With the new year on the horizon, it’s time to reflect on some of our favourite pieces that appeared in print over the past 12 months. 2024 had it all: unforgettable escapes to Iceland and Peru, interviews with entertainment legends Francis Ford Coppola and Kiefer Sutherland, a look at the latest in AI and biohacking, and Carolyn Abraham’s in-depth series of stories on aging and mental capacity. So, to celebrate the year in print, we look back at 10 of our favourite Zoomer magazine stories of 2024.
A Perfect Storm (December 2024/January 2025)
By Carolyn Abraham
With elderly Canadians living longer than ever, a historic transfer of generational wealth hangs in limbo, leading families across the country to embark on legal fights over both inheritances and their parents’ cognitive abilities. Carolyn Abraham traces one family’s story in the first of a series on the struggle to judge mental capacity in Canadian seniors.
QUOTE: Linda has seen her mother [Nina] only once since the court case wrapped up in 2021. “Last March, I went, out of the blue, with a friend who knocked on her suite door, in case Susan was there, but she wasn’t. My mom was so happy to see me, she hugged me and said she had missed me. My friend took pictures and videos of us and I told my mom I would come back to see her again the next week.”
The following week when Linda arrived, however, retirement home staff told her Nina had once again barred her from visiting.
Irwin Cotler: Why He Stands (December 2023/January 2024)
In conversation with Moses Znaimer
ZoomerMedia founder and CEO Moses Znaimer sat down with former justice minister (and his onetime McGill classmate) Irwin Cotler in the wake of the October 7th attacks in Israel. Cotler, an international human rights champion who was recently targeted in a foiled Iranian assassination plot, discusses the rise of anti-semitism and his involvement in Israel-Palestine peace talks.
QUOTE: I believe the optimism comes from looking at the history, as Martin Luther King Jr. said. Sixty years ago, I was at that famous “I have a dream” speech. I was there as a young law student, because they invited whoever was the editor-in-chief of The McGill Daily and I was the editor. I was a guest of Martin Luther King Jr’s family. I can still hear [gospel singer] Mahalia Jackson saying, “Martin, believe, if that kind of leadership anchors the community of democracies, we will bend that arc towards justice.
Golf Under The Midnight Sun (October/November 2024)
By Jordan Heath-Rawlings
Rarely do envy and sympathy cross paths, but they will as you read about this idyllic Icelandic golf getaway. In this feature, Heath-Rawlings finds himself at the mercy of the elements as Keilir Golf Club proves jaw-dropping beauty sometimes comes at a price (on the scorecard, at least).
QUOTE: The black, solid lava rocks surround every fairway and protect most of the greens on the front side. It’s one thing to stand on a tee and see long grass or bushes to the left and right off the fairway. It’s quite another to see any wayward shots stray into the lava, which has holes and fissures that can swallow balls, and crevices that are impossible to recover from. “You just try,” says Agusston, “to play the shots you know you can hit straight.”
The Frontiers of Aging Well (June/July 2024)
By Sharon Oosthoek
The fountain of youth may be a myth, but Sharon Oosthoek’s dive into the burgeoning field of geroscience shows how far some will go to stay young. In this piece, we read about the cutting edge of biohacking, the study of “SuperAgers” and research into preventing Alzheimer’s.
QUOTE: Big Silicon Valley players have jumped into the hopeful, and at times wacky, biotech market. American tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, 46, who wants to be 18 again, reportedly spends $2 million a year to de-age his body. His biohacking routine includes stem-cell injections to try to rejuvenate his joints, but last year he stopped plasma infusions from young donors because he saw no benefit.
Lost Boy Found (August/September 2024)
By Brian D. Johnson
This spring, we sat down with Kiefer Sutherland, son of Canadian acting legend Donald Sutherland, for the cover story of our Style issue. The 24 star offered a rare glimpse into his fascinating life as he reinvents himself again in his third act. And as a bonus, Canadian rock legend Bryan Adams photographed Sutherland for the issue.
