The Sunday Edition for May 17, 2020
Listen to this week's episode with host Michael Enright:
A COVID-19 confinement chronicle: week nine — Michael's essay: "There is a parallel pandemic to COVID-19 across the country — a growing plague of violence against women trapped in homes with an abusive men."
Charles Taylor on what the pandemic has revealed about us and the path forward: Canada's most renowned philosopher has seen it all — he's lived through most of the major transformative events of the last century. And yet, he still describes himself as "hopelessly optimistic." Charles Taylor speaks with Michael Enright about some of the big questions the pandemic has raised about the future and the way we live now — and how he finds reasons for hope in the social solidarity Canadians have shown, and the potential for shaking off our old dogmas and routines.
A new appreciation for freedom and privilege: Day after day in lockdown can feel suffocating — or make a person feel like climbing the walls and fantasize about sneaking out for some now-illicit pleasures, like meeting a group of friends for a drink. But our COVID-19 incarceration inspired Vancouverite Tara McGuire to think about the abundant freedoms she's taken for granted that others have never enjoyed. Her essay is called "On Living in Captivity."
Music from balconies bridging communities: In mid-March, there was a big Orthodox Jewish wedding in a Montreal hotel. Within days it had led to an outbreak of COVID-19, and the community had become a coronavirus hotspot. This had the potential to further divide them from their neighbours. But then the traditionally insular Hasids began reaching out and some of their neighbours — including singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright — began reaching back. David Gutnick's documentary is called "At The Root of Everyone."
How the pandemic has laid bare food insecurity: A lot of things are hard to take for granted after two months of pandemic — and one of them is food: what we eat, where it comes from, and how we get it. It's also laid bare how intricate, interwoven and vulnerable to disruption and sudden change our food systems are. Gisèle Yasmeen, Executive Director of Food Secure Canada — a national alliance of organizations and individuals working to improve food security — discusses how the pandemic has revealed the weaknesses of our food systems, on both global and national levels.
A Winnipeg mom on life without the joys of baseball: Tracy Turner has always been passionate about softball. She played the game right through to her early 30s and now coaches her teenage daughter's team, while her teenage son is an ump for younger children. In a time of physical distancing, she's hopeful that softball players will be back on the diamond at some point this year, but she thinks they'll be playing a different kind of game.
1-across and 2-down — the history and mysteries of the crossword puzzle: What do Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, the Indigo Girls and Sir John Gielgud have in common with Michael Enright? They are all cruciverbalists — people who love wordplay and crossword puzzles. Michael speaks with Adrienne Raphel, the author of Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them.
How Little Richard shook and rattled rock and roll: Little Richard, who died on May 9, 2020 at 87, was a chameleon and musical shapeshifter in his long, colourful life. When rock and roll was in its infancy, though, Little Richard was a supernova — magnetic, subversive and explosive. York University musicologist and Grammy Award-winning music writer Rob Bowman talks about the man, his music and the enormous impact he had on popular culture.
