Cathy’s story on the CBC radio Definitely Not the Opera (DNTO) March 2012

Cathy Stasko grew up knowing that she was adopted. At one point, about 30 years ago, after Cathy had a daughter of her own, she set out to look for her birth mom. An agency tracked her down… and told Cathy that her mother was happy to know that she was well, but couldn’t be in contact with her. So Cathy didn’t get the reunion she was hoping for, but years later, she did get something else…

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Carly Stasko once laughed so hard she cried… and improved her calculus grade. She’ll tell us about the secret power of tears.

Maybe it’s from sadness, or joy, or just because that dog food commercial is really moving. What makes you cry… and what are you saying through your tears?

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It’s hard enough moving yourself. But what if you’re unable to do your own packing and moving – and you have to let someone else do it? Carly Stasko will tell us how being moved by others moved her.

DNTO has kicked off a new season with a very “moving” episode of DNTO, as we look into the fine art of packing up and moving. Why is moving such a moving experience? Jump in the truck and hitch a ride as we find out…

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Years ago, Carly Stasko  wrote an essay on how to be your own superhero for a feminist book anthology. And when Carly went on the book tour, she brought a big tickle-trunk of costumes and gave superhero makeovers to people in each city. Years later, Carly found another way to put her costume to good use… when she became a costumed hero to a friend in need.

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So you’ve just started dating someone very special…. and then your doctor tells you you’re going to have to give up kissing for the next several months. Carly Stasko will tell us why that’s not such a bad thing.

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Carly Stasko was being treated for cancer she had no idea that a phone message would be an integral part of her cure. She’ll tell us her story.

Does the telephone dial in to the “real” you? In this encore presentation of Your DNTO, we look at our best stories (and yours) of using the phone to express yourself.

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Carly Stasko found an interesting way to have conversations with people – she became a “book” as part of the Human Library Project. But it was when she became a “borrower” of another “human book” that she had the conversation that really stayed with her.

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Carly Stasko has a small recording device she wears around her neck.
She takes it with her everywhere, including to her many hospital visits
and chemotherapy treatments. Carly was diagnosed with cancer at 27. She
is dealing with it by keeping an audio diary. Hear her story in “Ring
That Bell” on Outfront, on CBC Radio One.

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