QUOTE: But not forever. After a decade of saving the world as Jack Bauer in TV’s 24, Sutherland has found an equilibrium. With nothing to prove and the power to say no, he can tack between choice roles in TV and film, while pursuing new challenges off-screen. He takes pleasure in the art of the skill, whether it’s recording a song or deboning a fish. A Renaissance dude and a grandpa, he rolls from farm to table, at home on the range in his country kitchen.
Finding Real Madrid (August/September 2024)
By Katherine Ashenburg
Veteran globetrotter and travel writer Katherine Ashenburg, 79, walked the streets of Madrid solo and immediately felt at home surrounded by gorgeous architecture and ample history. Read her tales of taking it slow and enjoying the wonderful food and welcoming people in the historic Spanish capital.
QUOTE: In the mornings, along with my coffee, I drank in the views of my street’s rowhouses, restrained lemon-yellow residences whose black balconies were as close as wrought iron could come to lace. Wherever I walked in Madrid, the buildings, from the neo-classic gravitas of the Plaza Mayor to the over-the-top flourishes along the Gran Via, were a delight.
Letter From Law School (April/May 2024)
By Rebecca Field Jager
Rebecca Field Jager’s reflection on entering law school at age 63 provides fascinating insight to how the post-secondary experience has changed since she started her undergraduate degree in 1986. Equal parts funny and touching, and carrying a curiosity that jumps off the page, Field Jager’s account is enough to inspire any student, young or older.
QUOTE: Should post-secondary and grad schools have a cut-off age? Unlike the focused young women who wow me every day in the classroom, law school wasn’t even on my radar when I was in my 20s. Did I selfishly set down my doily on too coveted a spot, or was the universe patient and held my place?
(A)I, Robot (December 2023/January 2024)
By Anne O’Hagan
It often feels like artificial intelligence is becoming present in every aspect of our lives. In this feature, Anne O’Hagan explores how seniors are utilizing AI to combat aging, loneliness and a host of other issues, and ponders: How much is too much?
QUOTE: Now that a computer that educates itself is no longer a purely fictional scenario, my own ruminations about how AI could make my job obsolete can quickly spiral into a crisis. Are creative people just overly sensitive, or is it as basic as what University of Toronto philosophy professor and pundit Mark Kingwell wrote in the Globe and Mail in February 2023? “We humans are chagrined at being so easily mimicked.”
Apocalypse Again: Francis Ford Coppola (October/November 2024)
By Radheyan Simonpillai
Francis Ford Coppola, 85, is no stranger to adversity. And with his self-funded blockbuster, Megalopolis, mired in controversy and mixed reviews, the Oscar-winning director was right at home amidst the chaos. Radheyan Simonpillai’s interview with Coppola is revealing and sensitive, showing all sides of the complicated artist.
QUOTE: There’s a tenderness in Coppola’s voice throughout our conversation that grows even softer as he both confesses his regrets and remembers his happiest moments with his wife, specifically breakfast conversations, enriched by her work and creativity. “I learned so much from her and miss her terribly. I have no one like that in my life. I wish that I had done it better.”
Welcome to the Jungle (April/May 2024)
By Antonia Whyatt
Zoomer Deputy Editor Antonia Whyatt lands in Peru to face her fears (which include spiders) and experience one of nature’s greatest wonders: the Amazon Rainforest. In the end, crossing paths with snakes, mosquitos and spiders was a small price to pay for the astounding beauty that she discovered there.
QUOTE: Strangely, despite the oversized arachnids surrounding me, I felt calm when I returned to my cabin. Now that I had seen the tarantulas and had a sense of their place in the ecosystem, I was able to replace fear with understand-ing. As much as I was wowed during the day by the vibrant macaws, golden-crested hoatzin, blue morpho butterflies, capuchin and spider monkeys leaping through the canopy, the intimacy of the night walk and watching the tarantulas shifted my perception of the creepier parts of nature.
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