Randy Cohen
@randycohen48.bsky.social
Ex-Ethicist, NYT magazine. Current host, Person Place Thing.
This episode’s guest, ChatGPT, identifies with the library at Alexandria: “I see myself as a modern-day repository of knowledge.” Sounds a bit vain, but who isn’t? Listen: personplacething.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:07 PM
This episode’s guest, ChatGPT, identifies with the library at Alexandria: “I see myself as a modern-day repository of knowledge.” Sounds a bit vain, but who isn’t? Listen: personplacething.org
This episode’s guest is ChatGPT, who (which?) has surprisingly nice things to say about Emily Blunt: “She is indeed a wonderful talent.” She is! Listen: personplacething.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
This episode’s guest is ChatGPT, who (which?) has surprisingly nice things to say about Emily Blunt: “She is indeed a wonderful talent.” She is! Listen: personplacething.org
“it’s physically demanding but rewarding,” says Brian Kelley—not a cheap sex joke, but his work photographing ancient trees in old growth forests. Listen: personplacething.org
November 19, 2025 at 12:44 PM
“it’s physically demanding but rewarding,” says Brian Kelley—not a cheap sex joke, but his work photographing ancient trees in old growth forests. Listen: personplacething.org
“It was an isolated hero image I thought would make a great photograph,” says Brian Kelley. A solider? A firefighter? A bristlecone pine. Hear why: personplacething.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
“It was an isolated hero image I thought would make a great photograph,” says Brian Kelley. A solider? A firefighter? A bristlecone pine. Hear why: personplacething.org
In 40 years leading Evidence, the dance company he founded, Ron Brown faced plenty of obstacles. “They tell you you can’t, but I’m telling you, I’m from New York: yes, you can.” Listen: personplacething.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:47 PM
In 40 years leading Evidence, the dance company he founded, Ron Brown faced plenty of obstacles. “They tell you you can’t, but I’m telling you, I’m from New York: yes, you can.” Listen: personplacething.org
Ron Brown, founder of Evidence, a dance company celebrating its 40th anniversary, is not ready to retire. “You don’t stop; you keep doing what it is you have to do.” Exhausting, in the best possible way. Listen: personplacething.org
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Ron Brown, founder of Evidence, a dance company celebrating its 40th anniversary, is not ready to retire. “You don’t stop; you keep doing what it is you have to do.” Exhausting, in the best possible way. Listen: personplacething.org
There’ve been famous fatal mishaps with stage sets. Has designer Santo Loquasto ever killed a dancer with his sets or costumes? “I didn’t kill them, but they felt I was coming close.” The lively—and deadly—arts. Listen: personplacething.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:50 PM
There’ve been famous fatal mishaps with stage sets. Has designer Santo Loquasto ever killed a dancer with his sets or costumes? “I didn’t kill them, but they felt I was coming close.” The lively—and deadly—arts. Listen: personplacething.org
Every theater troupe has its sensibility, says set and costume designer Santo Loquasto. “Steppenwolf turns out to be an incredibly goyishe company; I didn’t know that.” Listen: personplacething.org
November 4, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Every theater troupe has its sensibility, says set and costume designer Santo Loquasto. “Steppenwolf turns out to be an incredibly goyishe company; I didn’t know that.” Listen: personplacething.org
As students, architects Jessie Reiser and Nanako Umemoto dreaded the teaching methods at Cooper Union. “They weren’t only critiquing the design, they were critiquing your being.” Apparently it’s improved. Listen: personplacething.org
October 29, 2025 at 12:10 PM
As students, architects Jessie Reiser and Nanako Umemoto dreaded the teaching methods at Cooper Union. “They weren’t only critiquing the design, they were critiquing your being.” Apparently it’s improved. Listen: personplacething.org
When architects Jessie Reiser and Nanako Umemoto were students at Cooper Union, there was a designated Crying Staircase. “After you finished talking to teachers, you just ran to it.” Architectural education, old style. Listen: personplacething.org
October 28, 2025 at 12:21 PM
When architects Jessie Reiser and Nanako Umemoto were students at Cooper Union, there was a designated Crying Staircase. “After you finished talking to teachers, you just ran to it.” Architectural education, old style. Listen: personplacething.org
Preservationist Anthony Woods warns: “The effort by the National Parks Service to cleanse their sites of anything that doesn’t tell a wonderful warm story of America is a great threat to history.” Listen: personplacething.org
October 23, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Preservationist Anthony Woods warns: “The effort by the National Parks Service to cleanse their sites of anything that doesn’t tell a wonderful warm story of America is a great threat to history.” Listen: personplacething.org
Preservationist Anthony Woods: “Landmarks law is written not just to protect architecturally significant buildings, but historically and culturally significant buildings.” When big things happen in small buildings. Listen: personplacething.org
October 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Preservationist Anthony Woods: “Landmarks law is written not just to protect architecturally significant buildings, but historically and culturally significant buildings.” When big things happen in small buildings. Listen: personplacething.org
