The Sunday Magazine for January 10, 2021
International law expert Tom Ginsburg on the future of U.S. democracy
After the events at the U.S. Capitol this week, Chattopadhyay speaks with Tom Ginsburg, a scholar of international law and political science and co-author of the 2018 book How to Save a Constitutional Democracy. They discuss what the future might hold for the United States given the current condition of its democratic institutions, what the Trump administration has revealed about the promise of American exceptionalism, and how the United States compares to other democratic nations around the world experiencing an erosion of democracy. Plus, we hear from regular Americans about how this week's events square with *their* version of America.
The downing of PS752 one year later
On January 8, 2020, Ukrainain International Airlines Flight 752 was gunned down by the Iranian military shortly after taking off from Tehran. One hundred and seventy-six people died, including 138 with ties to Canada. One year later, The Sunday Magazine reflects on the tragedy through the eyes of Javad Soleimani, a young man living in Edmonton who lost his wife in the crash. And we look ahead at the legal remedies available for securing answers and accountability with renowned international law expert Payam Akhavan. We also hear from Golsa Golestaneh, a young Iranian-Canadian woman, who shares a poem she wrote about a year of tumult and suffering in her home country, including the downing of PS752.
What makes a 'good mother'? Writer Ashley Audrain explores the dark side of motherhood
It's one of the buzziest books of the year. Chattopadhyay speaks to Ashley Audrain about her debut novel, The Push — a searing look at motherhood told as a psychological thriller. The conversation explores the expectations put on moms, including the ones they put on themselves; what goes wrong when motherhood and womanhood get too entangled; and goes beyond "bad mom" tropes to delve into the things mothers wish they could say — and why we all need to listen when they do say them.
What object sums up YOUR pandemic experience?
It's been another hard week of COVID news … from mounting case numbers to a new curfew in Quebec to continued school closures. But our listeners have given us something different to think about when it comes to the pandemic. Following a conversation last week with a Smithsonian curator grappling with what artifacts to collect to document the time we're in, we put a call out to hear what objects YOU would choose to remember this time by. And your answers were, quite frankly, heartwarming.
