Jay Nordlinger is a senior editor of National Review and music critic of The New Criterion. His podcasts are Q&A and Music for a While.
That is the title of Becky Powell’s new book. She got the title from a country song, written by Darryl Worley and Harley Allen, and recorded by the former. Becky is a friend of Jay’s. Her book is a memoir. One day, she learned that her husband – and the father of their three children – had killed himself. Then she learned that he was $21 million in debt. He had borrowed the money from 90 people. Becky did not have to pay it back. She was not responsible for the debt. But she felt she had to, for her own dignity, and to set an example for the children. How did she get through it all? That is the topic of her book, and you will enjoy hearing her talk with Jay.
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is a legislator from Hong Kong and a democracy leader. She has just given testimony before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva (as an invitee of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization accredited at the U.N.). Chan talks with Jay about the democracy movement in Hong Kong. What does it want? What is its current mood? Who calls the shots in the city, the local government or the Party rulers in Beijing? What about police brutality? What about American flags in the streets? What about the relationship between Hong Kong and Taiwan? How about Chan personally – does she feel like a Hong Konger, like a Chinese woman, or some combination? Jay asks her all this and more. She is a brave woman, Tanya Chan. Earlier this year, she was sentenced to prison, although this sentence was suspended, owing to health: She was operated for a brain tumor. An interesting, candid, and indeed brave woman, in this “Q&A.”
Jay is at the 