Audacious with Chion Wolf

Nietzsche once said, “It is what one takes into solitude that grows there, the beast within included.”

This episode features three people who experienced solitude: by choice and not.

There’s a winter caretaker at Yellowstone, a runner-up from the History Channel show, Alone, and hear from a Connecticut man who spent almost 30 years in solitary confinement.

GUESTS: 

• Callie Russell: Contestant on Season 7 (aired in 2020) of Alone on the History Channel. She lasted 89 days in the Northwest Territories of Canada before being medically evacuated due to frostbite of the toes
• Steve Fuller: One of the last winter caretakers at Yellowstone National Park, a job he’s done for 50 years
• Ray Boyd: After serving 29.5 years incarcerated for a murder he committed at the age of 17, he became a spokesperson for Stop Solitary CT, which successfully rallied for changes in Connecticut's solitary confinement protocol. He is the author of Mind Over Matter: How I Became the Model Inmate

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Do you ever see people doing something that just ain’t right, and no one’s doing anything about it… So you take matters into your own hands?

Today, meet one Portland, Oregon auto shop owner who has recovered over 200 stolen cars in less than a year.

And meet another man who uses humor to shame people when they don’t return their shopping carts.

Plus, CT Public’s own Colin McEnroe talks about his Facebook post about the morality of returning your shopping cart. That post detonated hundreds of passionate comments, leaving him with a whole slew of new insights into humanity.

GUESTS: 

• Nick Haas: Owner of RBP Auto & Cycle in Portland Oregon who has recovered over 200 stolen vehicles in the past year
• Colin McEnroe: Writer and host of The Colin McEnroe Show on CT Public
• Sebastian Davis: Founder of Cart Narcs, a YouTube channel where he confronts people who don’t bring their shopping carts back to the store or cart corral

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We know that some of our Audacious episodes, well, they can be kinda heavy.

So for our 100th episode, it’s all about GOOD NEWS!

You’ll hear about a baby announcement, an upcoming wedding, and a big grant approval. Plus, a powerful compliment, an important anniversary, a surprising acceptance at a funeral, and even what it’s like to find out that you just won a year’s worth of free smoothies!

GUESTS: 

• Alexa La Fever, Empress of Tease: Burlesque teacher based in Hartford, CT
• Coleman Gladis: Filmmaker, composer, and Chion's cousin, based in Malvern, PA
• Dr. Brenton Graveley: Professor and Chair of Genetics and Genome Sciences at University of Connecticut Health Center. He runs the Graveley Lab, which studies RNA
• Andre Rochester: Fine artist, curator, art advocate and administrator living in East Hartford
• Karleigh Webb: Journalist and co-host of the podcast, The Trans Sporter Room. She is based out of New Britain, CT
• Katie Blanchard & Amy Radzvilowicz: Newly-engaged couple based out of New London, CT
• Nina & Nicole Jackman: Couple celebrating 10 years together, living and raising their family in central Connecticut

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On this rebroadcast, you'll hear a seasoned pro taking Chion into the depths of a dumpster in West Springfield, Massachusetts, plus a tik tok star talks about how she got hooked on dumpster diving.

You’ll also get some do’s and don’ts from a guy who wrote a book about it!

GUESTS: 

• Robert Vadas is the author of A Beginner's Guide to Dumpster Diving and the creator of the Facebook group, Dumpster Diving Tips and Finds
• Tiffany Butler from Denton, Texas, is also known on Tiktok as “The Dumpster Diving Mama”. She has 2.4 million followers.
• Deirdre lives in Longmeadow, MA. She goes dumpster diving regularly

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When I say, “The Sugar Lifestyle”, I'm not talking about the typical high-fructose, American diet. I’m talking about the often financially-centered lifestyle of sugar daddies and sugar babies.

On this episode, you’ll hear from one sugar baby who teaches women how to “embrace their inner sugar”, and from a sugar daddy who talks with us about the ways in which meeting women this way has changed his life.

A researcher will give you a lay of the land, and you’ll hear stories about what it’s like being a sugar baby with absolutely no expectation of sex.

GUESTS: 

• Srushti Upadhyay: a Graduate Instructor at SUNY Buffalo's Department of Sociology. Her research, titled, “Sugaring: Understanding the World of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies” was published in the Journal of Sex Research in January, 2021
• Kerry: from New York, NY, and in 2008, she had an ongoing, non-sexual relationship with a sugar daddy
• Marcus (pseudonym): Host of the podcast, Secrets of a Sugar Daddy. He found the lifestyle after the divorce of his 16-year marriage. He joined us from Arizona
• Taylor B. Jones: Author of The Sugar Daddy Formula: A Sugar Baby's Ultimate Guide to Finding a Wealthy Sugar Daddy and host of The Sugar Daddy Formula Podcast

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For over a year, we followed American, Francesca Cronin as she experienced being a high school student abroad in Sarajevo.

