The Sunday Edition for February 23, 2020
Listen to this week's episode with host Michael Enright:
Canada's prisons are not supposed to be nursing homes, hospices or general hospitals — Michael's essay: "If someone has been incarcerated for 40 years or more and is pushing 80, is sick, and is not a threat to the community, it makes little sense to keep that person behind bars. He or she has been punished enough … Older, sick inmates who are not a threat to anybody should be able to spend their last days in community settings, or palliative care facilities."
Can Canada find a housing solution for its homeless — these advocates think so: There are all kinds of reasons why people become homeless. At the bottom of it, though, they can't afford a place to live. As part of The Sunday Edition's continuing coverage of homelessness, Michael Enright speaks with three Canadians who are doing something about it. Jennifer Breakspear is Executive Director of "SARA for Women Society," a non-profit in the Fraser Valley that provides housing to women and children fleeing violence. Dave Howard is president of the Homes for Heroes Foundation, which builds tiny homes for veterans in Calgary. And Abi Bond is Executive Director of Toronto's Housing Secretariat.
The rude awakening: is this what a mid-life crisis feels like? The question Peggy Lee famously asked in song underlies what has come to be known as the midlife crisis. She has an answer for it: Then let's keep dancing. Emelia Symington Fedy knows well the sense of wondering, shock, struggling and defiant celebration in the face of it all. Her essay is called "The Rude Awakening".
Is AI overhyped? Researchers weigh in on technology's promise and problems: The hype is huge around artificial intelligence. That it will revolutionize our health care, solve humanity's biggest problems, and give us unlimited leisure and pleasure. In his documentary, "As If It Was Magic", Ira Basen looks at the potential economic and human cost of high tech overpromising.
Sunday School: The Great Vowel Shift (Reprise): There often seems to be little rhyme or reason to the relationship between spelling and pronunciation in English. For example "aisle", "isle" and "I'll" are all pronounced the same way. The underlying reason is the Great Vowel Shift. In this repeat of our Sunday School series from 2013, University of Toronto linguistics professor Jack Chambers describes how the Great Vowel Shift decoupled spelling and pronunciation over the course of several centuries.
How standardized patients are helping a new generation of doctors by acting out ailments: The health care system is full of unsung heroes, but standardized patients may be among the most obscure. These are medical role players who pretend to have certain ailments, diseases, life histories and personality types so doctors in training can practice dealing with real people in real situations. Three standardized patients — Penny Tucker and Fred Hoeber in Edmonton and Laura Ellis in Hamilton, Ontario — talk about their work and some of their most memorable roles.
Mail: Stewart Phillip, Mark Carney
Music this week by: Peggy Lee, Maurice Ravel, David Bowie, Durand Jones, Laila Biali, Joshua Bell, J.S.Bach, Chick Corea, Alison Young, The Canadian Brass and Hank Williams.