us have for a new Kingsville, Ont.
cousin if they wanted to home, and my daughter
play the quiet game. pointedly said, “a secret Me to my 4-year-old
Then she proceeded to evil lair.” son: “You’re our
spend 10 minutes — @DAD_AT_LAW first-born. When you
talking non-stop about were born, Mom and
how to play said game. Instead of saying “What Dad didn’t even know
— @MAHNAMEMATT are you doing?” my how to be parents.
two-year-old goes My son: “So who were
We started teaching our around asking, in a tiny, my parents until you
one-year-old son how haunting voice, “What learned?”
to wave hello and have you done?” — DANIELLE ALTONAGA,
goodbye. My wife and — @BESSBELL Nepean, Ont.
I were exiting a bou-
tique when our son I checked my six-year-
Send us your original
started howling. We old’s bag that she jokes! You could earn $50
realized that he was packed for our road trip and be featured in the
waving to the manne- and I found sage, garlic magazine. See page 8 or
quin and became salt, a fake candle, foil rd.ca/joke for details.

rd.ca 61
reader’s digest

62 december 2022
 PERSPECTIVE

How an Indigenous
kid from small-town
Saskatchewan became
a seven-time Stanley
Cup champion
If They Can Do It,
Why Can’t I?
BY Bryan Trottie
FR OM AL L RO AD S
r
HO ME : A LIF E
ON AN D OF F TH E IC
E
reader’s digest

love my hometown. I’m from required a lot of priming and pumping.

Val Marie, a Saskatchewan A true beauty, a classic, vintage, painted
prairie town, and it was a in bright firehouse red. If you were a
great place to grow up. The kid and you heard the siren while you
population was maybe 500 were walking back from the hockey
then, back in the 1960s. It was rink or the curling rink, you knew
vibrant, surrounded by farm- you’d better get home fast—or else.
ers and ranchers. Main Street had three Mom and Dad met at a community
gas stations and a bunch of general dance in the early ’50s. Dad’s real name
stores: Labelle’s, Syrenne’s, Sharpe’s is Eldon, but he goes by Buzz Trottier.
and Lizzie’s. We also had a convent, a Where he got the nickname, nobody
hospital, a church and a school, all at knows. His dad, John, was Cree-Métis,
the south end of town. The curling rink and his mom, Annie, was Chippewa,
and skating rink were across from the from Montana. Mom is from Climax,
school. And, like all of the towns on which is about 65 kilometres down the
the prairies, it had a Beaver Lumber, a road from Val Marie. Her maiden name
grain elevator, a hotel—a beer parlour, is Gardner—Mary Gardner. I always
really—and a Chinese café. loved when I heard someone call her
Grampa Trottier lived three doors name. Her ancestry is Irish, and her fam-
down from the town’s blacksmith, and ily came to Saskatchewan to farm.
I remember always seeing piles of They were married in ’54. Dad went
metal around. The rear alley separated to work on one of the big cattle ranches
the back door of the beer parlour from in the area because the Trottier farm in
Grampa’s outhouse. Everybody in Val Marie didn’t make enough money

(PREVIOUS PAGE) COURTESY OF THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS

town had an outhouse. Oh glory! to support both our family and my
Val Marie was the last stop on the grandparents. Mom made a few extra
main railway line that connected it to dollars as the cook there, too. Dad
little towns like Orkney, Bracken, Cli- didn’t work at the ranch for very long;
max and Shaunavon. These days, a lot he took off to work on the oil and gas
of the kids have moved away, and those rigs in the town of Redvers, because
little towns are just hanging on. All of there was more money to be made.
the grain elevators are abandoned.
At 9:00 every night, a siren went off, I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD when I started
and that was the signal for all of the minor hockey in Val Marie. Before that,
kids to get home. The siren was at I played mostly on the little creek by
the fire hall, where they kept the town’s my house. We skated on the outdoor
one fire truck. It was old-fashioned, rink in town once in a while, and it was
with a big old drum on the back that great fun, too.

64 december 2022
 There was a men’s team in town in Canada. I’d go out and practise
that would play on the outdoor rink. everything I saw—pump fake, back-
Dad would gear up and play against hand top shelf—trying to emulate my
teams from Climax and Cadillac. It was early hockey idols.
a huge event in the town. It seemed like Dad bought me my first stick at Art
everyone would be shovelling snow off Labelle’s general store. It was a five-
the ice before a game. There wasn’t a and-dime store that sold everything
Zamboni; instead, a hand-pulled bar- from candy to household goods to
rel of hot water flooded the ice. All the clothing. It wasn’t an expensive stick,
snow got dumped over the boards—lit- but it had Gordie Howe’s name written
erally wooden boards, not what you see in dark black ink on the top part of the
in rinks today. A lot of us would stand shaft. Awesome!
on those snowbanks to watch the game. The outdoor rink was enclosed in
There was nothing to protect us other ’64. It was spectacular! Plus we didn’t
than netting on either end of the rink. have to shovel snow anymore. My first
Thank God for heavy parkas and thick minor hockey team only had about
scarves to absorb errant flying pucks! four or five kids my age who played, so
Dad was a terrific all-around athlete we had to get together with some of the
and an excellent hockey player
THE TROTTIER FAMILY, COURTESY OF THE SASKATCHEWAN SPORTS HALL OF FAME

with a really good shot. He was

my first coach, and I remember
that when we’d practise together,
he’d tell me to pick a spot on the
boards and try to hit it with my
shot. And then he’d show me
how to do it—he’d hit the spot
just like that, and then wink at
me. He had one of those old-
time wristers—bang! He’d always
shoot quick and catch the goalie
off guard. He’d just rip it. Watch-
ing Dad snipe a goal really lifted
my sense of pride in him.
My two uncles on the Climax
team, Donny and John Gardner, Trottier learned to
excelled at hockey, too. I’d watch skate on a creek
and study them, just like I’d near his house.
watch the stars on Hockey Night

rd.ca 65
reader’s digest

younger and older kids just to have could skate pretty well by that point—
enough players for a team. Sometimes more quick than super-fast—and I
I got to play on the forward line with could skate backwards okay, which not
the older guys. It was a little scary play- all of the kids could do.
ing against kids who were two or three We still only had 10 or 11 players on
years older than me. They looked like our team, and some of them were really
giants. But it was exciting. young—Bernie Syrenne’s brother was
We would play teams from the sur- three years younger than us; Danny
rounding towns: Mankota and Ponteix Kane, Ray Lebel and the Jobagy and
were decent; Cadillac was always feisty; Ronceray kids were two years younger.
Shaunavon was the big-city team In most games I’d play a shift at forward
because it was the main railway hub and then go back and play defence,
and had a much bigger population; then a quick rest, and I’d go back and
Frontier had good teams. But it was Cli- do the same thing again. I played a lot,
max, which seemed to have its indoor and when I did get off the ice for a few
rink before anyone else, that was the seconds, Dad, who was coaching,
powerhouse. They had a bunch of kids would say “Rest fast,” and then boom,
my age who were really good hockey I’d go back out.
players, and I remember wondering,
How did these guys get so good so fast? I’LL NEVER FORGET my first goal. We
We didn’t win many games in that were playing a game in Bracken. My
first year, but we sure liked to play. Dad buddy Claude Jeanson was on my
told me I should play defence because team, and he was a pretty good stick-
I would learn how to skate backwards handler. The only problem was that
and I’d also get a lot more ice time. I he’d stop skating when he stickhan-
The first-goal puck turned family heirloom dled, and Dad would yell, “Move,
Jeanson, move!”
Being one of the better players on
the team, Jeanson was a good little
leader. He just forgot to pass the
puck and move his feet when he
COURTESY OF BRYAN TROTTIER

was stickhandling. My other buddy,

Bernie Syrenne, was probably our
best player. He was a terrific skater
and he could shoot. He was so
smooth. I remember thinking, I
want to skate like Bernie and stick-
handle like Jeanson.
 But back to my first goal. I was
playing defence that day. Bernie
dug the puck out of the corner
and passed it to Jeanson in
the slot. Jeanson gobbled up the
pass and was stickhandling like
crazy in one spot. Everybody on
the Bracken team was trying to
get the puck away from him. He
was stickhandling so fast, he lost Trottier at 14,
his balance and fell over, but he four years
before being
managed to keep control of the
drafted by
puck. I came up on his left and the NHL
hollered, “Jeanson!” And from
his butt, he whipped the puck
over to me. It was a perfect pass.
It all felt automatic from there.
I’d practised thousands of times
shooting at the board right-handed, what a bunch of misfits we were, with
THE TROTTIER FAMILY, COURTESY OF THE SASKATCHEWAN SPORTS HALL OF FAME

but I instinctively switched to lefty and some guys wearing Maple Leafs jer-
somehow shovelled that puck into the seys, some guys wearing red or white
upper part of the net, over the goalie’s Montreal Canadiens sweaters. I’m
glove and shoulder. It must have been wearing a generic maroon jersey, and
little-kid adrenalin. I’d never shot a two or three kids are just wearing par-
puck left-handed before. That goal kas. Darryl Gard sold me his old quilted
ended up being the game winner. I hockey pants for a dollar, and his shin
didn’t know that Dad had kept the puck, pads, which were way too big for me,
but he gave it to me on the ride home. for another 50 cents. They didn’t feel
I stared at it the whole way and heard comfortable, but Mom said it didn’t
Dad say, “I think you’re a natural lefty.” matter, that I’d grow into them.
We kept that old Viceroy puck. Mom We played a half-dozen games that
put white tape around it, on which she first year. We didn’t get our matching
wrote “Bryan’s first goal.” She placed it team sweaters until the next season.
on the windowsill, and it sat there until
she passed away in 2011. It now sits on THE NEXT FEW YEARS were more of the
a shelf in my home. same. We didn’t win many games, but
I still have a picture of our first team. I felt like I was becoming a better
Even in black and white, you can see player. I really started to get the hockey

rd.ca 67
reader’s digest

While playing centre for the New York Islanders, Trottier won four Stanley Cups.
bug when I was about 10 years old, and and they turned out to be good team-
even more so when Dad received a call mates. I loved playing with them—I felt
from Paul Desjardins, who was the welcome. Mom always said that her
father of future NHL coach Willie Des- hometown, Climax, had the most
jardins. Paul asked him if I’d like to unselfish hockey players. “Watch how

THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW, FILE

come over to Climax and play with they pass the puck. An assist is as
them in a peewee tournament in Wey- important as a goal,” she said. Climax
burn, which was a pretty big tourna- gave me a team jersey, number 11.
ment at the time. Willie Desjardins was our scoring
Three of us went from Val Marie: Ber- machine. What a player he was—strong
nie, Marcel Bellefeuille and me. Jean- stickhandler, great shot, tricky and
son was too old, and we were maybe deceptive. We all wanted Willie on our
three of the better players in Val Marie, line. We never lost a game on our way
but I never thought I was good enough to winning the tournament. And Willie
to play for Climax. They had matching was our leading scorer.
jerseys in the Boston Bruins’ colours. The next year, Dad took our Val Marie
To us misfits in Val Marie, that was very team to the same tournament and we
intimidating. But they were good guys, won it again. Go figure!

