The Joy Show! Musician Alex Cuba; How a N.S. carpenter learned to live life for others — and kept his neighbour from losing her home

Guests: Alex Cuba, Jane McClair, Kelly McCann

MG: I realise that at times it has felt like one bad news story after another this year, from the pandemic to the tragedy that is unfolding right now in the Bay of Fundy. Even at its darkest points, though, people across this country have found inventive ways to spark joy. And it is that pursuit of happiness that we are celebrating today on The Current. We will start this morning with the joys of music, even though Singer-Songwriter Alex Cuba had to cancel a major tour. It turns out the 20/20 has been a big year for him. His album, Sublime, was nominated for two Latin Grammys he performed last month at the award show Alex Cuba is at his home in Smithers, British Columbia. Alex, good morning.

ALEX CUBA: Good morning, Matt. So nice to be to hear your voice and to talk to you.

MG: It is great to talk to you. If there was a word that you had to use to describe what 20/20 has been like, what is that word?

ALEX CUBA: That word would be challenging.

MG: For sure.

ALEX CUBA: Most challenging, I think, has been to, of course, find the inspiration to to still create music, to still believe, you know, in the future for sure.

MG: We've all been looking for something to hang on to. And for some of us, that's been music. For other people, that's been, you know, activity or friends or family or what have you. What where have you found happiness through the pandemic?

ALEX CUBA: Well, I have found a lot of joy in staying with my family, watching my kids grow and spending time with my wife and just being a father at a very important time. I think my youngest is about to turn 14. You know, he needs his daddy, I think, and so I've been very grateful for that. That's been a wonderful thing for me.

MG: And music? I mean, have you been playing a lot of music over the course of this pandemic?

ALEX CUBA: Yeah, you know, I actually turned my living room into a recording studio, and it's been fun. It's been also, of course, challenging because there have been times where my neighbour has been fixing his diesel truck and I've been here trying to do something now and then, you know, the truck goes on and yeah, you know.

MG: Working from home like everybody else is. We're sitting here talking and you have a guitar in your hands. It seems a shame to talk and not hear you play. What are you going to play for us first?

ALEX CUBA: I'm going to play a tune that is very special to me. Also from my most recent album, From Sublime. This tune is very special because he puts together many stories that had happened to me before. You know, during my career, I've been fortunate enough to hear stories, you know, intimate stories from people. They have been brave enough to tell me, you know what? I came here to thank you because you saved my life. And I'm like, oh, my God. Wow. This is amazing. How so. So well. I was I was very depressed and somebody a friend of mine gifted me one of your albums, and you got me out of that depression with your beautiful uplifting the music. And that kept happening over and over and over and over and even got to the point where some people say, I was seriously considering to end my life and somebody get me your music. And I came here to thank you. And I said maybe I'd like to write a song about this is called Cantando de Alegría, which means singing of happiness.

MG: Take it away.

ALEX CUBA: [Sings in Spanish].

MG: So as Alex Cuba and a song called Cantando de Alegría, singing of Happiness. There's only me clapping. Do you do miss like the roar of applause from an audience?

ALEX CUBA: Matt, it was very challenging at the beginning. You know, when we started doing virtual concerts, but I tell you one thing, I got the hang of it and it was fun from that point forward, I think.

MG: What is it like to hear that a song that you've written or, you know, a body of work that you have recorded means so much to people?

ALEX CUBA: It's mind blowing. It really touches you deeply in your heart. And it gives me meaning to what I do, because I know that there is a deeper value to music, to what we do than just just fame and popularity. That is a cultural value. That is what holds people together and what makes them get up every morning, believe in the future. Moments like that totally prove that to me.

MG: You're at home in Smithers, British Columbia. Smithers can get a lot of snow. What is this snow plunging thing that you get up to at Smithers?

ALEX CUBA: Oh, you heard about that, all the way in Toronto, right. That's good. Well, when I moved to Smithers, I'm going now on eighteen years. I'm very proud to say that. My family here, my wife's family told me that that was a family tradition. We get in the hot tub with when it's minus 10, minus 15 around there, and then we come out and we roll on the snow and go back in. We do that. We do that every day. That's our family tradition. And I said, OK, I'm going to do it, too, because I'm Cuban. And you don't dare a Cuban to do anything. So I did it. I was by myself inside the hot tub and I noticed that nobody was coming out and they were all behind the windows, you know, with cameras and taking a look. And when I did it, they were all laughing and I looked inside, what's going on? I realised quickly that it wasn't a tradition. Somebody made it out to see how far this Cuban will go, but it did become a tradition. I think I made it a tradition. And then one day I said, you know what? Let's keep taking things even further, you know? And I said, how about we just don't roll? And there's no about we just sit on the snow and see how long we can stay in there. And the first year, I think I was there for like two minutes, and when I went back inside the hot tub, I wasn't warming up from the inside of my body and I thought that that was it. I thought I wasn't going to sing again. You know, I said, what am I doing to myself? But I did it again the next December. And again and in my record now is five and a half minutes laying on the floor. And I think I'm the champion.

MG: In your own mind at the very least.

ALEX CUBA: Yeah. Yeah.

MG: It's been great having you here. You're going to play another song in a little bit. Alex, thank you so much.

ALEX CUBA: Oh, my pleasure.

MG: That's the singer songwriter Alex Cuba. He is in Smithers in northern British Columbia. Next, we head across the country to Mill Cove, Nova Scotia, where this year some joy wasn't the only thing that was needed if you two by fours would be equally welcome.

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[Music]

JANE: It was Christmas, I think, two or three years ago, and I was putting up Christmas decorations on my deck and went through aboard my left leg, it was Brian. Yeah.

MG: It's Jane McClair last spring, she finally decided to get her deck fixed and lucky for her, her neighbour experienced carpenter Kelly McCann wanted to do her a favour. Jane helps run the community's food bank, and so he offered to give her hand and fix the deck for free.

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KELLY: I came and looked at the deck and the deck boards. There were about 10 rotten boards out of her deck and I saw the deck boards were just like, you could just take them off with your hands because they weren't screwed into anything. So I said, Jane, you need more than just the new boards on this deck. You need a whole new deck. I was standing actually back there and I looked at the corner of the house and it was down about four inches. That's where the siding people must have made a mistake when they put the siding on, it's all saggy. When I went and looked into there and Jane and I tore a few boards off, it was just like it was rotten underneath there in the whole corner of the house was literally falling down. I was thinking, oh, boy, this might turn into bigger than just making a patio.

MG: Kelly McCann was right about that. His good deed was about to get even bigger than he ever imagined.

