Veterans Day was November 11th. Unlike Memorial Day, when we remember those who’ve died while serving in the military, and unlike Armed Services day, when we honor those who are currently serving, Veterans Day recognizes all people - living and dead - who have served in the military.

The VA estimates that 134,000 U.S. Veterans are transgender, and over 15,000 trans people are currently serving in the U.S. military. It wasn’t until 2016 that the Obama administration announced that trans people were allowed to serve openly. Almost exactly one year later, President Trump announced - by tweet - that he was going to reverse that policy.

This hour, hear from an Army National Guard veteran about what it was like for him to experience that political whiplash.

Then, hear from a 99 year-old record-breaking pilot and WW2 Navy veteran who took on the Social Security Administration’s denial of survivor benefits for trans spouses and won. She went on to set world records for being the oldest pilot and flight instructor, and begin a foundation that helps seniors who are LGBTQIA+.

GUESTS:

• Jacob Eleazer is a veteran of the Army National Guard, and Director of Advocacy for SPARTA
• Robina Asti was a 99 year-old transgender, policy-changing, record-breaking pilot and WW2 Navy veteran whose foundation, Cloud Dancers, grants wishes to seniors who experience discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. She died in March at age 99

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It’s a wild world, and there’s a lot to be allergic to.

Sure, there are the common ones like pollen, peanuts, and certain medications. But what if you had a bad reaction to water? To sunlight? And to exercise (seriously)?

Hear what it’s like to have these rare conditions, and how the people who have them empower themselves to manage them.

GUESTS:

• Rachel Warwick of Derbyshire, England, has aquagenic urticaria, which means she is allergic to water
• Ann Reardon of Sydney, Australia, is the author of How to Cook That: Crazy Sweet Creations, and host of the YouTube channel, How To Cook That. She has food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis
• Jasmin Barman-Aksozen of Zurich, Switzerland, has Erythropoietic Protoporphyria - an extreme toxic reaction to sunlight
• Patricia Rydeen of Minneapolis, MN, is a fan of Brewers baseball, and has an allergy to bad umpires

Photo: Getty Images

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Courtney Webb is just a few months into life with her doll, Dahlia Muriel Hollifield.

Find out what this relationship means to her, and check out more conversations about being an "idollator" on the latest episode of Audacious!

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When I say, “sex doll”, do you imagine creativity? Improvisation? Self-love?

Find out why these synthetic companions can address more than just physical pleasure.

Plus, get a history of where these dolls came from, and a peek at what they might be like in the future.

On the podcast feed, you can hear a bonus conversation with Courtney Webb, who is just a few months into life with her doll, Dahlia Muriel Hollifield.

GUESTS: 

• Anthony Ferguson is the author of The Sex Doll: A History
• Davecat is an idollator and a robosexual with four synthetic partners: Sidore, Elena, Miss Winter, and Dyanne Bailey

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What happens when we die? Or… when we almost die?

Hear from a neurosurgeon who had a near-death experience about his journey into the afterlife. And meet a woman who had a shared-death experience, on what it was like feeling her mother's struggle as she was dying thousands of miles away.

GUESTS:

• Dr. Eben Alexander is the author of Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, about his near-death experience in 2008 while in a coma due to bacterial meningitis
• Annie Cap is the author of Beyond Goodbye: An Extraordinary Story of a Shared Death Experience, written after she experienced the symptoms of her mother dying from thousands of miles away

Photo by Eric Zamora/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

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What do barf bags, tiny chairs, and bricks all have in common?

They’re all uncommon collections belonging to extraordinary collectors.

And they’re all on this episode of Audacious!

GUESTS:

• Steve Silberberg of Hull, Massachusetts has collected over 3,000 barf bags over the course of 40 years
• Barbara Hartsfield is a psychiatric nurse and the owner of The Museum Of Miniature Chairs in Stone Mountain, Georgia
• Will Quam is a Chicago-based architecture photographer, architecture writer, and researcher who loves and collects bricks

Photo used with permission from Barbara Hartsfield

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Hear about the 5000 year history of billboards, and meet the man behind the “I LOVE YOU JESUS” billboards on I-84 and I-91 here in Connecticut.  And hear about a technology that focuses the audio of a billboard directly to you and only you.  Plus, why one Baltimore resident chose to propose to his girlfriend with a billboard (and how it went).

GUESTS:

• Gino Sesto is the founder of Dash Two, a Digital and Outdoor Advertising Agency based out of Culver City, CA
• Juan Carlos Puga & Allison Haley of Baltimore, MD, became engaged after Juan’s billboard proposal
• Dr. Joseph Pompei is the Founder, President, and CEO of Holosonics, and inventor of Audio Spotlight technology
• Father Edmund Nadolny has been putting up his positive religious billboards in Connecticut for over 40 years

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The most common name in the United States is Smith, and if that's your surname, you'll have around 4.5 million others in the world to share it with.

But just because you have a popular name like, say, Pat Smith, that doesn’t mean that you’re common!

The four Pat Smiths you’ll meet are unique: an environmental activist, an adventurous videographer, an African-American kindergarten teacher in Japan, and a beloved mentor who taught me in 3rd and 5th grade.

Enjoy the Pat Smith Show!

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Have you ever seen Reborn Babies?

They’re these hyper-realistic-looking dolls that are collected for their extraordinary artistic accuracy… And they’re also used therapeutically for people who suffer from anxiety and depression.

Hear from a woman who uses them for just that reason. Plus, meet a painter who makes them look so real, a researcher on the Reborn community and culture, and a photographer who made these dolls a major part of her work.

GUESTS:

• Emilie St-Hilaire is a multidisciplinary artist and doctoral candidate in the Humanities PhD program at Concordia. She studies lifelike dolls and the motivations of their collectors, rethinking non-human companionship
• Irene Golden is a Reborn artist from Spain, and the owner of Latidos Reborn
• Jamie Diamond of New York City features Reborn Babies in her series of photographs, "I Promise To Be A Good Mother" and "Mother Love", and is a collector herself
• Patrizia Bartolomei of Perth, Australia, runs the Facebook group, "My Therapy Reborn Group". She's used Reborn Babies as therapy babies since 2016

Photo: Jamie Diamond

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What’s it like to go viral for wearing a wedding dress at the age of 94? How about going up in a WW2 biplane at 97? Or maybe lobstering at a 101? And what’s it like to be 105 years old, and setting a record for running?

Today, meet Audacious Elders!

GUESTS:

• Martha Tucker (94) of Birmingham, Alabama, went viral after trying on the wedding dress she'd always wanted. She is joined by her granddaughter, Angela Strozier, who made it happen
• Dr. Lew Harned (97) of Madison, Wisconsin, was honored by Dream Flights, which honors WW2 veterans by treating them with a flight in an open-cockpit, Boeing Stearman biplane
• Virginia Oliver (101) of Rockland, Maine, has been lobstering for 93 years. She is joined by her son, Max
• Julia Hawkins (105) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, set a record in her age group running the 100 yard-dash

Photo: Getty Images

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