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Advertorial South Oakville Hearing & Audiology Clinic owner/ audiologist Gaby Lesniak. How to wear a face mask and hearing aids Face masks are now required in all public places in Ontario to help stop the spread of Coronavirus. This makes communication extremely difficult for people with hearing loss, especially in situations with a lot of background noise like the grocery store, outdoor patios, and even some doctors' of- fices. In addition to the com- munication challenges that people with a hearing loss face, those who wear hearing aids are also having trouble putting on and taking off their masks without their hearing aid flipping off. Here are some tips and tricks to be able to communi- cate effectively while wearing a mask, and to reduce the risk of your hear- ing aids falling off: • Use a mask holder. These keep the ear loops of the mask away from your ears • Fabric ties may work better than the elas- tic ties if you can tie them together at the back of your head • If you need to remove your mask, do it carefully and slowly with intention. Once the mask is removed immediately check behind your ear for your hearing aid • If you are having trouble hearing others behind a plexiglass barrier or behind their mask, ask them to speak slowly not louder, your hearing aids will help with the volume How to communicate better if you don't wear hearing aids: • Ask the person to speak slowly and clearly, not more loudly. Yelling will not help, but slowing the rate of speech helps with speech clarity - Face the person you want to hear (while maintaining a re- sponsible physical distance) - If you are having significant challenges and are not a hear- ing aid user, go to see your local audiologist and have a hearing test. You may have a hearing loss that makes listening even more difficult now that lip reading is not an option. Hearing aids help tremendously. For more information about communica- tion strategies during COVID-19, or would like to book an appointment for a hearing test, call South Oakville Hearing & Audiol- ogy Clinic at 905-842-1702 or send an email to info@southoakvillehearing.com. Content provided by Gaby Lesniak, reg- istered audiologist and owner of South Oakville Hearing & Audiology Clinic. Mask holders are helpful. Photos by Graham Paine/Torstar I know a predator when I see one A predator in the animal kingdom is defined as an animal that kills or eats other animals for food. The most successful predators are not necessarily the biggest and the strongest. They are the ones with the sharpest predatory instincts. They are fast. They have heightened senses. They have good camoflage. They can attack without their prey ever sensing that they are in danger. Richard Heinberg has studied predators. Human groups have "preyed" upon one anoth- er via two main pathways--intragroup and intergroup--that have often intersected or run parallel. Members of a complex society can "prey" upon other members of the same society via slavery (including sex slavery and debt slav- ery), caste, class, taxes, rents, crime, and debt; on the other hand, one society can "prey" upon a different society through raid, invasion, plunder, conquest, colonization, or (again) debt. Humans have been predators or scaven- gers throughout our evolutionary history, in that we are animals that eat other animals. But as we humans have come to harvest more and more of Earth's productivity, we have become, in effect, "super-predators." Life in the Boomer Lane has read countless descriptions of Donald Trump. He is obese. He has an orange face and a hairstyle that defies the laws of physics. He has an extremely lim- ited vocabulary. Both his written and verbal communications are indicative of someone who has not fully mastered the English lan- guage. He has a non-existant attention span. He has little ability to conceptualize. He is a child. He is incapable of empathy. He is evil. He is thin-skinned. He is vindictive. He is a bully and a womanizer and a narcissist and a fool. What he makes up for in all these failings is his instinct for predatory behaviour. It is an instinct that has allowed him to survive and thrive in a real estate business that he doesn't actually under- stand very well. He doesn't need to. He only needs to decide what is best for him and to then be the scariest person in the room, someone with good lawyers at his disposal, who hurls threats that he may or may not follow through. You don't want to take the chance. As president, he doesn't have to under- stand the Constitution or how our govern- ment works. He doesn't have to know our history. He doesn't have to read daily briefings or listen to advice. He doesn't have to under- stand that others countries share the planet with him. He only has to decide what is best for him and to then be the scariest person in the room, someone with good lawyers and a vast military at his disposal., who hurls threats that he may or may not follow through on. Nobody wants to take the chance. The country is his stalking ground. The population is his prey. There is no part of the country or of its people that serves any other purpose for him. His vision is quite simple: to stalk, to consume, to continue to feed his hunger. He differs only in one respect from a traditional predator. He demands that his prey adore him and be grateful for being consumed. Kamala Harris knows a predator when she sees one. Many others do, as well. Let us hope that, come November, enough people make the decision to be something other than Donald Trump's prey. Musings of a former hula hoop champion. 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