The Sunday Edition for September 8, 2019
Listen to this week's episode of The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright
Michael's essay - September Song: "As we watch the leaves turn, as we feel the crisp days and growing chill in the air, as we realize that February is not that far away, we will have September with its memory of gentle winds and its message that winter is a sometime thing; summer is forever."
A planet on the verge of a nervous breakdown? Kashmir, Hong Kong, Iran, Brexit, U.S. politics, the rise of the xenophobic far right across Europe, not to mention the extreme weather unleashed by climate change: Lately, it's seemed as if the world is having a meltdown. British security and geopolitical expert Paul Rogers and renowned Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan have studied global affairs at their most turbulent in the past and present and discuss the current state of geopolitical upheaval and Canada's place is in the world (dis)order that's unfolding now.
A feast for the forgotten ones: Migrant farm workers from the Caribbean and Latin America — people who pick fruit and vegetables on Ontario farms — toil in the blazing sun, but live largely in the shadows. Except when a businesswoman in Leamington, Ont., throws them a party — a feast full of the tastes and sounds of home. Alisa Siegel takes us to that party in her documentary, "The Forgotten Ones".
An award-winning writer faces terminal illness by pursuing beauty: Acclaimed Canadian author Brian Brett says he was born strange. And he seems determined to die on his own terms. After a succession of medical problems and illnesses that would test the faith of Job, and now a grim prognosis, this most singular of Canadian literary figures is doing what great writers do: writing. And stealing flowers.
Canada's new cardinal: Pope Francis named Czech-born Canadian Jesuit priest Michael Czerny a cardinal last weekend. We'll replay an excerpt from Michael Enright's 2015 interview with Czerny about Laudato Si — Francis's encyclical on the environment which Czerny played an instrumental role in drafting.
The legend of Ambrose Small: A salacious Canadian mystery sent Katie Daubs down a very deep rabbit hole. Her new book is called The Missing Millionaire — about Ambrose Small, a Toronto millionaire who disappeared without a trace a century ago, leaving behind a devoutly Catholic wife, a mistress, a disgruntled associate, an unsolved mystery and a cast of characters worthy of rollicking whodunnit.
The underrated joys of a new school year: While many of us mourn the passing of summer, Brian Kellow celebrates the new beginnings that come with September. His essay is called "First Week."