Schedule

Monday, February 2
THE ENRIGHT FILES - James Baldwin & Ralph Ellison
Michael Enright, host of The Sunday Edition, talks with Bill T. Jones and Timothy Parrish about two of the past century's greatest African-American writers, James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison. Their writing is as resonant now as when it inspired civil rights activists five decades ago. 

Tuesday, February 3
DARK POWERS: Camille Paglia
Cultural historian Camille Paglia explores some of Shakespeare's hard-to-like women characters, from King Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. A grand tour through ideas about art, education and myth -- and how art teaches us how to live.

Wednesday, February 4
THE TROUBLE WITH TOLERANCE, Part 2
We rant, we debate, and we're full of opinions:  is Canada too tolerant for its own good? Should we tolerate intolerant people? What are the limits to tolerance? In this three-part IDEAS Classic from 2007, philosopher Michael Blake, mediator Genevieve Chornenki,  filmmaker Sunny Yi and IDEAS Producer Sara Wolch, tackle the nature and meaning of tolerance in our diverse and seemingly tolerant society. Part 3 airs Wednesday, February 11.

Thursday, February 5
DEATH BECOMES US, Part 3
Burying the dead can be hazardous to our health. Every year, across North America, enough embalming fluid is used to fill a swimming pool, and enough metal to build another Golden Gate Bridge. Cremation can be toxic too, creating vapours from mercury fillings and hip implants. Against this backdrop, IDEAS producer Mary O'Connell concludes her three-part series with a look at the burgeoning green burial movement and its message of de-corporatizing death.

Friday, February 6
IDEAS FROM THE TRENCHES  - OUT OF HABIT
There are 50,000 PhD candidates in Canada, toiling away on things their friends and families often don't understand. Part of our continuing series turning a young scholar's work into radio, Tom Howell and Nicola Luksic meet Kristin Rodier -- a newly minted philosophy PhD at the University of Alberta. She studies how we think about habit. Habits are normally understood as either virtue or vice, but as a philosopher she looks at what happens when those habits are disrupted with an eye to social change.

Monday, February 9
CHRIS HEDGES: WAR IS A DRUG
As a correspondent for The New York Times - and other publications - activist and ordained Presbyterian Minister Christopher Hedges has covered wars all over the world. In 2002, he shared a Pulitzer Prize for his work on global terrorism. The author of 14 books, he's no stranger to controversy, having once been escorted off stage while delivering a commencement address. In the fall of 2014, Christopher Hedges gave a lecture at Ryerson University in Toronto, and later joined Paul Kennedy in conversation.

Tuesday, February 10
THE COMEBACK
In the wake of the Idle No More protest movement, John Ralston Saul decided to write a book about Canada's difficult relationship with the First Nations. In it, he argues that they are now poised to reclaim a central place in Canadian affairs. Paul Kennedy explores the thesis with Saul and Hayden King of Ryerson University. 

Wednesday, February 11
THE TROUBLE WITH TOLERANCE, Part 3
We rant, we debate, and we're full of opinions:  Is Canada too tolerant for its own good? Should we tolerate intolerant people? What are the limits to tolerance? In this three-part IDEAS Classic from 2007, philosopher Michael Blake, mediator Genevieve Chornenki,  filmmaker Sunny Yi and IDEAS Producer Sara Wolch, tackle the nature and meaning of tolerance in our diverse and seemingly tolerant society.

Thursday, February 12
OYSTERS
In anticipation of St. Valentine's Day, Paul Kennedy dusts off an old chestnut of a documentary, and contemplates the most "sympathetically unselfish" of all the bivalves, and the single aphrodisiac that is generally believed to work -- the humble oyster.

Friday, February 13
THE END OF THE DIAL
Newspapers, publishing and the recording industry may all be in deep trouble from online media. But pronouncements about the death of radio are premature. Contributor Garth Mullins believes we're witnessing the dawning of a radio renaissance.

Monday, February 16
AGING BY THE BOOK
Baby boomers are identified with youth culture. So who do they think they are when they get old? The answer may be in their stories, the ones they tell and the ones they share. Ottawa librarian Wendy Robbins looks at the growing popularity of a narrative approach to aging, even for individuals with dementia.

Tuesday, February 17
WACHTEL ON THE ARTS
A monthly IDEAS feature with CBC Radio's celebrated arts journalist Eleanor Wachtel. Each month, she takes an in-depth look at what's new, exciting and important in film, opera, the visual arts, theatre, dance and architecture.


Wednesday, February 18
THE WONDER OF THE WORLD: Frederick II, Part 1
He was a monarch like no other: he was a poet, a lover of science, and in his court multicultural collaboration and innovation were a matter of policy. Muslim, Jewish and Christians courtiers formed what some historians have claimed was the first modern bureaucracy -- some have even called him the first European leader. Damiano Pietropaolo situates the life of Frederick II in his own day and highlights his achievements against the backdrop of an increasingly fragile and fractious Europe in our own day. Part 2 airs Wednesday, February 25.

Thursday, February 19
ALLISON`S BRAIN
In 2011, Allison Woyiwada -- a retired music teacher  -- was told that she had a giant brain aneurysm. After surgery, she experienced severe cognitive and physical defects. But then  she began a programme of music therapy: this is the remarkable story of her brain's recovery.

Friday, February 20
MOSES ZNAIMER`S IDEACITY CONFERENCE - Inside Ourselves
ideacity is a three-day gathering of minds held each June in Toronto, produced and presented by Moses Znaimer. IDEAS features highlights from the conference. In this episode: speakers peer deep inside us, examining DNA and organ-banking, and where biology goes. For more information about ideacity and future conferences, visit the ideacity website.

Monday, February 23
YOU ARE HERE
...but how do you know exactly where you are?  And then how do you know how to get from there...to somewhere else?  Dave Redel explores new ideas about why some people are wizards at navigation, while others get completely l

Tuesday, February 24
WHO WROTE SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS?
Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, conducts the trial of the century. An all-star cast of lawyers (and a few actors) examine the evidence about the Man from Stratford. It's an age-old question: did Shakespeare write the plays he's credited for? And if not him -- then who?

Wednesday, February 25
THE WONDER OF THE WORLD: Frederick II,Part 2
He was a monarch like no other: he was a poet, a lover of science, and in his court multicultural collaboration and innovation were a matter of policy. Muslim, Jewish and Christians courtiers formed what some historians have claimed was the first modern bureaucracy -- others have even called him the first European leader. Damiano Pietropaolo situates the life of Frederick II in his own day and highlights his achievements against the backdrop of an increasingly fragile and fractious Europe in our own day.

Thursday, February 26
CONSENT TO HARM, Part 2
"Yes means yes. No means no."  Giving consent seems straightforward. But what we're allowed to consent to is actually deeply fraught territory. And it gets especially fraught when the question of sex enters the equation. The general rule of thumb under the eyes of the law is that a person cannot consent to harm. IDEAS producer Nicola Luksic meets with two women who challenge that understanding. Brazen is a sex worker who sometimes participates in BDSM with her clients, and Andrea Zanin is a BDSM educator who describes how consent can be negotiated.

Friday, February 27
MOSES ZNAIMER`S IDEACITY CONFERENCE - Extending Ourselves
ideacity is a three-day gathering of minds held each June in Toronto, produced and presented by Moses Znaimer. IDEAS features highlights from the conference. In this episode: Higher, faster, stronger, and more daring. Speakers wonder just what are our physical limits. For more information about ideacity and future conferences, visit the ideacity website.