Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon. Good evening. I'm Jan Arden. I'm coming to you from Springbank, Alberta. She's home. This is the Jan Arden Podcast and Show. I'm here with Sarah Burke. Lots going on in the world. Almost too much. Toronto is...
Overwhelming to me sometimes. Downtown. I know the millions and millions of you live in the GTA. You're not in downtown Toronto. You'd probably say to me, Jan, there's nothing in the world that would make me go downtown Toronto. And a lot of people feel that way, right? But I went to a movie after I did the Marilyn Dennis show. I want to talk about that. We've got so many things to talk about. Anyway, we went to a movie. Chris, my road manager, Maladie, makeup hair girl, we all went.
And the VIP theater was in Dundas Square. It felt like New York 2.0. I understand that. The streets are almost black. Like the sidewalks are like, there's so much gum. There's people laying everywhere. It was very apocalyptic. And I mean this with a lot of love in my heart because cities are really struggling, especially since COVID, to catch up to every part of our humanity.
like unhoused people, food insecurity, the drug epidemic that continues to annihilate so many people, just the politics of being alive. But anyway, I was so overwhelmed by just that one corner where there's like a four-way crisscross and everyone was honking their horns. And I think it's also because it is the antithesis of where I live.
So it's very quiet here right now. Poppy's outside chewing on something. I don't know. I had a deer here this morning. Yeah, so quiet and peaceful. Yeah, I feel really, really grateful. But I think the dazzling display of humanity, the diversity of how many beautiful faces from every corner of every culture are
And I'm endlessly proud of that, being a Canadian. And it looks like what the world should look like. I mean, despite it being, you know, downtown and a bit, but you know. I grew up in the GTA, like north of the city in Richmond Hill. That's where my parents and they still live there.
And when I moved back to Toronto from London, I had such an adjustment. It was chaos. That's why I lived to the west of the city. That's why I needed to see the water right in front of me. I needed to be a little bit further removed from that chaos. Your condo is like in the thick of it. Well, it's not too bad. I'm not going to say exactly where I am. It's down Queen Street. And I could walk.
I could easily walk to Dundas Square. It might take me 20 minutes. That's it. Yeah, yeah. I could walk to all the sports events. I could walk to CBC. I could walk to the CTV, the Bell Building. So it's really convenient that way, which is why I am living there. Anyway, it just was, we went and saw Little Mermaid. How was it? It threw us into it. I loved it. I loved it. It was just really fun.
I think we were in the audience with a bunch of young theater people. It was so adorable. Everyone was clapping and cheering when Ariel sung her song, you know, I want to be where the people are. I love it. I love it.
Everyone just cheered after every big song. There was like, woo, and everyone was clapping. And I'm like, where am I? The reinvention of the Little Mermaid. It's something. It's just Disney probably at its best and doing its thing. Although my only criticism, and don't write to me, write to our producer, Sarah Burke, at 555-15122.
I felt like Ariel was too young for our handsome young prince. I felt like she was playing a cool 15, but who knows what mermaids look like? Maybe they look way younger than normal women. Who knows when mermaids start dating? And he looked about 28 to me. And I just was like uncomfortable with Ariel. No wonder her dad wasn't digging it.
Oh, my God. No wonder he wanted to banish her to the bottom of the ocean floor. I feel like when you're 14 or 15, 28's a stretch and probably not legal. Anyway, Disney, maybe the guy just looks, maybe the five o'clock shadow was a bit heavy for this actor. Maybe. I want to bring you back to Marilyn Dennis. It was her final week of shows. Yes. She's a national icon.
You know, in our country, she has really held it down. 13 seasons of that show. And 10 seasons before that on City Line. 10 seasons before that on City Line. And then between, you know, Belle and they had that merger. And, you know, Marilyn was promised a show. And she was sort of in limbo for a couple of years waiting for them to decide what the show was going to look like. And now, you know...
This last 13 years, she got us through COVID. She was doing the show from her house. And never mind that. She goes from that and goes and does Toronto's number one morning show, Chum FM, with Jamar. So she's doing that as well. Caitlin Green, that's where I met Caitlin, is through the Chum radio morning show. So Caitlin's been on mat leave, as you know. And Marilyn is a consummate professional. Any guest she ever has, she always makes them feel so important and like they're the only person in the room.
She's not like one of those hosts like me who endlessly. Oh, stop. Who never shuts up and keeps talking about them. And then I and then, oh, you did that. Well, I did this. Marilyn just is. And she's so goddamn funny. You surprised her. Yeah. How did that tell us about the behind the scenes of how this happens? I'm pretty sure Marilyn knew I was coming. I mean, I phoned and asked them if I could go on.
Okay. I'm like, can I do the show? Like, I know you probably have a million guests that you need to get on there, but I'd love to come and just say goodbye. So anyway, they had a couple of questions. You're behind a screen. And she might not have known that I was coming that day, but they just said, you know, where are you from? They disguise your voice. And I went, I'm from Western Canada. She goes, is it Jan? No.
So we had a really nice chat and I sang a song. I think it will air sometime next week, early next week, but her last show is the 9th of June. So tune in for that on CTV, wherever you've been watching the Marilyn Dennis show all these years. And it's really emotional. The studio audiences are emotional. Marilyn's emotional. All the guests are emotional. Tommy Smythe is emotional. Everyone's emotional.
But she's a good friend. And I'm hoping now, finally, that she's only down to one full-time job, that she can come out here and hang out and watch movies and feed the deer and walk down the road. Because it's always been really hard trying to find time for her and I to do that. And now she's married. She's got a grandchild. So lots of things have changed for Marilyn. You know, she was Mary Tyler Moore for a long time, right? She was single and working and doing all the things that professional women do. And then the stakes kind of upped when you have a grandchild.