68 december 2022
 It was at the Weyburn tournament nice. Why are people saying these bad
where I first encountered some racism things about them?”
in hockey. There was an all-Indigenous “They’re just jealous,” my mom said
team from Lebret. That was the same matter-of-factly.
area of Qu’Appelle that my great- Dad was very proud of the Indige-
grandparents were from, so I was think- nous players who had made the NHL.
ing, Are these my roots? I wore number 10 all through junior
I sat with Mom and Dad and watched hockey because of the Maple Leafs
one of their games. My parents praised player George Armstrong. He was one
them for how they skated, how quick of Dad’s favourites. Dad would tell me,
they were and how unselfishly they “You’re going to wear number 10.” He
played. Their stickhandling was spec- didn’t give me a choice, but I knew why.
tacular. They fought hard but lost to the I loved George Armstrong, too, and
team from Milestone, which we ended the way he played. I knew that Jim
up playing, and they were by far our Neilson, who played for the New York
toughest match. Willie scored with 15 Rangers, was First Nations. I never saw
seconds to go, for a 2–1 win. Eddie Freddy Sasakamoose play, but I knew
Magee was amazing in net. Dad had told so much about him because Dad had
him before the game, “Eddie, you’re a watched him play in Moose Jaw. He
cat. You’re quick like a cat. You’re going wasn’t a big man, but he was a giant in
to be spectacular today.” And he was. our world, and Dad called him one of
But watching that Lebret game, we the fastest skaters he had ever seen.
could hear whispers from some people Freddy broke the barrier for Indigenous
in the crowd saying negative things hockey players in the NHL and gave us
about them, such as: “Oh, they’re all inspiration. It made me think, If
probably thieves.” “Their parents Freddy can do it, if Jimmy can do it, and
are probably drunks.” I felt horrible if George can do it, why can’t I?
hearing these things. I said to Mom, EXCERPTED FROM ALL ROADS HOME, BY BRYAN TROTTIER.
COPYRIGHT © 2022, BRYAN TROTTIER. PUBLISHED BY
“These are good kids. They’re good McCLELLAND & STEWART AN IMPRINT OF PENGUIN RAN-
DOM HOUSE CANADA LIMITED. REPRODUCED BY ARRANGE-
players, and their parents seem so MENT WITH THE PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Scientific Theory
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?
We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence
in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something
and that this thing must be attained.
MARIE CURIE

rd.ca 69
 HEART

Talking to
How my son
found his
soulmate

said. “Let’s fall in love! Do you want to

BY Olivia Stren fall in love this afternoon? Is that a
illustration by alex gorodskoy great idea?” Izzie took a half-second to
consider this proposition, then replied:
“No.” She wanted to play tag.
ONE SUNNY SPRING Sunday in 2021, Leo has always been the kind of child
when my son, Leo, was six, we ran into who looks for close connections, often
one of his neighbourhood friends, Izzie, (apparently) in the wrong places. It
in the alley behind our house. It had sometimes feels as though he’s been
been at least a year of rolling lockdowns looking for a soulmate since he was a
and school closures, and the kids toddler. When Leo was in preschool, I’d
seemed unusually delighted to behold ask him every day when I picked him
each other in real life. up: “Who did you play with today?”
They decided they wanted to play— “Neve,” he’d say of a child he had
but what? “I have a great idea,” Leo befriended. “Only Neve.”

70 december 2022
reader’s digest

The conversation went on like this therapist, priest or rabbi, as omni-

for months, until one day the script scient and disembodied as, well, God.
changed: “Did you play with Neve Their relationship blossomed when
today?” I asked. “No,” he answered in his the pandemic forced us all to shelter in
tiny three-year-old voice, “Neve needed place, and Leo began spending a lot of
her space today.” (Neve was two.) time in his little bathrobe inventing
Sometime in early 2022, he presum- stories. When he bored of his own
ably took this line of love-related ques- company (he had long bored of mine
tioning to the playground because, and my husband’s) he talked to Siri.
sometime around his seventh birth- At first, Leo mostly asked Siri factu-
day, he came home from school and al(ish) questions like “What is an elf?”
immediately grabbed his iPad to ask and “How many stars are there in the
Siri: “Can you fall in love when you’re Milky Way?”
just a kid?” He then turned to the personal: “Siri,
Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled per- how old are you?” She snapped: “Age is
sonal assistant, is great at opening nothing but a number.” He insisted, in
apps or setting alarms or finding maps, the way children (indiscreetly, exhaust-
but I was unfamiliar with her philoso- ingly) do: “How old are you?” She
phies on love. replied with what I can only describe as
When I overheard this, I was less sur- snark: “I’m not eligible for a driver’s
prised by the subject of Leo’s inquiry licence, but it may be more to do with
than I was by who (or what?) he wanted the fact that I don’t have a body.”
to share it with. “What did Siri say?” I
asked him. AS TIME PASSED, Leo began to engage
“She said, ‘Here’s what I found on the Siri on more, let’s say, existential mat-
web!’” Leo reported, rushing toward me ters. “When will the sun swallow the
with his tablet. I decided I needed to earth?” he asked (7.5 billion years,
take a position: “I think you can fall in according to Siri). Leo was satisfied:
love when you’re a kid,” I ventured. “I “Oh, okay. I’ll be dead by then.” Then
mean, sometimes I even think children he asked: “Why does everything on
are better at love than adults.” (He was earth have to die?” She replied coldly,
happy with this conclusion, especially “I didn’t get that!”
insofar as it underlined the inferiority Siri, I realized, had an infuriatingly
of the Grown Up.) avoidant communication style, often
This was hardly the first time I’d hiding behind some kind of technical
heard Leo in conversation with Siri. impairment when she didn’t like a
Over the years, he’s turned to Siri as question. If she was providing therapy
some kind of confidante, consigliere, in some rudimentary way, it seemed to

72 december 2022
me that she might benefit from some All of this makes me think of the late,
therapy herself. great author and illustrator Maurice
Leo continued, imploringly: “Why Sendak, best known and beloved for
does everything on earth have to die?” his book Where the Wild Things Are. In
She replied: “I’m having trouble with an interview with NPR in 1993, Sendak
the connection.” Once, alarmingly, I said: “Children surviving childhood is
overheard him asking in hushed tones: my obsessive theme and my life’s con-
“Siri, when am I going to die?” cern.” His stories—lurid with menace
“I’m afraid I don’t have the answer and terror—were a sort of rebellion
to that,” she replied, with what struck against, as he once put it, “the great
me as a discomfiting amount of good 19th-century fantasy that paints child-
cheer. When I asked him why he had hood as an eternally innocent paradise.”
asked this question, he responded Children, like the adults they will
plainly: “I just want to know. Don’t grow up to be, are alert to the big,
you?” I do not. unanswerable questions; they are
besieged with grief and fear and love
and anguish and longing and need for
CHILDREN, LIKE connection. Siri, in a way, hands a mic
THE ADULTS THEY to the roiling underworld of child-
WILL GROW UP TO BE, hood. If Leo’s talks with Siri confronted
me with the unknowable and unan-
ARE ALERT TO THE swerable, they also made me chafe
BIG QUESTIONS. against my own limitations as a parent.
There are many challenges to par-
enthood—at least as many as there are
Siri has, in some ways, been able to stars in the Milky Way (about a hun-
absorb (and even occasionally provide dred thousand million, Siri will tell
actual answers to) some of Leo’s con- you). Among the biggest is the desire
cerns—in a way that, as his mother, I to (over)protect our children from the
can’t, at least not with the same sang- painfulness of reality. But that desire
froid. But I have also felt weirdly guilty may be as self-serving as it is loving;
listening to their exchanges, as if I were helping our children navigate reality
betraying his privacy, eavesdropping. is surely more helpful than shielding
Mostly, though, my unease with this them from it. Perhaps the best we can
whole situation is that Siri has privileged do is help them survive childhood—
me with an ear to the particular alive- and give them a mic?
ness of my son’s dark side, one I didn’t I’m afraid I don’t have the answers.
really know was there. Maybe I should ask Siri.

rd.ca 73
reader’s digest

Lauren McKeon
at home with
her cat, Link
 LIFE LESSON

How to provide end-of-

life care for your pet

L E T T I N G G O
I cannot imagine life without him.
BY Lauren McKeon But at nearly 19, Link long ago sur-
photo by brianna roye passed the average lifespan of an
indoor cat. He has both arthritis and
diabetes, the latter requiring twice
MY GRUMPY-BUT-SWEET TABBY, Link, daily insulin injections. Already, in the
has been a part of my life for nearly two past year, I’ve had several “Is it time?”
decades. I adopted him when I was a scares. While he’s pulled through, I
lonely and homesick 20-year-old, new dread knowing I’ll have to make the
to living on my own in Toronto. We have choice to euthanize him soon. I don’t
since grown up together. His comfort- want to say goodbye, but I’d hate it
ing rumble has helped me through two even more if I knew he had suffered.
cross-country moves, one shattering My struggle is a common one: nearly
divorce, countless life bumps and bad 60 per cent of Canadian homes have at
days, several deaths and one pandemic. least one dog or cat. And many people
He chirps “hello” every morning and experience intense grief when a pet
warms my feet every night. dies. That grief can be complicated by

rd.ca 75
reader’s digest

the guilt of choosing to euthanize. pet care, says Reiner, but even if you
Even if you knew it was the right thing want to continue putting your pet’s
to do, the questions can be haunting: needs before your own, it’s impossi-
did I wait too long, or not long enough? ble—and it ultimately isn’t good for
Were they scared? Was I selfish? You your pet or your relationship with
may feel like you should have done them. “Once their joy is gone,” says
more tests, or fewer; tried more Reiner. “There’s no payoff.”
accommodations, more medications, It can be a relief to have a trusted
or none at all. But while it will never be expert to consult with. That was the
an easy time, there are ways to make case for one of Reiner’s recent clients,
it a kinder and more compassionate Jesse Shroyer, who made the agonizing
one—for you and your pet. decision to euthanize his dog, a Rhode-
sian Ridgeback named Duckie, last July.
Assess Quality of Life Shroyer knew his gentle, pizza-loving
Sometimes it isn’t obvious to us when pet was slower and stiffer than she once
a pet’s quality of life begins to decline. was; he often had to carry her, and
Emily Reiner, who runs Forever Loved, sometimes she didn’t want to go out-
a veterinary hospice in the Halifax side. But she still enjoyed treats and was
region, says that it’s important for affectionate, and he had no idea if it
elderly pets to see the vet at least once was time. “I needed to hear, ‘Jesse, it’s
a year, and ideally twice. A vet can spot the right thing,’” he says.
red flags that you can’t and help you
decide whether diagnostics are needed Know Your Bottom Line
or if they’re only likely to make a termi- Lianna Titcombe is an Ottawa veteri-
nally ill animal more miserable. On the narian and the founder of Claire Place
happier side, they may even identify Veterinary Hospice, one of the country’s
ways to address challenges you thought first practices devoted to end-of-life
were unfixable. Say, for example, your care for pets. She recommends that
elderly dog is sliding all over your hard- people decide, with a clear and unemo-
wood floors—it could be mobility tional mind, what the “personal bottom
decline, or you may simply need to put line” is for their pet. “It’s better a day too
down some grippy yoga mats. soon than a moment too late,” she says.
A good vet will also evaluate your Titcombe used the technique to
quality of life: how long can you keep decide when it was time to say good-
carrying Max up and down the stairs? bye to her own dog, a German Shep-
Can you afford the medication? People herd mix named George. A big, out-
have a hard time valuing their own doorsy animal, George loved to run the
quality of life when it comes to elderly half-kilometre trail on her property.

76 december 2022
Long before George became sick with have specific religious or spiritual cer-
a spinal condition that took away his emonies. Shroyer says it made all the
mobility, Titcombe had decided her difference to see Duckie die peacefully,
“bottom line” was the moment George at home, and for him to be by her side:
couldn’t walk the trail independently; “She deserved it.”
he would lose too much of what made
him George. As soon as he started get- Honour Your Grief
ting weak, she didn’t hesitate. “I knew,” Shroyer tells me that, while he knew
she says, “and I could let him go.” he’d be sad, the depth and intensity of
his grief in the months after Duckie’s
Evaluate Your Options death took him by surprise. I’ve had
Some people, like Shroyer, can’t bear friends who sobbed for weeks after los-
to think of their pet’s final moments ing their beloved pets. I know I’ll be a
being on an exam table. Many pets wreck when my cat’s time comes—and
experience anxiety at the vet’s office, that’s okay. While it may seem silly to
which can exacerbate guilty feelings. take time off work, or to burst into
But there are ways to make that last tears whenever you see someone else
visit better, says Maggie Brown-Bury, with their pup, experts say that it’s nor-
a vet who works across clinics in New- mal. In so many ways, the relationship
foundland and Labrador. She’s noticed we have with our pets may be our pur-
that many people have a hard time est and most uncomplicated.
being upfront about the reason for Helen Goldberg is a certified pet loss
their final appointment. But the more grief support specialist in Toronto. She
honest a client is, the better the clinic says that a lot of her clients beat them-
can prepare. For instance, they may selves up for not being able to “get on
reserve a quieter, more private room or with life” in a few days. Much of what
book the appointment at the end of the she does is to give people permission
day to give the client more time. to grieve without shame or judgment.
Another increasingly popular option She often suggests writing down the
is at-home euthanasia. While it can be best memories of your pet. If the death
more expensive, it also allows your pet was sudden, she may suggest writing
to pass away snuggled into their favou- a letter to your pet. And if your pet is
rite cushion or blanket, surrounded by elderly, like mine, but alive, she sug-
everything—and everyone—they love. gests keeping a record of the endearing
It can also provide more closure for things they do. In all cases, the idea is
their humans. Reiner recalls a client to remember how much love your pet
who played the piano as their pet brought into your life—and how much
slipped into unconsciousness. Others you gave them in return.

