Ideas

If you think you've never heard Jerry Granelli play drums — you likely have. Think of a comic strip holiday special and an iconic soundtrack: A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jerry was 22 years old when he became a member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, the jazz band behind the popular 1965 album. His long career was legendary, accompanying many of the greats like Mose Alison, Sly Stone and The Grateful Dead. Producer Mary Lynk was lucky to meet with Jerry on the eve of his 80th birthday for a wide-ranging conversation. The gifted composer and jazz giant died in Halifax in 2021. *This episode originally aired on December 21, 2020.

Handel’s Messiah is one of the best-loved pieces of Christmas music. Only it was meant for Easter. But it draws on far more from the Old Testament than the New. There are more surprising facts about this 18th-century masterpiece that IDEAS explores with Ivars Taurins, founding director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir who has conducted Messiah over 200 times, and veteran CBC Radio broadcaster Robert Harris. In nine movements, they reveal the hidden treasures of Handel’s celebrated work. *This episode originally aired in 2015.

The nativity story that Christians believe is that God took the form of a baby named Jesus who was born to save the world and bring about an enduring peace. So what happened? Did we miss it? And what happens next? These are questions Trappist monk Thomas Merton grappled with in his own meditation on the Christmas story. His version "The Time of The End is the Time of No Room" was published in 1966. At the time he called it a sober statement about the climate of our time, a time of finality and fulfillment.

In an era of political polarization and fatigue from ongoing crises, hope is critical. But it's not something you have; it's something you do, argues education scholar Kari Grain. "Critical hope" in action is not just the belief that transformation is possible — it's necessary. In her book, she explores seven principles for practicing hope that confront toxic positivity, social injustices, and gives anger and grief a seat at the table.Kari Grain is a professor at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Education, where she leads the Masters program in Adult Learning and Global Change Program. She delivered the University of Prince Edward Island’s 2025 Shannon K Murray Lecture on Hope and the Academy.

Indigenous math isn't just about numbers and equations, it involves culture, spirituality and more. Math professor Edward Doolittle, a Mohawk from Six Nations in Ontario, sees math as something embedded in Creation itself. In his Hagey Lecture at the University of Waterloo, he describes Indigenous mathematics as being grounded in cognition, emotion, the physical world and community. Indigenizing math, Doolittle hopes, will make it more approachable and meaningful to Indigenous students — show them how entwined it is with everyday life and something much bigger than ourselves.