Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2019 i Zoomer Magazine

FIRST OFF, let’s address the elephant in the room. And, yes, I do mean our re-imagining of Mount Rushmore, which you may have noticed on the cover. We do recognize that it is a potent symbol of our neighbour’s birth, Constitution and history and, speaking to our main cover line “The Zoomer Primary,” that political primaries are their thing. But like every other election, this fall’s federal contest has its own story to tell and, as this one begins, we acknowledge the impact that American-style politics has had on Canada’s, including how political personas have begun to trump (pun intended) policy. Our tongue-in-cheek take is a commentary on these times, but also poses the question: with today’s polarization on this side of the border, too, is your decision already…

THERE IS A SCENE in the 1988 movie, Working Girl, where Melanie Griffith’s character, Tess McGill, the Staten Island Ferry commuter, arrives at her secretarial job in Manhattan and removes her footwear – white Reeboks and tube socks – and slips into a pair of pumps before meeting her male boss. Like many working women in the 1980s, sneakers were the comfy footwear of choice to commute. The scene not only accurately captured the era’s sexist corporate culture and rigid office dress codes but also a fashion footnote: sneakers were verboten in the corporate world. But while the wolves of Wall Street are still holding out on allowing them in the boardroom, they are the footwear of choice for the new money makers. The cubs of Silicon Valley – Mark…

The consensus among political pundits is that the Liberals won the 2015 election largely on a wave of support from young or first-time voters who had been captivated by Justin Trudeau’s positivity and youthful energy. The only thing this analysis reveals is the media’s pre-occupation with youth. It fails to take into account the role played by the largest, richest and most influential bloc – the 7.6 million Canadians over 55 who hit the ballot box in 2015, dwarfing the 6.8 million in the 18-to-44 crowd who turned out. The numbers also show who cares more about exercising their democratic privilege – 60 per cent of older Canadians voted compared to only 40 per cent participation in the younger group. Certainly, the fashionable, progressive Liberal leader swayed a lot…

Dramatic marble as far as the eye can see, herringbone flooring anchored by a sculptural bronze screen – Dr. Trevor Born’s new med-spa in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood has, er, gotten a facelift, to say the least. The renowned cosmetic plastic surgeon – who practises out of New York City as well and has been performing nips, tucks and cosmetic “tweakments” since 1996 – has this summer opened a new 2,800-square foot facility that will begin offering noninvasive esthetic procedures along with regenerative medicine under one roof. Called the Institute of Human Mechanics, the concept clinic is a collaboration between Born and Dr. Anthony Galea, with more doctors to be announced. Galea was one of the first to use platelet-rich plasma therapy to treat pro athletes like Tiger Woods and…

“I believe in the idea of the rainbow,” Judy Garland, who died 50 years ago this year, once said. “And I’ve spent my entire life trying to get over it.” In 1968, three decades after delivering her career-defining performance alongside misfits and munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, the screen legend landed in London to kick off a run of shows at the Talk of the Town theatre, hoping to jumpstart a career hampered by years of drug and alcohol abuse, failed marriages and mounting debt. It’s the final act for this Hollywood legend – one brimming with music, hope, strife, even romance – brought to the big screen in Judy, an adaptation of the hit stage musical End of the Rainbow, starring Renée Zellweger delivering her own rendition…

SHE’S AGNOSTIC about birthday parties, the gal who sprang Sex and the City on the world. Especially “decade” birthdays, which Candace Bushnell admits she hates “the way I hate New Year’s Eve,” as she puts it in her wistful new book, Is There Still Sex in the City? “Somehow they’re supposed to be more fun than any other party, when in reality the best times are always the parties that aren’t planned, when things just happen.” “One of the things about 50-something birthdays,” moreover, she posits, “is that people tend to forget them. Once you pass the big five-oh, they are not that significant. Partly because at a certain point, you realize there is not that much of a difference between 58 and 52.” No wonder, then, that Bushnell…

Flight done, luggage arrived intact, car waiting. We move out of the airport and into the morning gridlock. We speed by the familiar sites that make up this journey: the Stade de France, the miles of apartment complexes, familiar road signs. As we glide onto the Périphérique, it means I am getting closer, circling the Place de Wagram and onto my beloved Boulevard Malesherbes. My eyes search for the floral stands at Monceau Fleurs. I take in all the other familiar storefronts. Car windows down, so the sounds and smells flood in. Distinct sirens, traffic, the hum of a city that has my heart. What exactly is it that makes us return time and again to a place? The answer may seem obvious when that place is Paris. But, like…

THE SPIRIT OF ’69 Re: Brian D. Johnson’s enlightening article “Once We Were Stardust” [July/August]: I agree Woodstock was a paradox, but I do have two questions about Joni Mitchell’s song: First, why is the traveller to Woodstock called a “child of God?” Second, apart from its melodic effect in the chorus, why does she repeat, “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”? I will suggest a possible answer. “Child of God” prepares us for Mitchell’s allusion to the Garden of Eden; she is tapping into the myth of paradise. Here, “myth” is not a fable or untruth but a narrative with lasting or even eternal effects. Despite the drugs and sex and subsequent killing at Altamont, the spirit of Woodstock lives on. I now understand Woodstock…

NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA artistic director Karen Kain, 68, laughed when I asked her in 2015 if she longed to dust off her ballet shoes for one more performance. “My spirit still dances, but the rest of me – no.” Instead, in her 50th year with the NBC, Canada’s most celebrated ballerina – who performed alongside legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev (including in London for audiences that included royalty like Princess Margaret), won an award for her dance pairing with Frank Augustyn at Moscow’s International Ballet Festival and was captured in a colour screenprint by Andy Warhol – is finding new ways to break new ground. In August, when Britain’s Royal Academy of Dance brings the prestigious Genée International Ballet Competition to Toronto, the company will bestow upon Kain its highest…

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WE ARE FORTUNATE TO LIVE in a time with effective prophylaxis and treatments for many diseases. But we are still vulnerable. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 10 threats to global health in 2019, and three are of concern to us as we age. Vaccine hesitancy is defined by the WHO as reluctance to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines. According to the agency, vaccination currently prevents two to three million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved. The reasons people choose not to vaccinate include inconvenience in accessing vaccines and concern about their health effects (although vaccines are safe and effective). Vaccines are important for older adults. As you get older, your immune system weakens, and it…

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD Before you get lost in a thicket of lawn signs, polls, attack ads and fake news, inform your vote with our age-friendly election guide When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau woke up on the morning of Feb. 7 this year, everything must have seemed just right in his world. With a federal election coming up in less than a year, his Liberals were riding high. The economy was showing signs of strength, jobs were being created at a record clip and trade confidence was sky-high, spurred on by the government’s successful negotiation of a new trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico. Moreover, Trudeau’s political opponents were in disarray: Conservative leader Andrew Scheer hadn’t yet emerged from the shadow of Stephen Harper, NDP leader Jagmeet…