IDEAS Schedule for February 16 - 20

Friday, February 13th 2015 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 - Sophie Calle Eleanor Wachtel speaks with French artist Sophie Calle, known for her detective-like explorations of life and love. She secretly followed a stranger to Venice, recording and photographing him. She asked 107 women to analyze a break-up letter she received. And recently she found Istanbul residents who had never seen the ocean, and drove them to the seaside to film the look in their eyes the moment after they encountered the water. Sophie Calle's work is now on show at Montreal's Museum of Contemporary Art. 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. Ideas in the Afternoon - Friday, February 20 at 1:00 pm 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.