Don’t start here! Go one ep back! This is part 2 of 2 of our conversation with documentary filmmakers Omar Mouallem and Dylan Rhys Howard, creators of “Digging in the Dirt” — a documentary film about addiction, suicide, and men's mental health in the Alberta oil sands. Find it on CBC Gem, and listen on to hear them share views on things like:

How do we think about work? Is productivity worth more than life itself? Not sure anyone would openly conquer, but what does our economy’s last — oh, I don’t know — few hundred years reflect? How much of our identities are intrinsically tied into our occupational endeavours? Is work the epitome of our cultural values? Is there that much more of a culture of silence around men’s mental health, given our hegemonic ideologies about masculinity? Does reporting on suicide expose and curb paths that lead to them or encourage copycats? What kind of fear is good to have as a journalist? Emotionally, how does communication like texting or typing differ from speaking the words from your mouth?

So. Many. Questions.

They also open up about their own mental health whilst working on a documentary about suicide. Spoiler alert: one starts going to therapy, the other claims to have been going to therapy long before it was cool.

Let’s get deep and have fun about it.

E-book: Mindset: Reporting on Mental Health

http://www.journalismforum.ca/mindset-reporting-on-mental-health

“Digging in the Dirt” on CBC Gem:

https://gem.cbc.ca/media/media/absolutely-canadian/episode-23/38e815a-011a7b71c5b

Cool Things:

Justin’s:

SPJ Code of Ethics

https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Cales’:

Coffee grounds (obvi) but for plants!

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/coffee-grounds-gardening.htm

Theme music by Tessa Good & Petr Balaz

Send your cool things into:

https://anchor.fm/wtnok/message

This interview was recorded on June 4, 2020