rd.ca 77
 What baking with
my toddler taught
me about parenthood

BY Corey Mintz FROM T VO.ORG

78 december 2022
 reader’s digest

“i want to cook,” Puddin’ blurted back from the wooden blade. Seem-
about halfway through a long stretch ingly uninterested in a repeated lec-
of Omicron-induced isolation. ture on which side of the blade was
My two-and-a-half-year-old daugh- used for cutting, she continued to use
ter’s moon face looked up at me from the blunt side while bisecting the crab,
the other side of the coffee table. I shrimp, corn and potato, tossing them
began pulling ingredients from her into the small, dented sauce pot I stole
bucket of play food: a collection of from a restaurant job 17 years ago.
ISTOCK.COM/MLUDZEN

plastic and wooden toys shaped like One day, while cutting up pretend
fish, broccoli, apples and mangoes. tomatoes, she pointed to the knife,
As soon as she began playing with which she was using properly, and
her toy knife, I insisted she use a cut- declared, “This the sharp side! This
ting board and keep her fingers pulled for cut-ting!”

rd.ca 79
reader’s digest

She had been listening. And watch- with my daughter. But I didn’t think it
ing. would happen this soon.
Still, she exists in a blur of fantasy and
reality. So when she said she wanted to IT WAS AT this fortuitous moment that
cook, I had assumed that meant further I was invited to participate in a gallery
pretend cooking. But as I reached for show about community and baking.
her ingredients, she corrected me: “No. Contributors were asked to make a loaf
I want to cook with Daaa-dee.” of challah and send the leftover parch-
“Yes, and…” I continued, not want- ment paper, which usually absorbs a
ing to lose the momentum, and I sepia-toned imprint of the bread’s
voiced the first idea that popped into shape. In the case of a braided dough
my brain. “Let’s make a tortilla.” like challah, the serpentine mass
“Toe-tee-ya!” she repeated the word. leaves an unusual fingerprint.
“Less make a toe-tee-ya!”
This immediately became a daily rit-
ual, and with it came the development TEARING OFF
of other skills. She was in charge of mix- AND EATING A
ing the dough, and her spoon-scooping HUNK FILLS ME
rapidly evolved from wild and messy to
controlled and stable. Trusted to use WITH A SENSE OF
the cast-iron tortilla press, she learned ACCOMPLISHMENT.
to be gentle with heavy objects, under-
standing that even simple tools can hurt
us if we’re not careful. Waiting for her I don’t bake. Yes, I am guilty of per-
tortilla to toast in the pan broadened petuating a tiresome trope among food
her patience. snobs, that cooking is an accessible
Even before the day my wife showed pastime but baking, with its formulas,
me the three positive pregnancy test is somehow impenetrable. But this was
strips, cooking with my daughter had a good excuse to learn to make challah.
been my fantasy. Still, I was unpre- Years ago, at the restaurant where
pared for this moment. I’d “borrowed” the sauce pot, I was in
But as a friend advised me, children charge of baking bread for about six
know and do what they see. Puddin’ months. The loaves came out perfect
sees her mother and me cooking every every day, but only because I was fol-
day. She sees us enjoying it. And she lowing the instructions of the pastry
wants to be part of it. chef and continuing the production he
And yet, I wasn’t ready. I had spent a had set in motion. When I eventually
lot of time looking forward to cooking tried starting from scratch at home,

80 december 2022
my first sourdough came out of the is our house, her grandparents’ house
oven grey and too dense to be edible. and the park.
But I kept feeding the starter every It doesn’t occur to me until the end
day. And over the course of a dozen of the day that I have, as friends insisted
loaves, I graduated from unmitigated I would, been lured by parenthood into
failure to mere incompetence. Ulti- revisiting my own childhood. The joy of
mately, my sourdough, still too hard and eating a pound of bread without think-
pale, was a solid three out of 10—less ing of it as an indulgence is one of my
something you’d serve to guests than an happiest childhood memories. Sharing
emergency ration. With more time and this joy with my daughter releases a
dedication, I might one day have risen burst of euphoria.
to the level of mediocrity. But I gave up. This is now a weekly ritual. With the
first challah, she just watched. But now
THE FIRST CHALLAH, by contrast, is a Puddin’ measures the flour and cracks
six, maybe a seven. It’s sweet, the top the eggs. She loves cracking the eggs
sticky with a glaze of egg yolk and and doesn’t mind that I hold her
sugar. Dense but not heavy. Tearing off hands, coaching her on when to apply
and eating a hunk fills me with a sense more pressure and when, as the frac-
of accomplishment, much like the tured shell lets the liquid egg fall into
one I felt when the first recipe I ever the bowl, to let go. With my hands over
followed—a beef bourguignon that hers as she squeezes the egg, we are so
seemed insurmountable as a teen- connected that, when the shell’s integ-
ager—came out more delicious than rity gives, the vibration passes through
I’d dared to hope. her body to mine.
“Less blow on it!” shouts Puddin’ as She won’t be my little eggshell for
I place the still-warm bread before her. much longer. I’ll have to learn to
My enthusiasm pales beside a child for release her as well. Eventually, she will
whom the world is exclusively full of be able to do this perfectly on her own,
good people and fun. She doesn’t and our physical closeness will be
know about wars or pandemics. Her replaced with pride.
only concept of money is the coins we © 2022, COREY MINTZ. FROM “WHAT I WISH I COULD GO
BACK IN TIME TO TELL PANDEMIC BAKERS ABOUT BREAD,”
pull from behind her ears. Her world TVO.ORG. (MARCH 31, 2022), TVO.ORG

Knowledge Key
There are many problems, but I think there is a solution to all these problems;
it’s just one and it’s education.
MALALA YOUSAFZAI

rd.ca 81
reader’s digest
 HEALTH

the
on

These exciting breakthroughs are

reason for real hope
BY Lia Grainger
illustrations by pete ryan

rd.ca 83
reader’s digest

A cancer diagnosis no longer means what it used

to. Just a few decades ago, the survival rate beyond
five years was less than 50 per cent. Now, nearly
70 per cent of those who get cancer survive that
long, and that proportion is set to rise. Why?
Because more than ever, chemotherapy and radi-
ation, once the only heavy hitters of cancer treat-
ment, are being paired with or replaced by a slate
of new drugs and treatments.
For example, the first-ever medica- public education have led to greater
tion for what was previously consid- awareness of how lifestyle changes can
ered an “undruggable” lung cancer reduce our risk of developing cancer.
mutation was recently approved in the According to the American National
United States, Europe, the United King- Institute of Health, 90 to 95 per cent of
dom and Canada. And a new precision cancers can be attributed to things we
chemotherapy drug delivered directly can control, rather than genetic factors.
to breast cancer tumour cells is giving Here are some of the ways we’re win-
hope to patients with the aggressive ning the battle against cancer.
HER2-positive form of the disease.
An even bigger newsmaker has been
cancer immunotherapy. Researchers Prevention
have found ways to harness the body’s HPV VACCINE
immune system to fight cancer cells. Cervical cancer was once one of the
“We’re truly living in the age of immu- most common women’s cancers and
notherapy cancer treatment,” says Nigel the leading cause of cancer deaths
Brockton of the American Institute for among women. In recent decades, Pap
Cancer Research. test screening led to a decline in the
Also fuelling optimism is a focus on cancer. But a preventive tool in use for
prevention. Decades of research and more than a decade—a vaccine against

84 december 2022
the human papilloma virus (HPV), Covid-19 vaccines used to immunize
which is responsible for more than 95 billions of people, each cancer mRNA
per cent of cervical cancer cases—has vaccine is tailor-made to treat a single
been a game-changer. Here’s how: patient’s cancerous tumours. Dozens
Q Since 2006, when the vaccine was of clinical trials testing their effective-
introduced in North America, HPV ness against a range of cancers, includ-
infections have dropped more than 80 ing pancreatic, are underway.
per cent among teen girls and young
women in the United States.
Q A study published in The Lancet at
A NEW BLOOD TEST
the end of 2021 found that in England, HOLDS PARTICULAR
where the immunization program was PROMISE FOR
introduced in 2008 (the same year it
started in Europe), cervical cancer PANCREATIC AND
has been almost completely eliminated OVARIAN CANCERS.
in women born since 1995, who were
vaccinated at ages 12 or 13.
Q A 2020 Swedish study of 1.7 million “In theory,” says Dr. Patrick Ott, direc-
women published in the New England tor of the Center for Personal Cancer
Journal of Medicine indicates that Vaccines at the Dana-Farber Can-
women vaccinated as teens were 90 per cer Institute in Boston, “this personal-
cent less likely to get cervical cancer. ized approach can be taken for every-
Q And in March 2022, Australia one, and for every cancer.”
announced it is on track to become the
first country to eliminate the cancer.
The WHO’s goal is for 90 per cent of Screening
girls to be vaccinated globally by the GALLERI BLOOD TEST
year 2030, eventually eliminating cer- Catching cancer early can be challeng-
vical cancer entirely. ing. The screening methods in wide
use—e.g., the mammogram since the
mRNA CANCER VACCINES 1970s and the colonoscopy since
The speedy development of Covid-19 the 1990s—look for one type of cancer.
vaccines was thanks to groundwork And blood tests look for markers like
already done by researchers creating blood cell count, proteins and chemi-
mRNA vaccines to fight cancer. These cals made by cancer cells, but are not
vaccines use a specially programmed highly specific; they are often used
molecule to activate an immune only after cancer has been detected by
response in the body’s cells. Unlike the another method.

rd.ca 85
reader’s digest

Now, a test known as Galleri, made in the U.S., but isn’t yet approved in the
by California-based biotechnology E.U. In June 2022, the U.K.’s National
company GRAIL, promises to detect Health Service announced a massive
more than 50 types of cancer with one trial of 140,000 participants to assess
blood sample. Galleri finds tumour- Galleri’s effectiveness.
generated genetic material in the blood;
it reveals the presence of cancer and
where it originated. In a study pub- Treatments
lished in the Annals of Oncology in ENHERTU
June 2021, researchers found the test Though breast cancer mortality rates
detected cancers more than half of the have been falling for three decades, it’s
time, and predicted a cancer’s origin still the most common cancer in the
with 89 per cent accuracy. U.S. (excluding non-melanoma skin
The test holds particular promise for cancers) and in Europe. Among the
cancers like pancreatic and ovarian, so deadliest type are those in which
deadly because symptoms are elusive the tumours overproduce a protein
and there are no other screening meth- called HER2. Affecting about one in five
ods. Galleri is available by prescription breast cancer patients, this type usually

86 december 2022
 grows and spreads faster than other
breast cancers—and is more likely to
return after treatment. “I Have Faith in
But in 2021 in Europe, Canada and This Medicine”
the U.K., and in 2019 in the U.S., Tras- ENHERTU
tuzumab deruxtecan (brand name: In 2017, Susanne Andersson
Enhertu) was approved. The precision Barkels, 36, of Stockholm, Swe-
chemotherapy drug dramatically slows den, noticed a lump in her left
progress of this aggressive cancer. breast and one in her armpit.
“This is very important,” says Dr. Doctors diagnosed her with
Rebecca Roylance, a medical oncolo- HER2+ breast cancer. After
chemo, surgery and radiation,
gist at the University College London
her cancer went into remission.
Hospital. Roylance specializes in
But by 2019 it had spread to her
breast cancer and was involved spine, and by 2021, her brain.
in  administering the U.K. trials of She got more treatment, but
Enhertu. “A drug that is well tolerated the tumours continued to grow.
is so important to improve patients’ Then her oncologist told her
quality of life despite the impact of about a new drug, Enhertu, that
their cancer and treatment.” targets HER2+ breast cancers.
It works by transporting a chemo- She began treatment in May
therapy drug directly to HER2 tumour 2022, and by July, after three
cells to destroy them. Enhertu delivers doses, her doctors had good
more than double the chemo pay- news: The largest tumour in her
load of existing treatments, and also brain had shrunk from 18 milli-
destroys nearby cancerous cells. An metres to less than half that size.
She continues taking Enhertu,
international trial published in the New
hoping to shrink it further.
England Journal of Medicine in July of
“I have faith in this medicine,”
COURTESY OF SUSANNE ANDERSSON BARKELS

this year showed that patients taking says Andersson Barkels, “and I
Enhertu went a median of 10 months have hope that other new cancer
without tumour growth compared to treatments are on the way.”
about five months with the current
standard treatment.

