Margo Jefferson talks about her new memoir, “Constructing a Nervous System.” Her earlier memoir, “Negroland,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award -- and before that she won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism for her work as book and arts critic for the New York Times. She also has written for The Nation.

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Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson won’t be seated on the Supreme Court until late June, but we’re still thinking about the significance of her confirmation as America’s first Black female supreme court justice and of that horrible confirmation hearing she endured. Michele Goodwin comments--she’s Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine, and a contributor to The Nation.

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What if voting was a duty, not just a right? An obligation, something like jury duty? E.J. Dionne and Miles Rapoport explain; their new book is “100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting.”

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Monday April 4 is the Day Of Action to Abolish Student Debt, when thousands of young people will gather in Washington D.C.  to say "Pick Up the Pen, Joe" -- and abolish student debt via executive action. Astra Taylor will explain; she’s co-founder of the Debt Collective. 

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The dangers (and the benefits) of antidepressants: P.E. Moskowitz talks about the science, and about personal experiences. Their report, “Breaking Off My Chemical Romance,” is featured in the magazine’s special issue on drugs.

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The changing politics of comic books, from WWII to today: critic J. Hoberman explains how comics served as wartime propaganda in the 1940s, how they were condemned as causing juvenile delinquency in the 1950s, how new kinds of superheroes emerged and then conquered Hollywood, and made billions for the studios--at a time when America was definitely NOT a superhero in the world.

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What the Democrats have done wrong--and what they’ve done right; not just last week, but in the last century. Historian Michael Kazin explains; his new book is “What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party.”

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Our constitution is not good. It urgently needs to be re-imagined if we want justice and equality for all.” That’s what Elie Mystal, The Nation’s justice correspondent, says in his new book, “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.”

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One of our heroes died on Monday: Paul Farmer, who brought high-quality health care to some of the poorest people in the world – starting in Haiti. Amy Wilentz was a friend of his – she talks about his work and his life.

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Hunter S. Thompson, the man who invented “Gonzo journalism,” wrote the classic book about Nixon, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, ‘72.” Peter Richardson explains how he did it - his new book is “Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson.”

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