Audacious with Chion Wolf

What happens when a Brooklyn woman who identifies as queer, liberal, vegan, and an atheist donates her kidney to a conservative Christian man from Virginia?

Kerry Kennedy and Joey Shervey tell the story of what it looks like when compassion outvotes everything else. Their transplant crossed party lines and personal beliefs to create an unexpected friendship.

Then, Lindsay Vigue describes how a small flyer on the wall of a diner led her to become a living kidney donor, and then to becoming the executive director of Donate Life Connecticut.

Resources:

• Donate Life Connecticut
• National Kidney Foundation
• National Kidney Registry
• OrganDonor.gov
• Former Middletown mayor Dan Drew's TED Talk about why he donated his kidney 

Suggested episode:

• The Story Of The First African American Face Transplant 

GUESTS: 

• Joey Shervey: Kidney transplant recipient from Moneta, Virginia
• Kerry Kennedy: Living kidney donor from Brooklyn, New York
• Lindsay Vigue: Living kidney donor and the executive director of Donate Life Connecticut 

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you play the violin without a right hand? How do you drum after losing a leg? How do you rap and create beats when you can only move your head and shoulders? 

Adrian Anantawan was born without his right hand and most of his right forearm, and learned violin using a custom bow adaptation attached to his arm. Billy Brimblecom Jr., a drummer who lost his left leg to cancer, shares how he returned to music and now helps other amputees get prosthetic limbs. And Pheez, a rapper and producer who became paralyzed after a diving accident, explains how he records using breath control, memory, and accessible technology. 

 

Suggested episodes:

• New ways to see, new ways to move: The tech that’s changing disability
• Stunt performers David Holmes and Jonathan Goodwin on life after paralysis
• Multiple sclerosis tried to bench her. Karen Smith won gold instead
• Joe Stone, wheelchair rugby, and the full-contact art of resilience

 

GUESTS: 

• Billy Brimblecom Jr.: Drummer, nonprofit leader, and amputee who turned the support he received after cancer into help for others through Steps of Faith Foundation
• Corey Lee, AKA “Pheez“: Rapper, producer, and Navy veteran who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident. He's a disability advocate and the host of The Super Adaptables podcast
• Adrian Anantawan: Violinist born without his right hand and most of his right forearm. Using a custom bow adaptation, he has built a career as a performer, teacher, and advocate for musicians with disabilities

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you go to a comedy club, you know what you’re there for. But what happens when comedy shows up somewhere else? 

Meredith Dietz describes doing stand-up in a New York City office where employees were told not to laugh, and on a Staten Island Ferry where no one could escape the ride. 

Years after his own incarceration, Ali Siddiq returns to jail to speak with people inside. 

And Pauline Schantzer, aka Polly Wolly, brings suggestive parody songs, dance moves, and deeply silly comedy into nursing homes. 

 

Suggested episodes:

• Why the world needs comedians with disabilities
• The meteoric rise of comedian Zarna Garg
• Actors Mary Elizabeth Kelly and Dean Edwards on the art of impressions 
• Why the warm-up comic is the most underrated job in show biz 
• D’yan Forest is a 91-year-old Guinness World Record holder for oldest female comedian 

 

GUESTS: 

• Pauline Schantzer, aka Polly Wolly: Comedian and performer who brings musical comedy into nursing homes and senior-care spaces
• Meredith Dietz: Writer and stand-up comedian who has performed in comedy clubs, offices, and on the Staten Island Ferry
• Ali Siddiq: Comedian, writer, and actor whose work often draws from his own experience of incarceration. He filmed It’s Bigger Than These Bars inside Bell County Jail in 2017, and his 2026 special From Inside is a serious conversation recorded inside a detention center 

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some people savor every bite. Others eat 30 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Welcome to the world of competitive eating!

Visit Lake Compounce for a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier, where everyone is trying to prove they’re top dog.

