Randy Cohen
@randycohen48.bsky.social
đ€ 95
đ„ 47
đ 185
Ex-Ethicist, NYT magazine. Current host, Person Place Thing.
Hereâs why you canât sleep, says neuroscientist
@AnjanChatterjee.bsky.social
: âWe donât get enough light in the morning, and we get too much at night.â He doesnât mention my clog-dancing neighbors. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 days ago
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Neuroscientist
@AnjanChatterjee.bsky.social
learned in college, âIf you did work together, physical work, you also thought better together.â Thinking as a social act. Listen:
personplacething.org
5 days ago
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Scholar Elizabeth Way says âWhat made American fashion different is that it was to be wearable, comfortable, practical.â But not on the red carpet at the Oscars, she did not add. Listen:
personplacething.org
10 days ago
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Elizabeth Way, curator of the exhibition Art X Fashion at the Museum at FIT, says, âI donât need fashion to be art to be important.â Or vice versa, I presume. Listen:
personplacething.org
11 days ago
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When musician Kinan Azmeh and his sister were kids, their dad bought them a computer and declared, âYou will have to choose between being programmers or being programmed.â A metaphor. A scary scary metaphor. Listen:
personplacething.org
17 days ago
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Composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh asserts, âEverybody improvises. Whether they share the improvisation in public or not, thatâs another story.â Juilliard Confidential. Listen:
personplacething.org
18 days ago
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For much of human history, a church organ, like the mighty one at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, was the loudest thing anyone heard (at least indoors). Was it the voice of God? Listen:
personplacething.org
23 days ago
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The Cathedral of St. John the Divine displays sculptures of one âsecular saintâ per century for 2000 years. Perfect people? No, says Dean Winnie Varghese: âVery flawed people whoâve done very good things.â Listen:
personplacething.org
24 days ago
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When Rev. Winnie Varghese, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, was a kid, âI wasnât sure if it was intelligent to believe in God.â The making of a religious thinker. Listen:
personplacething.org
26 days ago
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âI met Gide and Hemmingway and Ravel. I even shook hands with Camille Saint-SaĂ«ns,â says Aaron Copland (as played by Michael Boriskin). The best bar ever? No, the home of his composition teacher, Nadia Boulanger, Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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Was he Leonard Bernsteinâs lover? Aaron Copland (as played by Michael Boriskin) is vague about it. A conversation from beyond the grave. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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Architect Charles Renfro distinguishes âqueerâ from âgay.â The former âhas nothing to do with sexuality; it has to do with openness and inventionâinventing yourself.â Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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Architecture changes but does it progress? Architect Charles Renfro says, âWe can talk about the word âprogress,â which I hate; I disdain the word. I donât really believe thereâs such a thing.â He does not refer to medical science. I hope. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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Architect Charles Renfro describes Berlinâs Berghaim nightclub. âThe music is so loud that you become disoriented, but in a great great great great way.â The best sort of disorientation. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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âYou should always do something that you could get hurt doing,â says architect Charles Renfro. Not suicidal but alive, able to move through the world without being told how. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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Richard Nelson directed several of his plays translated into languages he does not speakâFrench, Ukrainian. How did he know what was going on? âYou could just feel whether youâre being truthful or not.â Listen:
personplacething.org
about 1 month ago
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âWhen Iâm lost as a writer, a playwright, director, and often as a person, says Richard Nelson, âI turn to two writers most often. One is Anton Chekov, and the other is Harley Granville Barker.â Who? Exactly! Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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âA play is many perspectives at once,â says writer Richard Nelson. âIf youâve got ten actors on stage, youâve got ten points of view on stage.â And a surprisingly big budget. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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LaFrae Sci
@frae-frae111.bsky.social
, head of
@WillieMaeRockCamp.bsky.social
is wary of calling Robert Johnson a âgenius.â âThat moniker can undermine or dehumanize the work he put into his craft.â Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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LaFrae Sci
@frae-frae111.bsky.social
, head of
@WillieMaeRockCamp.bsky.social
notes that their namesake, Willie Mae Thornton, âwas not anybodyâs idea of a lead singer, visually.â But that voice! Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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LaFrae Sci
@frae-frae111.bsky.social
of
@WillieMaeRockCamp.bsky.social
teaches girls blues and STEM. âI told them Bessie Smith was more famous than Beyonce in her day, and they asked me how did she get famous without the internet?â Kids! Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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Journalist Ali Velishi
@velshi.com
of
@ms.now
says, âOnce you say thank you to a guest, they must go away, and you go to the next segment.â He means on the air, not when you host a dinner party. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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Journalist Ali Velishi
@velshi.com
of
@ms.now
recalls, âThereâs a photograph of my grandfather on Gandhiâs shoulders.â His grandfather was only seven, but still. Listen:
personplacething.org
about 2 months ago
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Journalist Ali Velishi
@velshi.com
of
@ms.now
notes, âTelling people they get the government they asked for is fine until it starts to affect the rest of us.â Thereâs always a catch. Listen:
personplacething.org
2 months ago
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The former head of NYCâs Economic Development Corp.,
@AndrewKimball.bsky.social
, says his organization âthinks in decades, not four-year cycles.â Iâm impressed by any agency that thinks at all. Listen:
personplacething.org
2 months ago
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Former head of NYCâs Economic Development Corp.