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KELLY: So, Jane, you need to get- we need to fix this, Ed. That's on your building because it's literally falling off. I don't know. I think I had to use her washroom or something. And there was a chunk of wood beside the toilet propped up. And I said, what's this piece of wood beside your toilet? She says, Oh, that holds my toilet up, because otherwise it tips over when I sit on it because the floor was rotten. And I said, Jane, how long have you been-? And she says, Oh, by the way, you can't- I came out and said, You can't flush the toilet. What's wrong with the toilet? She says, Oh, it doesn't flush. You just have to take some water from the bathtub and put it in the toilet to flush it. I said, How long have you been doing this for? She's, Oh. It's no big deal. I said, Jane, you should have said something that I could have given- you brought you a new toilet, for what it's worth, or got you a new toilet from somebody.

JANE: Things that I thought were very easy, fixed, you know, to be fixed. And, you know, I work, but don't make a lot of money as a teacher assistant. And, you know, we're supporting my children. And once they left, it just- the cost of living became a lot and it was difficult to get anything fixed. You know, I'll have that money soon, you know, and I'll do it later and later never came.

KELLY: I take a shower, she said, it showers for a while and then it just stops. The water stops coming out and it stops coming out for about three or four seconds. I think what's going to happen next and boom, the water comes back on again. This is wow. That's a surprise shower. That's fun.

JANE: And it's rather embarrassing to kind of realise that, you know, that your house is kind of falling apart and you didn't even realise.

KELLY: Myself and my wife and a couple other people started talking about what could we do, what if we slid the original house over and built an addition on the front of the ocean side and made proper sized windows in it because the original house didn't even have sensible size windows? If Jane ever had a fire, she couldn't even get out of the windows in the bedroom that she was sleeping in. By the time we talked to several, brought several experts in and said, can you look at this house? Is this a house we can move sideways? Can we do something with it? Can we reinvent it to make it? And it was just impossible. Then I said, you know what? Let's stop doing these plans because we drew dozens and dozens of plans. The most economical way to get Jane a new house was just to build her a new house.

JANE: They tore off the back of the house in the fall because it was not worth doing anything with. And the front was sold cheaply to a guy up the road like a shed. But it's right on the road. So I drive by my house every day when I go to school, which is really strange.

KELLY: People knew that, look at that, you can go to a new panel at a cut out of her house that was being demolished. My heart went out to Jane when on the very first day when I saw that, I thought, this is crazy. How can a person in Nova Scotia live in this province and people drive past every day and and, you know, we just are in our own little worlds and don't even notice that other people are in terrible need and they never would say anything, of course. They would never say anything.

JANE: I said, God, this house needs work and I don't know how I'm going to get it done. So it's in your hands. This is your house. You know, whatever you see fit. This is now what he has done for me. Amazing.

KELLY: She wants to give care. She does not want anybody to have to take care of her. She doesn't want to be a burden on anyone. And she felt that people in the community might feel that she was somehow falling short of being able to take care of her own affairs or manage her life or something. I said, no, I don't feel that way. I mean, you can't- you know, you're working like a dog. You're doing as good as you can. That's fine. Don't take it so personally. Because I was thinking I wish I had time to help Jane. But I'm just walked right off my feet as a carpenter building stairs, and I just have people calling me like constant stream of When are you coming to my job? When are you coming to my job? When I'm coming to my job. When I first talked about this, I thought that I could not financially survive without getting some kind of remuneration. So my first plan was I will try to manage this project and see if I could take a little stipend for my services. I didn't think I had, you know, 10 hours to donate to this project, really in my business schedule. Somebody put this Jane McClair brochure on their Facebook page because we made a little brochure to hand out to like 20 people and see if anybody is interested in helping out with this little project. So somebody put it on their Facebook page or something. I don't have Facebook. I don't know what that means. And so suddenly then the windows of heaven opened and things started really to happen, pop in a big hurry. And people on the radio on their way to Antigonish heard it and said, hey, we'd like to help you out. Can we give you an excavator? And people in B.C. who were, you know, friends of Jane's families said, hey, can we help out? You know, we'll buy you new appliances. And things just started to happen that way. So as far as people jumping on the project for a little tiny community that nobody even knows how to find, you know, it's gotten pretty big that way. And in some ways, I didn't want to burden down this little community right here with saying, hey, can we build a house for Jane? Because I was afraid. Some people say, well, what about me? Can you build a house for me, too, while you're at it? Well, yeah, I guess, get in line, you know. For best results apply in temperature 16 to 38, how about for second best results?

[Noise]

KELLY: Now, I wouldn't worry about that. I can't believe how many people are giving day after day after day of their own personal lives to come and help out that you would never expect, like the rebar queen. Joanne Eldership is a librarian that I met years and years ago and a librarian assistant. And she's a person that volunteered to keep Jane at her house. And I thought that that would be enough for her to keep her busy. She found out a technique for cutting this heavy rebar and she just boom.

JOANNE: I've cut a few pieces that I learnt today how to bend it.

PRODUCER: How old are you?

JOANNE: 66.

PRODUCER: And have you ever done that before?

JOANNE: No. And I found that my stance has to be like that. Oh, sorry. And then this piece takes muscle, you know, being old for muscle.

KELLY: I started driving down my own little road here, Highway 59, I would look to the left and look to the right and say, Whoa, did you see that? How sweet, Daffodil, that's what call my wife. I'd say, look at that shack there. And I know the person that lives in that shack. That should be our next project right there. So these things started to make me think you got to quit just living for yourself every day of your life and be thinking about how can I help someone else? People get lost in the cracks. Right. And now I've been here for and a lot of other people, not just me, by a long shot for literally. When do we start this thing? October. November. So I've been pretty much on this job, you know, almost every day for three months. And so far I haven't taken any stipend. And I still somehow survived and didn't even need to go to the food bank to get food yet. So I'm pretty happy.

JANE: I can just live there, I can be warm not having to worry about what's falling down or what's going to happen next, you know.

KELLY: My dream is that now she can be here and look out that beautiful window view of the ocean and be here for many years without worrying about anything falling apart.

MG: That's Kelly McCann in Millcove, Nova Scotia. Jane MacClair, New House won't be ready for Christmas, but she won't have to wait long for home sweet home. The CBC News is next. And then we get told to go jump in the lake, but in a very nice way. Why two very brave souls enjoy taking a dip in Lake Ontario in the midst of winter. I'm Matt Galloway you're listening to a special joy edition of The Current. Stick around.

