Interview with Shawn MacDonell
Podcasts,Portrait
Shawn MacDonell grew up when computers were gaining popularity in the home and the Internet had not yet extended beyond military and academic circles. It was a time when guidance counsellors and aptitude tests pointed high school students like sheep toward computer science degrees.
That didn’t cut it for Shawn. He abandoned that path after taking his first few steps and, somewhat accidentally, he developed a program to teach children how to read. With baseballs.
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- Interview with Shawn MacDonell (blog)
This episode of Electric Sky is published as part of the Canadian National Day of Podcasting, initiated by the Canadian Podcast Buffet to bring dusty old podcasts out for a shine for a one-day reunion-like festival on December 1, 2010. Somehow it became an annual event.
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Come on! The publication of this interview is LONG overdue. I originally recorded it on August 24, 2009, just six days before my wife (
I grew up with a romantic view of radio pirates; ordinary people using public airwaves to build communities from locations offshore, from basement studios and from mobile transmitters in the backs of vans. As passionate as I am about radio, I never knew pirate radio had a Canadian scene.
I’ve often heard people say they’re fighting or they’ve beaten cancer. It was a shift in my thinking when, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, my wife talked about healing and being a survivor.
One of my favourite lessons taught by
A new all-ages book by historian and author, Hugh Brewster, explores the valour and determination of the Canadian forces as one problem after another stacked against them for the raid on German forces at Dieppe. His book includes details on the planning and execution of the raid, as well as the incredible stories of survival of Canadian soldiers that became German prisoners — several of whom escaped through (patiently) hand dug tunnels.
We tend to be myopic when we face challenges — it’s much more comfortable to focus inwards. Leaders are no exception. So, when leaders talk about thinking out of the box, they should be first in line.
It’s amazing who you can meet in a park during your child’s soccer game. I was introduced to Stephen Gritt on one such occasion last summer by someone who knew that Stephen would make a great guest for Electric Sky. They were right.