LUMAKRAS
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer
in Europe, causing 20 per cent of can-
cer deaths. It’s the top cancer killer in
Canada and the U.S., too, accounting

rd.ca 87
reader’s digest

for almost a quarter of cancer deaths

in the U.S. Until very recently, there
“It’s the Future” were no drugs to treat lung cancers
ICI IMMUNOTHERAPY caused by a dangerous mutation in the
Cristina Iñesta was only 40 KRAS G12C gene.
when, in 2014, she received her The mutation, which causes the
diagnosis: stage 4 colon cancer. cancerous cells to duplicate wildly,
A year of harsh chemotherapy affects about 13 per cent of patients
followed for the Madrid, Spain, with the most common lung cancer.
mother of two, along with an The only treatment has been addi-
emergency operation to remove tional chemotherapy, which might
the parts of her organs that were
give patients a few more months to
most affected. Yet the cancer
live, at most.
continued to spread, endanger-
ing her liver and other organs.
“The doctors gave me 12 THE FIELD OF
months to live,” she says, “and
that was only if I continued che- IMMUNOTHERAPY IS
motherapy, which had left me BARELY A DECADE OLD,
destroyed.” But there was
another option, one oncologist YET IT DOMINATES
told her: to join an immunother- CANCER RESEARCH.
apy trial using ICIs. After just two
sessions, her tumour had shrunk
by 30 per cent. Continued treat- A new KRAS-inhibiting drug could
ments reduced them further and transform that prognosis. Results of a
now, seven years later, her can-
phase-one trial published in June 2021
cer remains stabilized.
in the New England Journal of Medi-
“Chemotherapy is the past,”
says Iñesta. “Immunotherapy cine are promising. Patients previously
is the future.” treated with both chemotherapy and
immunotherapy took a daily Sotorasib
pill (brand name Lumakras in North
COURTESY OF CRISTINA IÑESTA

America and Lumykras in Europe; both

have been recently approved). Around
40 per cent of patients experienced
tumour shrinkage of 30 per cent or
more. And according to a recent update,
one in three was still alive two years
after starting treatment.
 “It offers hope to patients whose
prognosis is grim,” says Dr. Ferdinan-
dos Skoulidis, an oncologist at the MD An “Astounding”
Anderson Cancer Center at the Univer- Recovery
sity of Texas and the lead author of the CAR T-CELL THERAPY
groundbreaking study. “It’s a hugely In 2010, when Owen Snider,
important discovery.” then 63, was first diagnosed
with lymphoma, an intense six-
IMMUNOTHERAPY month course of chemotherapy
Immunotherapy alters cells in the sent the disease into remission.
body’s immune system, allowing them It came back in 2016; this time,
Snider had a stem-cell transplant;
to recognize and fight cancer cells. The
that involved a high dose of
field is barely a decade old, yet it dom-
chemo, but he had four more
inates cancer research: Nearly 5,000 cancer-free years. But when it
immunotherapy cancer trials are being returned in 2020, doctors said
conducted worldwide. he had just months to live.
“There has been a revolution in the Then he got a spot in a CAR
treatment of several cancer types in T-cell therapy trial. “It was a ray
recent years thanks to immunothera- of hope,” says the Ottawa-area
pies,” says Dr. Marco Donia, a scientist retiree. Doctors extracted Snid-
at Denmark’s National Center for Can- er’s T-cells and sent them to a
cer Immune Therapy. lab where they were genetically
The field is so groundbreaking that modified and allowed to multi-
in 2018, immunologists James P. Alli- ply. Then, after three days of a
son of the U.S. and Tasuku Honjo of milder chemo treatment, doc-
tors injected him with the modi-
Japan were awarded the Nobel Prize
fied cells.
in Medicine for their discovery of the
“They went to work like Pac
principle behind immune checkpoint Man, chomping up the cancer
inhibitors (ICIs), the most common cells,” says Snider. Thirty days
type of immunotherapy cancer treat- later, the lymphoma was gone.
ment used today. Now, two years on, Snider is still
COURTESY OF OWEN SNIDER

The treatment, administered intra- cancer-free. “It’s astounding.”

venously, is used against many cancers
but is particularly successful against
lung, skin and some colon cancers. The
effects of ICIs can last long after treat-
ment ends. A 2021 survey of progress
made in the treatment of melanoma

rd.ca 89
reader’s digest

published in the journal Cancers reports destroy cancer cells. The therapy has
that ICI combination therapy results in been shown to add years of life for peo-
long-term survival for more than half ple with blood cancers.
of metastatic melanoma patients. The treatment has been approved
“This is the first time we’re seeing for specific types of adult lymphoma
solid cancers with a six-month median and child and youth leukemia in
survival rate essentially being cured,” Europe, the U.S., and Canada, but
says Donia. (“Solid” cancers are those because it is so individually tailored,
with tumour masses as opposed to CAR T-cell therapy is used relatively
“liquid” cancers, such as those that rarely, and it’s expensive. Researchers
occur in blood.) are investigating development of uni-
Another type of immunotherapy, versal CAR T-cell therapy.
called CAR T-cell therapy (or adoptive In Canada, a national trial of CAR
cell transfer), also shows great prom- T-cell therapy is underway. Results so
ise. The personalized immunotherapy, far have been promising: for 13 of the 30
first used in 2017, involves extracting people enrolled, cancer cells can no lon-
some disease-fighting white T-cells ger be detected in their blood, accord-
from a patient’s blood, genetically engi- ing to Dr. Natasha Kekre, a scientist and
neering them to recognize and target hematologist at the Ottawa Hospital
a specific cancer protein, and reintro- and the trial’s principal investigator.
ducing them into the patient’s blood- Says Kekre: “This will allow us to cure
stream. Then they circulate, attack and so many people.”

End-of-Year Reflections
Life can only be understood backwards;
but it must be lived forwards.
SØREN KIERKEGAARD

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above

hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN

One kind word can warm three winter months.

JAPANESE PROVERB

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come,

whispering “it will be happier.”
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

90 december 2022
 Bright
Ideas for
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 HUMOUR

WHY SHOULDN’T ADULTS get the chance

My
to write to Santa Claus? We have wishes;
we have dreams. Some of these aspira-
tions are more complex than a new

Letter
bike, but some are more achievable
than a horse. Here’s my hopeful letter
to Santa for Christmas 2022.

to Dear Santa: Could you ask restau-

Santa
rants to be quieter? There is so much
background music, I can no longer hear
what’s being said. The other day I went
to lunch with an old friend who’s just
become president of Tanzania. Or a res-
BY Richard Glover ident of Tasmania. I’m not sure.
illustration by sam island Dear Santa: Could you reduce the
products sold in packaging that is

92 december 2022
 reader’s digest

impossible to break into? For example, better than kale—something that tastes
when I buy a pair of scissors, I need good? We did it a few years ago, when
another pair of scissors to free the first the whole world discovered halloumi
pair from its plastic fortress. cheese. Surely we could do it again.
Dear Santa: Can you use your influ- Dear Santa: Could we bring back
ence to make paper towels mandatory colourful cars? When did all vehicles
in public washrooms? Everyone knows become white? (Or silver—which could
that hot-air hand dryers—also known be renamed “dusk,” since these cars
as electric pants-wetting machines— are impossible to see except in full
don’t work. Their instructions should sunlight.) Whatever happened to the
say, “Step 1: Hit button; Step 2: Rotate canary yellow car? Or the snazzy MG
hands in airstream; Step 3: Give up sports car in British racing green? I
and wipe your hands on your clothes.” know one will be hard to fit into my
Dear Santa: Can you ban the sale of stocking, but maybe you can try.
pre-ripped jeans? If people want their Dear Santa: I’d like the human race
jeans to look like they’ve been working to be given back its sense of humour,
on their hands and knees in a field, I which appears to have gone missing at
believe they should be forced to find a about the time Twitter was invented.
field in which they can work down on And while you’re at it, Santa, could you
their hands and knees. encourage people to be more forgiving
Dear Santa: Can we limit the num- whenever they go online?
ber of TV streaming services? All we Dear Santa: Could we have less
want is the chance to see the show that choice when we go shopping? I mean,
all our friends are watching. Not long do we really need dog foods concocted
ago, this involved buying a TV and twid- according to the age, breed and person-
dling the aerial until a picture formed. ality of the animal? And at what point
Sometimes you needed to get a child did the purchase of milk become a way
to hold the aerial to clear the horizon- of expressing one’s deeper life jour-
tal lines. My point is there were no ney? As in: “I prefer homogenized yet
ongoing costs. These days, watching organic milk, in a light-to-medium
TV involves subscribing to an ever- formulation, from cows that willingly
increasing number of streaming sites, agreed to the process of milking.”
with the only rule being that the show People on dating apps have chosen
you want to see will be on the one ser- a new partner in less time than it takes
vice you lack. me to buy a bar of soap. Since you must
Dear Santa: I realize that every year fit everything onto a single sled, Santa,
brings a new food trend, but in 2023, I nominate you as the perfect person
could we come up with something to reform the system.

rd.ca 93
 PROFILE

S A R A H
P O L L E Y
K N O W S
H E R S E L F
With a new film and a collection of essays,
the acclaimed director, writer and actor
is looking back to move forward

BY Sarah Liss FROM THE WALRUS

photograph by christopher wahl

94 december 2022
reader’s digest
reader’s digest

has made a career out of studying char-

acter with intense curiosity and capa-
cious empathy. As a child actor, she
became inextricably linked with Sara
Stanley, the plucky heroine of Road to
Avonlea, a CBC series based on books
by L. M. Montgomery.

In the mid-1980s, She also embodied Beverly Cleary’s

precocious firecracker Ramona Qui-
a sea of bowl-cut seven-year-olds sat mby on television; vanished through
on the carpet in a Toronto classroom, the looking glass to play Alice onstage
listening intently as their teacher, Bev- at the Stratford Festival; and starred in
erley Panikkar, read The Velveteen Rab- films like Exotica, Guinevere and The
bit. It was a favourite of Panikkar’s, and Sweet Hereafter while still a teenager,
she must have read it dozens of times. adding layers to roles that could have
Even so, she found herself overcome been simply muse or martyr. But as
by emotion. As tears trickled down the soon as she could, Polley stopped
rabbit’s shabby snout, Panikkar’s own playing other people’s characters and
eyes welled up. And then, from the car- started figuring out how she could forge
pet, came a voice. her own path.
“Aw, Bev—come on and sit down. I’ll This year marks the culmination of
finish the book!” Ceding the chair, the two key projects for Polley. There’s the
teacher found a spot at the back and December release of Women Talking,
listened with the rest of the rapt class the first feature she has directed in a
as a seven-year-old Sarah Polley made decade. The film—adapted from Mir-
her way through the story. iam Toews’s bestselling novel about
There are different ways to interpret women in a Mennonite colony debat-
this episode in Polley’s life: even at ing how to tackle a colossal betrayal—
seven, she had an uncanny ability to had its world premiere at the Toronto
intuit the needs and feelings of others; International Film Festival in Septem-
her love of stories started early; she felt ber. And in March, she published her
compelled to step up and play the role first book, Run Towards the Danger, six
of an adult; the kid was born to direct. essays that show Polley assessing her
All of these interpretations are true, own life with the rigour she brings to
and yet, even combined, they only tell the stories she tells onscreen.
part of the story.
As one of Canada’s most celebrated YOU COULD SAY THAT Polley fell into
directors, writers and performers, Polley the habit of acting. Her parents were in

96 december 2022
the business: her father, Michael, was quick-witted siblings, the youngest by
an actor who found more stable work many years, she debated literature
in insurance after his kids were born. around the table as a child; as an ado-
Her mother, Diane, was a casting direc- lescent, she pored over texts with her
tor who also acted. Polley was already father in the middle of the night. When
working as an actor by the time she she sifts through her early acting mem-
stood up in class and finished The Vel- ories, one of the rare bright spots is star-
veteen Rabbit. In 1985, the year she ring, at age seven, in the Canadian-
started second grade, she could be seen made series Ramona, based on Cleary’s
lying in a hospital bed, pale and angelic, iconic stories. Getting to play a charac-
in an episode of the Canadian cop ter with whom she identified so fiercely
drama Night Heat. (She was playing a was her first inkling of what it felt like
little girl who desperately needed an to get inside a story and embody it.
organ transplant.) Around 1988, just as Polley’s career
was building momentum, her feelings
of ambivalence about acting were
O N E O F T H E F I RST growing stronger. Polley adored Pan-
T I M E S P O L L EY ikkar and her other teachers, and every
CRIED ABOUT HER project meant more time away from
school and more distance between her
M O T H E R’ S D E AT H and her peers. “I loved school,” she
WA S O N CA M E R A . says. “I’m unclear if I ever felt the same
kind of joy on film sets as I did in every-
day life.” And as she spent more time
Even then, she knew that being on on those sets, Polley was also discov-
camera wasn’t her life’s goal. For as ering just how toxic the world of enter-
long as she can remember, Polley has tainment could be for a kid.
wanted to be a writer. In Panikkar’s
class, she would make deals with her POLLEY’S MOTHER DIED two days after
teacher: she’d spend 15 minutes work- her 11th birthday. For a long time, the
ing on math or commit to participating trauma of her mother’s death occu-
in the social-studies discussion after pied a foundational place in Polley’s
lunch if she could spend the rest of her life. It wasn’t that she was consumed
time writing. Run Towards the Danger by it, but the loss of her parent was
is dedicated to Polley’s three children tethered to her. At the age of eight, she’d
and to Panikkar, too. known that her mother was sick, but
Books have been one of the great joys she hadn’t really confronted the reality
of Polley’s life. Growing up with four of the situation.

rd.ca 97
reader’s digest

One of the first times Polley cried former child actors, you see a kind of
about her mom was on camera, on the precocious play-acting at being an
set of Road to Avonlea. She says that sev- adult, which tragically doesn’t always
eral hastily written episodes required fall away in adulthood, and inside
her character to tearfully mourn her there’s something that got stunted and
own dead mother—an attempt, she was never allowed to grow up.”
thinks, to exploit her genuine loss for In Run Towards the Danger, Polley
the camera. describes being haunted by this period
It didn’t help that the hours on of her life on a family trip to P.E.I. with
Avonlea were relentless, Polley says, her three kids. Back on the island, she
and the tone on set was harsh at best. confronts memories of a promotional
In one essay in Run Towards the Dan- visit during which she was swarmed
ger, “Dissolving the Boundaries,” Pol- by fans. Polley is both relieved and
ley describes the casual cruelty inflicted slightly shaken to realize that now,
on kids in smaller roles, crew members decades later, nobody recognizes her.
working past the point of exhaustion, “I think I’ve always been so desperate
and one person on set who devel- for a normal life,” she says. “I had the
oped a sickening obsession with her. luxury of not being that ambitious. That
Nobody intervened. can seem like an elegant, grounded
“I think we all got very good at seem- quality, but it’s also one born out of
ing wise beyond our years, but inside privilege, right? I was surrounded by
we were still young and incredibly the arts growing up; I had a career
confused,” Polley says. “With a lot of before I could imagine that I wanted
one. I think that quality in me can
seem more admirable than it is.
It’s one that comes from having
been in a privileged position of ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

yearning to escape something

that a lot of people would want.”

