The Sunday Edition for November 10, 2019
Listen to this week's episode of The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright
Michael's essay on crime, punishment and where the incarcerated can find dignity: "We deprive people of their liberty and send them to jail AS punishment, not FOR punishment. Like every closed community — whether a seminary, an army unit or a police force — the idea of incarceration is to break down one's individuality."
"A prehistory of the present": Ben Lerner has been described as "one of the most ambitious, innovative and timely writers of our day." His new novel, The Topeka School, is perhaps his most dazzling yet — an exploration of masculinity and whiteness in Trump's America, how to raise children well, and the devolution of public debate and civic discourse into a vicious martial art. Lerner joins Michael Enright for a wide-ranging conversation about the peculiar cultural and social temper of the times and how we got here.
Canadian women who helped win the Second World War: Molly Lamb, Joan Bamford Fletcher and Willa "The Wing" Walker are not household names. But they're just three of the countless Canadian women — from munitions workers to code breakers to field nurses -- who helped make the Second World War winnable. Stacey Barker is a historian with the Canadian War Museum who has been collecting and writing the stories of Canadian women's crucial contributions to the war effort.
Human rights lawyer says Israel violates international law with impunity: The historic conflict between Israel and Palestinians is evolving not just on the streets of Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank. Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American law professor at Rutgers University and the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine, says it is also a war of words that is being fought and won by Israel on the international stage. She argues that Israel has violated international law repeatedly without facing any consequences.
Classical music in Millhaven: A Canadian charitable organization called Looking at the Stars takes classical music into Canadian prisons — an hour or two of respite and reflection for the inmates, and a reminder of their dignity and humanity. Last month, Looking at the Stars presented a concert by three world-class musicians at Canada's most notorious maximum-security prison, Millhaven Institution. Michael and The Sunday Edition crew were there to produce a special hour of music and conversations with the musicians and inmates.
Mail: Dementia and Medical assistance in dying.
Music this week by: Profofiev, Schubert, Tony Quarrington, Pinchas Zukerman, Steven Isserlis, Alexander Kastalsky, Beethoven, Max Bruch, Johan Halvorsen, Handel, Astor Piazzolla, Haydn.