The Sunday Magazine for January 17, 2021
This week on The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay:
Joe Biden's monumental task to 'build back better': President-elect Joe Biden has promised to build the United States back "better" after he takes office on Jan. 20. But what exactly does that look like? And how can it be achieved in a country that just saw armed Trump supporters storm the Capitol to protest Biden's election — where racism and deep racial divides persist, and where COVID-19 continues its stranglehold? Chattopadhyay talks to Gabriel Debenedetti, national correspondent for New York Magazine, who has followed the Biden campaign, about the President-elect's promises for the future and how recent events and ongoing divisions might affect them. She also speaks with longtime racial justice activist Barbara Smith about the challenge of overcoming racism and white supremacy in the U.S. And she speaks to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and public health expert who ran for governor of Michigan in 2018, about what needs to be done to pull the U.S. out of the grips of COVID-19, and ensure the health of the nation — and its health system — moving forward.
The lost science and art of breathing rediscovered: We do it 25,000 times a day … and barely even think about it. But there's a lost science and art to breathing, and rediscovering it can do wonders for your physical health, and overall well-being. That's what journalist James Nestor discovered in his deep dive into the science and history of breathing. He talks to Chattopadhyay all about breathing and shares some simple ways to improve yours — a subject that's become even more relevant in the age of COVID-19.
READ: How we breathe has major impacts on our body — James Nestor has recommendations to improve it
Advocating for the return of the steam radiator: When Dan Holohan set out to learn about the history of the steam radiator, he never imagined he'd be advocating for its return. But COVID-19 changed all that. He speaks to Chattopadhyay about what we can learn today from the strange and fascinating story of the radiator, and the fresh air movement that took hold during another great pandemic: the Spanish Flu of 1918.
Postcards from frontline healthcare workers: In a week where COVID-19 cases continue to mount, Quebec remains under curfew and Ontario has imposed a new stay-at-home order. We head to the frontlines, where medical professionals combating the pandemic tell us what they are seeing and how it is affecting them.