Winter swimmers; Snowmageddon; Trampoline dreamcatchers

Guests: Courtney Barber, Sheldon Crocker, Janice Wabie

MG: Good morning. I'm Matt Galloway, you're listening to The Current.

[Music]

MG: If the music didn't tipped you off, today, we are bringing you a special programme dedicated to joy. It has been, as you know, a difficult year. But through it, Canadians have found ways to spark happiness for themselves and those around them. People like former CBC radio host Mike Finnerty, who discovered a new passion working as a cheesemonger.

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I feel like a hero in my cheesemonger apron.

MG: It's given him a new outlook on life and filled him with joy. The cheesemonger, Mike Finnerty, joins us to talk about taking a leap in 30 minutes. But first, a positively polar plunge. Earlier, the singer Alex Cuba told us about snow plunging his own peculiar tradition to embrace the cold of winter. He's not the only one trying to do that. Over the course of the last few months, we've been hearing from many people taking up new sports and hobbies. Some brave Torontonians have been taking it to a bit of an extreme.

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CAIT: No, never a wetsuit.

GREG: You know, that sounds extensive.

CAIT: Even a hat was controversial at one point. I wore a toque last weekend. And apparently that was like there were questions about is this...

GREG: The feeling is that cheating, a little bit.

CAIT: Is this cheating? Is it?

GREG: Yeah.

CAIT: I was like soaking up to my neck. But, ok.

MG: That's Cait Faulkner and Greg Arbour. They have been working out on the beach and then swimming in Lake Ontario in December. They let us tag along for their icy dip. But first, before you get in the water, you have to get the blood pumping.

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GREG: We're going to do some exercises at our core temperature up to make it slightly less painful when we run in. So I'm carrying CAIT, trying not to let my shoulder dig too much into her soft underbelly, but basically just trying to do you like a heavy exercise that involves, like most of my muscles, so like legs, I got carry her, it's in the sand, so it's a lot harder.

CAIT: [Unintelligible] I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

GREG: So I'm actually a data scientist working at UBC, primarily doing stuff related to COVID. So trying to model, just watch to see what the impact on the health care system is, that kind of thing. All right.

CAIT: OK. And then I will do it, but I will go like six feet. OK.

GREG: All right.

CAIT: I am a public health nurse. It has been extremely busy, but I actually love my job so much. I feel so lucky to be part of this and trying to create a safe environment for these kids to learn because it's important for them to be in school and engaged in their learning. And it's really difficult when you're across from a screen. And again, that's part of the reason why we're out here doing this is the connectivity is because we don't want to just be in front of our screens and not engaging with life. Yes. That's hard.

MG: All right. Warmed up. Enough, enough dillydallying. Get in the lake.

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GREG: Down to the bathing suit.

CAIT: As quickly as possible because we don't our toes to go numb before we can get in the water, so. Did you have a heart condition? Absolutely don't do this because your body is going into a little bit of shock, right, and your heart's working extra fast to pump that blood around your body just to keep you warm. And it's also good not to go in for too long because once your temperature drops, her temperature should be about 37 degrees. So you got your temperature to drop. It does get a bit dangerous. So it's important to rewarm right away. But I think just knowing your body, too. So if your sweet starts becoming slurred or all of a sudden you start to feel nothing, or whatever, that's a good sign to get out as well.

GREG: OK.

CAIT: Oh, my gosh.

GREG: I think the first two minutes of the worst by far, after that you kind of just your body goes, don't stop feeling things.

CAIT: It's cold and then your toes and your fingers start tingling.

GREG: It's already red. Yeah, the pain doesn't actually set in for another few minutes. You know, you don't self actualise unless you're suffering. I think that's when you grow most as people just walking through life doesn't really appeal to me.

CAIT: And I think, I think we're also just looking for a fight. Like you get sick Netflix for the pandemic. And you're like, I know it's cold. We live in Canada, but we just want to get outdoors and have fun and find new experiences and not just sit on the couch, things like this, when it's overcast and cold. I feel like I'm right up here. And I think you can feel kind of down or a little bit like emotionally numb. But when you go in the water, it shocks your system and you're like, oh. I don't know. It's a really great feeling. Your adrenaline is going and you're definitely in the moment, which is nice.

MG: Fantastic and very little cursing, I will note, in the winter swimming. Winter swimmers Cait Faulkner and Greg Arbour on the shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto. From the Cold Lake to Newfoundland, where it's been almost a year since Snowmageddon. Remember that? The huge storm that dropped more than 70 centimetres of snow even barricaded people in their homes during that storm. The Facebook group Neighbours in Need Newfoundland was started up and 11 months later, it's still going strong, helping people during this pandemic. Cortney Barber started the group. She lives in British Columbia, but is from Avondale, Newfoundland. Courtney, good morning.

CORTNEY BARBER: Good morning.

MG: Why did you start this group earlier this year?

CORTNEY BARBER: I was sitting up in Alberta and I could see that a lot of my friends and family were struggling back home. I created the Facebook group to connect neighbours to neighbours because stores were closed and there was people who were without formula and diapers and food. And it was just an easy way for me to be able to help from afar away.

MG: What was it like being far away and watching all of that happen back home?

CORTNEY BARBER: It was frustrating and scary at times, though. My mom is in Newfoundland and a lot of my friends. So to see a lot of them, you know, not have power or food and stuff like that was a struggle.

MG: And you you mentioned the formula and diapers. I mean, that's sort of what people were looking for at the time.

CORTNEY BARBER: Yes. The storm actually happened the day before [unintelliglbe] came out, which a lot of Newfoundlanders rely on for their children and their monthly supply of groceries and formula and diapers. And so the store was closed down for many days. So I created the group so that I could connect people through social media.

MG: How do people respond when you started it up?

CORTNEY BARBER: We went to 5000 members in the first 18 hours. And I would like to say that there's an amazing outpour. We had 30 people volunteer to take people out and we were doing that around the clock. And then people were trudging through the snow with rolls of toilet paper, whatever that they had that they could spare for somebody who was close by who was in need.

MG: So you start this up, people immediately realise that there's an opportunity to help, but you have to, I guess, sort of coordinate all of this. How did you go about doing that?

CORTNEY BARBER: I stayed up around the clock, I filled lots of notebooks and just kept going with it. I'm just connecting as many people as I could and just being that that middleman.

MG: You're on the other side of the country. I mean, you'd say staying up all night. I mean, the time difference must have been working against you in some ways.

CORTNEY BARBER: Well, we're 11 months later and I still wake up at 5:00 every morning so that I can be on in time and beat the rush in the morning to get everything done.