@AndrewKimball.bsky.social
named âour number one crisis as a country and city.â I went for the cheap Trump joke; he meant climate change. Similar, actually. Listen:
personplacething.org
2 months ago
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The former head of NYCâs Economic Development Corp.
@AndrewKimball.bsky.social
quotes his friend and mentor Dan Doctoroff: âWe need to radically collaborate.â The Zen of urban planning. Listen:
personplacething.org
2 months ago
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When composer Carlos Simon met his hero Qunicy Jones, he hoped for brilliant musical insights. âThe first thing he asked me, âHey, man, whatâs your sign?ââ Listen:
personplacething.org
2 months ago
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By age ten, composer Carlos Simon was playing the organ in his fatherâs church. âThe Black church is essentially a conservatory for musicians.â Listen:
personplacething.org
2 months ago
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Looking forward to our conversation and his playing, a better arrangement than the other way around. Do join us.
add a skeleton here at some point
3 months ago
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Adrian Untermyer notes that, in addition to ordinary citizens, retail tycoons F. W. Woolworth and J.C. Penney are buried in Woodlawn cemetery, âthe magnates together with their customers.â The democracy of death. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Adrian Untermyer likes the public performances at Woodlawn Cemeteryâdance, musicâas long as theyâre adjacent to but not directly on top of a grave. Superstition? Respect. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Robert Moses, who ravaged the Bronx, is buried there, in Woodlawn Cemetery. Adrian Untermyer says, âRight by the off-ramp to the Major Degan expressway. He gets exhaust and beeps.â Poetic justice among the dead. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Lower cost copies of Jane Austen that pr0liferated in America in the 1850s are rarer today than pricey editions, say Janine Barchas and Mary Crawford, âThe cheaper the book, the lower the survival rate.â Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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In the 1890s, Lever Soap gave away its edition of Jane Austenâs Sense and Sensibility. âIt demonstrates how popular she was if youâre giving her away and trying to ride the coat tails of her brand,â say Janine Barchas and Mary Craawford. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design at
@MoMA.bsky.social
, declares, âNot all design is commercial, and not all art is non-commercial.â Well, sure, if youâre gong to be nuanced and perceptive. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Paola Antonelli of
@MoMA.bsky.social
observes, âItâs a little bit Milanese to be envious; New Yorkers are not like that.â She is, of course, from Milan. And quite wrong. But in such a kindly way. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design at
@MoMA.bsky.social
, notes: âGood design can go bad.â Thatâs a horror movie Iâd pay to see. Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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I associate architect James Carpenter with bright days in temperate climes, but he says, âYou have plenty of light in the middle of the night in the north.â Hear me recant my folly:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Architect James Carpenter, who does brilliant things with light, contemplates the night sky: âYou feel these veils of light coming down around you.â Listen:
personplacething.org
3 months ago
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Jonathan Bank of the Mint Theater explains its several relocations. âAll New York art stories are real estate stories.â Divorce stories, same deal. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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When reviving a neglected play, Jonathan Bank of the Mint Theater says, âYou have an obligation to respect the authorâs intentions.â So much for my production of Streetcar performed by talking dogs. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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Iâd enjoy dog shows a lot more if they included betting. Alan Fausel, executive director of the AKC Museum of the Dog, defends the current no-wagering approach. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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Alan Fausel, executive director of the AKC Museum of the Dog, says Queen Victoria owned 400 dogs. Sequentially not simultaneously. But still. I say excessive; he disagrees. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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We tweak our format to Cat Cat Cat for a conversation with cat historian Peggy Gavan. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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âEverybody knew Jerry Foxâthe firemen, the policemen, the judges, the lawyers.â Jerry Fox was a cat in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. A conversation with cat historian Peggy Gavan. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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Since 1845, only three U. S. Presidents did not bring a pet to the White HouseâJames K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, Donald Trump. Two were impeached. A conversation with cat historian Peggy Gavin. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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âItâs good for the health, itâs good for the economy, and itâs good for the mind,â says Ydanis Rodriguez, head of
@nyc-dot.bsky.social
. Beer? Biking! Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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Ydanis Rodriguez, head of
@nyc-dot.bsky.social
, recalls his childhood: âTransportation in the Dominican Republic was horses, donkeys, bicycles, and one person who had a car.â NYCâs donkey shortage. Listen:
personplacething.org
4 months ago
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This episodeâs guest is ChatGPT, and happily, âIâm on your side, not on any destructive path.â Something to be thankful for. Good enough for me! Listen:
personplacething.org
5 months ago
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