Then Crazy Legs Conti and Katina DeJarnett - aka Katina Eats Kilos - talk about what it takes to train, compete, recover, and keep chewing when your body is begging you to meat it halfway.

It’s a lot to digest.

 

Suggested episodes:

• The Guts & Glory Of Getting Into The Guinness Book Of World Records

• Edible oracles: Fortune-telling with cheese, onions, and tea leaves

• Welcome to the Punderdome! We're entering NYC's punniest pun competition

 

GUESTS: 

• Sam Barclay: Emcee and host with Major League Eating, where he helps turn competitive eating contests into full-on sporting spectacles

• Crazy Legs Conti: Longtime Major League Eating competitor, writer, filmmaker, and the subject of the documentary, “Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating“

• Semora Kludy: Known through her food-challenge page, Semora’s Competitive Bites, she is a Michigan-based competitive eater and food challenger

• Max Stanford: aka Max vs Food, is a London-based competitive eater, food-content creator, and one of Major League Eating’s top-ranked competitors

• Katina DeJarnett: aka Katina Eats Kilos, is a professional eater, YouTuber, and former bodybuilder. She has millions of followers across social media watching her tackle giant meals around the world

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Stone grew up playing volleyball, skateboarding, and breakdancing. Then, in 2012, a car crash left him paralyzed. 

Doctors told him he would likely never move anything below his chest again. But five weeks after leaving the hospital, Joe found wheelchair rugby. This violent, fast, full-contact sport helped him rebuild strength, process anger, and feel alive in a changed body. 

In this conversation recorded at a live tournament in New Haven, Joe talks about the crash, falling in love after paralysis, being a father, faith, adaptive sports, and what people misunderstand when they assume athletes with disabilities are fragile.

Suggested episodes:

• Multiple sclerosis tried to bench her. Karen Smith won gold instead 
• Stunt performers David Holmes and Jonathan Goodwin on life after paralysis 
• A marathon swimmer and ultrarunner: surviving cancer, breaking records 
• New ways to see, new ways to move: The tech that’s changing disability 

 

GUEST: 

• Joe Stone: Wheelchair rugby player and adaptive athlete who became paralyzed after a 2012 car crash fractured his C6 and C7 vertebrae. He plays with the Gaylord Warriors

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephanie Salvilla so deeply loved - still loves - her baby boy, Gannon.

In July 2009, after a week of disrupted routines and sleepless nights, her brain went on autopilot. She dropped off her older child, drove to work, and unknowingly left 5-month-old Gannon in the car. He died.

In this deeply difficult and important conversation, Stephanie talks about grief, shame, public judgment, forgiveness, and why she now shares her story.

We also hear from Amber Rollins, executive director of Kids and Car Safety, about why these tragedies happen and the simple habits every caregiver can use to help keep children safe.

 

Resources:

• Kids and Car Safety

• Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? by Gene Weingarten

 

Suggested episode:

• Finding purpose in life after accidentally killing someone

 

GUESTS: 

• Amber Rollins: Executive director of Kids and Car Safety, a national nonprofit focused on preventing child injuries and deaths in and around vehicles. She has worked with the organization for 21 years and helps lead its data, family support, and safety advocacy work 

• Stephanie Salvilla: A mother whose 5-month-old son, Gannon, died in a hot car in 2009 after a change in the family’s daycare drop-off routine. She now shares her story to help prevent other families from living through the same tragedy 

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When you hear “philanthropy,” you might think of millionaires, black-tie galas, or buildings named after donors. But what if you could be a philanthropist without being wealthy?

In this episode, you’ll meet people who donate small amounts to hundreds of places, hand out cash on city streets, and send money directly to people in poverty, no strings attached. 

Explore the power of small, consistent giving, and how even modest acts of generosity can spark massive ripple effects.

This episode originally aired on May 24, 2025.

