In April 2020, my colleague Tarah Brookfield and I created One Market, a podcast to help keep the Laurier Brantford community feel connected as we worked and studied remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more than a year, we checked in with staff, faculty and students about how they were adjusting and chatted about their projects, hobbies and how they kept busy in their off-hours.
It was an experiment-in-progress, using the equipment we happened to have at home when campus closed and digital tools we had never used before. I’m always telling my students how important it is to be nimble and creative in the fields of journalism and digital communication, so this was me taking my own advice.
Between April 2020 and May 2021, One Market was available to download wherever you found your podcasts–Apple, Google, Stitcher, etc. During that time, we aired 35 episodes featuring 111 guests, 43 of whom were students or alumni and 31 were faculty or librarians. It was downloaded more than 3,200 times by about 1,700 unique listeners.
It received a Minister’s Award of Excellence from the Ontario Ministry of College and Universities in October 2020, one of 39 recipients selected from more than 260 submissions in the areas of digital transformation and community impact for its work in keeping the Laurier Brantford community connected.
Now that the podcast has ended, we’re making the episodes and transcripts available here for archival purposes.
Season 1, Episode 1: Welcome to One Market
Air Date: March 30, 2020
Host Bruce Gillespie interviews Professor Judy Eaton about adapting the Brantford Foundations courses and how to apply positive psychology interventions to uncertain times. Librarian Michelle Goodridge discusses the library’s new pandemic book club and other ways she’s keeping busy.
Season 1, Episode 2: Acclimatizing to the New Normal
Air Date: April 6, 2020
Stacey Hannem shares the perils and pleasures of her recent research trip to New Zealand. Julie Pong provides an update on our BA/LLB students studying at the University of Sussex. Lauren Burrows inspires us by how she’s continuing her education and inclusion work and social justice organizing remotely.
Season 1, Episode 3: Make Sure Your Hair Looks Good
Air Date: April 13, 2020
Heidi Northwood talks next steps for the new One Market building and gardening aspirations. As the spring semester looms, Trish McLaren shares what she’s learning about engaged remote learning. Tyler Britz balances studying from home, a grocery store job, and virtual supports for LOCUS students.
Season 1, Episode 4: True Von Trapp Fashion
Air Date: April 20, 2020
James Popham recaps ACERS week and poster contest winners. Pilar Vergara-King shares tips for faculty and students contemplating online learning. Rachel Cavin talks about adjusting expectations and new ways to connect during recruitment efforts. Plus, Bruce’s plans for a post-COVID-19 campus bake-off.
Season 1, Episode 5: I’ve Always Been a Cookie Monster
Air Date: April 27, 2020
Peter Farrugia advocates for Laurier Brantford’s newest program: Humanities with Leadership Foundations. Delores Maas discusses her RA work with the international research project: Confronting Atrocity: Truth, Justice & Memory. Sarah Syrett on adapting face to face social work field placements during social distancing, plus baking and gardening.
Season 1, Episode 6: My Silver Lining
Air Date: May 4, 2020
Kawennakon Bonnie Whitlow shares how she overcame the shift to remote learning to finish teaching her Mohawk language class. Abby Goodrum draws on Jakob Nielsen’s “General Principles for Interaction Design” to navigate her now widely online world. From kitchen concerts to Spotify, Chandler Berardi’s music entertains and raises money for health-care workers.
Season 1, Episode 7: Don’t Skimp on Wine and Chocolate
Air Date: May 11, 2020
We hear from Adam Bloomfield about his new type of busy at work and home, plus the Dean of Students Office’s cookbook. Natasha O’Neill provides an update on The Sputnik and laments the YMCA closure. Kate Rossiter finds no joy living through her research expertise on pandemics and institutional violence. Plus, what’s better than a cat making a surprise appearance during a Zoom meeting?
Season 1, Episode 8: Our Homes are Starting to Feel Like Escape Rooms
Air Date: May 18, 2020
Angel Evans discusses how the Accessible Learning team rallied to serve students remotely. Tahwila Husaini shares what she’s learned from her placement with the Community Legal Clinic. Scott Nicholson delves into virtual escape rooms and cultural bias in transnational gaming.
Season 1, Episode 9: The Robots are Next
Air Date: May 25, 2020
Joshua Landry hopes for summer connections via the BTM Students’ Association. Danielle Law reports on her CARE lab students and sews for the Brant County face mask COVID-19 initiative. Sara Neziol challenges the campus community to support the local food bank and asks the One Market audience to name Advising’s new chat bot.