Sorry, your priorities shift. And it's amazing watching how hard she still works now. She could be 20. You wouldn't know. She's working like she's early in her career. She looks fantastic. Her energy is fantastic. I think she really looks after herself. That's that. So June the 9th is the final show. I'm on sometime next week. I'm not sure.
I'm just swapping out topics here. Election in Alberta this past week. The UCP, led by Danielle Smith, considered our right wing party. United Conservative Party for anyone who doesn't know. So so it's not the conservatives of yesteryear. I was conservative a good deal of my life in the West.
And my parents were always conservative. My grandparents were conservative. But this is not the conservative party of yesteryear. It's much more aggressive. It's got a lot of, you know, those American overtones. But there's been so much misinformation and a lot of mudslidding, certainly probably on both sides. I'm not going to sit here and say that everyone's exempt. I think both parties...
you know, resorted to kind of fear tactics. And if you vote for this person, this is going to happen. If you vote for them, this is going to happen. And at the end of the day, it becomes very divisive for everyone. I think the messaging gets more confusing. You know, you have to make up your mind and you have to do the research. You have to get your information from different sources. I've talked about that fact on this show.
Many times you can't just be on Facebook reading, you know, the stuff that your neighbors are saying that you're getting the same stuff over and over again, the same mismessaging. But, you know, it's a difficult undertaking to be in politics. It doesn't matter who you are. But I will say this.
On a positive note, never in my lifetime did I think that I would see two women battling it out to be the premier of Alberta. Right? So, you know, that's a big move forward. And we still have this horrific voter turnout in every age group. So when you sit back and complain about what's happening in your neighborhood and you haven't had your ass off the seat to go out and vote,
And, you know, it's apathy when you think it's somebody else's problem to not cast your vote or, you know, there's that whole other idea of that your vote doesn't count. That's simply not true either. You know, I went and voted with my friend. He voted UCP and I voted, you know, NDP.
I don't have a party allegiance. Like, I want to say that, too. Like, I I voted for all kinds of different parties. I have just voted for the person that I like that seems to suit my life to represent that seems to suit. Yeah, that I like, you know, but but this divisiveness and people, you know, yesterday on Twitter, I was going to say I saw, you know, I saw you sharing all your screenshots and I was like, OK, Jan's having a day. But but it's I always have a day on Twitter. It's always there.
You know, to stay out of politics. Nonsense. Who says that? Everybody says that. Everyone that thinks that artists or, you know, singers, songwriters have been at the forefront of politics for...
75 years. Yeah. Music was always political. Wake up. Was there any of you people around in the 60s and the 70s? Have you heard of Bob Dylan? Yeah, exactly. Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Folk music stemmed out of almost a desperation of wanting to have representation. Anyway, there's no one party that has it right.
You know, Alberta is a big oil province and it has been that way for, you know, the better part of 50 years. I think in a lot of ways we do it better than anyone else in the world. The technology, the manpower, the know-how. And for anyone that's kind of against that, I understand. Yes, but Alberta is also really going green.
But the bare facts are 90% of the products in your home probably took petroleum to make them. That's also true, yeah. We are still driving cars. Gas prices went up. Everybody freaked out when they were paying $2.50 for a liter of gasoline. Yeah, it's awful, especially when people can't afford groceries. But there's all kinds of problems that need to be solved. And...
I don't care who gets voted in. My mom used to always say, it doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in. Or maybe it was my dad that said that. You know, and I know that my parents would have voted UCP. It would have been a bone of contention. But my parents would have also have thought this was the law he'd
conservatives. This is a completely different party. And within that party too, there's the separatist movement that people, a lot of people voted NDP because they were a little bit leery of that whole conversation going on in that narrative. But listen, I'm not mad at anybody. You know, Danielle Smith, no, she's not for me, but she's for a lot of other people. And I'm really proud that democracy worked. People got to cast a fair vote.
And I'm not going to come to the table with ire. Yeah, I threw some, you know, some tweets out there. You know what I love what you said? I loved when you said, I participate. That is the thesis of this entire conversation, is that if you live in a democracy and you're not participating, what the heck are you doing? I cheer for my candidate. Like, people are, people are like, oh yeah, but you're trying to influence people's vote. Well,
Well, yes, we all are. And you're not trying to do that. You might not have the platform that I have, but you're certainly having lunch conversations or I'm voting this or I'm voting that. Anyway, it's gotten so ridiculous and there's so many blurred lines. We've never had such a big opposition in Alberta, which I think is important for any government to have those checks and balances. And so I wish Danielle good luck. I earnestly do. I live here.
It is in my best interest to have a strong economy, to have great resources, to have access to all these federal parks, to have a great police force and a fire department and mental health workers, health care and education. We all hope that. So we've got our fingers crossed that those things continue. But
It's going to be like any other political story. And I don't care if you're Jesus running the province. There's going to be problems and you're never going to please everybody. But gosh sakes, you know, stand up, have your voice be heard. That's what it is about being in a community. You cannot just lump the NDP into a big pile, nor can you lump the UCP into a big pile. This is the mistake that people make.