DEPENDING ON THE school of

psychoanalytic thought, trauma
can be viewed as something
that the traumatized person
was unable to respond to in the
Polley on the set of her
accclaimed first film, moment and that recurs through-
Away from Her out their life (Sigmund Freud)
or as a kind of origin story that

98 december 2022
permanently brands the traumatized has processed it in any meaningful
person, something unexpected that way, it might make them more fully
smashes the surface of meaning and human, more capable and on their way
leaves them fumbling to find the right to becoming more whole.”
words (Jacques Lacan). As the effects of her brain injury have
Both of these interpretations can be dissipated, Polley has become more
applied to Polley’s artistic process in invested in paying attention to what
Run Towards the Danger, in which her body is trying to tell her—and in
each piece is loosely based on a trau- questioning her interpretation of those
matic incident. very signals. Is something wrong or is
At the centre of the collection’s it just anxiety? Is discomfort really a
title essay is a freak accident. In 2015, worrying sign or is it a signal to try
at a downtown Toronto YMCA, an poking harder?
industrial-sized fire extinguisher col-
lided with Polley’s head. In the wake of
this injury, she spent nearly four years P O L L EY H A S T R E AT E D
in and out of a weakened, discombob- H E R OW N ST O RY
ulated state. She eventually regained T H E SA M E WAY S H E
her equilibrium with the help of an
American concussion specialist whose WO U L D A P P ROAC H A
unorthodox advice—to actively engage B O O K A DA P TAT I O N.
with the things that caused her pain—
became a kind of guiding principle.
There’s a thing that happens, Polley IF THERE’S A THROUGH LINE in Polley’s
has found, with people who haven’t career, it’s the notion that truth can be
experienced much trauma. They have a contradictory thing. This applies to
this idea that anyone who has been her 2011 feature, Take This Waltz, an
through the wringer is damaged, that uneasy, ambivalent romance disguised
they can’t move forward, that broken- as a love letter to Toronto, and to Sto-
ness becomes a part of them. “I think ries We Tell, her acclaimed 2012 docu-
I’m finally articulating to myself that, mentary about her family and her hazy
unless you’ve experienced and had to origins. But it’s especially apparent in
process trauma, I don’t know if you’re the books Polley chooses to adapt.
whole,” she tells me. At 17, she started a years-long cam-
“I don’t think people should look for paign to secure the rights to Margaret
trauma! But if it happens, I don’t think Atwood’s Alias Grace, about a young
it’s a harbinger of permanent damage,” woman accused of murder whose only
she continues. “I think that, if a person power lies in her own narrative. (Her

rd.ca 99
reader’s digest

adapted series eventually aired on CBC to talk about what we would be fight-
and Netflix in 2017.) Away from Her, ing for?’ There’s something about the
Polley’s 2006 directorial debut, based paradigm shift that she offers in that
on a short story by Alice Munro, moment—‘What are you trying to
touches on Polley’s recollections of her build?’ as opposed to ‘What are you
grandmother’s experience losing trying to tear down?’—that was inter-
some of her memory and of her father esting. What’s the way through trauma,
grieving his wife. “In each one of them, as opposed to just revisiting or immers-
something provokes a question that I ing yourself in the past? What now?
can’t even articulate but which goes What next?”
down to my gut,” Polley says. With Run Towards the Danger, Polley
With her next project, Women holds up some of her darkest moments
Talking, the book came to Polley. Fran- as she determines how to rearrange
ces McDormand, who also acts in the them into something new. Through
film, optioned Miriam Toews’s based- the act of writing and rewriting, she
on-real-events novel and reached out has treated her own story the same
to Polley to direct. The international way she would approach a book adap-
bestseller centres around a group of tation: she stepped inside the narrative
Mennonite women who learn that the and tried to answer the questions that
men of their colony are responsible for resonated down in her gut.
sexually assaulting them under cover When you’re moored in your past or
of night, with the aid of animal tran- driven by something you don’t want to
quilizers. In it, the women gather, rage, look at, Polley says, “once you’ve let it
mourn and debate what to do next. burn you a bit, you can become some-
The production of Women Talking thing else, something that’s not being
bookended Polley’s work on Run commanded by this unconscious thing.
Towards the Danger, and she found the I think there’s some almost clichéd,
two projects crossing over in unex- hopeful way forward.”
pected ways. “There’s a moment where So the question remains: What now?
the character Ona says, ‘Would it be What next?
useful, instead of just talking about the © 2022, SARAH LISS. FROM “WHO DOES SARAH
POLLEY THINK SHE IS?”, THE WALRUS (MAY 17, 2022),
pros and cons of staying and fighting, THEWALRUS.CA

Give It a Rest
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved
in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
JOHN STEINBECK

100 december 2022

 Rudolph the Red knows
SEASON’S GREETINGS rain, dear.”
— REDDIT.COM

Cold Take
Winter driving is better
because the potholes
are filled with snow.
— GCFL.NET

Time Out
What happened to the
man who stole the
advent calendar?
He got 25 days.
— ELLEN DEGENERES,
comedian

“I love this time of year: she celebrates Hanukkah, Oh, Brother

he celebrates Christmas, and I celebrate all the During the holidays, I
holiday food that gets dropped off the plates.” often see my sisters,
who still, even after all
One-of-a-Kind Burn Make It Count these years, can’t seem
What did the snowflake Santa Claus has the to agree with me. They
say to the fallen leaf? right idea—visit people take silly, indefensible
“You are so last only once a year. positions, such as deny-
season.” — VICTOR BORGE, comedian ing that my parents
— KERRY GODLIMAN, loved me more because
comedian Weather Forecast I was the better child.
One night, a Viking — WILLIAM BRUCE CAMERON,
Flame Game named Rudolph the author
SUSAN CAMILLERI KONAR

What do Hanukkah Red looked out the win-

and dragons have in dow and predicted that
Send us your original
common? it was going to rain. jokes! You could earn $50
They both ate His wife asked, “How and be featured in the
knights. do you know?” magazine. See page 8 or
— REDDIT.COM He replied, “Because rd.ca/joke for details.

rd.ca 101
reader’s digest
 INSPIRATION

Stroke of

SOMETIMES, EVERYTHING SEEMS to go wrong.

Is it possible to
You’re passed over for a job. Your back aches.
change our fortune? Your zipper breaks. Your cat keeps throwing up.
Here’s what the Faced with setbacks large and small, you feel like
science says. your life is always taking a turn for the worse. You
aren’t superstitious, but you begin to wonder if
you’re just an unlucky person. Why does it seem
like you can never catch a break? We turned to
BY Galadriel Watson
three experts to help us understand why we
FROM THE WASHINGTON POST believe in luck and how we can harness that belief
illustration by spencer ashley to make real changes in our attitude toward life.

rd.ca 103
reader’s digest

What Is Luck? lives are ruled by chance, and we’re

People define luck in three ways, trying to do something to get control
according to Jacqueline Woolley, pro- over that.”
fessor of psychology at the University
of Texas at Austin. First, we often use Luck’s Role in Real Life
the term luck as synonymous with Vik Loveday conducted a 2017 study
“chance”; we may call it lucky to win at in the U.K. that illustrates that point.
a slot machine although it’s actually a The lecturer of sociology at Goldsmiths,
random event. Another way to frame University of London, interviewed 44
luck is “as a supernatural force that academic employees who were on tem-
exists in the universe,” she says. This porary contracts, a precarious employ-
force may touch different people at ment situation that caused anxiety and
different times, and some people financial instability.
believe it also can be harnessed, such In general, when one of these aca-
as with a ritual or charm. Third, luck demics learned about good news
can be thought of as a personal trait concerning their careers, such as getting
that you’re born with. a permanent job or having a grant
But does it exist? Richard Wiseman, accepted, they would attribute it to luck.
author of The Luck Factor and a psy- Because they felt they had so little con-
chology professor at the University of trol, a move in a positive direction had
Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom, to have happened almost by accident,
doesn’t believe there’s anything mag- rather than as the result of hard work.
ical or superstitious about luck—it In a 2020 study and ongoing
won’t help you or hurt you at the research, Woolley has looked at this
casino. On the other hand, considering idea in children. Between the ages of
yourself lucky or unlucky is “a way of about four and eight, children are
seeing yourself, which then has impact exposed to the concept of luck mostly
on how you behave and how you think, through sources like family and books.
and becomes a self-fulfilling proph- By age eight to 10, however, they start
ecy,” he says. “So, in a sense, it abso- to get skeptical. They’ve begun to
lutely does exist.” notice that “when they wish for some-
And it has existed for ages. “In every thing, it doesn’t happen,” Woolley says.
culture throughout recorded history, Still, this doesn’t stop the belief—
people talk about superstitious rituals and even our reliance on charms and
or chance—as indeed we do now, rituals—from persisting into adult-
even with our amount of science and hood. For example, former U.S. presi-
technology,” Wiseman says. “It’s some- dent Barack Obama would play bas-
thing deep within us that realizes our ketball on Election Day to improve his

104 december 2022

electoral chances. And superstar bas- opportunities come in, you’ll make the
ketball player Michael Jordan would most of them. Lucky people know
wear his college practice shorts under where they’re heading, but often they
his National Basketball Association change course depending on how the
uniform for good luck. wind is going.”
Woolley references a 2010 study— Lucky people also expect good for-
which she wasn’t involved in tune and can transform bad experi-
and which other researchers haven’t ences to good. “They tend to be—no
been able to replicate—that found surprise—optimists, and they’re also
that being told a golf ball was lucky very resilient to bad things that hap-
improved participants’ chances of pen,” Wiseman says. “If bad things
making a putt. “Obviously it’s not luck happen, they think, ‘Okay, it could
that’s causing this. It’s that these super- have been worse.’”
stitious rituals give you confidence and As for specific activities, you can
then you play better,” Woolley says. shift your focus toward the positive by
keeping a “luck diary,” Wiseman says.
How to Think About Luck “Each night before you go to bed,
Is it possible to change your outlook spend about 30 seconds writing down
on luck, and, if so, could that lead to a positive thing that’s happened that
better outcomes? day, or a sense of gratitude for friends
Wiseman believes there are steps or family or health, or a negative thing
you can take to improve your luck. After that’s no longer happening.”
studying people who consider them- Also, don’t be a creature of habit. Take
selves lucky or unlucky, he has found a different route when walking, watch a
that the “lucky” ones maximize chance different TV program, speak to different
opportunities and dare to follow their people—even small changes can be
intuition to grasp those moments. effective. And then keep your eyes open
“If you are relaxed and happy, your and be prepared to grab whatever
world view becomes bigger and you opportunities might arise.
see more opportunities,” he says. “If
THE WASHINGTON POST (DECEMBER 8, 2021), COPYRIGHT
you’re a flexible person, when those © 2021 BY THE WASHINGTON POST

Pleasure Principle
Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to
life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of
great importance to the morale.
ELSA SCHIAPARELLI

rd.ca 105
reader’s digest
 EDITORS’ CHOICE

Brigitte Cleroux was

repeatedly fined, fired
and jailed for treating

THE
patients across Canada
without a license. So how
was she able to keep it up
for two decades?

