Nicole Schmidt

Aug 8, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Nicole Schmidt

“Play this video at my funeral,” says the ninety-four-year-old Lillian Droniak while enthusiastically addressing her some 14 million TikTok followers, who know her simply as Grandma Droniak. What comes next isn’t sappy or sentimental but outright hysterical. “Don’t be sad,” she continues. “I slayed every day, and now I’m going to lay every day. I hope you slay while I decay.” Droniak later clarifies that she’s not dying—at least not yet—but, at her age, she says it’s good to be prepared.

Dec 6, 2023 | thewalrus.ca | Nicole Schmidt

Ali Lytle started on birth control when she was fifteen years old. As far as her gynecologist was concerned, teenagers had to avoid pregnancy at all costs. The first contraceptive Lytle tried, an injection called Depo-Provera, gave her splitting headaches nearly every day. Then there was the weight gain. In just a year, she put on seventy pounds.

Nov 16, 2023 | broadview.org | Nicole Schmidt

In my family, we joke that my grandpa, Albert Kniesz, is like a cat with nine lives. At 92, he says that by now he’s used up eight of them. I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents growing up. Most of my memories of Albert are set in his shop behind the house he lived in with my grandma in Brunner, Ont., up until he was 90. He had a knack for antique automobiles and spent five years restoring a 1948 Mercury Coupe from a rusty skeleton to a shiny, life-sized toy car.

Sep 20, 2023 | thewalrus.ca | Nicole Schmidt

For more than a decade, the American paint manufacturer Benjamin Moore has selected a “colour of the year” in an attempt to capture the spirit of what’s trending in interior design. Take a look back at the last few winners and you’ll see some similarities: 2022’s “October Mist” is a quietly minty green; “First Light,” from 2020, is beige with the faintest hint of blush pink; and 2019’s “Metropolitan” is essentially a glorified grey.

Aug 24, 2023 | glamour.com | Nicole Schmidt

It was the best nude I’d taken to date. I changed into some of my favorite lingerie—a black, strappy set with lace trim and crotchless panties—and propped my phone up against a stack of books. After 45 minutes of rolling around half naked on the floor like a contemporary dancer giving the performance of a lifetime, I had my shot. I was lying on my back, my body stretched into a long T with my nipples peeking out of my low-cut bralette. Satisfied, I sent it to the guy I was dating at the time.