I'm going to definitely keep being verbal about things that I don't like. Please do. Because that's what we do. Why am I told to be staying out of politics? And I'm proud to be in a country that has safe and fair elections where you don't feel persecuted or terrified to go stand in a line and cast your vote. It's pretty damn cool and it's pretty damn great. I've traveled all over the world. And I'll tell you what, hundreds of millions of people do not enjoy that politics.
privilege. We've got some fun voice notes from people's first times of having a sexual experience. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about having sex for the first time on a waterbed. I'm just going to cut to the chase. It was not a great experience, but you know, I was 19 and where I lived, where I still live, that was considered quite
far along. You know, there was people 16, 17, things like that. I'm not encouraging that. You have to be comfortable. Context. Yeah. Jen didn't just offer up her virginity to us. We were talking about summer romance and we somehow went down that road. We somehow got there. Yeah. Yeah. But I would have offered it up had somebody asked. So,
Sarah, you've got some really great voice notes. We're going to play three of them, and I think I want to listen to them in their entirety. We thank people so much for calling in. We're going to encourage you to do that again. If you've got something to say about the Alberta election that's not filled with vitriol and pointing fingers and yelling and screaming, you know, if you're going to be reasonable and sensible and caring and kind to everybody concerned, we might play it. Anyway, here are the clips of...
We're going to leave out some names just so people feel comfortable. Hello, Jan and Sarah. I absolutely adore the podcast. And I wanted to respond to your question about our first time. I was a very late bloomer. I did not have my first time until I was 25 years old. And I was a very late bloomer.
I was overweight most of my childhood and teenage years and in my 20s I seemed to lose a lot of weight and that seemed to bring the guys around which is sad but true. I think nowadays it would be different with a lot more body positivity. But anyway, my first experience was actually quite nice. It was in his bedroom.
He was very gentle, very romantic. And I am very glad that I did wait until I was 25 because I feel like
Maybe people who are younger have some more embarrassing or not so pleasant experiences. But we were together for three years. After that, when we broke up, several months later, I met my husband. So from the age of 25 to now of the age of 42, I have only had two partners in my life and I would never have it any other way. Thanks again, ladies. I love the podcast.
My first time was in the basement where I had my bedroom, who I lived with my mom, a single mom.
And it was a friend with benefits. Let's just say we lost our virginity together. So I was like 17 years old. And let's fast forward 30 years because now I'm 47. My daughter is 17, has a boyfriend and is in that same bedroom because my mother passed away and I'm living in the same house. I don't even want to think about it.
Hey, Jan. Hey, Sarah. It's not a story of my first time, but it was probably my second or third. I was about 17 camping with my boyfriend. And at night, we were sort of getting busy. And as we were wrapping up, we realized we heard lots of rustling outside. There weren't any campers around us. And then the shadow appeared and got closer and closer to our tent. And this figure was grazing the side of our tent, walking around.
Then I think we or we thought it had kind of left so we looked out and it was a huge bear walking the other way to the lake and I freaked out. My boyfriend grabbed the legs out from the tent threw everything in the tent and we got on the logging road and took off. We got to a gas station it was about 4 a.m. realized I just had a t-shirt on barely covering my bum. Not a first time but a crazy time. So what'd you think of that Sarah? I
I mean, I love that people had such nice experiences. The 25-year-old. We also got a DM from someone that said, I'm still a virgin. And I clicked on the profile and I was like, okay, this person is later in life. Cool. But I don't think that's an uncommon story. And you know what? If you are a virgin out there, if you're 30 or 40, my grandfather, who fought in the Second World War, my grandpa Charlie, my step-granddad, who married my mom's mom, he was 41. He was a virgin. Okay.
Okay. Okay. You know, and my grandma was 47. She had two children and had been married for a long, long time. And, you know, so I wish I would ask them more questions about, I mean, you don't ask your grandma that. You don't ask, so how did that go? We've talked about the shame thing, you know, a couple of times. I was so embarrassed. I kissed a guy behind a portable in grade five.
Somewhere around there. You hussy. And I remember like some of the kids at school made fun of me. So then from that point on, I had this cloud following me around where I was terrified of all experiences that would come from kissing. I'm sorry. It's just those memories come up and you still kind of get cringes and it's weird how the brain works. I remember in a sex ed class, they put a video on like a VHS tape. They made you watch it. Did you have that too in school? Yeah. Okay. Thank God. Yeah.
Thank God, because it undid a lot of the stuff my brother was telling me and my friends. Oh, thank God. Okay. I'm like, that's not what that is at all. Like, thank God there was like a skilled, trained professional.
To even explain a period to me. Sorry, my mom didn't. With some cool music in the background, right? On the videotape. And everybody was a cartoon. So anyway, I remember them talking about, you know, when girls and guys first start wanting to like kiss or whatever. And I would turn bright red, like my chest would turn bright red because I thought it was directed at me. There's an auditorium full of people. It's not directed at you. But that's what...
you know, preteens. Well, sexuality is very personal. It's personal. And hormones are difficult. Yes.
Kids have all kinds of stuff to plow through and to get through. There's a lot of stuff in the way of decision making. There's a lot of peer pressure. I went to a very small country school. I wasn't in with 1,500 people. Keep those voice notes coming, folks. If there's any time you want to make a comment, go to Jan Arden Pod on all your socials, Twitter, Instagram. Do we have Facebook?
We have Facebook. We got it all. We got it all. So leave us a voice note, leave us a note if there's something you want us to discuss, if you have a problem, whatever. We can't solve your problems, but we'll certainly talk about your problems in front of millions of people. We have a note here from
Anne-Marie, I'd love to add to the playlist if you're taking recommendations. Dancing in the Moonlight, Lost Together. Oh, that's such a good Blue Rodeo song. Long Time Running, Tragically Hip. Come and Get Your Love and literally anything Burton Cummings and Van Morrison. Sweet Carolyn and Kokomo from Carol. Thank you, Carol.