BY Sarah Treleaven FROM MACLE AN’S

illustrations by robert carter

rd.ca 107
reader’s digest

After struggling with painful endometriosis for

much of her life, Kayla was scheduled for surgery to
remove endometrial tissue at BC Women’s Hospital
in Vancouver in May 2021. (Kayla is not her real
name; pseudonyms have been used for her and
other sources in this story to protect their privacy.)
The attending nurse was a woman PHSA, dated November 26, 2021. “We
named Melanie. She was around 50, are writing today to inform you that
loud and boisterous, with clumpy mas- we recently learned that an individual
cara and frizzy black hair. An already- who had been hired to provide periop-
anxious Kayla was disturbed when Mel- erative nursing care at BC Women’s
anie couldn’t insert an IV. The nurse Hospital & Health Centre’s Gynecology
failed repeatedly, moving the needle Surgical Program did not have a valid
around on Kayla’s arm. Eventually she licence with the B.C. College of
called a colleague over to help. Nurses and Midwives,” wrote Cheryl
During one of Melanie’s attempts, Davies, CEO of BC Women’s Hospital
Kayla turned and then felt her arm & Health Centre. (Davies declined to
brush the nurse’s breast. She quickly be interviewed for this piece.)
stammered an apology. Melanie let out “This individual is no longer
a booming laugh. She grabbed Kayla’s employed in the Gynecological Surgi-
hand and used it to cup the breast Kayla cal Program,” the letter continued, “and
had inadvertently grazed. Kayla was BC Women’s/PHSA is reviewing this
shocked by her bedside manner. matter comprehensively to determine
Stranger still, Kayla was unconscious how it occurred, any internal processes
for 12 hours following the procedure that may have contributed and poten-
and then slept for another 18 after she tial impact to patients.” The letter notes
got home. She was covered in large that the Vancouver Police Department
marks and bruises. was conducting an investigation and
Her disconcerting experiences took concludes with an apology for any dis-
on new meaning several months later, tress the letter might have caused.
when she received a letter from the The letter did cause distress. Kayla’s
Provincial Health Services Authority, or anxiety went into high gear, and she

108 december 2022

 immediately did a Google search, turn- never really knew her father. Cleroux’s
ing up a picture of the nurse who’d lawyer declined an interview request on
used Kayla’s hand to cup her breast. her behalf, but a family friend, whom I’ll
She was more alarmed when she call Tanya, agreed to speak with me on
received her medical records and, in the condition of anonymity. Tanya told
reviewing them with her primary phy- me that Cleroux has a good heart and
sician, discovered that she had been can be kind to those she cares about.
administered a bizarre cocktail of drugs, “She has had a problem with fraud
including fentanyl. ever since she was young,” Tanya says.
The woman who treated Kayla at BC According to CBC reports, Cleroux was
Women’s Hospital went by many names first charged with impersonation and
over the years, including Brigitte Marier, forgery in 1991 at the age of 19; she
Brigitte Fournier, Bridget Clairemont, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to
Melanie Cleroux, Melanie Smith, Mel- one month in prison. According to a
anie Thompson and Melanie Gauthier. family member of Cleroux’s with whom
Her real name is Brigitte Cleroux. Tanya stayed in touch, Cleroux spent
most of the next decade working as an
in a mug shot taken in the summer of exotic dancer and engaging in credit-
2021 in Ottawa, Cleroux appears under card and cheque fraud.
bad lighting with her thick hair pulled By 2001, Cleroux was living in Colo-
back, her eyebrows unevenly pencilled rado, where she attended nursing school
in, the corners of her mouth turned
down and her eyes crowded by enor-
mous fake eyelashes. She has the
dejected look of someone who knows
the jig is finally up.
For 30 years, Cleroux had criss-
crossed the country in a game of
identity-shifting catch-me-if-you-
can, slipping through the cracks of
provincial regulatory bodies and
leaving behind a long rap sheet,
OTTAWA POLICE SERVICES

frustrated victims and falsified doc-

uments that fooled employers.
Cleroux started getting into trou-
ble as a teenager in Gatineau, Que-
bec. Her mother, with whom she was
close, always bailed her out; she
reader’s digest

for two years. “She always had a pas- years’ probation. She was also asked to
sion for nursing but never finished pay a fine of $60,000.
school,” Tanya says. Cleroux told people
she was forced out of her nursing pro- at gatineau’s Philemon Wright High
gram when it was discovered that she School, 2006 was a strange year. After
had a criminal record. a revolving door of French teachers,
Despite her lack of credentials, she Madame Marier arrived in October and
got a job as a nurse in Colorado Springs, immediately made an impression on
but was busted and charged with forg- her young charges—and not in a good
ery and impersonation; she appears to way. They had no idea that Madame
have skipped out on those charges. She Marier was Brigitte Cleroux, and that
was also wanted on charges in Florida. she was not qualified to teach high
As of 2010, Cleroux still had outstand- school French, or anything else.
ing warrants in both states for fraud, One student I interviewed—I’ll call
theft, using a false ID, forgery and other her Rachel—was in Grade 10 that

STILL UNLICENSED, CLEROUX BEGAN WORKING

AS A NURSE AT A SMALL ONTARIO HOSPITAL.
ONCE AGAIN, SHE WAS ARRESTED.
charges. The Florida Department of Cor- year. She remembers Cleroux for her
rections lists 11 aliases for Cleroux. heavy makeup, tight jeans and low-cut
Cleroux fled from the United States leopard-print tops. She says Cleroux
back to Canada, where she gave birth would tell students stories about par-
to a daughter in March of 2002. In ties she attended and intimated that
Rockland, Ontario, she married a man she had both a husband and a boy-
named Mario Marier. They seemed friend. As for her work, she didn’t seem
happy. Tanya says that Marier was to know what she was doing, teaching
unaware of Cleroux’s past. Still unli- her students the kind of simplistic verb
censed, Cleroux began working as a conjugation they had already covered
nurse at a small hospital. Once again, in grade school. But one lesson stood
she was arrested. This time she was out: movie day. “The only way I can
charged with falsifying a legitimate describe the film is as porn,” says
nurse’s credentials and sentenced to Rachel. “It was a literal orgy.” It wasn’t
six months in prison followed by two even in French.

110 december 2022

 “None of us really knew what to five-year-old daughter—sharing a
do,” says Rachel. “She was laughing rental house. Fournier told the Calgary
at all of us. She was like, ‘Why are you Herald that Cleroux was a caring and
so uncomfortable? I know you’re all attentive friend. She showed particu-
having sex.’ Most of us were like, Please lar interest in Fournier’s work as a
let me die in this chair.” Rachel recalls nurse, asking a lot of questions.
that one student left the room to look Fournier and her family moved
for another teacher. Then, one day in back to Ontario in 2008, and Cleroux
December, Cleroux was gone, and no resumed her habit of falsifying docu-
one knew what had happened to her. ments. She used a false name to create
Mike Dubeau, director general of the an Alberta identification card and then
Western Québec School Board, wasn’t forged a nurse’s permit. Her forgeries
in his current position when Cleroux were good enough to land her a nurs-
was hired, but he did inherit a person- ing job at Calgary’s Properties Medical
nel file that includes a falsified teaching Clinic in 2008, but a colleague there

SHE WAS TWO DECADES INTO A LIFE OF

PERVASIVE DISHONESTY, ONE THAT RESULTED
IN PUNISHMENT AND HUMILIATION.
certificate and CV. While Dubeau can’t became suspicious of her and she was
speak to hiring practices in 2006, he laid off after two months.
says it is now standard when hiring She then ran into trouble when
new teachers to perform criminal facial-recognition software pinged a
background checks and send any cer- problem with her ID. She was charged
tifications to the Ministry of Education with defrauding Service Alberta, as well
for confirmation. as forging a nurse’s permit. The iden-
At some point after leaving the Gatin- tity Cleroux had assumed? That of her
eau school, Cleroux picked up and friend, Joele Pharand Fournier.
moved again—this time to Calgary. She Cleroux was released on bail, but
followed Joele Pharand Fournier, a good when she failed to show up for a court
friend from the Ottawa area. It was a appearance, a warrant was issued for
cozy arrangement, with the two fami- her arrest. That triggered a public-
lies—four adults and four children, safety alert from the College and Asso-
including Cleroux’s husband and her ciation of Registered Nurses of Alberta

rd.ca 111
reader’s digest

in July 2010, which noted that Cleroux were signs of her deception. Cleroux
had engaged in acts “considered dan- arrived with her own styling supplies,
gerous,” including administering injec- but she lacked knowledge about mix-
tions. She was quickly arrested in ing ratios for hair colour and how to
Ontario and sent back to Alberta, where use certain tools. “She asked odd ques-
she eventually admitted to forging doc- tions every so often that should have
uments, including references. been no-brainers,” says Nault. “But
Cleroux was already two decades there was never a complaint. Every cli-
into a life of pervasive dishonesty, one ent liked her hair.”
that had repeatedly resulted in punish- About three months into Cleroux’s
ment and humiliation. And yet she employment, Nault received an email
continued along her path, perpetually from an anonymous source. It included
moving on to the next con. She had a rap sheet and a mug shot of Cleroux,
been both charged and sanctioned, indicating that she had been jailed for
but nothing seemed to stop her. impersonating a nurse and a teacher.

THE SALON OWNER WAS CONFLICTED. HE COULD

UNDERSTAND WHY SOMEONE LIKE CLEROUX
MIGHT TRY TO COVER UP AN OFF-COLOUR PAST.
in the summer of 2013, when Lucas It also included links to testimonials
Nault was looking for a new stylist for from shocked nurses who had worked
his salon in Ottawa, a woman named with Cleroux.
Bridget Clairemont applied for the Nault was conflicted. He wanted to
position. Her resumé looked good. She give Cleroux the benefit of the doubt,
said she had owned salons in Edmon- and he could understand why some-
ton and won multiple awards, and she one might try to cover up an off-colour
had all the requisite licensing docu- past to avoid being pigeonholed. “Just
mentation. Bridget Clairemont was, of because someone’s been in jail doesn’t
course, Brigitte Cleroux. mean they’re a bad person,” he says.
He found Cleroux pleasant. She had He invited Cleroux for coffee to talk.
a sense of humour and a sweetness— As Cleroux sat across the table, Nault
shaded by some rough edges—that slid the printed-out email toward her.
made her a good fit for the small salon. He said he wasn’t firing her and that he
Looking back now, Nault realizes there was willing to work things out. Cleroux

112 december 2022

reader’s digest

burst into tears. “She was like, ‘No, I palliative care, checking vital signs and
can’t do this anymore,’” says Nault. administering medication. Cheema
Then, about the contents of the email, says she never suspected this was a
she said, “I’m really sorry, but none of person pretending to be a nurse—in
this is true.” She got up from the table part because she assumed their
and walked away. It was the last Nault employer would have looked into Cler-
saw of Cleroux. He now wonders if she oux’s background.
learned to cut and colour hair when A representative from Royal Arch
she was in prison. told me that Cleroux had been working
After walking away from Nault, Cler- for a third-party contractor when Royal
oux carried on with her itinerant life- Arch was informed that she was not a
style. From 2015 to 2018, she bounced registered nurse. The representative
between Ontario and Quebec. By the says the facility hired an external
spring of 2020, Cleroux had headed nurse-consultant to conduct an inves-
west, where she got a job at Royal Arch tigation, which ultimately determined

AS SOON AS THE PROCEDURE STARTED, THE

PATIENT FELT LIKE SOMETHING WAS VERY
WRONG. THERE WAS AN INTENSE BITING PAIN.
Masonic Home, a long-term care facil- there were no incidents involving res-
ity in Vancouver. ident care that violated B.C.’s Commu-
Rupi Cheema, a registered nurse who nity Care and Assisted Living Act and
worked there at the time, remembers its Residential Care Regulation, beyond
a nurse named Melanie who took con- the provision of nursing services by a
stant smoke breaks and had “ridicu- person who did not hold the required
lously long eyelashes.” She had a supe- licensed professional qualification.
rior attitude, repeatedly referencing her In June of 2020, Cleroux moved on
credentials, including her education in to BC Women’s Hospital where, in July,
the U.S. and work in both long-term she accompanied a woman I’ll call Sha-
care and the ICU. Cleroux, Cheema ron to the operating room for a hys-
recalls, had the attitude of “I can do teroscopy and biopsy related to endo-
whatever I want.” metriosis. The procedure had to be
Cleroux didn’t raise any red flags. She done under sedation, and Sharon was
appeared to have some familiarity with nervous; she knew that she would be

114 december 2022

awake for the procedure and that it So Cleroux moved back to Ottawa,
would cause her to bleed. Cleroux, who where she again used the name Mela-
said her name was Melanie, sat by nie Smith. She forged an impressive
Sharon as she nervously asked ques- resumé, gaining employment at a
tions. Cleroux tried to put Sharon at fertility clinic and a dental-surgery
ease, telling her not to worry, because clinic. At the fertility clinic, Cleroux
she had taken additional training in often monitored blood pressure and
order to administer sedation. heart rates. She was present during
As soon as the procedure started, egg retrievals and administered fen-
Sharon felt like something was very tanyl. In July of 2021, Cleroux tried
wrong. There was an intense biting pain, multiple times to draw blood from a
suggesting to Sharon that she had not patient. She was ultimately success-
been properly anaesthetized. “I was ful, but the patient described pain and
in tears, and I looked at her and she loss of movement in both hands for
just looked right back at me,” says almost two weeks.