Season 1, Episode 10: Because of Their Courage
Air Date: June 1, 2020
This special episode features interviews with three recent retirees: Nancy Lambert, Gary Warrick, and Elaine Francombe. From convocations to starting new programs, they each reflect on their favourite memories of working at Laurier Brantford from 1999-2020.
Season 1, Episode 11: Call of the Summer
Air Date: June 8, 2020
Cody Groat shares his PhD research and side project interviewing Indigenous members in the Order of Canada. We celebrate Jenna Olender and Karley Doucette’s Staff Award for Teaching Excellence. Plus, Jennifer Root takes us on a virtual tour of her farm.
Season 1, Episode 12: We Don’t Know How Tall Everyone Is
Air Date: June 15, 2020
Learn about Lianne Leddy’s sabbatical plans to trace family history in transnational Fur Trade records. Jennifer Hicks outlines what’s new at the Career Centre and gives an update on Navigator job searches. UXD student Joel Schellenberger explains how he is doing a co-op with Ontario Digital Services without leaving his house.
Season 1, Episode 13: If We Could Get a Bill from WhatsApp
Air Date: June 22, 2020
Jane Desmond discusses the resilience of international students juggling school, family separation, and travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discover how trust and teasing are central to Oliver Masakure and Stacey Wilson-Forsberg’s interdisciplinary research collaborations. Alumni artist Shazlin Rahman shares how her work inspired by her grandmother, a batik sarong maker from Malaysia.
Season 1, Episode 14: My Instinct Was to Say No
Air Date: June 29, 2020
Sue Ferguson recounts stories from her recent road trip from Texas to Toronto. Melissa Weaver opens up about balancing work, home renos, and puppy training. Tarah Brookfield shares how this podcast inspired her to teach a Directed Studies course this summer comparing memories of Polio and COVID-19.
Season 2, Episode 1: Quietly Doing the Chicken Dance
Air Date: August 17, 2020
Season 2 kicks off with Bruce learning from Richelle Monaghan how Snapchat can be a study tool in the anatomy classroom. Hear how Jamie Poole and senior students redesigned Laurier 101 to engage new students transitioning to university. Tyler Van Herzele chats about relationship building with Laurier’s community and workplace partners and wedding planning amid COVID-19 uncertainty. Plus a new segment: Pop Culture Campus!
Season 2, Episode 2: Maybe You’re in Pyjamas
Air Date: August 31, 2020
Celebrate the return of access to print books with Irene Tencinger, who also reminds listeners that staff, faculty, and students can book Zoom research sessions with librarians. Andrea Dalimonte and Tony Massi reflect on the benefits of students fostering grit and mindfulness via the Student Union’s resiliency program. Tyler Hall gives a sneak peek at how new students will orient themselves to campus while vanquishing a dark wizard during O-Week.
Season 2, Episode 3: A New Kind of Different
Air Date: September 14, 2020
With students now living on campus, Jenn Greene explains how her team worked to build a safe, welcoming residence community. Jananee Rajkumar reveals her strategies for a successful remote learning experience while living off campus with her family. Back from a whirlwind trip to South Korea, Christina Han reflects on the ordeals and joys of overseas travel in a global pandemic.
Season 2, Episode 4: Homecoming
Air Date: September 21, 2020
What does Homecoming look like in 2020? What does this annual event mean to Laurier Brantford alumni? Lisa Andreana and Derek Szilagyi explain how to bust out your purple and gold spirit with a virtual pancake breakfast, an eSports tournament, a HawkWALK, and more. Laurier Brantford Alumni Oniqua Kamaka (Law & Society 2020) and Claudia Volpe (Criminology 2016 BA & 2018 MA) share updates about their post-grad lives and reminisce about favourite campus memories.
Season 2, Episode 5: If We Wanted to Hack Into the University System
Air Date: September 28, 2020
Meet Jess Calberry and Mitchell Higgins, whose previously niche program for building camaraderie among off-campus students has expanded to serve 4,300 first-year students in Fall 2020. Learn what brought Engineering PhD Umair Rehman to the Faculty of Liberal Arts. UXD student Mikayla Ferraro shares her co-op experience with a K-W tech start-up. Plus, we’ll discuss representation of university life in “The Social Network” for Pop Culture Campus.
