Another Life with Joy Marie Clarkson

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Alexander Raikin discuss euthanasia and eugenics. What has happened in the law and society in Canada since 2016 such that MAID has exploded, becoming one of the most common causes of death there? What is the relationship of national healthcare to this expansion? Alexander Raikin brings in a review of the statistics over the past decade or so.Rosemarie Garland-Thomson then discusses the history of the euthanasia movement, beginning in the late nineteenth century with its connection to eugenics, through its fall into disfavor subsequent to its association with Nazism, through its rise again in the 1970s. What are the different kinds of arguments that have been used, and how can we think about those arguments?Raikin and Thomson then discuss the relationship between voluntary and involuntary euthanasia, and Thomson discusses the particular vulnerability of disabled people to pressure to choose MAID.

Leah Libresco Sargeant writes about Grace Russo and her philosophy of mending clothes with beauty.

Zena Hitz on our time, its value, and how we might spend it if we had more of it.

Stephanie Saldaña writes that though the members of her church have been scattered by war, the church lives on.

Adam Nicolson has been rehabilitating his farm in Sussex for many years now, and he discusses the difficulties and rewards of this, and the piece that he wrote about it for Plough’s issue on repair.They go on to discuss the topics of some of Nicolson’s books: Sissinghurst, the farm and garden owned by Nicolson’s grandmother, Vita Sackville-West; Homer; the pre-Socratic philosophers; and sailing. 

Norman Wirzba writes that our homes and workplaces should nurture and celebrate life.

Adam Nicolson tells of reversing the destructive agricultural damage done to his farm in the past.

Christian Wiman writes that the “if” is what any honest faith looks like in this life.

Zohar Atkins, a poet and rabbi based in New York, dives into the rich meaning of tikkun olam, often interpreted as 'repairing the world'. He and Susannah unravel its origins, exploring how this concept evolved from ancient legal frameworks to a modern call for social justice. Zohar discusses the duality of tikkun olam in Jewish tradition, the shift from temple-centered practices to rabbinic and Kabbalistic thought, and the interplay between activism and mysticism in societal repair efforts.

Carlo Gébler writes that we should try to repair the lives of others, even if things in our own lives seem broken.