He was recently honored by the American Library Association for his work at the Queens Public Library on programs to assist migrants. “Over 200 languages are spoken in Queens,” he says. “We have collections in 50 or so and regularly purchase in about 30.” I struggled to write this paragraph in one. Continue reading »
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
484: Rachel Wax
The gender balance in her profession is disheartening, she says, “It has one of the smallest percentages of women. I mean the ratio is astounding.” U.S. Senator? Catholic priest? Not quite that bad. She is a magician. But things are improving. Produced with KGB Bar’s Red Room. Continue reading »
468: Joshua Jay
This magician had mixed feelings when he figured out how a colleague performed an illusion. “It was no less amazing to me when I knew how it was done, but it was disappointing.” The austere joy of knowledge or the sensuous pleasure of mystery: a magician’s dilemma. Produced with Lori Schwarz for KGB Bar’s Red … Continue reading »
456: Steve Sarowitz
The founder of Paylocity, he is a partner in the Wayfarer Foundation, whose mission is to “advance humankind spiritually toward a future peaceful world civilization.” Dauntingly ambitious. My mission this weekend is to clean my oven, and I won’t. Presented with the New York Baha’i Center. Continue reading »
439: Melissa Bert
When she enrolled at the Academy, she had a limited idea of the Coast Guard’s mission: “They save people and clean off oily ducks.” Since then, she has served from Juneau to Miami and deepened her understanding. She is now Rear Admiral Bert. You live, you learn. Continue reading »
417: Lt. Col. Jordan Becker
He served in the special forces in Iraq, as a defense policy advisor to NATO, and now teaches international relations at West Point, where a woman colleague gently explained male privilege. He got it: “I had this advantage, in that I’m kind of a fat-headed, broad-shouldered man with badges and gadgets.” Continue reading »
Episode 155: Sharon Salzberg
Is meditation fundamentally conservative, a spiritual tranquilizer that helps us accept what we’d do better to oppose? Meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg demurs. Used properly, these techniques can help us gain the clarity and calm to take action. Plus a paean to the Statue of Liberty as a quasi-Hindu deity and anti-Trump emblem. And music from Max … Continue reading »
Episode 94: Garry Kasparov
In 1985, he became the youngest world chess champion in history at the age of 5. OK, he was 22, and it was an extraordinary achievement. He subsequently emerged as a vigorous anti-Putin activist and now heads the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. A conversation on computers, chess, secret codes, and Russian foreign policy. Plus … Continue reading »
Episode 20: Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit entered the consciousness of many New Yorkers on August 7, 1974, when he walked—danced!—on a high wire he’d secretly strung between the towers of the World Trade Center, an incredible feat revisited in the 2008 documentary Man on Wire. Philippe joins Randy to talk about his passion for knots, also captured in his … Continue reading »