Steven Colbert has called him a smarty pants and an egghead. Bard College President Leon Botstein says he’s one of those people who’s easy to make fun of and he’s okay with that. In addition to being the head of an institution of higher learning for the past 45 years, Botstein is the Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra.
He’s probably the best-known documentary filmmaker in this country. His work has been honored with 15 Emmy Awards including one for The Vietnam War, a 10-part series that took Ken Burns more than 10 years to make. He’s always loved history but his subjects go beyond extraordinary events.
When it comes to what she likes to do best, it’s reading, talking about books and wearing flip flops to work at Parnassus, the bookstore she co-owns in Nashville. Ann Patchett is also the author of 8 novels, a memoir, a collection of essays and a children’s book. She says one of the biggest thrills in her life was the moment her friend Tom Hanks agreed to narrate the audio version of her latest best seller “The Dutch House.”
I used to record every episode of “Now What?” in person but life has changed. This time I was in my closet in Woodstock, New York and Nick Kristof was in his study in Westchester. Still, the conversation was intimate as we talked about the dire situation we find ourselves in and what comes next or as the title of this podcast suggests “Now What?”
You know that old saying “May you live in interesting times?” Well, I’m not sure if you’d call the times we’re now living through interesting or just plain horrifying. I think I’ll bypass my tendency to be that glass half-empty kind of person and talk about some good stuff like my interview with Kelly Reichardt. This conversation occurred in person just days before masks, gloves and social distancing took over.
Lili Taylor is one of those actors who can play just about any role. You probably know her from dozens of movies including “Mystic Pizza,” an iconic horror movie called “The Conjuring” and an indy called “I Shot Andy Warhol.” I particularly remember her role as Lisa in “Six Feet Under,” the hippie villain you love to hate. Taylor is also on the board of the Audubon Society and when she isn’t in front of a camera, she’s probably looking for birds.
I went to the TEDWomen conference and heard from people with big ideas who think out of the box including Jane Fonda, Eve Ensler and Pat Mitchell. Mitchell is the mastermind behind this conference that focuses on the power of women and girls to be creators and change makers.
Gail Collins loves digging up facts about the history of women. She says she’s now obsessed with Martha Washington who did everything for George. But it was George’s mother who got all the public praise because George and Martha didn’t have children together. Collins talks about many accomplished women in her book “No Stopping Us Now.”
When Ruth Reichl was the Restaurant Critic of the New York Times, she dressed up in disguises like Chloe the sexy blond and Heddy the bag lady to fool anyone who might recognize her at upscale restaurants like Le Cirque. Reichl has written 8 books about her relationship with food including her latest “Save Me the Plums.”
Judy Collins made her debut as a classical pianist playing a Mozart concerto when she was 13. But folk music stole her heart in the days when Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie were capturing the bohemian spirit. In the 60s and 70s Collins recorded songs by Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Stephen Sondheim.
She's already lived many lifetimes in this one life. 21 years ago, Eve Ensler wrote the ground-breaking theater piece, "The Vagina Monologues," about a woman’s most private parts. She founded a community in the Congo for women who were raped. The first time I spoke to she for “Now What?” she had she won a near-fatal battle with cancer.
She’s an heiress to her grandfather’s fortune. He co-founded the Walt Disney Company. She’s also a philanthropist who has given away more than $70 million. And Abigail Disney is a Twitter queen. Her tweet storm went viral when she called Disney CEO Bob Iger’s $66 million salary “insane.” And expressed her fury about what she calls the poor working conditions and low salaries of the people who take your tickets at Disneyland.
Listen to this truly historic episode of "Now What? which features best selling author Michael Pollan and Timothy Leary. Leary comes to us by way of a 1980 interview I did with him about turning on, tuning in and dropping out.
It’s a subject that’s been on my mind. Older women. They’ve been the target of jokes forever. Now that I’m a little older myself, I’m not so sure I like that. And neither does clinical psychologist and bestselling author Mary Pipher. Pipher wrote a seminal book about adolescent girls called “Reviving Ophelia.” Now, she’s traveled to the other end of the age spectrum with “Women Rowing North.” It’s about flourishing as we age.
He's a big guy in more ways than one. John Fetterman is 6' 8." He got a reputation as America's coolest Mayor when he tried innovative ways to revive the little town of Braddock, Pa. Now Fetterman is the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. Unlike most politicians, he’s isn’t boring. He’s downright inspiring.
Ali Velshi is co-host of the MSNBC show Velshi and Ruhle and anchor of Live with Ali Velshi. He’s also the voice you hear in the Intro to Season 7 of Homeland who says “The mood of the country. It’s not great.” It’s a good thing Velshi has a sense of humor. Stephen Colbert has referred to him as the “business reporter from our hairless, raceless future.”
When it comes to Democrats running for President in 2020, most polls show Joe Biden in the lead. Biden spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate and two terms as Vice President. He’s always been known as a regular guy with the nickname Middle Class Joe.
I didn’t know much about Danny Glover before my friend Eric Werthman got the chance to make a movie with him. Glover has had one of those careers that just keeps going with more than 165 TV projects, plays and movies including “Lethal Weapon” which really put him in the Hollywood orbit.
You probably know him best as Saul Berenson, the CIA operative on the Emmy-award winning series "Homeland.” But Patinkin has had a long career on stage and in film. 30 years ago he starred in “The Princess Bride.” Who could ever forget “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Kathy Hochul. Not exactly a household name. But New York’s Lt. Governor has a higher profile these days now that her boss, Governor Andrew Cuomo is a political star. He put Hochul in charge of re-opening the western part of New York State. Before teaming up with Cuomo, Hochul’s political career was all about men behaving badly.