Sweet Caroline, see your youth is showing. She spelt Caroline weird. That's why I'm reading it weird. Sorry. Yes. Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond. Sweet Caroline. Hello, Jan. Just finished reading Pamela Anderson's book, and it was amazing how misunderstood she's been and all the great things she's done for animals and the environment. Would be a great guest for your show. Just a thought. That's from Paula. Thank you, Paula. And last but not least, on our last guest, Gavin. I wanted to make sure we read this.
Hi, Jen. I'm new to podcasts. I just found yours. Loving it. Laughing my butt off. Gavin's podcast is great too. I've seen you in concert twice with my daughter and we sing in the car to your music. I'm a little older than you, but may I suggest for your summer playlist, a little Ambrosia, Peter Allen's bi-coastal and some Beach Boys. Oh yeah. Ambrosia. Yeah. Little Ambrosia. We got another message this week from Carolyn on Instagram. She says, Hey there, listen to the podcast on my drive to work.
I listened early this morning. I have some possible suggestions for the summer playlist. One is tongue-in-cheek after seeing some of the Twitter twits being rude to Jen. Yeah.
Okay. One, Shit List by L7. She should play this in the background when she responds and blocks the twits. Two, Love is a Drug, Roxy Music. Follow you, follow me, Genesis. Have a great week, ladies. Anyway, I did get talking to the bosses at iHeartRadio about creating our very own iHeartRadio playlist. So keep sending us your messages. Yes. I just want to put out there that I am not troubled by...
Twitter vitriol. Please don't think that I am. I read maybe 2% of the comments. If it's in front of me when I open up my phone and there's something outlandish,
You have to understand they're yelling into the void. They're frustrated. And whenever anyone leads with you fat C word, you know, out of politics. Yeah. But you know that their their lives in general are just not going the way they want them to go. And I go into it with a lot of empathy. And I'm so grateful for the things that I have in my life. Yeah, I've worked hard.
But there's a lot of people that feel frustrated, unheard, unseen, undervalued. They're just struggling. So it comes from a place... We always have to say, what hurt you? What made you be like this? And I never take it personally. They could be yelling this at a broomstick or a clock on the wall. I picture you sitting with Poppy just laughing as you do it. Well, I...
Well, I literally am like, man, they make this so easy. And yeah, I do block a lot of it. But why would I? Oh, you just block anybody that doesn't agree with you. That is not true. I block people that lead out the gate with any kind of stupidity towards me. Yeah. Or threatening comments, rude comments. I get it. You have
to. I don't want them to see what I'm writing every day. They don't need to see that. So it doesn't bother me. Twitter is still a really amazing format, despite what Elon has tried to do to kind of dismantle it. It
To be able to connect with people. Anyway, Twitter is very useful to gather like-minded people to share ideas and be careful who you're following. So don't ever worry about me. Anyway, use caution when you're insulting me because I'm quicker than you. I'm faster than you. I'm wittier than you. And you're just not going to win. We'll be right back. Don't go away. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast and Show.
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A cola or a cream soda, root beer, yes indeedy. And they've got their limited edition summer flavor, which will take you right back to the second grade. You gotta try the ice pop one. Head to janhardenpod.com to find out where the closest place to you is where you can go and buy Cove. Go right now. Hooty doo. Welcome back, Jan Harden Podcast and Show. I'm here with Sarah Burke. Um, summertime.
It's feeling good. Cynthia Loyce just sent me a text message. She goes, it's going to be 30 degrees in Toronto today, which is fantastic. She goes, Jaya's having a bunch of kids out into the yard today and we're doing water balloons. We've got a big bucket full of water balloons. So what it got me thinking about was summertime, the excitement. Summertime really is about kids. It's about being out of school for those two months, you know, hanging out with your friends. Everybody comes back every year, two inches taller.
A little bit more grown up. More hair in their armpits. Yeah, I would notice that with my friends when they came back. But it's just summertime memories when you were a kid. I have so many great ones of growing up in Springbank, Alberta. Every day I drive on a road called Highway 8 to get to my house into town. When I was a kid, it was called Richmond Road. And then it just turned into a gravel road that headed out towards a little town called Bright Creek and
You know, they'd put gravel on it and oil it. And eventually, if enough cars drove over it, it kind of looked like mini pavement. But it wasn't pavement. Anyway, along that road was a river called the Elbow River. And there was a little area that's still there called Twin Bridges. And what's happening at Twin Bridges right now is a massive flyover. It's part of a ring road system in west of Calgary that they need. They're kind of building it, build it and they will come kind of a thing. It's probably 10 lanes long.
of traffic coming from the Trans-Canada Highway, circumventing the city and heading back out east to the Trans-Canada. It'll take a lot of traffic off of the old Highway 8 here. Anyway... I heard traffic is bad in Calgary. Well, yeah, it's a lot. You know, the city was growing for a while there by 3,500 residents a month, which is a lot. It's a lot of room to make, but oil is booming again. It's Looney Tunes. Anyway...
Twin Bridges, when I was a kid, this is such a summertime memory. We'd ride a horse down there named Snoopy who farted the entire way. And it was such an unbelievable river. It was as deep as your neck. Kids would do cannonballs off of the bridge and jump into the water. And I remember Snoopy could go down into this pool by one of the bridges. And Leonard and Dale and I, these kids that I hung out with, these cousins, we'd float off his back.
and he'd paddle around, and they'd have a good long drink, and we'd let him sit there and eat grass until we decided to ride home. Anyway, the river there now, it's so sad. It's so kind of annihilated. The Elbow River is maybe a foot deep, you know, maybe the middle of your calf in a lot of places, but it's all the glacier runoff. Where those pools were, it's all construction. They've
The old bridge is going to be ripped down. They've got a new bridge over it. But I was just thinking of how idyllic it was growing up and thinking of those times and the great summertime memories.
