Lana Turner
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
This Harlem fashion icon owns more than 600 hats. “There were times I would leave my house, get down the hill, and recognize it’s the wrong hat.” She’d turn around and march back up that hill, with the dedication of a true artist. Harlem, history, and hats. Produced with the Maysles Documentary Center. Music: Warner Meadows.
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Anjan Chatterjee
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
His research on the neuroscience of aesthetics suggests that people crave the human touch. “If they think something is made by a person, they like it more; if they think it’s made by a machine they don’t like it.” He does not mention Twinkies. Or the late Joan Rivers. Presented with the Viñoly Foundation. Music: Rupert Boyd, Laura Metcalf.
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Elizabeth Way
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
This scholar says, “What made American fashion different is that it was to be wearable, comfortable, practical.” But not on the red carpet at the Oscars, she did not add. We spoke in conjunction with her exhibition Art X Fashion currently at the Museum at FIT. Music: Stephanie Jenkins.
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Kinan Azmeh
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
I'm reluctant to declare an artist a success or failure. This Syrian-born composer and clarinetist has a better characterization: doing well. “Staying true to what I wanted to do, and leading a fulfilled artistic life.” And he does. Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts.
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Rev. Winnie Varghese
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is an Episcopal church and more, says its Dean. “I have Jewish, Hindu, Muslim friends who pray here, because it feels like a holy place.” My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations, said Jesus, quoting Isaiah, quoting God. Music: Daniel Ficarri.
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the late Aaron Copland
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
As portrayed by Michael Boriskin, director of Copland House. “I decided from the time I was in my mid-twenties that there was no such thing as a rival or a competitor, that we were all colleagues.” So modest, and yet so dead. A conversation from beyond the grave. Sort of. Music: Siwoo Kim, Alexis Pia Gerlach, Michael Boriskin.
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Charles Renfro
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
Can architecture be witty? At that scale? At those prices? This architect ponders. “It can certainly be smart, and it can do unexpected things, which doesn’t necessarily make it witty. That might make it clever,” he says wittily. Presented with the Center for Architecture. Music: Hubby Jenkins.
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Richard Nelson
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
This playwright directed his When the Hurly Burly’s Done in Kyiv. “It’s about six young women putting on a play in the middle of a war, to be performed by six young women putting on this play in the middle of a war.” There was an opening-night air raid. Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts.
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LaFrae Sci
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
The leader of the Willie Mae Rock Camp describes a device she uses to teach girls about blues and STEM: “It is a collision of culture and technology and future possibilities.” One of those robot vacuum cleaners? Her electronic banjo. Electronic Banjo! Music: Thea King.
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Ali Velshi
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen
“There are only two reasons to be a journalist,” says this one, “To bear witness—to see things that your viewers or readers or listeners can’t see themselves—and then to use that to hold power to account.” No mention of the food in the greenroom. Austere! Presented with the Hunter College Office of the Arts. Music: Ashley Jackson.
info_outlineIn 1972, his parents, Massimo and Lella, designed a map of the New York subway system. Many people hated it. I loved it. (I have one framed on my living room wall.) The MTA soon withdrew it. Now it’s back, slightly revised. Good news in bleak times.