MG: You know, it's interesting. Social media comes in for a bit of a bad rep and that can be disruptive. People do a lot of nasty things on Facebook. This is this is an example of using that power for good.

CORTNEY BARBER: Absolutely. From the beginning, our concept has been you can only comment if you have a direct offer of help or if you're directly asking for help. So we cut all the unnecessary banter by not allowing those unnecessary comments. So there's no kind of judgement. There's no negativity in this group. So it's really a safe place for people to be and to post. And that's what attracted most people, I believe, to it in the first place. But I created that concept because the other groups that were going at the same time, people were asking for help and they were getting bashed and stuff like that. So that was my whole concept of the group when I first started it.

MG: There's a lot that you were able to do. Is there a story or two that comes to mind in terms of the good work that came out of a group like this?

CORTNEY BARBER: Oh, my goodness, there's just so many I mean, right in the beginning, we had a 93 year old lady, her name was Mrs. Murphy. She was stuck in her house and home care couldn't get in for quite a few days. And we had a rescue crew go in and shovel her at her door had been completely barricaded over with a snowdrift. And actually, Mrs. Murphy, she was 93. She passed away quite a few days later, probably three or four days after. And her family reached out and said, look, you know, that was the last act of kindness that she experienced. And so there was so much joy that she really passed away peacefully. And that's really stuck with us. There's so many other things that we've helped with. We had a lady who her pipes burst during the snowstorm and she needed water. And within 20 minutes of posting, she had like packages and packages of bottled water piled up on her steps. And then going into the summer, we actually fundraised and we had her pipes and stuff replace. So that was amazing.

MG: Oh, my goodness. I mean, the storm is long gone and it seems like we've gone through a lifetime of living from January until now. Why did you decide to keep the group going?

CORTNEY BARBER: The need was so large that there was never a point in time where we could stop or we wanted to stop. You know, the need Newfoundland, especially for food and necessities, is huge. And we are able to provide people with access to these things immediately, which is just it's a great resource for Newfoundlanders. And so we just keep it going.

MG: And so what sort of things does the group do now? I mean, the holidays are just around the corner.

CORTNEY BARBER: So right now we are doing what we're calling our Christmas miracles. We have 100 families and individuals that are on that list. I'd say about two thirds of them are privately sponsored. So they're going to get some gifts and some stockings and some food for Christmas and really make some people here because it's been a tough year on all of us.

MG: It sure has. That's fantastic. Cortney, hang on the line for a minute. I want to bring Sheldon Crocker into our conversation. He is a member of Neighbours in Need Newfoundland. Sheldon, good morning to you.

SHELDON CROCKER: Good morning.

MG: Why did you decide you wanted to join this group?

SHELDON CROCKER: I make use of home care agency here in St. John's because I'm physically not able to cook for myself or clean myself or do anything else around my house for myself. And because of Snowmageddon, their home care workers were not able to get in. So I was kind of hungry and noticed that there was this group and I reached out to them and asked why it was possible some way to get some help. And right away they jumped right out. And they're so helpful and so kind, I didn't feel judged.

MG: What was that like? I mean, I remember, again, seeing those images of the storm and there's that much snow. You're there and you're stuck in it. And as you said, you weren't sure whether the home care workers were going to be able to get in or not. What was that like?

SHELDON CROCKER: It was kind of scary, actually. I was actually told by the health care agency, we will not be sending in home care workers for at least a week or two because of the weather.

MG: Wow.

SHELDON CROCKER: So I was like, OK, what am I going to do for food? I'm not able to get to a grocery store. I'm not able to even carry groceries because the way my arms are with my disability or I wasn't able to do anything, it was really scary.

MG: And so how long was it until the volunteers arrived with some food?

SHELDON CROCKER: Next day, same day.

MG: Pretty quick.

SHELDON CROCKER: Yeah, it was amazing, I never did never expect anything really, but when I was getting messages and people contacting me and saying, do you need this? Do you need this? I will bring you this bring you that. My fridge became so full that I had to tell people that were still messaging, like, no, no, give the food to somebody else that would need it because I already got more than enough.

MG: What was the favourite thing that they brought you?

SHELDON CROCKER: The favourite thing is he brought me this hope and joy.

MG: It means a lot in a moment like that, eh?

SHELDON CROCKER: Yeah, it does mean there are real life savers, and I personally believe that I would not be alive right now if it wasn't for them. A person can only go so many days without eating. And and I had nothing to eat. So I have no family and nothing really that would be able to help me with anything like this. So, yeah, you kept me alive.

MG: Cortney, what's it like for you to hear that? But the impact that the group that you started had on people like Sheldon.

CORTNEY BARBER: I'm sorry, I'm a little choked up, to be honest with you. It's wonderful to hear and it just shows me that what I'm doing is meaningful and that it's important and that it is it's helping people.

MG: What have you learnt in doing this group, Cortney?

CORTNEY BARBER: I've learnt that that a lot of people care and that in a world that's really dark and not so bright all the time, that there is amazing people like collectively as a community. We're just it's just a wonderful thing to be a part of.

MG: I mean, this could happen across the country, but there is something special about it being in Newfoundland. There's that idea that no matter where you go, if you're from the island, that you know, Newfoundland's home. Right. And that home follows you around in some ways.

CORTNEY BARBER: You know what, it doesn't matter where you go or where you're from, you're still at home, right?

MG: What would you say to your point? I mean, it's been a dark year and there are a lot of people who are looking for some sort of light. And I mean, that's what we're talking about today, this idea of light and joy. What would you say to people who might be looking for that in this moment, Cortney?

CORTNEY BARBER: I mean, giving back to your community, helping somebody else just put yourself out there because there's nothing more rewarding or nothing more satisfying than helping somebody else.

MG: And for you, Sheldon, why do you think we need something like this in 2020?

SHELDON CROCKER: We just in 2020 and every other year as well, and people helping people all year round every year when the basic morals and values they have in life and to know that there's always help out there, it's really life saving. You know, that there's actually people here, obviously in mental health as well, as well as the physical health. And I believe they have groups like this. It's a real godsend, I guess I can say. And it's really important to know that getting a hand out is not the same as giving a hand. This is a handout, which is much better.

MG: I don't know if you two know each other, but. But, Sheldon, what would you say to Cortney?

SHELDON CROCKER: Cortney, thank you. If it wasn't for you and your group of amazing angels that are volunteering to help you, there will be a lot less for what it is.

CORTNEY BARBER: Absolutely. Sheldon, it's been a pleasure to meet you and to grow with you. And it's been a pleasure.

