The Sunday Edition for February 17, 2019
How democratic is the United States these days really? — Michael's essay: "The comforting myth is that the Congress and the White House act on the wishes of ordinary Americans. If that were the case, gun ownership would be sharply restricted and there would be a single payer health system, both issues which Americans overwhelmingly support. And of course it will never happen."
'I felt helpless': Teachers call for support amid 'escalating crisis' of classroom violence: Educators say incidents of verbal and physical violence by students targeting staff and fellow classmates are leaving them exhausted — and they're calling on governments and school boards to provide more support.
1979 hostage crisis still shapes America's hostility towards Iran, says former White House aide: On the 40th anniversary of the revolution, we explore how it redrew the geopolitical map, and how that realignment still shapes our world. Michael talks to Gary Sick, who was principal White House aide for Iran at the time of the revolution. Sick is now an adjunct professor of International Affairs and a senior research scholar at Columbia's School of International & Public Affairs. He's the author of All Fall Down: America's Tragic Encounter with Iran.
A look at the psychological phenomenon that makes you cocky in your ignorance — and how we all have it: It's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. When social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger first wrote about it in 1999, it wasn't taken seriously. Now it's seen as a phenomenon that is having a very real impact on world events, from the 2008 financial crisis to the election of Donald Trump. David Dunning, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, is Michael's guest.
Revisiting Austin Clarke's novel about memory, migration and a chance encounter: For our occasional series about Canadian novels that have not had the attention they deserve, poet, playwright and scholar George Elliott Clarke introduces us to a book by the late Austin Clarke. The Origin of Waves describes one night in the lives of two friends, as they recall five decades worth of memories.
A pilgrim's journey: This woman hiked hundreds of kilometres to find peace: Like the hundreds of thousands of others who have walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Margaret Lynch saw herself in a new light. She tells the story of this personal journey of discovery in her essay.
Your reaction to: the untold story of Canada's Black train porters.
Oscar music this week by: Buffy Ste. Marie, Howard Shore, Jackie Washington, Angèle Dubeau, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Mychael Danna and Nat King Cole.