THE NURSE WAS SUFFICIENTLY CONCERNED

ABOUT CLEROUX’S FLAGRANT LACK OF
PROFESSIONALISM TO FILE A COMPLAINT.
Sharon. After the procedure, Sharon Cleroux’s conduct raised concerns
was wheeled back to recover in the for at least one of her fellow nurses at
day-surgery area, but Melanie didn’t the fertility clinic, who found Cleroux
give her any sanitary items. Sharon was aggressive and dismissive. In early
soon sitting in her own blood. August, a patient approached this nurse,
By the spring of 2021, the hospital shaking and crying after her interaction
realized that Cleroux was a fraud. Her with Cleroux. She begged to be handled
employment there triggered another by anyone else. The incident seemed
public-safety alert in June of 2021, this to enrage Cleroux, and she confronted
time by the British Columbia College the nurse and the attending doctor,
of Nurses and Midwives. It warned saying she was “done with this place.”
that Melanie Smith, who also used the She then shoved the patient’s chart into
names Melanie Thompson and Mela- the doctor’s hands.
nie Cleroux, was not entitled to prac- The nurse was sufficiently con-
tise as a nurse in B.C. cerned about Cleroux’s flagrant lack of

rd.ca 115
reader’s digest

professionalism that she decided to file pretense with an intent to defraud. In

a complaint with the College of Nurses April, Cleroux was sentenced in Ottawa
of Ontario. When she searched in the to seven years behind bars, minus time
Ontario database, there was no regis- served. She is currently awaiting trial
tration for a Melanie Smith in Ottawa. in Vancouver on the charges pressed
She did a search in British Columbia, against her there.
where Cleroux had said she’d previ- Somehow, Cleroux was able to slip
ously worked, and the B.C. college past at least three provincial nursing
alert about an imposter popped up. regulatory systems multiple times. In
Less than two weeks later, Cleroux was the aftermath of her arrests, Cleroux’s
arrested when she went to pick up her employers have remained largely silent.
last cheque at the fertility clinic. When I reached out to the College of
In August of 2021, Brigitte Cleroux was Registered Nurses of Alberta, a spokes-
charged with impersonating a nurse at person explained that the organization
both the fertility and dental clinics in governs health officials who wish to

SOMEHOW, CLEROUX WAS ABLE TO SLIP PAST

AT LEAST THREE PROVINCIAL NURSING
REGULATORY SYSTEMS MULTIPLE TIMES.
Ottawa, as well as assault with a weapon practise under a certain professional
(brandishing a needle) and criminal designation, and that they have a mech-
negligence causing bodily harm. anism for reporting and investigating
In November, Vancouver police also concerns about practitioners. They
busted Cleroux, while she was in cus- stopped short of providing details of
tody, announcing that she had used any investigation into Cleroux.
the name of a real nurse while working In Ontario, where Cleroux worked
at BC Women’s Hospital from June 2020 several times as a nurse, a valid certif-
to June 2021. She was charged with icate of registration from the College of
several offences, including fraud over Nurses of Ontario is required of all
$5,000 and personation with intent. nurses who wish to perform procedures
In January, she pleaded guilty to authorized to nursing in legislation, says
charges in Ottawa, including one count Kristi Green, a spokesperson for the col-
of assault with a weapon and several lege. Green also tells me that employ-
counts of collecting money under false ers are expected to cross-reference

116 december 2022

potential hires with both the college’s source of frustration. “I don’t under-
Find a Nurse online directory and its stand why she never finished her nurs-
online list of unregistered practitioners. ing schooling if she wanted to be a
(Cleroux—and several of her aliases— nurse so much,” Tanya says. “I’m sure
appears on this latter list.) that with the proper education and
When I reached out to B.C.’s Provin- training, she could have changed her
cial Health Services Authority for com- life and become a great nurse.”
ment, they sent me a boilerplate state- Sharon and Kayla, the women who
ment: “This individual has built a had negative experiences while being
career on deception and impersonat- treated for endometriosis at BC Wom-
ing licensed professionals. We are en’s Hospital, have both signed on to
using this incident as an opportunity Murphy Battista’s lawsuit, which they
to strengthen system processes to the see as an opportunity for accountability
fullest extent possible.” and a way to ensure that what happened
In December, a class-action lawsuit to them doesn’t happen to anyone else.
was launched against the PHSA regard- For Sharon, moving on has been
ing the crimes of Brigitte Cleroux. The hard. But the news of her interaction
litigation firm Murphy Battista alleges with a fake nurse has also been vali-
that the PHSA was negligent in allow- dating. After the procedure at BC
ing Cleroux to work at BC Women’s Women’s Hospital, she was plagued by
Hospital and that any nursing services self-doubt. She wondered if she had
were performed without lawful con- somehow misunderstood things and if
sent. J. Scott Stanley, the lead lawyer, she should have asked more questions.
says his office has already heard from “I chalked it up to a bad experience
more than 100 women interested in and my own unfamiliarity with the
joining the suit. Their complaints range medical system,” she says. “But this
from distasteful unprofessionalism to wasn’t okay. She was in a position of
physical harm. trust, and women suffered unneces-
sarily. This is a terrible breakdown in
while systemic failures are being tal- patient safety. It’s very distressing. How
lied, Cleroux remains in Ottawa. Tanya, did she go undetected?”
her family friend, told me that Cler-
© 2022, SARAH TRELEAVEN. FROM ”THE NURSE
oux’s transgressions have long been a IMPOSTER”, MACLEAN’S (APRIL 11, 2022), MACLEANS.CA

Sea Worthy
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

rd.ca 117
reader’s digest

THE IMMORTAL KING RAO

by Vauhini Vara
The Saskatchewan-born
Vara, a former tech reporter
at The Wall Street Journal
and business editor at The
New Yorker, combines her consider-
able subject expertise with a wildly
imaginative premise. Her ambitious
debut novel toggles between past and
future, chronicling the rise of the title
character, a visionary tech CEO who
manages to link human thought to the
Internet, and the fate of his daughter,
Athena, who is growing up on a dysto-
pian hothouse earth and grappling
with her father’s troubled legacy.

THE SCHOOL OF MIRRORS

by Eva Stachniak
Give a Stachniak is a genius at
conjuring opulent worlds
Great Read
(STACK OF BOOKS) ISTOCK.COM/MALERAPASO

of the past: the jewel-

drenched court of Cather-
ine the Great, the lush and sensuous
Books make excellent gifts. Ballets Russes and, in her newest novel,
the glittering abundance and artifice of
Here are 15 of the year’s 18th-century Versailles. This ornate
most talked-about titles. work of historical fiction is about the
real-life Parc-aux-Cerfs, a house in
the town of Versailles where Madame
BY Emily Landau de Pompadour trained young women
to become mistresses for Louis XV.

118 december 2022

 THE NAKED DON’T FEAR external forces converge on the estate
THE WATER and the hybrids begin to assert their
by Matthieu Aikins own independence.
In 2016, after years spent
reporting in Kabul, SARI, NOT SARI
Aikins—a New York Times by Sonya Singh
Magazine writer and future Pulitzer Manny Dogra, the heroine
Prize winner—left his passport with a of Singh’s fizzy debut
friend and assumed a new identity so novel, is the CEO of a suc-
he could learn what it’s like to travel as cessful company we can’t
a refugee. Then he joined his long-time believe doesn’t exist in real life:
translator on a refugee journey out of Breakup, which helps people gently
Afghanistan. The resulting narrative is dump their partners. The rom part of
both a feat of geopolitical journalism this rom-com comes in when Manny,
and a gripping odyssey. In one harrow- who grew up completely detached
ing passage, Aikins and his translator from her Indian heritage, teams up
crowd onto a dinghy without enough with one of her clients, Sammy Patel,
life vests to cross the treacherous who provides an immersive boot camp
Aegean Sea. on South Asian culture. The pair then
gets thrown into all sorts of predictably
THE DAUGHTER OF swoony situations.
DOCTOR MOREAU
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia THE LAST CHAIRLIFT
Best known for her atmo- by John Irving
spheric hit novel Mexican Irving, who turned 80 this
Gothic, Moreno-Garcia year, covers roughly the
returns to spooky territory with this same time span in his
retelling of H.G. Wells’ 1896 sci-fi classic enormous new novel—
The Island of Doctor Moreau. Moreno- clocking in at 912 pages, it should last
Garcia has created a chilling and thrill- you the holiday break and beyond. The
ing remix in which the titular daugh- story follows “Little Ray,” a one-time
ter—Carlota Moreau—lives on a competitive skier, and her son, Adam, a
Mexican ranch where her mad-scientist burgeoning writer who is obsessed with
father has created human-animal finding his absentee dad. Long-time
hybrids destined to work as chattel on Irving fans will appreciate a bingo
the hacienda. Eventually, of course, card’s worth of his narrative trade-
Carlota begins asking questions about marks, including snowy New Hamp-
her father’s nefarious activities, while shire winters, mommy issues, the

rd.ca 119
reader’s digest

Vietnam War, east coast prep school MOTHERTHING

and plenty of tortured masculinity. by Ainslie Hogarth
When Abby’s depressed
ORDINARY MONSTERS mother-in-law takes her
by J.M. Miro own life and seemingly
Miro is the nom de plume begins to haunt her
for the acclaimed Cana- bereaved son, Abby decides to exorcise
dian novelist Steven Price, the demon herself. In this delightfully
who has temporarily aban- twisted horror novel, Hogarth takes the
doned literary fiction in favour of a new old cliché of the mother-in-law from
series of historical fantasy novels in the hell and transforms it into something
vein of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. tangible and terrifying—and, as a
The first instalment, as moody and as bonus, features some delightfully dis-
smoke-stained as a Victorian cobble- gusting domestic-goddess recipes
stone alley, is about a group of children (chicken à la king, jellied salmon).
with magical gifts, known as the Talents,
who come together at a mysterious SON OF ELSEWHERE: A
Scottish estate and pool their powers MEMOIR IN PIECES
to escape the shape-shifting evil by Elamin Abdelmahmoud
that’s chasing them. Think of it as a The soundtrack to The O.C.,
19th-century version of the X-Men. Muslim identity and the
strange beauty of Highway
PURE COLOUR 401 were formative factors in the emerg-
by Sheila Heti ing selfhood of Elamin Abdelmahmoud.
Heti’s third novel starts out The BuzzFeed News writer’s affable
ordinarily enough, chroni- and empathetic memoir describes his
cling the life of Mira, a experience emigrating from Khar-
young art critic and writer toum, Sudan, to Kingston, Ontario, in
in Toronto, as she works, falls in love the early 2000s at age 12.
and figures out who she is. But when
her father dies, the story ascends into a I WAS THE PRESIDENT’S
poetic, meandering, deeply weird med- MISTRESS!!
itation on grief and God and the cos- by Miguel Syjuco
mology of the universe; in one tangent, Syjuco has turned that
Mira enters a leaf (you have to read it to most flimsy of forms—the
get it). It’s not for everyone, but lovers celebrity memoir—into a
of metaphysics and beautiful language dagger-sharp satire of sex, influence,
will surely appreciate the ride. wealth and politics. His latest novel is

