Poet, theologian, and host of the On Being Studios podcast “Poetry Unbound” Pádraig Ó Tuama, enjoys a particular pencil but is not a fanatic: “I use anything to get the idea down. I have written with pens and pencils; I have written on the back of sick bags on airplanes.” Computers. Cellphones. No crayon, but he’s not above it.

President of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Adrian Benepe is proud that it is a treasure for the entire city and even prouder of its ties to its local community: “The neighborhood is deep into us, and we’re deep into the neighborhood.” Benepe tells us about Gordon Davis, a cove along the Hudson and a child’s rake.

Conductor Ian Niederhoffer says “Music has the unique power to transport its audiences to a time that no longer exists.”

Writer David Leonhardt of “The Morning” newsletter for “The New York Times” and author of “Ours Was the Shining Future” admires A. Philip Randolph, who personified this idea: “Collective action around labor and workers is the most powerful vehicle for changing this country.”

Right now we’re seeing the waning moon, the moon lit up on its left side. When you notice a moon in the blue sky in the morning, that's always the waning moon. And speaking of day sky, though it surprises a lot of people, the moon appears in the daytime just as much as it’s out at night. Tune in to see where the moon is located in the sky.

Journalist Joan Kron has covered plastic surgery for decades: “I believe everybody is free to do what they want with their body.” Incidentally, she’s just turned 96 and looks fabulous.

Former Manhattan borough historian Michael Miscione admires the enormously accomplished, nearly forgotten, 19th century New Yorker, Andrew H. Green: “He is often compared to Robert Moses. In a favorable way.” Miscione also talks to us about his high school and an alligator.

As a young actor Peter Riegert (Local Hero, Crossing Delancey, Animal House) played Goldberg in The Birthday Party, overseen by Harold Pinter himself. One speech was particularly opaque. “I had no idea what it meant, but to say these words was to be Isaac Stern on the violin.” Learning to trust the writer

Interior designer Kia Weatherspoon has worked on many low-income housing projects. Sometimes her clients resist: “You’re making it too nice for these people; these people will tear it up.” Bringing good design to “these people.”

Israeli-American architect Eran Chen likes buildings, of course, but it’s the spaces between buildings that he loves. “It’s a blur between public and private, it’s a stage, it’s sort of an in-between territory, a threshold to the city, a place of in-between.”