At a Distance

Historian and speechwriter Jeff Shesol, author of the new book “Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War,” speaks with us about how the space race of the 1950s and ’60s differs from the space flights of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson happening today, the unresolved questions that fuel power struggles in America, and why the pandemic and the climate crisis are crucial tests of the durability of the country’s democratic system.

Artist Mary Mattingly talks with us about how “Public Water,” her current installation in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, exposes the various forms of the water crisis; the social, political, and economic mechanisms affecting clean water access; and the truths that tracing the origins of an object or a material can reveal.

Forest ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard, author of the new book “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest,” discusses the consciousness of trees; how slow, selective logging can rejuvenate forests; and why being attuned to local ecosystems can lead to a better understanding of global biological communities.

Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the new novel “The Committed,” speaks with us about how the term “the American dream” masks the nation’s colonial history, the importance of distinguishing between identity and ideology, and why the only new aspect of the recent violence and racist rhetoric directed toward Asian Americans is that it’s triggered by Covid-19.

Swiss auctioneer, art dealer, curator, and collector Simon de Pury talks with us about how the pandemic shifted the art market toward increased inclusivity and equality, the NFT phenomenon, and why technology such as blockchain and digital renderings can benefit physical artworks and the institutions that house them.

Peter Adamson, host of the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps podcast and professor of late ancient philosophy and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, discusses stoicism, the dangers of rationalism, and the importance of understanding when to think for ourselves and when to seek expertise.

Neurobiologist, author, and professor Stefano Mancuso, director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Florence, Italy, talks with us about embracing plants as a path toward planetary survival, humans as an invasive species, and why all living organisms deserve rights.

Lili Chopra, the executive director of artistic programs at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, talks with us about the 2021 River to River Festival, the importance of integrating the creative community within a city’s urban fabric, and the role that the arts can play in rebuilding societies and envisioning the future.

Kathryn Garcia, New York City’s former sanitation commissioner and a Democrat currently running in the city’s 2021 mayoral race, discusses innovating by leveraging relationships of trust, holistic thinking as a tool to evolve municipal programs, and her plan to create “the most climate-forward city on earth.”

Nevine Michaan, founder and creator of the Katonah Yoga Center in New York, speaks with us about honing a craft to save one’s soul, the difference between self-care and healing, and how metaphors can provide a means for mutual understanding.