Pets aren't people; Trump voters; Canadian meets stem cell donor who saved her life; Monet's Water Lilies

The debate over how best to give your pet marijuana, is a symptom of a "pet-as-best-friend" culture that has gone too far - Michael's essay:  Here's an excerpt:  "Some vets say there is no evidence that marijuana is an effective treatment for any pet affliction. There is also a real danger of marijuana poisoning. But the idea of pet pot-heads isn't going away."

Trump supporters experience a "secular rapture," says sociologist Arlie Hochschild: Hochschild ventured into the deep red state of Louisiana, one of the poorest in America, to try to understand why so many people intend to vote against their own best interests. She says Donald Trump offers a kind of salvation, promising to "raise people up" to be with him, among the 1% of America's wealthiest. Her latest book is called Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.

Obituary for Ken Wiwa: The Nigerian writer and political activist died on Tuesday at the age of 47. In 1999, he talked to Michael Enright about his plans to return to his homeland to bury his father, environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.

"Dear Jay. I am the person whose life you saved" - an Alisa Siegel documentary: Manjusha Pawagi  is a Toronto judge and mother, whose only chance to beat leukaemia was a stem cell transplant. As a member of the South Asian community, the odds were stacked against her. A world-wide search resulted in just one match. Alisa Siegel's moving documentary is called, "Manjusha Meets Her Match."

The "luminous abyss" of Monet's Water Lilies: At 73 years old, lost in grief at the death of his beloved wife, eyesight misted by cataracts, and on the eve of the First World War, Claude Monet created one of the world's most ambitious and beautiful works of art. Ross King is an award-winning Canadian writer and art historian, whose latest book is called Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies.