When journalist Sarah DiGregorio’s daughter was born nearly three months prematurely, she was cast into a place—the neonatal intensive care unit—where science, humanity, and ethics collide. Parents, doctors, and nurses wrestle with difficult, sometimes unanswerable questions. When does life begin? When and how should it end? How do we define being human?

As sentiment for a new downtown baseball stadium simmers in Kansas City, Vanity Fair contributing editor Paul Goldberger offers some valuable context. Drawing from his book Ballpark: Baseball in the American City, he tracks the evolution of the sport’s tastes in stadium location and design and why they matter. UMKC associate professor Whitney Terrell joins the discussion.
 

The month’s second Searching the Psyche Through Cinema installment features Francis Ford Coppola’s classic look at life on the outside, The Outsiders (1983; PG; 91 min.). Set in 1950s Tulsa, Oklahoma, it follows the conflict between a group of working-class teens known as the Greasers and the rich-kid Socs (pronounced soches, short for socials).

Drawing from new book Health Justice Now, activist and author Timothy Faust makes the case for a single-payer, government-run healthcare system that assures all Americans of medical coverage. Critics decry the cost. He argues that our country should address healthcare as a human right, paying for it the same way we do for roads and police and fire services.