Lea DeLaria is a witty jazz singer, an astute comedian, an admired actor (Orange is the New Black). DeLaria tells us about Carol Burnett and her work.

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.

Writer Colum McCann of "Let the Great World Spin" and "American Mother" advocates the radical act of talking to our adversaries: “We do not need to love each other, we do not even need to like each other—although we hope that we could—but we absolutely need to understand each other.” McCann tells us about Diane Foley and Café Singer.

Just after Gordon Davis’ team rebuilt Central Park’s Sheep Meadow, it turned completely brown. Why “How do I know I’m not an arborist. I’m not a horticulturalist. I can’t tell an elm from an oak. That wasn’t my job.” His job was Parks Commissioner, and he was great at it. Davis tells us about Geoff Howard and The Sheep Meadow.

Singer, violinist, winner of a Latin Grammy Mireya Ramo also founded Flor de Toloache, an all-woman mariachi band. Ramos tells us about Mercedes Sosa and her violin.

Two generations of Joffrey Ballet. Denise Jackson began as an apprentice in 1968 and soon became a principal dancer. When she retired, New York City declared Denise Jackson Day. Ashley Wheater joined the company in 1985 and was named artistic director in 2007. They’re both overdue for a ticker-tape parade and both on the show this week to tell us about rehearsals, Robert Joffrey and a 1956 station wagon.

At 96, Muriel Fox, author of "The Women’s Revolution: How We Changed Your Life," declares, “After thousands of years when women were in servitude to men, we changed it. I hope we’re going to have a woman president. I take some credit for that.” Fox tells us about her person: Betty Friedan; her place: her senior community and her thing: her computer.

As a boy conductor Peter Oundjian loved family summers in Spain. “It was a beautiful place to practice undisturbed and a fantastic place to play soccer, because soccer was my great love, violin and soccer. And then we discovered water skiing.” Mozart, same way: violin, soccer, water skiing. The making of a musician.

Esther Adhiambo, a Kenyan activist is adept at working with her adversaries. “You have to keep pushing, and getting friends, allies, sue some people when you have to.” Adhiambo tells us about Kenya, her Monstera plant and her mother.

When graphic designer Natasha Jen worked at Sony Music the handwriting was already on the wall, the tiny, tiny wall: “It was no longer LPs; it was CDs. The canvass kept shrinking.” And now with digital music, there’s no canvas at all. “It’s not the end of the world; it’s a different paradigm.” Produced with the Center for Architecture.