Audacious with Chion Wolf

Imagine you’re at the beach, taking in the scenery, breathing in the fresh ocean air, when the sun hits something floating in the water just right… It’s a bottle! With a message inside that looks totally intact!Meet people who’ve found - and gotten back - their messages in bottles, and hear about one that was thrown from the Titanic.

GUESTS: 

• Stefanie Marco Lantz, Lana & Tommy Simmons: The Simmons family received a message in a bottle as a donation at their thrift store in Statesville, NC. They tracked down its owner, Stefanie, in West Hartford, Connecticut. She had tossed her message in a bottle into the water near Martha’s Vineyard, MA back in 1982 when she was nine years old
• Eric and Melanie Dahl: Parents of Brian Dahl, who sent off a message in a bottle when he was 12 years old in 1989. He died in 2007, and his bottle was found in 2022
• Jack Walsh: General Manager at Cobh Heritage Centre in County Cork, Ireland. In their collection, they have a message in a bottle written by Jeremiah Burke that was thrown from the Titanic on its doomed voyage

Jessica Severin de Martinez and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, with help from our interns, Jacob Gannon and Taylor Doyle. This episode originally aired October 28, 2022.

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When we talk about people getting struck by lightning, we don’t often think, “wait, what does that really do to a person?”

A lightning strike expert talks about the physical and psychological effects of lightning hitting the human body, and tells us exactly what to do when a storm is coming.

Then, meet one woman whose personality and body changed forever, and one man who, after his near-death experience getting hit, became obsessed with the piano.

GUESTS: 

• Dr. Mary Ann Cooper: Emergency physician and international expert in lightning injuries and lightning injury prevention. She is the co-author of Reducing Lightning Injuries Worldwide
• Shana Turner: Lightning strike survivor and special education teacher in Fayetteville, North Carolina
• Tony Cicoria: After getting struck by lightning in 1994, became obsessed with piano music. An original composition had been forming in his head since his near-death experience with the lightning bolt, called “Opus I: Lightning Sonata”. He recorded it in 2008

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In 2000, Sigrid Wade began writing to people on death row to express her solidarity against that kind of punishment; she never thought she’d end up marrying one of them and having a child. But that’s exactly what happened between her and Alan Wade.

Meet a sociologist who studies relationships like theirs, and hear directly from Sigrid and Alan about love, family, worthiness, and trust.

GUESTS: 

• Megan Comfort: Senior research sociologist in Research Triangle Institute’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity. She is also affiliated faculty in the Division of Prevention Science at the University of California, San Francisco, and she works with the non-profit, UnCommon Law
• Sigrid Wade: Originally from France, now living in Florida, she met Alan Wade in 2014 via a pen pal program when he was on death row. They have been married for seven years, and they have a three year-old son. She's the co-founder of Wire of Hope's Prison Pen Pal Program
• Alan Wade: Currently serving life without the possibility of parole in a Florida prison

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When you know you’re months, maybe weeks away from your own death, what do you most want people to know?

As the first in a series of conversations with people near the end of their lives, we get to know David Meyers. He’s a physician who was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2018. Hear his reflections on life, love, and what really matters.

An extended version of this conversation is available in your podcast feed.

GUEST: 

• Dr. David Meyers: A physician living in the Washington, DC area. He is currently in hospice after being diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2018

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This is a special extended version of my conversation with Dr. David Meyers.

After five years of living with glioblastoma, a brain tumor, he is nearing the end of his life. He talks about what matters most to him, gives advice for those of us who aren't so willing to ponder death deeply, and shares how he wants to be remembered.

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What if, for as long as you can remember, you’ve strongly felt as though one of your healthy limbs just doesn't belong? You’ve always wished it could be amputated.

You aren’t the only person with this feeling, but you would be one of fewer than 400 documented cases of body integrity dysphoria (BID) or body integrity identity disorder (BIID) in the world.

Meet a man with BID, who, after years of struggling with his bodily identity, traveled to Asia to have his left leg under the knee amputated.

Hear how he’s felt since the surgery, and meet a bioethicist and moral philosopher who has pondered the origin and ethics of this rare condition.

