Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen

The new president of Hunter College is a champion of "social infrastructure," describing it as "A public good. Everybody uses it, nobody owns it." Libraries, schools, parks, or, in a decent society, healthcare. That's nostalgia! Or hope. Music: Ryan Keberle, Chris Swan, Christopher Panchame, Yuka Kameda.

"Isaac Bashevis Singer called my mother the Sherlock Holmes of Yiddish songs," says Zalmen. His family heritage and Steven's splendid singing were big factors in the triumph of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish. Presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

"My life was a bit like the plot of Auntie Mame," says this actor, writer, and drag legend. He's got stories about Linda Lavin, Christopher Isherwood, Lily Tomlin, Angela Landsbury, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich. Plus, he sings. Accompanist: Jono Mainelli. Produced with 54 Below.

He led an expedition down Mongolia's Selenge River, described in his book Rowing to Baikal. "To me the river is like a god, a god that I can be in conversation with. I feel like it's alive. I don't always understand it, but I don't understand God either." A conversation at the Explorers Club.

In addition to being a much-admired writer, she owns Parnassus Books, in Nashville. "Because I own a bookstore, I get a copy of just about every book that comes out. It's like being pelted to death with books." Like that Shirley Jackson story but more ironic. The author of Bel Canto, on friendship, fathers, writing, and reading.

This movie and TV writer—he created Monk—loves his local public radio station in Jersey City. "If you tune into WFMU, and you don't like what you hear, just wait five minutes: you'll hear something much worse." Love expresses itself perversely, but it's love. Music: Billygoat—Michelle Segre, Jennifer Sirey, Kat Lewis.

Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and a staff writer for The New Yorker, he says, "When people ask what I think is the foundational institution of democracy, I always say: 'the public library.'" Enjoy it while we've got it. And what's left of our democracy.

To be a great architect—or painter or poet or almost anything—do you need a great patron? "Certainly that helps, but then you have to bring the talent and vision and invention," she says. Oh, well, then, never mind. We spoke at the Louis Armstrong Center, a building they designed. Produced with Open House New York. Music: Valerie and Ben Turner.

This political scientist sees a crisis of legitimacy. "When 90% of Americans believe there ought to be universal background checks on guns, and nothing happens, you begin to wonder if your vote matters." Happily, he has ways to make our democracy more democratic. Unhappily, they won't be enacted. We're all pessimists now. (All = me.) Produced with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. Music: Pete Rushefsky, Lisa Gutkin.

This architect, celebrated for repurposing the Domino Sugar Refinery, says that his young colleagues are eager to address the great issues of the day, "as opposed to designing spaceships in the sand built by slaves." If that's not the title of his next book, fire the editor. Produced with the Center for Architecture. Music: Mamie Minch.