And I don't know, and this is what I wanted to ask people. It's very hard to find progress the least bit progressive sometimes. Do you have childhood memories of places that you've seen, you know, 20 years later and gone, wow, this is so... So tell me about anything like that, whether it's a resort you guys went to or a playground that you were at where you're like, God, that used to be here and it's gone. That kind of stuff really...
really bugs me. It gets in under my skin. It keeps me awake. Twin bridges keeps me awake. It's thousands and thousands of acres of land that these roads have taken up.
When I was growing up in Richmond Hill, there was nothing beside the high school I went to. By the time high school was done, there was a Walmart had popped up and the whole little community and three different neighborhoods. There was only one before when I was in public school. And there's this park called Horner Park. I would die if someone knew this park. Horner Park. We thought it was funny as kids like, oh, it's called Horny Park, right? Yeah, of course. We were dumb like that.
I also made out with a boy in that park, but I mean, that's a story for another episode. You might want to leave us a voice note. But that park used to just be like trees and nature. And I drove by it the other day when I was up at my parents' house.
And it's got like all the little playground things now for the kids. And it looks like a bouncy coil with like a Tigger lookalike thing on top of it and all these things. There was maybe a swing when I was there. You know, it was mostly about being in the nature. I also bet you we had very different summer vacations based on where we grew up. My parents put us in the recreational day camps like right away because they didn't want to deal with us.
Well, I can't speak for them, but I'm assuming. Whereas, like, I feel like your parents let you run around in nature. Oh, God. My mom and dad would... Well, my mom. My dad wasn't around. He was working or drunk or whatever. But my mom would kick us out the door. And we literally would come in...
when the sun was either going down or when it was time to eat supper, especially on weekends. Yeah. Like I don't think we did much other than in the neighborhood. We played a lot of hide and seek. How fun. Isn't that a great memory? We did hide and seek as well too. Like sometimes I'd go an hour without being found. And trespassing all over on so many people's properties and just like hiding behind things. But yeah,
It was cool the time. I remember when the neighborhood was up and coming. It was very new when we lived there. There was no fences between all the backyards at the beginning. By the time that, you know, I was leaving to move to university, that's when everyone had the fence backyards and you couldn't see. Like there was a time where like the four different streets, everyone could kind of just come in the middle, you know, and play. And then people, you know, we started going, no, we're not going to do that anymore. We want fences up.
We want to protect our little piece. We want privacy. We don't want the neighbor's kids in here. I think the vibe has changed, but I also think since I was a kid, which was 50 years ago, you know, when I was 10,
There was not that many people. Calgary was a city of maybe 500,000 people. Oh, it was small. So you have to really understand we're 1.3 million now. And then there's, of course, the rural areas that are getting more slammed all the time, more subdivisions, which is why these roads are going in. But I'm just thinking...
And I know there was a big kind of a to do about a green belt in Ontario around Toronto that Doug Ford had kind of just said, you know what? The green belt seemed like a good idea, but we're going to use it because we can have some really nice houses there and we need more houses. I think that's a mistake. Look no further than the Juno Streaker.
She had it written on her, on her skin. Gotta love a streaker. That's so 1970s. Would you ever be a streaker? Like if you had a cause, would you peel your clothes off? If I had your body, I'd be nude all the time. Like I would just go, I'd go to the mall. I'd be like, yeah, can I get three of those and four of that? Can I get a caramel popcorn? With all this talk about like summer too, like.
I was a really self-conscious like preteen, like getting in a bathing suit at like 10 or 11 for a pool party at a pool party and having like three hair sticking out somewhere. I was terrified. Oh, I hated it. I remember I let a friend put a wax strip.
Like outside the bikini line at some point. Like I must have been 13 years old or whatever. And I put my clothing back on with the wax strip on because I was too afraid. Oh, you didn't take the wax strip off. It stayed on. Well, how did you get it off? I don't remember. I think my mother had to help me or something. Like I was, I walked around with it for a full day. Sarah. Sarah.
Well, I had a few experiences with maxi pads or mini pads early days when I put the adhesive strip up instead of down. Oh, honey. It was when the strips first came out and I didn't know. Someone has to tell you. You'd peel it off and you'd stick it in there and you kind of like stuck it on yourself. I didn't know. And then you're like, oh, this doesn't feel good. This isn't right. This doesn't seem good. Yeah.
No, just, but summertime memories. We always made, we had go-karts. My friend's dad, Leonard Parker's dad, made a go-kart out of an old washing machine engine. I don't even know how that works. But amazing. Washing machines are a lot different now, but back in the day, folks, you could take those bands, you know, that would make the washing machine spin around, and you could put it sideways and turn a driveshaft and...
That thing would go like 30 kilometers an hour. Oh my God. And we'd peel around, we'd play house. We had Wonderland. We've got Calloway Park here in, in just outside of Calgary. Have you been to Wonderland? No, I have no desire to go. I'm sorry. It's not my thing. It's too many people. There's nothing for me to eat. I think I could eat what? Cotton candy and maybe popcorn if it didn't have butter on it. I think the vegan options have come a long way at places like that. I'd be, I'd be interested to know what they're serving down there these days, but yeah, it,
I remember like whenever the season's passes would go on sale, like that was the biggest thing in this area anyway. It's like, oh, we got to get ready for the season. Well, I always see it flying in and I'm, what do they have? Like four giant roller coasters. I don't like rides. I don't like going on rides. Are you afraid of heights? No, not so much heights. I just don't like that motion, especially the drop part. The last roller coaster I went on was in Dollywood. Yeah.
