If you’re a podcast listener with big feelings, then you’re a fan of Heavyweight. In which case, we have great news: it’s back! A new season debuts Sept. 18, after a near two-year break caused by Spotify’s silly cancellation of its smartest shows. Host Jonathan Goldstein will once again be diving into guests’ emotional lives, helping them gently pull apart painful incidents or relationships, then put themselves back together again.
While the former host of CBC’s Wiretap has lived in Chicago, New York City and now Minneapolis, his parents and many close friends remain in his childhood home of Montreal. As he told us, he’s “such a city guy,” but he’s ready to change that — at least a little, now that he’s morphed from a childless Brooklynite into a Midwestern dad.
Here’s what Goldstein had to say about his relationship with the natural world when we asked him to take our Moose Questionnaire.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity. All opinions are the subjects’ own.
Illustration: Shawn Parkinson / The Narwhal
What’s the most awe-inspiring natural sight you’ve witnessed between the Pacific, Atlantic, 49th parallel and Hudson Bay, i.e. Canada?
Niagara Falls. The Canadian side. The money side. The filet of the falls.
What’s the most awe-inspiring natural sight you’ve witnessed outside of Canada?
Our child being born. It happened in a Manhattan hospital. My wife was very brave.
Think of three iconic Canadian animals. Choose one each to kiss, marry and kill.
Kiss: Just a platonic kiss on the cheek? A beaver. With tongue? A salmon.
Marry: Being married to a salmon would be demanding — what with the spawning upstream. But at our wedding reception we’d have free salmon roe to eat.
Kill: Canadian salmon roe.
Jonathan Goldstein would like to kiss a salmon like this one, with tongue. Photo: Jennifer Gauthier / The Narwhal
Outdoor cats: yes or no?
I wouldn’t personally feel comfortable owning an outdoor cat. I’d always be worried about it.
Yes, you have to choose: Rocky Mountains or Great Lakes?
To stare at, the Rocky Mountains. To swim in, the Great Lakes.
Researchers at Yale University, the France-based Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society and other institutions have found women tend to be more concerned about climate change than men. Why do you think that is?
This is a sad piece of news. Maybe it’s because little boys are raised to want to conquer the world, not nurture it. Also, in general, they seem to enjoy sci-fi more than women do, so maybe they think rocket ships will save us.
If you could dip a toe off Canada’s coastline, which ocean would it be in?
Either one as long as it’s near a boardwalk that serves pizza.
What’s a beautiful or useful thing you’ve owned for a really long time?
It isn’t especially beautiful, but I always take my Sony mini-recorder with me whenever I make a reporting trip.
What’s the farthest north you’ve ever been and what did you do there?
The Boundary Waters between Ontario and Minnesota. While everyone went canoeing, I stayed in my room and read comics.
What’s one way you interact with the natural world on a daily basis?
I walk my dog.
Yes, you have to choose: smoked salmon or maple syrup?
I think you know the answer to that one.
Would you rather be invited to visit David and Victoria Beckham at their Muskoka, Ont., cottage, or Harry and Meghan Sussex at their B.C. oceanic escape?
Either way, I’d politely decline. I like my own space.
Camping: yes or no?
I don’t come from camping stock and fear getting mauled by a bear and how stupid I’d look getting mauled by a bear, but I want my son to be a camper, so I’ll be tent shopping pretty soon.