MG: Thanks for what you did, Cortney. This is a great initiative and it's great to be able to talk about it this morning. Thank you very much.

CORTNEY BARBER: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having us.

MG: And Shelton, take care of yourself.

SHELDON CROCKER: Thank you as well.

MG: Good to speak with you both. Bye bye.

CORTNEY BARBER: Bye bye.

MG: Sheldon Crocker is a member of the Neighbours in Need. Newfoundland Facebook group. Cortney Barber started that group. If you found some joy this year, I mean, it's been a difficult year. You don't need me to tell you that. But if you found some joy this year, let us know what went right for you. What's the best thing that happened to you in 2020? If you go to our website, click on the contact link, you'll find all the ways to reach us. Go to cbc.ca/thecurrent. But it would be really great to actually hear it in your own voice. So if you can get your phone out and on the Voice memo, just record for us. What's the best thing that happened to you this year? And then email us thecurrent@cbc.ca.

[Music]

MG: This is The Current, my name is Matt Galloway special edition of the programme, we're talking about the things that bring us joy in what has been a difficult year time feels very strange these days. Maybe it's just me, but it felt like one second there were jack o' lanterns and then all of a sudden, bam, the whole town is covered in holiday lights. My lights are up now, but my lights are nothing compared to what Janice Wabie is bringing to the table. Janice is from the coming first nation, but 700 kilometres northwest of Montreal on the Ontario border. She's an early childhood educator and an artist, and every year her family lights up the neighbourhood with a giant and I mean a giant illuminated dreamcatcher. Janice, good morning.

JANICE WABIE: Good morning, how are you?

MG: OK, I'm looking at a photo of these dream catchers. This is enormous. Just describe how big this thing is.

JANICE WABIE: It's amazing. So I actually did two of them. The first one I did was for my aunt and uncle, but I think it's six feet. So they have about 900 lights on theirs. And then they had an extra trampoline just laying there. So I decided to put one up in my yard this year. And it's a little smaller. It's a 12 foot trampoline. So I decided to get the LED strip lights and make it a little different. So it's it's huge. And it's really, really...

MG: You have enough you have enough of the lights hanging around in the garage or somewhere that you can let these trampolines up into Dreamcatcher.

JANICE WABIE: Not at all. There's like a shortage of lights right now, I think. But my uncle has been doing it for a few years. I've been just redoing his his web every year. So he knows how many lights go on. And I had no idea. When I did mine, I was like, OK, how many strip lights do I need? So I ordered four boxes thinking that was plenty. And I made it halfway through and I had to order a few more boxes and completed it. And yet there was still a little space in the middle that needed more light. So I'm like, OK, I'm done with purchasing light, so I'm going to go broke. So I just use a regular little white light and it turned out to look like a flower in the middle. So it it turned out even more amazing than I thought it would.

MG: Where did the idea for this start from? I mean, why are you building these things?

JANICE WABIE: It was my uncle's idea, really. He called me one day because I've always made Dreamcatcher since I was a little girl and he knew I guess he knew that. He just called me up and said, hey, would you mind coming over and turning this trampoline into a big dream catcher? Sure. I said, I don't know how long it'll take me. Like I thought it would be like at all the project because it's huge. And how am I going to get around it? How am I going to get inside? So he had it all set up on the ground so that's high enough. I could just stand in the middle and do the web. And then he said, I'm going to put lights on it for Christmas. I said, oh, that's a great idea. So I didn't think much of it. And then when he had it set up, I was like, wow, I would love to have one of those. But at the time I lived out in the country, you know, it so it didn't really matter. I didn't bother. And my aunt said, like, people pull over on the side of the road just to watch the Dreamcatcher, it's so beautiful?

MG: Tell me about that. I mean, before I let you go, I mean, we're talking about Joy, and it's been a rough year for so many people. What is something like this bring people, do you think when they when they see this big, giant, glowing thing on the side of the house?

JANICE WABIE: Well, I've seen ah, yeah. I've seen so many people just pull up to my house now and admire the lights. I've had people come up to me in stores and just ask me like, wow, you're the one that made the dream catchers, right? And I have people calling me messaging me. Can you drive by your house like is a good time. And I'm like any time really. Like especially now that we have snow, it's a lot brighter. Like the reflection off the snow. I don't know, it's it's way nicer. And yeah, a lot of people in the neighbourhood are just really happy that I have it and that they can admire it and they want me to do another huge one for the whole community and put it like in a central area. So I'm hoping to do that. It's probably not going to happen this winter because it's cold and.

MG: And there's a light shortage.

JANICE WABIE: Yeah, sure. Exactly. And ordering them online, it takes a few days to do so by the time I get them might be past Christmas.

MG: I feel, I feel humbled. I thought our lights were OK. And it turns out that. No way. You're at one hundred and we're at zero. Janice, this is great. And we'll send people to our Twitter feed to see some photos of this. Thank you very much.

JANICE WABIE: Thank you.

MG: Janice Wabie is in the Timiskaming first nation in Quebec again, if you want to see these. And I mean, they're huge and really nice dream catchers with a trampoline and all the lights around it. There's some photos up on our Twitter feed @TheCurrentCBC. Janice's a teacher, works with young children, and since March, so much has been up in the air for children. School has been constantly evolving online, small classes, alternating days. Things have been changing a lot. This is the time of the year when there's normally the school holiday concerts and in many places across the country they've been cancelled this year. One thing that has stayed the same, though, and kind of taps into those holiday concert vibe is the CBC Music and Music Counts Canadian Music Class Challenge. Every year, music classes across this country perform renditions of Canadian songs for a chance to win prises, including new instruments. This year's winner for the top virtual video award is the All Saints Catholic Secondary School in Whitby, Ontario. And here are the students of that class performing Alanis Morissette's Hand in My Pocket.

SOUNDCLIP

[Song]

MG: From Whitby, Ontario, the All Saints Catholic Secondary School, their version of L.A., more sets hand in my pocket. Coming up after your regional update, former CBC journalist Mike Finnerty on finding bliss in the cheese shop. I'm Matt Galloway. You're listening to a special joy episode of The Current. We're back in 90 seconds.

Cheesemonger; Esther the Wonder Pig stayed home in 2020, and brought some much-needed joy to her fans; AlexCuba

Guests: Mike Finnery, Steve Jenkins, Alex Cuba

MG: Hi, I'm Matt Galloway, you're listening to The Current, this is a special show today taking a break from the tough times and the bleak news that seems to be relentless around us. And we're focussing on stories that lift up our spirits when we need it most and sharing some joy. For years, Mike Finnerty found joy in a radio studio. Until last month, he was the host of the CBC Radio Montreal morning show Daybreak, also guest hosted here at The Current many times over the years. But on a leave of absence in London, England, last year, Mike discovered a new joy, and so he quit his job and moved to London to follow his dream. We have reached Montreal radio host, turned London cheesemonger, Mike Finnerty in his new workplace, Mons cheesemonger at Borough Market. And full disclosure, I should probably say this. Mike and I are very good friends. Mike, good morning.

