The Nancy Duffy Show

In the summer of 2010, the Chris and Melissa Bruntlett sold their only car – they were raising two very small children at the time. Their experience eventually led them to start Modacity, an organization in which they employ writing, photography, film, and social media – their experiences really, to demonstrate how to live and function quite well, even better than most perhaps, while using multi-modal transportation. And they’ve just written a book titled Building the Cycling City: the Dutch...

Burt Reynolds passed away today – on the very date of this recording, preceded of course by the legendary Queen of Soul and renowned U.S. Senator, John McCain. Today we explore the stark contrast of how grief unfolds in the public sphere by very public people in comparison to how personal grief unfolds in the same kind of public sphere (if we count social media as being the equivalent). This idea might have begun with the closely-timed collective losses of Aretha Franklin, John McCain -...

On this week's show, I’m changing things up – because life is short. So we begin the episode with an update on things to come between now and the end of the year. And later in the show Tara Shannon joins me for a special chat about life after thyroid cancer. We’re not hanging on cancer – but moving past it. We’re talking about wellness in spite of misfortune – how losing someone can make you think of your own mortality and help you change course toward finding your personal vocation – how...

Summary: Welcome to episode #60 with Special Guest AHI! “A girl at school – she heard me singing, and she’s like, you know you have a good voice, it’s not a really good voice, but you know how Jamaican singers sound…” –AHI Today, we’re taking a tiny break from politics… (you’re welcome!) because today’s show […]

Summary Earlier this month, Twitter announced it would be removing fake Twitter accounts. Even so, it’s doubtful the tone of online political discourse will change any time soon. Accounts will remain strongly rooted along party lines – with perhaps a bit less vitriol – thanks to the new Twitter regulations. But there’s still all the disrespectful […]

1968 was an incredulous year: In Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau becomes Prime Minister, the Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization, and thousands of refugees flee to Canada. It was during this same year that the United States was reeling from the overwhelming loss of its young men in Vietnam while grieving over the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., and Bobby Kennedy. On today’s show, in a fashion inspired in part by New York...

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland says that taking it slow with NAFTA is a good thing because it allows time to consult with Canadians. And so we’d like to oblige the offer. Tune in as we speak with Sujata Dey, Trade Campaigner with the Council of Canadians on issues ranging from labour standards to the protection of public goods and the right to water – as well as the question, ‘can Canada make it alone?’

Cindy Doire made a new album. It's titled, Panorama – and what's different is its launch (listen for details). And later in the show – how techy are you? This show is a day late because my website went down yesterday – and I’m just techy enough that I could rebuild it myself. Today we’ll discuss a new learning technique that can bring you up to speed on coding – no computer required! On the final segment of the show - What he said - as we discuss Charlottesville, Virginia, referring to a...

(Recorded Tuesday, July 11th, 2017) This week we’re joined by the so very talented, Canadian singer/songwriter – Leif Vollebekk. Seriously, you’re going to love his sound. And later in the show, producers of The Comic Book Syndicate, Mike Poirier, and Jolie Inthavong join us to compare thoughts on Spider-Man: Homecoming!

(Recorded Tuesday, Jun 27th, 2017) On this week's show, Canadaland's Jesse Brown joins us to discuss the Great Newspaper Bailout, the future of the CBC, and all the things that people never knew about Canada... maybe not even the Canadians. :)

(Recorded Tuesday, Jun 6th, 2017) This week we talk about the fragmentation of services within the health care system, specifically regarding mental health. We’ll explore the story of a woman who lost her daughter, Tamara, to suicide in part because of her disenfranchisement with the system – something described quite well in a memoir recently published in The Walrus titled, Death by a Thousand Cuts.

(Recorded Tuesday, May 9th, 2017) You'll never look at your city the same way again! This week – we talk with the Director of a very interesting documentary now playing in select theaters, called Citizen Jane: Battle for the City – it’s a story about urbanism and the work of writer turned activist, Jane Jacobs. We’re excited to have Matt Tyrnauer join us from Los Angeles. And later in the show, we have a conversation with award-winning journalist and urban critic, Roberta Gratz, who is also...

(Recorded Tuesday, May 2nd, 2017) In 1971 the media popularized the term ‘war on drugs’ after then-President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse as public enemy number 1. With over fifty billion being spent on anti-drug initiatives, and with illicit drug use still on the rise, clearly, it hasn’t worked. And just as capitalists have found more clever ways to expand their profits and to compete in a global market, so too has the illegal drug industry.

(Recorded Tuesday, April 25th, 2017) While we await final results for the future of France, today, we travel to Istanbul – where a recent referendum in Turkey brings about a bit of a clash of civilizations, provoking further unrest in the region… What will it mean for the European Union – what would it mean to us?

Hello there – today is Tuesday, April 18th and today we’re talking about Derision at the 38th Parallel – we’ve been here before, only now it’s different. And of course we’re talking about the current situation with North Korea and it’s nuclear arsenal… special guest, David Sanger, the National Security Correspondent for The New York Times joins us today to try and make sense of it all. Today It’s a bit of history mixed in with current events – to the 38th Parallel we go!

Hi there everyone – I’ve missed you! We were on a bit of a hiatus for a few weeks, but we’re back! On our last show, I promised a tribute to the late great Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. And I’m working on keeping my promises today. So as we say goodbye to one artist, we say hello to a new talent from my neck of the woods here in Windsor, Ontario – Special guest: artist; gifted guitarist and super performer, Christian Vegh joins us on the show today. And later – we have all...

Last week we had to say goodbye to Leonard Cohen, this week – we bid farewell to Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Seems like each year we say goodbye to the greats nearing the holiday season… It prompted me to think about my past within this industry – and about celebrating the present. So today I’m looking at some of the things that I’ve done InRetrospect – we’ll take a look at some of the artists I’ve done interviews with in the past, before my official radio days – and I’ll...

On today’s show – we celebrate the life and music of the late, great Leonard Cohen ♡ And during our This Political Life segment– we talk about how so many got it wrong when it came to predicting the winner of 45th presidential election; and we explore the big, bad electoral college that many were quick to blame in the process. Laura Meckler, National Political Reporter with The Wall Street Journal, joins us for that conversation. And later in the show – two political friends have a...

We Remember. For Remembrance Day. This is an excerpt from Show No. 45 which originally aired on November 8th, 2016. I wrote this piece from an inside, resistance perspective during times of war… I came up with the idea when reading Diary of a Young Girl – by Anne Frank. There was an entry she made acknowledging the work of the resistance movement in Holland. This spoken word art/poetry comes from the perspective of an American Soldier – born in Germany, whose father was of Jewish decent....

It’s the end of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign! On today’s show – If people could really say what they’re thinking, what’s the first thing you think you would hear? This week we’ll listen to the lyrics that President Barack Obama might have been thinking but couldn't' say. All this while we pour over, live-in-studio, music from the lovely Crissi Cochrane. And later in the show, we take a look at This Political Life – as we catch up with Dr. David Jackson from the Department of Political...