In Tennessee. Worth it. Dollywood is amazing. She's done an amazing job. It's very musical. There's lots of performances. It's a really cool place. God, the stuff that woman has done. Anyway, I went on this roller coaster and I was really like, I wasn't right for like hours afterwards. Okay.
And that was 15 years ago. So I wasn't even, I was in my 40s. But holy crap. I am scared of heights, but there's a few roller coasters that I can handle and really enjoy. Most of the time it was just to like do cool things as a kid, you know? The one that goes through the mountains or the lazy river, the lazy river with a tube. That's more my jam. Yeah, absolutely. Give me a little floaty thing. But lots of really great summertime memories. But it is a teeny bit heartbreaking to see places that were so...
burned into my memory as a kid that are complete. I use the word annihilated because they're gone. You know, the bridge, the pool where the river was, how the river is even running through there. It's all gone. It's it's all these traffic lanes and it's kind of heartbreaking. As always, it's a potpourri. Elections, summertime stuff, you know.
The never-ending array of things that happen week to week. It's like every week I talk to you, I'm like, holy crap, a lot of stuff has happened this week. Al Pacino, actor Al Pacino is 83 years old and he is going to become a father again with his... 83? Yep. His 29-year-old partner, Noor Alfala, and they are expecting a child. So thoughts on that. To me, I just don't know what to say. Look at my face right now. I'm like...
Oh, that's... So she's 30, he's 83. So a 54-year gap. Al Pacino had been married and divorced several times, I guess, and had many children. I have so many questions. So what is age? And I talked about this, you know, probably a year and a half ago when David Foster married Catherine McPhee. There was a 30-plus year gap. And they're still together. They're really happy.
It's his fourth or fifth marriage. I believe it's her first maybe marriage. No one said we had facts on this show, folks. I want the facts. What's the biggest age gap you've had in a relationship?
The 12 and a half years. 13 years. I think that is the same as me. Well, I wouldn't even call it a relationship. I was dating someone who was 40 when I was 28. Al Pacino's been, he's very well known for Scarface, The Godfather. He has three other children, two with Beverly D'Angelo and one with Jan Terrant.
You got to call him the grandfather, not the godfather. Yeah, Al Fala, she works, she's a producer in the entertainment industry. Al said this to the New Yorker magazine in 2014. He said the fact that his father left him and his mother when he was two has really shaped his relationship with his children. It's the missing link, so to speak, he says. Having children has helped me a lot.
I consciously knew that I didn't want to be like my dad. I wanted to be there for them. I have three children. I'm responsible to them. I'm part of their life. Well, having said that, at 83, how much of a part of a life can you be of a person? He's not going to be alive unless the man lives to be 100. Then his kid will be 17. You throw a ball and you're like, oh, oh.
Something weird happened back here. I dislocated my shoulder. Oh, I just broke my hip. Sorry. That's a big gap. That's a big gap. I'm uncomfortable with that gap. Robert De Niro just welcomed his seventh child.
And Robert is 79. But I also think, you know, when you fall in love with somebody, I don't want to be judged. Like if I met somebody when I was 70 and they were 40, I mean, Cher, here's another one where the tables are turned. Cher is 76 years old, I believe, this year. And her boyfriend's in his 30s, late 30s. Wow. I don't think I knew that. Yeah. Yeah. And they've been together for quite some time. Women, they have a...
Pretty small window. I think modern medicine has made that window quite a bit wider. Childbirth is not the danger that it was in the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th centuries, even 100 years ago, right? It was dangerous to have a baby. Any number of things could go wrong, and they still continue to do now. But, you know, women, I would say once you hit 40...
Women are like, you know, I just I don't think it's for me. I think I'm a little bit too old. But then you see the Janet Jacksons of the world. There's certainly other women that have been 50 years.
going through in vitro or, you know, whatever science will provide for them to get pregnant and have children. I've read several articles about women well into their 50s that don't want to adopt. They want a biological child, but they're using surrogates with their partner. So they have a husband or a partner, and so they will use an egg that they had frozen 15 years before, have their biological baby in a surrogate, in a 25-year-old carrier,
And they'll pay this woman a certain amount of money and have their baby. And at 55 or, you know, whatever, they're a mom. A girlfriend of mine just said to me this week, yeah, and you know, then maybe I'll free some eggs. And she's my age. And I was like, oh, yeah, like, I guess people at my age think about those things. I never think about those things. Of course they do. Do you think you'll have children? I don't think so. I don't feel it.
And I feel like I would know if I wanted to. But what if you meet, you know, the person of your dreams and you have three or four eggs frozen? It's quite, it's expensive too. There's an expense involved here. So it's not like you can go to your family doctor and say, you know what? I'm 35. I don't have a partner right now. And I might want to do this on my own in four years, but I have a really good job right now and I might get a promotion. So I'm not going to do anything. Can I freeze these four eggs? Well, it's going to be some money. I was listening to a
a podcast that I really love. It's really old school. It's Desert Island Discs. Okay. I listen to it every week. It's been going for over 70 years in the UK. Everyone from Adele to Judi Dench to all these businesswomen. This woman, her name escapes me. I apologize, but she's a huge CEO of this massive financial institution.