MIKE FINNERTY: Hi, Matt, nice to talk to you.

MG: It's great to talk to you. How's the cheese shop?

MIKE FINNERTY: It's such a good morning at the teashop because we got a big delivery last night, but the fun thing about this morning was we've got to open up all the crates and there's some new cheeses and some old favourites and a whole bunch of new batches. And so we've got to bring them all out and cut into them and try them. And some I've never tasted before. And it's been a really good morning at a cheese shop.

MG: What exactly is your job at the cheese shop? I mean, I said your cheesemonger. What does that mean?

MIKE FINNERTY: It means you have training in how to care for artisanal cheeses, farmhouse, cheeses, these are like non-industrial production. So cheese is where every single one is a different size. And sometimes they'll be we're selling at best [unintelligible] our seasonal cheeses and they're a little kind of round containers. But I was looking at the other day weighing over one was 400 grams and the other was 450. They're completely different sizes. All of that to say that every cheese is an individual and they all need special care and they all need to be kept in different ways. Some of them need to go to bed at night and plastic. Some of them need to go to bed at night paper. Some need to be naked. Some need to be at two or three degrees. Some need to be at 10 degrees. And they need to be displayed in different ways, need be cut in different ways. And then, of course, you have to do everything. You have to open the store in the morning, open the store, the shutters. So it's a whole bunch of things at the same time. But the big job is Chief Karen, the chief of staff.

MG: How did this happen? I mean, your listeners will know that you found joy for many, many years in interviewing people and being a brilliant broadcaster. And here you are now pitching me on cheese. How did this all happen?

MIKE FINNERTY: I mean, there's an intersection of things in my life that's going on. When I was 16 and I was at high school in London, Ontario, there was a government programme in Ontario that my programme, an exchange programme, and I went away to. France at the time, I was a suburban kid from Ontario and I didn't know anything about Jesus, really, except for the kind of slices of cheese that you get. And I went and lived with a French family with five kids, and they would have cheeses every meal, a big plateau de fromage. And I don't want to eat any of those. I was a really picky eater, but then I started to really lose weight and I had to start eating anything. And so I started off with La Vache qui Rit and applesauce, and then I started kind of dipping my toe in the other stranger cheeses. And I guess when I was on my sabbatical, I was looking for something to make a little money nearby. I love the market. I love the feel of the market. And the cheese mongers were looking for somebody who spoke French and I was looking for something that reconnected me to that adventurous time of my life. And voila.

MG: There are cheese shops in Montreal. You didn't need to decamp across the ocean to go and do this. We're talking about finding joy. I mean, what were you looking for in relocating and leaving? You know, getting on the radio is something that a lot of people only dream of, let alone having a show like the show that you hosted. So what were you looking for?

MIKE FINNERTY: I mean, I was thinking yesterday when we had spent two hours cleaning down the stall and bleaching everything, and I was thinking how tired I was and how happy I was at the same time. And I love being on the radio and I love doing that job. And I did it for a long time, more than a decade. That's a long time. And I still it's funny because the guy who owns the cheese shop here, he's always on to me about how I sell in a way that other people don't sell. And I don't really talk too much about my radio days to him. But the reason I think I sell in ways that people don't sell is that in our job, we just we are trained to listen. We're trained to make a connection with people. And that's what I try to do when I'm selling. So that kind of intersects with what I was doing before. But I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like I've done something physical. My body feels tired, but better. I sleep right through the night instead of getting up early for the morning show. And I work in this, like, amazing market where across the way there's these Italians from Calabria who are absolutely insane. And like sometimes they're like launching into these long rants about the world. And on the other side, there's this guy in his family that sells Italian cheeses. And it's just so much so much colour, so much variety, so many people. And they're all right. They're it's infectious. I just love coming to work every day.

MG: And you've done what so many people dream of, which is following- we get stuck in a rut and we end up doing a job. Even if we love the job, we end up doing the job because we feel that that's the job and we don't end up following the passion. And if you're talking about joy, I mean, you found the joy and you tapped into it.

MIKE FINNERTY: Well, I mean, I feel like I need to say that I am a very privileged person who, after years of having had a radio career, I was able to put enough money aside to do a job where, you know, you don't get paid a fortune, although you do all right, if you work full time. I mean, not everyone who does this job does it out of joy. They do it to put food on the table. And but it's true that I have come to a point in my life at 55 where I am able to make a choice like this. And so I've made the choice and for now, making me really happy.

MG: So a wise person and that was you once told me that when you go to the cheese shop. You need to ask for, you know, the cheese that's on. What's happening right now, so sell me on the, you know, a cheese that it's poppin’ right now.

MIKE FINNERTY: So I'm slightly obsessed right now about a cheese called Long, which is from the shop and plants, and it's a little artisanal cheese that's about the size of a coffee mug, like a medium sized coffee mug with a crater in the middle. And it has this distinctive orange and white surface, kind of a mottled surface like divots in it. And that's because they wash the rind with an offset of champagne called [french speech], and they wash it every night. And so it develops this rich, slightly, slightly buzy flavour, so super creamy and kind of oozes. And when you taste it, it's sort of like when you dip your finger in a pan of roasting and it's got that kind of really rich, meaty sort of malmedy flavour. And so I'm just slightly obsessed with that cheese right now, partly because I think it's a great example of how a cheese is never the same one day to the next. And people always ask, what's your favourite? Well, after from the day, what our favourite is. And it's.

MG: Delicious. Mike, it's great to talk to you. Thank you.

MIKE FINNERTY: It's a pleasure. Merry Christmas, everybody.

MG: Take care of yourself. Bye bye.

MIKE FINNERTY: Bye bye.

MG: Mike Finnerty, radio host turned cheesemonger in London. You know, in the midst of everything this pandemic has thrown at us, some people have had good things happen in 2020. So we'd love to know the good news in your life this year. Personal highlight. What's the best thing that happened to you this year? You can go to the website cbc.ca/thecurrent. Click on the contact link to send us an email, find other ways to reach us. You could record a voice memo on your phone and send it to us. Maybe we'll end up on the radio. You could email that to us at thecurrent@cbc.ca

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Snorts]

Who're talking to? Are you talking back to Daddy? The perfect pig.