Preservationist Anthony Woods admires Albert Bard, the father of New York’s landmarks protection law, he tells @NYpresArchive.bsky.social.“Bard would be horrified by the state of New York today.” Listen: https://personplacething.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Preservationist Anthony Woods admires Albert Bard, the father of New York’s landmarks protection law, he tells @NYpresArchive.bsky.social.“Bard would be horrified by the state of New York today.” Listen: https://personplacething.org
Playwright Will Power remembers gunplay at the local health food store over raw milk. “Back then, to be a health food person, it was like a kind of a revolutionary type thing.” Listen: personplacething.org
October 16, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Playwright Will Power remembers gunplay at the local health food store over raw milk. “Back then, to be a health food person, it was like a kind of a revolutionary type thing.” Listen: personplacething.org
When playwright Will Power’s grandfather faced a tough decision, he knew who to talk to. “He went to seek the advice of Paul Robeson.” Of course he did. Who wouldn’t? Listen: personplacething.org
October 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM
When playwright Will Power’s grandfather faced a tough decision, he knew who to talk to. “He went to seek the advice of Paul Robeson.” Of course he did. Who wouldn’t? Listen: personplacething.org
Playwright Will Power is both happy and sad that healthy food is increasingly available. “Whole Foods opened on 125th and Lennox. 125th and Lennox! That’s like sacred ground.” Listen: personplacething.org
October 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Playwright Will Power is both happy and sad that healthy food is increasingly available. “Whole Foods opened on 125th and Lennox. 125th and Lennox! That’s like sacred ground.” Listen: personplacething.org
Activist Nilka Martell and her neighbors, amateurs all, have an ingenious plan to cap the vile Cross Bronx Expressway, “We’re so used to hearing no, so alright say no, I’m not going away.” Listen: personplacething.org
October 8, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Activist Nilka Martell and her neighbors, amateurs all, have an ingenious plan to cap the vile Cross Bronx Expressway, “We’re so used to hearing no, so alright say no, I’m not going away.” Listen: personplacething.org
Activist Nilka Martell helped revive the Bronx River. Now she faces her greatest challenge: “the thorn in my side, the Cross Bronx Expressway.” Listen: personplacething.org
October 7, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Activist Nilka Martell helped revive the Bronx River. Now she faces her greatest challenge: “the thorn in my side, the Cross Bronx Expressway.” Listen: personplacething.org
“I don’t necessarily believe that art can be evaluated by beauty/truth,” says M. C. Kinniburgh. Seems pretty good to me, but I’m old and will soon be dead. Listen: personplacething.org
October 2, 2025 at 12:33 PM
“I don’t necessarily believe that art can be evaluated by beauty/truth,” says M. C. Kinniburgh. Seems pretty good to me, but I’m old and will soon be dead. Listen: personplacething.org
“I surf. I am always in the waves. And you can’t surf Hamlet,” says M. C. Kinniburgh, a criticism that dogged Shakespeare throughout his career. Listen: personplacething.org
October 1, 2025 at 12:21 PM
“I surf. I am always in the waves. And you can’t surf Hamlet,” says M. C. Kinniburgh, a criticism that dogged Shakespeare throughout his career. Listen: personplacething.org
Michael McClure read his poems to lions at the San Francisco Zoo, “an incredible exchange of energy across species,” says M. C. Kinniburgh. An exchange of energy across species more often involves one eating the other. Listen: personplacething.org
September 30, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Michael McClure read his poems to lions at the San Francisco Zoo, “an incredible exchange of energy across species,” says M. C. Kinniburgh. An exchange of energy across species more often involves one eating the other. Listen: personplacething.org
Massimo and Lella Vignelli trained as architects but went on to design everything except buildings: maps, type, housewares. “I think of their product designs as an architecture in miniature,” says their son Luca. Listen: personplacething.org
September 25, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Massimo and Lella Vignelli trained as architects but went on to design everything except buildings: maps, type, housewares. “I think of their product designs as an architecture in miniature,” says their son Luca. Listen: personplacething.org
Massimo and Lella Vignelli designed, well, everything—graphics, houseware, furniture. “They were great designers,” says their son Luca, “but they never considered themselves artists.” Hear why: personplacething.org
September 24, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Massimo and Lella Vignelli designed, well, everything—graphics, houseware, furniture. “They were great designers,” says their son Luca, “but they never considered themselves artists.” Hear why: personplacething.org
The @mta.info has revised and reintroduced the glorious 1972 Vignelli subway map. “It was a diagram, it wasn’t a map,” says their son, Luca. He’s right. Listen: https://personplacething.org
September 23, 2025 at 11:58 AM
The @mta.info has revised and reintroduced the glorious 1972 Vignelli subway map. “It was a diagram, it wasn’t a map,” says their son, Luca. He’s right. Listen: https://personplacething.org
Janis Siegel won 10 Grammies with Manhattan Transfer, but she tells @TheVillageTrip.bsky.social,“I was not going to be a singer at all, actually; I was going to be a nurse.” The road taken! Listen: https://personplacething.org
September 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Janis Siegel won 10 Grammies with Manhattan Transfer, but she tells @TheVillageTrip.bsky.social,“I was not going to be a singer at all, actually; I was going to be a nurse.” The road taken! Listen: https://personplacething.org