She's 57, so I was surprised. She has nine children with her husband. And she had children the whole journey that she was getting moved up. And she did face that.
misogynistic kind of commentary of, you know, you've got four children. Is that going to be it now? Because we really want to move you forward. And how's that going to work? And she was like, fuck it. I'm having kids. Working moms, right? Last season, we saw that play out in the last season. Spoiler alert. But we didn't say who. Women are amazing. And screw that narrative that you're talking about. But what do you think of the age gap? Seriously, like 54 years. This seems to be too much outlandish and
And do they know enough? Does science know about what the quality of the sperms are at 83? I'm just putting that out there because as we know, as women, women are ostracized because 40, the quality of their eggs is questioned. You're really putting that child in danger. But 83 year old comes along. She obviously wanted a child. And the fact that he's still getting it up, you know, the sperm gets in there. Like, is the sperm solid? Is it genetically sound?
I would like to... We need an expert. We need an expert. We need a sperm expert on the show. So this is our call out. If you have expertise in this area, please send us a voice note. Anyway, when I came across that, I felt bad that I was instantly judgmental. So I had to deal with that.
I was too. I was sitting on the plane and it was in my newsfeed. And I thought, what a moron. Like, what an idiot. And what's she, she's such a gold digger. And oh, she's getting what she wanted. And then I thought, Jan, what are you talking about? I don't know a single thing about their relationship. And...
You know, maybe this child will be the golden child that turns the world around and goes on to do great things. But seriously, the man's going to be 90 in seven years. Well, I mean, quality of sperm, quality of like parenthood as well. Like what type of parent are you going to be if you're in your 80s? So that's the whole thing. He can provide money. That's what this comes down to. It's not that he can't afford it. Well, you know, true story. My friend's boss...
adopted a little boy at 62. Single. I like the adoption story. She was on her own and she adopted at 62. It's interesting that a single woman at 62 could do that. But now, you know, she's 80, just turned 80 and has an 18 year old. And it's not, it's not going great. There's a lot of difficulties, a lot of resentment. There's tons of resentment. Look,
Let me ask you, like, what was your take on kids? Like, I know, obviously. No, I didn't want them. You just knew? Just, I prayed all through my 20s that I wasn't pregnant. I was really promiscuous and I was, you know, trying to figure out what I was all about. And I was in rock and roll bands. And that's just what the 80s looked like. And town to town in a white van with a bunch of guys and.
sleeping with the band guys and you know yeehaw I had to ask but you know as I got older I'm like no this this isn't this isn't for me and not not everybody can have kids like I talked about if you don't want them no one should force you into wanting them and that's kind of a social pressure point too is that if you are a woman of a certain age and you don't have children you are looked upon as a failure what's wrong with you didn't anybody want you
Hi, Poppy. We're talking about kids. You're my child. You're my baby. Did you find a squirrel out there?
Speaking of societal norms, get this, okay? Because I think that this is very similar for women. They're asked about, if they want to have kids constantly, they're asked about when they're getting married constantly, right? Like the things that society believes you should do as a woman. So I'm at a shiva, okay? So someone had passed away, family friend, blah, blah, blah. And this man who's going to be at my sister's wedding this weekend, the man who introduced my parents, believe it or not,
Okay. He pulls my hand and he looks at my ring finger and he goes, huh, does it bother you that Joanna's getting hitched first and you're the older? I was like, oh,
I'm going to go over to the punch table now. And punch you. There's some people of a different generation. It's inappropriate. It's inappropriate from that generation too. Yes. How many people cringe when they get with relatives? So do you have a boyfriend? Is there someone in your life? Do you have a girlfriend? We just broke up and thanks for asking. Don't ask me this weekend. Or it's like, how are things going for you? Are you enjoying your job? Like, I think those are much more appropriate questions. Yes, thank you. Do we have to train people?
Like I have my mom and my grandmother's diamonds. Beautiful. I'm just showing you on camera, Sarah, so people at home can't see this. You can if you go to the Jan Arden Instagram, by the way. But it's on my wedding hand. It's on the ring finger. So when I'm traveling or riding beside somebody, I like having it there. Mm.
because they're like, I've never read anything about her being with somebody. It's no one's business. It isn't, but I love it there. I had it on my right hand for a while and I'm like, no, I'm putting it here. A, no one's going to be buying me a diamond anytime soon. And if I'm buying myself a diamond, I'm going to use my grams. They're just small. They're not pretty. There's nothing. It's not like the Liz Taylor African sapphire from... It's just a little moderate diamond that's probably worth 500 bucks. But anyway, it's so funny that
that I feel better having this on my hand so that people don't ask me shit like that. Oh, God. Yeah. Okay. I will make you two bets for this weekend at the wedding. Oh, the wedding. Let's finish the show with that. Let's talk about the wedding is coming up this weekend. Your sister's getting married. We've been talking about it.
you bet what which question do i get more where's your boyfriend or how's working with jan arden i bet you i'll get more jan arden than boyfriend let's hope and maybe you can say well i'm going out with jan arden now so that's why i left my boyfriend and then they'll really raise some hairs she's 54 years older than me i'm dating an older woman
Oh, my God. Get the rumor started. I hope you don't get asked too much about that. I hope I hope you are able to enjoy the day without having people pry into your personal life. My mom used to say when people want to know about your personal life, she goes, she goes, I liken it to stealing. You know, if you want to offer information to people, but if they don't give it to you, you don't try and get it out of them. She goes, I always hated that. I like that. Yeah, mom.
