The Sunday Edition for September 22, 2019
Listen to this week's episode of The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright
Michael's essay - Can capitalism reform itself? "Adam Smith, the father of capitalism and inventor of 'the invisible hand' didn't just write The Wealth of Nations. In A Theory of Moral Sentiments, he went beyond economic self-interest and talked about conscience, moral judgment and virtue in recognizing the common good."
The irrepressible Jamaican-Canadian poet/teacher/performer Miss Lou: Louise "Miss Lou" Bennett recorded music, hosted radio and television programs, published books and taught folklore. She spent the last 20 years of her life in Canada, where she helped inspire generations of Caribbean-Canadians. Michael's guest is Nadia L. Hohn – a teacher, writer and author of a new children's book, A Likkle Miss Lou, to mark the 100th anniversary of Miss Lou's birth.
The frustrations, conundrums and joys of raising a "weird" kid: It's hard enough figuring out how to parent children who have come to be known as neurodiverse. The behaviours can be troubling and hard to fathom and so can the shifting labels. This is the complicated world that Emelia Symington Fedy inhabits, where labels close doors – and open them. Her essay is called "All the Little Weirdos."
Triathlons and doing good for others keep her on the run: Rachel Lapierre is an endurance athlete who tries to squeeze training sessions for half-Ironman triathlons into her busy, busy days. But her most impressive feat of endurance is running a volunteer organization called Le Book Humanitaire that helps people who find themselves in very difficult situations in the hardscrabble Quebec community of St-Jerome. David Gutnick's documentary is called "What Makes Rachel Run."
Tribute to Graeme Gibson: He was a great lover of birds and words. A conservationist, a literary activist, and quite simply, a lovely guy. Graeme Gibson died on Wednesday, and we'll hear Michael's conversation with him about one of the books for which he was beloved The Bedside Book of Beasts.
How three farmers frame election issues: People have strong opinions about food, but they don't always know where it comes from – and you can forgive farmers if they find that frustrating. Michael speaks with three Canadian farmers about the urban-rural divide in this country and the election issues that matter most to them, such as international trade, the economy, the environment and carbon taxes. And what they'd like us, the consumers of their food, to consider when we cast our votes.
Taking astronomy to the streets: Oh, the things you can see from the streets of Montreal – craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter. That is, if you're lucky enough to be strolling past Trevor Kjorlien, when he's offering people free glimpses of the cosmos through his telescope, set up on one of the city's street corners. A documentary by Craig Desson.