Season 2, Episode 6: Never Really a Contingency Plan
Air Date: October 12, 2020
We learn from Professor Lamine Diallo what the process of making Laurier Brantford a more diverse and inclusive space looks like. Third-year student and cross-country runner Vanessa Brown shares what it’s like to be a student athlete unable to compete due to COVID-19. Plus, we hear from director of ICT Support Julie Topic on how her team ensures students, staff and faculty have all the tools we need to complete the year from home.
Season 2, Episode 7: Did the Priest Have to Wear a Mask?
Air Date: October 19, 2020
This week’s episode of One Market was produced by fourth-year Digital Media and Journalism students in the capstone course. First, we hear from Annabelle Amadasun, who returned home to Vancouver in the summer and is figuring out remote learning in a different time zone. Then, Ebose Abure shares his experience of being a racialized student in a remote learning environment. And finally, first-year student Daniella Ciumelli shares her experience of what living in residence has been like so far. All that and more in this week’s bonus episode of One Market!
Season 2, Episode 8: Building the Plane While Flying It
Air Date: October 26, 2020
Hear from educational developer Shirley Hall about how the Teaching and Learning office has had to shift all of their normal programming to focus on preparing faculty for remote teaching. Then, we talk to Game Design and Development assistant professor Sandra Danilovic about a research grant she received to make autobiographical games with people living with opioid addictions. And finally, Sabrina Brisbane, a student in the joint Laurier-Sussex Law program, joins us all the way from Brighton, England, to discuss the movie “Legally Blonde” on the latest installment of Pop Culture Campus.
Season 2, Episode 9: Big, Sweeping Sound
Air Date: November 3, 2020
This week’s episode of One Market is made for students by students! In this episode, we hear from Heather Duff, about how Laurier Students for Literacy have moved their homework and book clubs online. Then, Maeva Lago tells us what it’s been like not to be able to return home to Ivory Coast to see her family since the pandemic began. And finally, Tilak Vyas tells us about the music he’s composing about people he meets in Brantford.
Season 2, Episode 10: Favourite Four Years of My Life
Air Date: November 9, 2020
On this episode of One Market, Sara Darling tells us about all of the innovative ways community partners continue to interact with Laurier students through Community-Service Learning. Then, Digital Media and Journalism student Sara Mathov-Olszewicki talks to Game Design and Development alumnus Shayne Ganness about the Brantford game design studio he created with some of his peers that he was forced to close because of the pandemic. And finally, Social Work professor Anh Ngo tells us about a research project she recently completed on behalf of the Brant United Way to help them better understand the particular needs of our community.
Season 2, Episode 11: I Get to Dance
Air Date: November 16, 2020
This bonus episode of One Market was produced by fourth-year Digital Media and Journalism students. First, co-captain Selena Alaimo tells us how Laurier Brantford’s competitive dance team, KAOS, is hosting virtual practises and hopes to compete this year. Then, Criminology student Nathan Jackman gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how he launched his own clothing line this summer. Finally, Kristen Gilmore tells us about how WLUSU’s student clubs and associations are adapting to the remote learning environment.
Season 2, Episode 12: We Don’t Ask Why it Shines
Air Date: November 23, 2020
We speak with Laurier Brantford English instructor Souvankham Thammavongsa about winning the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her collection of short stories, How to Pronounce Knife, and what it’s been like to teach creative writing remotely. Then, we check in with research facilitator Matthew Wyman-McCarthy for an update on how faculty have faced the challenges presented by the pandemic. And finally, we speak with alumni Paige Grant and Azka Choudary, who were part of the student research team that, in 2018, published the Being Raced report about racism on campus, which was a foundational part of the work people are doing to make our campus a more diverse, equitable and inclusive place today.
Season 2, Episode 13: Alternative 2020 Universe
Air Date: November 30, 2020
This is the last bonus episode of One Market produced by fourth-year Digital Media and Journalism students. First, we learn what life has been like for Society, Culture and Environment alumna Sarah Maier, who’s been teaching high-school math in New Zealand since just before the pandemic began. Then, Skye MacDonald tells us how Laurier Brantford students in Canada are working to help their international peers maintain their ties to the campus community this year. Finally, English student Destiny Pitters tells us about The Prism, a new zine she’s creating with funding from the LGBT Youth Line.