I'm in very good spirits. I'm feeling pretty good and like I made the right choice with my relationship. I'm sad about the friendship part. Have you talked to him? We've had one text message because I'm on his phone plan. So we got to deal with some things, but which is fine. But for the wedding stuff this weekend, so I was going to be joining the ladies after hair and makeup. As you know, I asked your advice on this last week.
Yeah. So I got a message from my sister this week and she was like, what time do you think you're arriving in the morning? I have breakfast ordered for you and dah, dah, dah. And there's three bathrooms if you want to do your hair and makeup with the girls. And I was like, oh, she she didn't understand. She didn't hear. I was like, I told mom I would meet her at 12, 1230. I'll be good to go. Makeup done. And I said, but please, if you need anything on the morning of, do not be shy. Ask me anything you need. I'm happy to run around for you. What do you need?
So I left it at that. Now, my mom sends me a message yesterday. She goes, I got to talk to you about something. Please call me when you have a moment. Jesus. My mom doesn't send me those messages. So I'm like, oh, God, what's going on? What's going on? So call her. She's like, I have a weird question. I'm like, what?
What's up? Well, your sister asked me if I would help her put her dress on. And that's like a big thing for photography and videography for weddings. Okay. She goes, but I told you that I needed you to come meet me. And now I'm ditching you to go do the dress thing with Joanna. I'm like, mom, go do the dress thing. Everything's fine. She thought she was ditching me. No.
I'm not taking any of this personally. I think you've done really well. Like you've kind of done a few eye rolls, but I have a wedding this weekend. I'm going on Saturday. One of my best friends from high school, Teresa and her husband, Case. Very nice.
Their son, Jake and Jesse are getting married. So shout out to Jake and Jesse. They are the sweetest couple. They're having, I think, 40 people maybe at the house. And then they're having a hundred people at a restaurant. So later that night,
Everyone's going to the restaurant and the restaurant can deal with dishes and clean up. They have chairs, they have kitchens. It's not that people can order what they want. There's going to be different stations. Perfect. They're making it so easy. They've decided on per amount of money per plate. So no one's going to be like chicken or salmon or I just don't eat salmon and I hate chicken and don't you have anything? It's none of that crap. You don't have to bring in tables or chairs.
Do a place that already has that stuff. Make it simple and keep your wedding small. I love how these guys are doing it. I love it. And I'm very blessed to be there. Yes. Jake and his sister Maya called me Uncle Buck growing up.
I mean, I was the person. They still call me Uncle Buck. I brought them like karaoke machines and snow cone machines from Costco and large tubs of sour suckers, like 400 of them. Teresa would look at me when I came through the door with candy for those kids. And she's like, I'm going to kill you. Yeah. I'm going to absolutely kill you. But they have been together for several years.
They've lived together, which I love. You know, sorry, religious people that don't believe you should have sex until you're married. And you need to before you need to understand.
Someone's chewing might fucking be the end. This is the second time someone has used a chewing reference when talking about people moving in together to me this week. Well, I'm just saying, why bring it up? Because sometimes it's the minutia. It's the way they sleep. I have lots of my married friends now that are in their 50s and 60s that sleep in different bedrooms. We've talked about that on the show. Yes, yes, we have. But that's my advice.
Don't feel like you have to invite the second cousin from the third person this far over from Bulgaria that you once met, that your mother knew. And you don't need to do that shit anymore. The day of the 500 person Mormon wedding has sailed. Please don't do that to yourselves. Invite the people that are in your day to day lives.
Have a small wedding. I love that. And they're going to have like Prosecco and champagne. They're going to have a few little poo-poos that everyone eats, a vegetable. I think all the food is just being made by family and friends. Yeah.
And then it's off to the restaurant at 536. Maybe we can Photoshop our wedding pictures from this weekend together so it looks like we went to a wedding together. We will. And I'll show them this, this little ring right here. I love it. I love it. Well, I still have people telling me...
fucking pisses me off. You'll meet somebody someday. Yes. It's never too late. I'm going to get that this weekend. I am the somebody that I've always wanted to meet. I have become, thank you, slow clap. I am the somebody that I always wanted to meet. I'm going to use that. Yeah. I've got some money in the bank. I've got some savings. I've got a home. I've got my dog. I'm happy. I've already met the woman of my dreams right here. It's me.
Yeah, it's myself. Yeah. Well, who said that? It was a Hollywood actress. I want to say Emma or maybe it was Natalie Portman of Self Partnering. Here, we'll look it up quickly. They talked about being... Emma Watson. Emma Watson. Okay, I was close. And she talked about that very thing, about being that person that you always wanted to meet. Yeah.
Because I think we do do that. We reflect in the person that we're with. We expect them to give us what we're not giving ourselves, which is not what should be happening. We know that. Honestly, I needed this pep talk before this wedding. So I thank you. I thank you for that. Well, listen, we're not going to keep people. We're going into territory. People got shit to do. I have a hair appointment. I've got to go wax my four hairs off the inside of one of my legs. I'll phone your mom to help me.
Hey, Paula, it's Jan. I put a wax strip on from the drugstore and I'm too scared to pull it off. Your daughter told me to call you. Please ask her if she remembers and what you fucking did with it. Okay, I will. Thank you once again for being so kind to us and listening along. Hit that subscribe button. Give us a review.
Tell your friends, Jen Arden Podcast. Sarah Burke, thank you as always. You are a delight. So are you. I wish you luck on the wedding. You've been listening to the Jen Arden Podcast and Show with Sarah Burke. We'll see you next time. Toodle-dee-doo. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.