GUESTS: 

• Dr. Richard B. Gibson: A bioethicist and moral philosopher currently at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His thesis was about the ethics of elective amputations, specifically for body integrity identity disorder (BIID)
• Dan: A Wyoming man with BIID who had his left leg amputated below the knee in 2009, and started the BIID support group, “Fighting It”

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Beatboxing is so cool! Not only do you have portable access to a full drum set, but also to trumpets, guitars, turntables, and whatever else your body can imitate! It’s a fine art that is fully embodied.

Meet three beatboxers: One of the first on the scene to develop the craft, another who uses it to connect to herself and the rest of the world, and one 12 year-old who is making waves on beatbox competition stages.

GUESTS: 

• Rahzel Manely Brown: Legendary beatboxer, former member of the Roots, and educator
• Gus Mcafoos and his mom, Deaneal: Gus is a 12 year-old beatboxer from Missouri who discovered beatboxing for himself during the pandemic
• Kaila Mullady: Two-time World Beatboxing Champion, worked with Lin Manuel Miranda’s freestyle rap group “Freestyle Love Supreme”, teaches beatboxing workshops, developed a program with the Academy of Noise to use beatboxing as a form of speech therapy

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All children are special. All twins are special! And these twins are especially… special!

On this episode, meet twins who:

-Were conceived 30 years ago and only born last year
-Were born on each side of the millennium
-Survived separation surgery in 2004
-Are, at six years old, still conjoined at the sternum

GUESTS: 

• Rachel and Philip Ridgeway: Parents to twins from embryos frozen 30 years ago. Lydia and Timothy Ridgeway were born on Oct 31, 2022 from embryos frozen on April 22, 1992. They live outside Portland, OR with their four other siblings
• Julie, Jacob and Jordan Wallman: Julie is the mother of twins, Jacob and Jordan, who were born in Indianapolis, IN, on each side of the millennium: December 31, 1999 (Jacob) and January 1, 2000 (Jordan).
• Erin and Jade Buckles: Born in Woodbridge, VA as conjoined twins on Feb 26, 2004, connected from mid-chest to navel, sharing a pericardium — a sac around the heart — diaphragm, and liver. They underwent separation surgery on June 19, 2004, which left Erin paralyzed from the chest down
• Callie, Carter and Chelsea Torres: Chelsea is the mother of 6-year-old conjoined twins, Callie and Carter. They are joined at the sternum, share vital organs, and each have one leg. They joined us from Blackfoot, IN

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Last time, we did an episode about dominants in the world of BDSM and kink, and now? It’s time for the submissives to take center-stage.

Learn the difference between “submissive” and “slave”, and four people’s interpretations of what it means to obey, serve, and play.

GUESTS: 

• Kate Kinsey: Author of How to be a Healthy and Happy Submissive: A Practical Guide to Making Your Fantasies a Reality, and What Submissives Want to Know: Real Questions, Real Answers
• Kim Debron: A collared slave and writer living in rural Australia. She has been in a relationship with Master Joe for 18 years. Her fiction books are Souls in Chains, and Broken Links
• Chastity Slave: A Connecticut-based man in a polyamorous relationship with his master
• Blyss: A Maryland woman who identifies as a slave 

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Meet a world-renowned expert on kink who will explain exactly what we’re talking about when we talk about dominants. And you’ll meet three very different kinds of dominants in the BDSM world: One who is particularly sensual, one whose power lies in money, and one whose disability is just another component of his power.

This is the first of two episodes about kink. Tune in next week, when we meet four submissives, three of which refer to themselves as “slaves”, including a Black woman.

GUESTS: 

• Midori: An international educator and author about sexuality, personal fulfillment, and kink. She is the author of many books, including Wild Side Sex: The Book of Kink
• Food Fetish: A Findomme (Financial Dominant) based in Canada, and the author of The Virtual Findom(me) - Your Beginner’s Guide to Helping You Find A Paypig
• Jade Desires: Massachusetts-based Professional Mistress and BDSM consultant with a passion for dominance and sensuality
• Raven Kaldera: Author of Hell on Wheels: Disabled Dominants. He is based out of central Massachusetts and is joined by his slaveboy, Joshua Tenpenny

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