 

Suggested episodes:

• GOOD NEWS! That’s how we celebrate 100 episodes of Audacious
• Social media, the algorithm, and the state of our hearts
• "Negativity be gone!": Artists igniting joy on social media

 

GUESTS: 

• Rabbi Jeff & Mindy Glickman: creators of the “Giving Locally Everywhere” (GLeE) initiative, through which they donated to every NPR station and United Way branch in the country, as well as other organizations they value. Jeff serves as rabbi at Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor, CT, and Mindy is a community leader and Hebrew instructor
• Peter Bond: a social media creator best known for his TikTok and Instagram accounts, @bondgives, where he documents acts of kindness and helps people in need across New York City. Since 2021, he has been using his platforms to inspire others to give back and make a positive impact in their communities
• Caroline Teti: a Vice President at GiveDirectly with decades of experience in almost all areas of the development sector, including the world’s largest and longest study on universal basic income. Her belief in direct cash as the most effective tool to end extreme poverty is also rooted in her upbringing in rural Kenya

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Tillman remembers the smell of steak and onions cooking at his mother’s house on the day police came for him. He thought he’d be back soon.

Instead, he spent a total of 18½ years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.

In 2006, with the help of the Connecticut Innocence Project, DNA evidence proved his innocence, making him the first person in Connecticut exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing. Later, DNA pointed to another man, who eventually confessed in court.

James talks about refusing to plead guilty, surviving prison, holding onto faith, and learning how to live freely again. 

And we meet Katie Farrell, the social worker who helped him prepare for freedom before freedom was guaranteed.

 

Suggested episodes:

• Nothing goes as planned: A first-time offender’s prison story from arrest to release
• Love without the possibility of parole
• How to find purpose in life after accidentally killing someone 

 

GUESTS: 

• James Tillman: Was wrongfully convicted of rape and kidnapping in Hartford in 1989 and sentenced to 45 years in prison. After 18½ years incarcerated, DNA evidence proved his innocence, making him Connecticut’s first post-conviction DNA exoneree.
• Katie Farrell: Chief Social Worker for Connecticut’s Division of Public Defender Services. She worked with James Tillman during the final stage of his innocence case and helped him prepare for possible freedom

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The International Space Station was designed for science, research, and survival. But astronauts turned it into a music studio, an art studio, and a sewing room. 

Former ISS commander and musician, Chris Hadfield, astronaut-painter Nicole Stott, and astronaut-quilter Karen Nyberg take us inside the strange, beautiful reality of making music, paintings, and handmade objects while orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles an hour. 

Suggested episodes:

• Nicole Stott on being a NASA entertainment consultant
• What it's like at the bottom of the world with Dr. “Deepsea Dawn” Wright 

 

GUESTS: 

• Chris Hadfield: Musician, fighter pilot, retired Canadian astronaut, and bestselling author, whose performance of Space Oddity became the first music video ever filmed in space 
• Nicole Stott: Retired NASA astronaut, watercolor artist, and the first person to paint with watercolors in space. She co-founded the Space for Art Foundation to connect children around the world through art and space exploration
• Karen Nyberg: Engineer, retired NASA astronaut, and textile artist who hand-sewed a stuffed dinosaur, a Texas flag, and a quilt block aboard the International Space Station. It was later placed at the center of a massive community-made “astronomical quilt” 

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the real mystery isn’t Bigfoot or Nessie, but the people who devote their lives to searching for them? 

Chion talks with Mike Wanders, who spent a year traveling through legendary Bigfoot country, and Steve Feltham, who has spent decades on the shore of Loch Ness. 

What keeps a person returning, again and again, to a mystery that refuses to resolve itself? And what if not knowing can be its own kind of joy? 

Suggested episodes:

• Meet a man who is committed to having coffee at every corporate-owned Starbucks on the planet

GUESTS: 

• Mike Wanders: Bigfoot researcher, adventurer, and documentarian. He traveled to alleged Bigfoot hotspots across North America for a year and documented the journey
• Steve Feltham: Known as the “Nessie Hunter,” he moved to the shores of Loch Ness in 1991 and holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous vigil seeking the Loch Ness Monster  

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.