MG: The snorts and oinks. You're hearing they're coming from an old friend of The Current. That perfect pig is Esther the Wonder Pig. When she first came to Steve Jenkins and Derrick Walter, she was a tiny little piglet. They thought they were adopting a mini pig. And then she got much bigger, much, much bigger, like a lot bigger. And really changed their lives dramatically. The three of them now live on a farm sanctuary near Toronto. They have amassed a large following on social media. And Esther has been the subject of a bestselling book and a feature film. One of her dad's, Steve Jenkins, joins me now. Steve, good morning.

STEVE JENKINS: Good morning. How are you?

MG: I'm well, thanks. What was going on? That was a clip from Esther's Facebook page a couple of weeks back. What was going on?

STEVE JENKINS: She's very [unintelligible], especially when we're getting close to dinner or breakfast time. She gets incredibly vocal. So, yeah, she was letting us know that it was it was about time to get up and get moving because she was ready to eat.

MG: So it's breakfast time. What's Esther up to this morning?

STEVE JENKINS: Well, she's already had her first round of breakfast. I think we're getting ready for second round. She always seems to know when we're busy. And just as soon as the phone rang, Esther sat up and she was sitting there looking. And it's not perfect. She's going to want to go out for a second breakfast just as we get on the call here. So she takes it pretty easy, especially this time of year. She's more of a fair weather pig. So she spends quite a lot of time in her bed where it's cozy and looking outside, waiting for spring and summer, like most of us say here,.

MG: Sounds familiar. There are a lot of people who follow Estero on social media. But for people who don't describe her to me, how big I said she's much bigger than perhaps you would have expected. How big is she?

STEVE JENKINS: Yes, she is. She weighs about 550-575 pounds. It fluctuates a little bit of seasonally, depending on what she's up to and how active she is. And she's about three feet tall and about six feet long from the tip of her to the tip of her tail.

MG: And lives in the house.

STEVE JENKINS: Certainly does.

MG: As you say, that is though the opposite would be unthinkable.

STEVE JENKINS: Well, you know, it's funny. When we were moving, we had originally, of course, as said, we didn't know she was going to get this big. So we lived in a little house in Georgetown and just a very standard little bungalow and a little lot. And when we were all this kind of chaos happened and it we realised we were moving and moving to a farm, Derek and I didn't really know how it was going to go when we got here. We said, is she going to want to be outside in the barn with other pigs and other animals, or is she going to want to be in the house? And we made the decision that it would be up to her. You know, we'd let her decide where she wanted to go. And of course, I was hoping she would choose a house. And sure enough, I mean, she has absolutely no interest in being a barn pig. I mean, she's obviously house trained and she'll go out to the barn, have a little snack, and then she'll go to the back corner of the barn and have a pee almost to let us know that she is very aware that this is not where she lives. Gets back into the house she goes. So she is very much a house pig by choice. Like I said, we live on 50 acres now, which is amazing. She could be whatever she wants, but no, she wants to be in here in the house. It's pretty hilarious.

MG: She brings a lot of joy to people on social media, and I'm wondering what 2020 has been like for Esther?

STEVE JENKINS: Well, it's been interesting. I mean, in a lot of ways, it didn't change for us. You know, I mean, our job every day is to get up and take care of her and take care of the animals here at the sanctuary, and to put out a little bit of joy into the world. And so that has been our focus. If anything, it became an even more important job this year and a place that people actually really came to lean on. So we tried to keep it the same as it always was. We wanted it to be a place that, despite how crazy things were elsewhere, Esther's day was still consistent. You know, to her, none of this is going on. You know. And It was, I think, nice for people to have a place that they could go, where it wasn't constantly about what we were dealing with. So I think it became a real — I don't want to say a crutch for people, but a real happy place for people.

MG: What joy do you think, has she found this year?

STEVE JENKINS: Well t's been a weird couple of years for her unfortunately. We had a lot of time in the hospital. She had cancer a couple of years ago. And then we had a really nasty toe infection to deal with last year. So we spent the better part of 2018 and '19 at the Ontario Veterinary College. So for her, 2020 was amazing. Because knock wood, she's been home for well over a year. You know, She's getting back into her normal routine and doing all of her normal things. So from her perspective, 2020 has been the best year she's had for a while. And That was really nice for us, too., considering what those last two years were and then coming into 2020, I mean of course in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, my God if something happens and she needs to go to the hospital, you know, I won't be able to stay with her, the way that we usually do for understandable reasons. obviously is great with us. But, you know, in the middle of a pandemic and all of these contact rules and discipline rules, I probably wouldn't have been able to stay with her. So That was terrifying for me the thought of her if something happen. So, yeah, Thankfully, we've had a really, really great year from an Esther health-perspective, and her happiness and everything has been really, really great. And it's nice. The animals help us, too, because they don't know everything else is going on. So they're a distraction for us.

MG: Tell me more about that, because I mean there are a lot of people — I don't know whether people are getting pandemic piglets, but they're getting pandemic puppies, certainly. And in part because my dog doesn't know that we're in the midst of a pandemic, my dog just knows that we're home all the time. What has she meant for you this year?

STEVE JENKINS: Well, exactly that. It's been a distraction for us. As in it keeps our mind off of it, it allows us to focus on staying positive and staying happy ourselves, and being able to put that out there in the world. You know, it's hard to be a positive influence when you're feeling down yourself. So so it's been really, really nice for us to be surrounded not only by her, but I mean, we've got 90 residents at the sanctuary now. So there are a lot of animals here that were relying on us to keep it together and stay on top of things and to provide them with what they need it. So it's been amazing for us to have them around. Definitely. As opposed to sitting at home on our own, you know, with nothing to occupy our mind. It's been a huge blessing, for sure.

MG: So the day is just unfolding. I mean, just finally, what does Esther have planned for the rest of today?

STEVE JENKINS: Well, this is a very busy time for us there. We're working really hard for the sanctuary right now. We've got our big annual fundraiser. So that's the focus around the property right now. Esther's involvement, thankfully, from her perspective, is pretty limited. You know, so her schedule today will consist of a couple of walks. We'll go for a little bit of a walk. And other than that, she sleeps. She's a lucky girl. She gets to spend between 16 and 18 hours a day in her bed. So she's living the dream from everybody's perspective.

MG: We could all be so lucky.

STEVE JENKINS: Honestly. Right.

MG: Who'd have thought that this would turn into something that in many ways not you just need, but then a lot of us need.