You’ll hear what she felt, what she learned, and how she changed.

Plus, you’ll hear her dad’s reflections on loving her from afar, and from the best friend she made over there, too!

And Audacious producer, Jessica Severin de Martinez, talks about how her experience as a German student in the United States 25 years ago formed her life.

GUESTS: 

• Francesca Cronin: A high school student from Dunstable, Massachusetts, who spent an academic year abroad in Sarajevo. She was part of the YES Abroad program
• Peter Cronin: Francesca’s father
• Azra Hrnjica: Francesca’s best friend in Sarajevo

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Writer and educator, Dr. César A. Cruz, said, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”.

So on this episode, meet a goldsmith who turns expired abortion pills into jewelry, another artist who uses word art to amplify messages of racial justice, and a cartoonist who puts Disney characters into dire, real-life situations.

GUESTS: 

• Dani Coke: An illustrator and activist representing Black history, racial justice, and social dynamics through easy-to-digest drawings, diagrams, and flowcharts. She’s originally based out of Atlanta
• Eva van Kempen: An Amsterdam-based jewelry “artivist” and trained goldsmith who tackles women’s rights, health, and individual freedoms with her jewelry creations, like a crown made out of expired abortion pills, necklaces out of IV tubes, or bracelets out of birth-control pills
• Jeff Hong: A Los Angeles-based animation artist who went viral for his work, "Unhappily Ever After", where he puts Disney characters into rough environments to make people think about environmental and social issues

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Today: Audacious trick shots!

Hear from a guy who went viral for throwing plungers onto store signs, a Harlem Globetrotter on his slam dunk from 13,000 feet, a young woman who threw out the pre-game pitch at all 30 major league stadiums with her robotic hand, and one man whose 24-hour basketball free-throw experience created a massive fundraising operation for people with cancer.

GUESTS: 

• Chris Ivan: Has over a million followers on TikTok who watch him throw plungers at company signs
• Hailey Dawson: Has Poland Syndrome, resulting in missing digits in her hand, threw out the first pitch at all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums using her robotic hand. She's joined by her mother, Yong.
• Mike Slonina: The founder and CEO of A Shot For Life. It was started after his mother was diagnosed with a potentially malignant brain tumor, and he raised money for research by doing a 24 hour basketball shoot-a-thon (in which he shot a 73.2% with a majority of shots taken from the mid-range and three-point area)
• Hammer Harrison: Has been with the Harlem Globetrotters since 2009. A six-time Guinness World Record holder, in 2019, he made a slam dunk from 13,000 feet

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I think it’s safe to say that all of us have multifaceted relationships with the way our faces look.

We may notice a blemish here, a scar there, a bump or a divot all arranged on our face to show the world some of what makes us… us.

But what if, on your precious face, it wasn’t just a blemish or a bump, but an injury so extensive that it makes people stare? Makes you reconsider what beauty means, and how you measure your worth. Makes public radio show producers reach out to ask you to talk about it: How it’s formed you, how it’s changed you, how it hasn’t… and if you’d reverse it if you could.

Today, meet three people who’ve had this experience: One whose face was burned by fire, another whose face was burned by a botched medical procedure, and another who lost her nose to a dog bite.

There was a special mention of the show brought up during Tessa's segment on the complicated relationship models have to beauty. Listen to it here.

GUESTS: 

• Zaid Garcia: When he was two, a candle fell onto his blanket when he was in bed, and he suffered burns on 80% of his body. His entire scalp is scarred, skin covers his eyes, and he’s lost his nose, his lips, his hands, and one toe. He lives in Galveston, TX, and his GoFundMe has gone viral
• Tessa Schiethart: Born with Sturge-Weber Syndrome, which resulted in glaucoma and a port wine stain on her face. When she was two years old, a medical procedure to remove the birthmark burned and scarred her from scalp to mouth. She is a coach living in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and is the author of "To Face The Work", about the experiences of people with visible facial differences in the workplace
• Gabby Myers: Her nose was bitten off by a dog in 2017. She has had seven reconstructive surgeries. She lives in Elwood, Indiana

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Zulynette needs no last name.

She’s a Hartford-based poet (among other things) whose book, Seeing in the Dark, just came out.

She joins Chion around a fire to talk about poetry, power, and, of course, names.

GUEST: 

• Zulynette: Visual artist, social worker, host of The Creative Alchemist podcast, creative workshop facilitator, creator of A Little Bit of Death, and a poet. Her books are Building A Powerhouse (2017) and the recently-released Seeing In The Dark

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