Season 2, Episode 14: I Call It My Home
Air Date: December 7, 2020
This week, Criminology instructor Ania Theuer tells us what it’s like to teach at a school where you were once a student. Then, Social Justice and Community Engagement student Patricia Dada tells us why she decided to move to Brantford this fall, even though she knew campus would be closed. Finally, assistant registrar Jennifer Brickman joins us for the final installment of Pop Culture Campus, in which we chat about Jane Smiley’s novel Moo, perhaps the sharpest satire ever written about higher education.
Season 2, Episode 15: The Greatest Adventure of Our Lives
Air Date: December 14, 2020
On the final episode of our second season, Darren Thomas, an assistant professor of Indigenous Studies, tells us what it was like to defend his dissertation this summer via Zoom. Then, One Market research assistant and intern Serena Austin steps out from behind the digital curtain to tell us what it’s been like to work on the podcast this season. Finally, Faculty of Liberal Arts academic program assistant Alicia Schiassi shares a pandemic story like no other, which you will have to hear to believe. It may involve a pig stuck in a tree.
Season 3, Episode 1: Candlelit Dickens’ Village
Air Date: February 22, 2021
Welcome to the third and final season of One Market! On this episode: Public Health alumna Clare Fletcher tells us about her work as a public health nurse deployed to do COVID-19 contact tracing. Then, Business Technology Management professor Josephine McMurray explains her new research project about managing the care of seniors with dementia in long-term care homes during the pandemic. Finally, Olivia Rutt, of Communications and Public Affairs, explains the inspiration and work behind the holiday video that turned the Laurier Brantford campus into a candlelit Dickens’ Village.
Season 3, Episode 2: When Am I Getting My Mittens?
Air Date: March 8, 2021
On this episode of One Market, professor Rebecca Godderis tells us about the benefits of one of the pandemic’s most popular stay-at-home hobbies: sewing. Then, we get an update from Christine McKinlay, in the Development Office, about how donors continue to support our students and campus projects despite the pandemic. And finally, we’re feeling nostalgic for those normal, pre-pandemic times, so we talk to Youth and Children’s Studies student Emma Furtney about when she worked at Walt Disney World and got a sneak peek at one of the park’s major new attractions. All that and more on the new episode of One Market!
Season 3, Episode 3: Bees Didn’t Write the Book
Air Date: March 22, 2021
On this episode, we hear from Social Work professor Bree Akesson, Laurier Brantford’s first Canada Research Chair, about her work with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Then, Dean of Students Adam Lawrence reflects on a year of remote learning. And finally, Youth and Children’s Studies alumna Charity Hill tells us about her new job as a family service worker at Ogwadeni:deo, the child welfare agency at Six Nations.
Season 3, Episode 4: Small Campus Feel
Air Date: April 5, 2021
On this episode of One Market, Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, the new co-ordinator of the Law and Society program, tells us about research she’s conducting about the effects of the pandemic on student learning at the elementary and high school levels. Then, ambassador Greg Edgar explains what it’s been like to welcome prospective students and their families to campus virtually during the past year. And finally, Student Wellness Centre Manager Jodie Lockey-Duesling tells us about all of the ways her staff have supported students during a year of remote learning, as well as the Pawsitive Puppy Hour!
Season 3, Episode 5: I Feel Famous Already
Air Date: April 19, 2021
On this episode, we reflect on a year of remote teaching and learning with Social Work lecturer Sonia Meerai. Then, we talk to third-year Youth and Children’s Studies student Erika Kozole, who helped write a song celebrating International Women’s Day with some of her peers. And finally, we talk to first-year User Experience Design student Tess Kibzey, one of the winners of this year’s ACERS showcase, celebrating undergraduate research at Laurier.
Season 3, Episode 6: Grow Things That Make You Happy
Air Date: May 3, 2021
Welcome to the final episode of One Market. Thirty-five episodes and more than 3,000 downloads later, we’ve arrived at the end of this podcast. Thanks for joining us along the way! On this episode: Because it’s spring and we’re all anxious to spend more time outside, Psychology professor Chris Alksnis chats with us about gardening. Then, our research assistant and intern Serena Austin interviews Journalism alumna Laura Bailey (Class of ’10), who recently returned home to Brantford after working in social media marketing in the UK since graduation. Finally, we talk to One Market’s biggest on-campus fan Nicole Morgan, senior administrative assistant to the Dean of Liberal Arts, about her favourite moments from the podcast.