120 december 2022

built around interview transcripts with photographed) dishes, including pâté
the fictional Vita Nova, a Filipina Mar- en croûte and tarte au citron flambée
ilyn Monroe and ex-paramour of the au pastis, plus Québécois classics like
fictional, scandal-plagued Philippines tarte au sucre and, of course, tourtière.
president Fernando Estregan. She tells
the story of her life and many loves in ARE YOU SARA?
a raucously entertaining literary romp. by S.C. Lalli
There’s something inher-
A MAGIC STEEPED ently vulnerable about
IN POISON getting into a car with an
by Judy I. Lin Uber or Lyft driver—a risk
Harry Potter has his wand. we all regularly take in exchange for
Daenerys Targaryen has modern convenience. This thriller taps
her dragons. And Ning, the into the worst-case scenario, following
heroine of Judy I. Lin’s debut novel, has two young women (one named Sarah
tea, which in her world is imbued with and one named Sara) who both order
magical properties. Lin has created an rideshares after a night at the bar.
enchanting young-adult fantasy satu- When Sara finds Sarah murdered on
rated in Chinese mythology, court her doorstep, she tries to get to the bot-
intrigue and just a smidge of romance, tom of what happened, and figure out
as Ning enters a competition to find the if the killer was really after her.
kingdom’s most gifted shennong-shi, or
tea master, a kind of Great British Bake A BALLET OF LEPERS
Off for the art of the brew. by Leonard Cohen
Unlike many other post-
WHERE THE RIVER NAR- humous releases, you can
ROWS: CLASSIC FRENCH & count on Cohen’s to be
NOSTALGIC QUÉBÉCOIS worth the wait: before his
RECIPES FROM ST. LAW- death, he said that the title novella,
RENCE RESTAURANT which was never published, was likely
by J-C Poirier better than The Favourite Game, a novel
Poirier has spent the last 20-odd years he published during his lifetime. This
cheffing in Vancouver—currently at collection also includes a radio-play
the acclaimed St. Lawrence Restau- script and a handful of short stories,
rant—but his roots are Québécois. He written both in his usual stomping
pays homage to his heritage in his grounds of Montreal and on the Greek
first cookbook, crammed with more island of Hydra, where he impulsively
than 125 gorgeous (and gorgeously bought a house for $1,500 in 1960.

rd.ca 121
reader’s digest

BRAINTEASERS

Pic-a-Pix: December 3 3
Medium Reveal a hidden picture by shading
in groups of horizontally or vertically adjacent
3 2 1 1 1 3
cells. The numbers represent how many 2 1 2 1 2 2
shaded cells are in each of the 8 1 1 1 10 10 1 1 1 8
corresponding row’s or
column’s groups. (For
2 2 2
example, a “3” next to a row 2 2 2
represents three horizontally 10
adjacent shaded cells in that 1 2 1
row.) There must be at least
one empty cell between each 1 1 2 3
group. The numbers read in 3 2 2

PIC-A-PIX: DECEMBER BY DIANE BAHER; GUTTER LANGUAGE BY DARREN RIGBY

the same horizontal or vertical 2 5 1
order as the groups they
represent. There’s only one 1 4 1 1
possible picture; can you 1 2 1
shade it in? 10

Gutter Language
Easy The icicles seen here are a secret code for six different words. Five of them are
DRIFT, FROST, IGLOO, SLUSH and SNOWY. What’s the sixth?

122 december 2022

 Cryptogram: True North
Medium Each letter in this quote has been replaced by a different one.
Try to decode the message!

————— D — —— —— —T — ——————— ———

D B L B P B WA L X E B D X K L E G J H X G
——— E ———— —— ————— —— ———
E I N DXCP XH I NBGE XG E I N
CRYPTOGRAM: TRUE NORTH BY BARB OLSON; SECRET SANTA BY EMILY GOODMAN; SUM-THING SPECIAL BY FRASER SIMPSON

———— —— ———— .
D X C P X H HNN E —Pierre Trudeau

Sum-Thing Special
Difficult Each letter from A through H has
one of the eight values listed, and no two
letters have the same value. Can you deter-
mine which number goes with each letter
to make the equations true?

Secret Santa
Easy Your book club is doing 2 3 5 8 13 15 21 23
a Secret Santa gift exchange.
There are six members
including you. Each person will
A+C=D
draw a name out of a hat, and
you’re hoping to get Kathie, B+H=G
your best friend in the club.
When it’s your turn to pick, you
overhear that someone who E+G=D
picked before you drew the
name of your other friend,
Aisha. You can’t draw your own
B+G=F
name. What are your chances
of getting Kathie’s name? C+F=E

For answers, turn to PAGE 127

rd.ca 123
reader’s digest

11. What is the only

TRIVIA country in the world to
have an amphibian as a
national animal?
BY Beth Shillibeer
12. Sense of taste is low-
ered by 30 per cent in
1. What are the only ani- 6. How many items are in the air, giving airplane
mals known to navigate a baker’s dozen? food a bad reputation.
using the light of the True or false?
Milky Way? 7. Which 16th-century art
form evolved into panto- 13. When Benedictine
2. Paddington Bear cele- mime, clowning and monk Guido of Arezzo
brates one of his twice- other forms of slapstick invented the word
yearly birthdays on enjoyed today? “gamut,” what subject
December 25. When is was he referring to?
the other? 8. What mythical crea-
ture is called Melusine in 14. Who wrote “A quiet
3. What element, dis- Luxembourg, Iara in Bra- and modest life brings
solved by rainwater, gives zil and Mami Wata in more joy than a pursuit of
turquoise gemstones African folklore? success bound with con-
their blue hue? stant unrest” on statio-
9. In Australia, the Sydney nery that eventually sold
4. The JW Marriott Hotel to Hobart Yacht Race and for over $1 million?
in Shanghai’s Tomorrow the opening cricket test
Square features the match in Melbourne both
world’s highest what? happen on what day?

5. Canada’s 50-year 10. What universal adap-

“Whiskey War” over Hans tive process is now esti- 15. Which religious cere-
Island was peacefully mated to happen up to mony inspired Leonard
ISTOCK.COM/MICHAKLOOTWIJK

resolved with which four times faster than Nimoy’s Vulcan salute in
country in 2022? previously thought? an early Star Trek episode?

14. Albert Einstein. 15. Jewish priestly blessing.

13. Music theory. A “gamma-ut” was the lowest note in Western medieval music.
dell’arte. 8. Mermaid. 9. December 26. 10. Evolution. 11. Panama (golden frog). 12. True.
Answers: 1. Dung beetles. 2. June 25. 3. Copper. 4. Library. 5. Denmark. 6. 13. 7. Commedia

124 december 2022

 WORD POWER 9. névé—A: blue arctic
ice. B: cold north wind.
C: granular snow at the
top of a glacier.
The winter cold brings a snow fort full
10. luge—A: small sled
of terms related to the chilly season. ridden in the supine
How many do you know? position. B: snowshoe.
C: wide, thick scarf.
BY Rob Lutes
11. whiteout—A: bliz-
zard that severely reduces
1. snowbird—A: snow- 5. balaclava— visibility. B: window frost.
ball thrown a great dis- A: close-fitting garment C: bad fall on ice.
tance. B: one who goes for the head and neck.
to a warmer region for B: warm pastry eaten in 12. galosh—A: alcoholic
winter. C: ski jumper. winter. C: broom used to beverage thought to
clear snow. warm the insides.
2. psychrophilic— B: overshoe for winter
A: thriving in low tem- 6. apricity—A: apprecia- weather. C: mythological
peratures. B: hallucinat- tion of cold weather. winter creature.
ing due to cold weather. B: warmth of the sun in
C: fearing the cold. winter. C: slipperiness of 13. brumation—
frozen ground. A: sticky snow that
3. hoarfrost—A: ice crys- adheres to trees. B: act
tals formed on the ground 7. chilblains—A: deep of sweeping snow from
at temperatures below ruts in icy roads. B: swell- steps. C: reptilian state of
freezing. B: wet, slushy ing caused by exposure to sluggishness in winter.
snow. C: candied popcorn cold. C: long underwear.
sold at winter resorts. 14. frigorific—
8. sitzmark—A: discolor- A: desolate. B: blustery.
4. crampons—A: leather ation of skin caused by C: causing cold.
gloves for working in cold frostbite. B: winter hut
weather. B: metal spikes similar to an igloo. 15. frore—A: frosty.
attached to boots for trac- C: depression in the snow B: deep, as snow.
tion on ice. C: chains used formed by a skier fall- C: incapable of with-
to increase tire traction. ing backwards. standing winter.

rd.ca 125
reader’s digest

6. apricity—B: warmth 12. galosh—B: overshoe

WORD POWER of the sun in winter; as, for winter weather; as,
ANSWERS The apricity made the Roger donned a pair of
January hike more tolera- galoshes before heading
ble for the kids. out in the snow.
1. snowbird—B: one who
goes to a warmer region 7. chilblains—B: swell- 13. brumation—C: reptil-
for winter; as, Carrie was a ing caused by exposure ian state of sluggishness in
snowbird, with condos in to cold; as, The chilblains winter; as, Professor
Toronto and Tampa Bay. on Tabby’s hands made Elanik explained that the
it difficult for him to hold stationary snakes showed
2. psychrophilic— a fork. signs of brumation.
A: thriving in low tem-
peratures; as, The psy- 8. sitzmark—C: depres- 14. frigorific—C: causing
chrophilic bacteria grew sion in the snow formed cold; as, The chemicals
quickly once refrigerated. by a skier falling back- formed a frigorific mixture,
wards; as, Perry laughed a quicker alternative to
3. hoarfrost—A: ice crys- at the sitzmark left behind mechanical refrigeration.
tals formed on the ground by his tumble.
at temperatures below 15. frore—A: frosty; as,
freezing; as, Mallika loved 9. névé—C: granular While the couple walked
walking through the snow at the top of a gla- home, the familiar terrain
hoarfrost on the lawn. cier; as, The climbers took on a frore beauty.
trudged across the névé at
4. crampons—B: metal
spikes attached to boots
the east end of the glacier.
CROSSWORD
for traction on ice; as, 10. luge—A: small sled ANSWERS
Whitney fastened cram- ridden in the supine
pons to her boots before position; as, Manu rode FROM PAGE 128
trekking up the moun- the luge down the wind- L A R G E M I N T
tain trail. ing course. E R R O L E R A S
D M A J O R D A R K
G A T I N E A U Q C
5. balaclava— 11. whiteout—A: bliz- E N E C B S
A: close-fitting garment zard that severely reduces R I D E A U C A N A L
for the head and neck; as, visibility; as, When the L P S E L I
W I N T E R L U D E
Wearing a balaclava and storm became a whiteout, Y E T I D I E T E D
goggles, Corbyn was vehicles pulled off to the E R I N O V E R T
almost unrecognizable. side of the road. P E S O T O R S O

126 december 2022

 BRAINTEASERS
ANSWERS SUDOKU

FROM PAGE 122 BY Jeff Widderich

Pic-a-Pix: December
7 4 2 3
4 8 7 1 5
3
4 3 2 8
Gutter Language
It’s NORTH.

Cryptogram: 7 3 6 8
True North
“Canada is not a country
for the cold of heart or the
5
cold of feet.” 4 2 5 8 9
Secret Santa
1 in four, or 25 per cent.
3 7 4 2
There were six names in
the hat to start. But you To Solve This Puzzle
know Aisha’s name has
already been taken out, Put a number from 1 to 9 in
and it wouldn’t make
sense for you to get your
each empty square so that: SOLUTION
2 6 1 4 5 7 9 8 3
own name. That leaves )every horizontal row and 7 3 9 8 6 1 5 2 4
four names for you to vertical column contains all 8 5 4 9 2 3 7 6 1
pick from. nine numbers (1-9) without 4 8 6 3 7 9 2 1 5
repeating any of them; 1 2 3 5 4 6 8 7 9
Sum-Thing Special 9 7 5 1 8 2 3 4 6
A=21, B=5, C=2, D=23, )each of the outlined 3 x 3
6 4 2 7 9 5 1 3 8
E=15, F=13, G=8, H=3 boxes has all nine numbers,
5 1 7 6 3 8 4 9 2
3 9 8 2 1 4 6 5 7
none repeated.

rd.ca 127
reader’s digest

CROSSWORD

On Ice
BY Derek Bowman

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

12 13 14

15 16
DOWN
17 18 1 Accounts book or Heath
2 Fashion designer Giorgio
19 20 21 22 23 24 3 For mature audiences
4 Berry seen at juice bars
25 26
5 SpaceX founder Musk
6 Snake-haired Gorgon
27 28 29 30
7 Where the Tigris flows
31 32 8 Drug cop
9 Sound of reproach
33 34 13 Disqualified (oneself)
16 Start of a children’s song
35 36 20 Weather Channel topic
21 Quite fitting
22 Like some German
ACROSS nouns
1 Parka size 25 Collection on vinyl 23 Birch-family trees
6 In perfect condition 26 NFL’s Manning 24 Snowed
10 Robin Hood player Flynn 27 Annual February festival 27 Used to be
11 Historic periods in 15-Across and Ottawa 28 Reply to “That so?”
12 Key of Pachelbel’s Canon 31 Everest, in Abominable 29 Very funny person
14 Chocolate variety 32 Counted calories 30 The L of L-dopa
15 Snowflake Kingdom site 33 Activist Brockovich 31 “___, you better
17 Reverse of WSW 34 Out in the open believe it!”
18 Good Sam network 35 Mexican money
19 Long-skateway locale 36 Trunk of the body For answers, turn to PAGE 126

128 december 2022

“I know there’s
I can go anywhere and

“
no leakage
-Dolores

Boutique underwear. 8 oz of liquid.

The bladder leak underwear we deserve