STEVE JENKINS: Yes, no, exactly. It's we never, ever in a million years could have imagined the day that she came home. And, you know, the first year that we had her was a real roller coaster. I mean, from thinking we had this tiny little mini pig to finding out that we have an actual commercial pig. And of course, you know, at that time, Derek and I, pig lovers of bacon, you know, can't can't deny that. So, I mean, she really upset the apple cart, so to speak, at our house. It flipped things upside down. And by the time we got our heads back on straight, our lifestyle had changed entirely. And, you know, here we are five years after we started. I guess we're six years now already. Time's flying. My gosh. That We're on the sanctuary with almost 100 animals and supporters from all over the world and. It's really incredible and it's really cool to see so many people from all over the world caring about farm animals, you know, which is something unique. It's not all that often that people fall in love with a pig or fall in love with a goat or a cow because we don't get the opportunity to know them. So so it's been pretty awesome to be part of that scene and see the messages coming through from people that are falling in love with her.

MG: Just what people need right now, I think, in the midst of a pandemic. Exactly. It's great to talk to you, Steve. Thank you very much and give her our best.

STEVE JENKINS: I certainly will. Thank you very much. You guys have a fantastic day.

MG: And you, Steve Jenkins and Esther the Wonder Pig, live on a sanctuary for abused and neglected farm animals in Campbellsville, just outside of Toronto. If you have never seen how big Esther got or how sweet she is, have a look at our Twitter feed @TheCurrentCBC. This is a special joy edition of The Current. We're talking about things that bring us joy. One of those things, of course, is music. We're joined once again by the singer songwriter Alex Cuba. He's at his home in Smithers, British Columbia, playing songs from his Latin Grammy nominated album Sublime. Alex, welcome back.

ALEX CUBA: Thank you.

MG: You get down to the Latin Grammys you performed in Miami. What did I mean? That's a big deal. The Latin Grammys are a huge milestone for a lot of musicians. What did it mean for you to be nominated, but also to go down and perform?

ALEX CUBA: You know, it was it was a beautiful thing. I remember when the nominations came out, I said to myself, you know, I'm not going to go because I knew that they were going to do the awards this year without a live audience. And I didn't think that I wanted to go or anything. So, oh, I'm cool. Nominated. This is so awesome. Amazing news. 40 minutes after the nominations came out, I got a phone call from the main producer and he said, we are officially inviting you to come down and sing. And I had to change my mind. And I say, OK, not only will be a wonderful experience, but it will inspire all those other people to know that when we love something, we do whatever it takes. And this album is very important for me. I don't know if you know, I recorded myself to all of the instruments on this album. Yeah. I wanted to prove that to myself that I can do it. So I hired an amazing engineer from Ontario. His name is John Bailey, for me was like a kid being inside of a toy store, a candy store. I feel on this album almost like a state of grace. I did this album from a very positive side of my heart. And to have it recognise this label was just amazing,

MG: So but it's also I mean, that's a message that I think people could use right now. These are really difficult times. And so much of what we are used to has been taken away from us, whether it's going and seeing family and friends and being able to be close to the ones that we love or going to a concert and just being in a room with a lot of other people and seeing someone like yourself up on the stage. That sense of of grace and gratitude is a really powerful statement, I think, right now.

ALEX CUBA: Yes. And I'm trying to hold it for sure inside of me. I'm doing so by focussing on the small things in life, you know, like maybe before this year at the end realise how much. For example, I like sitting by my fireplace here in the morning, having a cup of coffee, for example, looking out the window when it's sunny. We have the most incredible views. I also love seeing my wife reading in the morning. She loves reading in the morning. And so small things, you know, they have become huge this year. And I'm so glad that I'm I am willing to see it, to see them and to appreciate them, you know.

MG: Those little moments of joy.

ALEX CUBA: Yeah.

MG: You're going to play another song for us. What are you going to play?

ALEX CUBA: Yeah, I have a killer here for you, man. It's called The Video a one of my biggest songs on the album, Dividido, which means Divide It. But it's a good divided, you know, it's a twist on the words while acknowledging that the world is divided for many reasons. We also know that love puts it all together, you know, so is that kind of situation in the song. And I remember when we released that I think it was the second single we released from the album. I had a beautiful reaction from Canada. A lot of shows played it on CBC Radio and people loved it. It's also a duet with a beautiful singer songwriter that I met down in Mexico. Her name is Silvana Estrada. She's 21 years old now and one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard in my life. Let's have a listen. So this is Dividido.

MG: Live from home. It's Alex Cuba.

ALEX CUBA: [Sings in Spanish].

MG: That's Alex Cuba, live from his home in Smithers, British Columbia. What do you think it's going to be like - that was fantastic, by the way - What do you think it's going to be like when you get on a stage in front of an audience for the first time in a long time once this pandemic is done?

ALEX CUBA: Oh, my God, what a good question. It's going to be in a lot of ways, like the like the very first time, but with less fear, you know, the first time you get on stage, we feel a little fear. But this time it's going to be so deep and emotional. I'm looking forward to crying tears of joy with that first audience that gets to see me live on stage.

MG: And aside from sitting in the snow for five minutes or longer, what are you going to be doing? Christmas is coming. Holidays are coming. What are you going to be doing over the holidays?

ALEX CUBA: I'm going to like I said, you know, I enjoying the small things and finding the reasons, many reasons to give things to life no matter what. It's a very special year for me. I'm going to be turning 25 years married to my wife on December 25th on Christmas Day.

MG: Congratulations.

ALEX CUBA: Yeah, thank you.

MG: That's amazing. As you said, celebrate the small things and the big things, too.

ALEX CUBA: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because that's a huge one.

MG: We give thanks to you. This has been a real pleasure to have you perform on the programme. And I wish you the best. It's nice to talk to you.

ALEX CUBA: Thank you very much, Matt. Lots of love to you and your family and to everybody, all of the wonderful team at CBC. Thank you very much.

MG: That's Alex Cuba. And that is our special joy edition of The Current. Hopefully we brought you a little bit of joy this morning. I think we needed something like that. Coming up next on CBC Radio, on its cue, Tom Power speaking with musician, activist and the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, Tom Morello. I'm Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to tomorrow.

The Current Transcript for December 16, 2020

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

The Joy Show! Musician Alex Cuba; How a N.S. carpenter learned to live life for others — and kept his neighbour from losing her home

Winter swimmers; Snowmageddon; Trampoline dreamcatchers

Cheesemonger; Esther the Wonder Pig stayed home in 2020, and brought some much-needed joy to her fans; AlexCuba

Wednesday December 16, 2020 Transcript

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