Audacious with Chion Wolf

Forget the typical meet-cute; this episode features individuals whose paths crossed in extraordinarily unique circumstances.  

Alex and Sue Tatham met each other on the globally televised dating show "Blind Date" in the UK, leading to a wedding watched by millions. 

Heather and Tony are Disney enthusiasts who found love across continents thanks to a dating site for fellow fans, MouseMingle.com

And after three years of chatting online, Robbie Romu and Avichai Sofer finally met… Only to have their relationship immediately tested by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war during their first in-person meeting.

Suggested episodes:

• Audacious Love Playlist

 

GUESTS: 

• Alex & Sue Tatham: a couple who met on the British dating show Blind Date in 1988. Their wedding in 1991 was watched by 17 million people
• Heather & Tony Lash: Heather from Australia and Tony from Florida met through Mousemingle.com, a dating site for Disney fans, in 2015. They got married at Walt Disney World in 2018
• Robbie Romu & Avichai Sofer: Robbie from Canada and Avichai from Israel met on a dating site in 2020. Robbie traveled to Israel to meet Avichai in person for the first time on October 6, 2023, a day before the Israel-Hamas war began

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Explore the extraordinary impact of horses on our lives. From the unique community of Pony Play and the athleticism of hobby-horsing to the therapeutic power of horses, and a neuroscientist's exploration of life after death, this episode dives deep into how horses shape our lives.

Suggested episodes:

• We The Dog
• Wings, pouches, and snouts: The world of uncommon emotional support animals
• Animal psychics reveal what our pets really think
• Snakes in their mouths and venom in their veins: Why two snake pioneers do what they do

GUESTS: 

• Pony Tromper: founding member of the Rocky Mountain Pony Herd, a community dedicated to Pony Play, where people embody the spirit of a horse, emphasizing connection, identity, and freedom
• Alisa Aarniomäki: Finnish hobby horse athlete and coach, notable as a dressage champion in Finland in both 2022 and 2023. Hobby-horsing is an activity where competitors perform dressage and show jumping on handmade stick horses
• Dr. David Eagleman: Neuroscientist at Stanford University and author of Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, which features an essay about humans, horses, the afterlife, and beyond
• Nicole Welch, Emily Eschner, and Tonka: Staff at Shepard Meadows Equestrian Center in Bristol, Connecticut 

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Technology is rapidly reshaping the world, but for people with disabilities, it’s doing something even more profound - it’s redefining what’s possible. 

Explore how cutting-edge assistive technologies are breaking barriers, restoring independence, and revolutionizing the way people navigate the world.

Sam Seavey, creator of “The Blind Life” YouTube channel, shares how AI-powered tools are game-changers for people with vision impairments. And former stuntman Jonathan Goodwin introduces Kim-e, a self-balancing mobility robot redefining independence for wheelchair users.

Suggested episodes:

• Revealing Our Blind Spots About Blindness
• MasterChef winner Christine Ha and poet Edward Hirsch on turning blindness into brilliance
• Hearing every color, feeling every earthquake: Life as a cyborg
• Stunt performers David Holmes and Jonathan Goodwin on life after paralysis

 

GUESTS: 

• Sam Seavey: founder of “The Blind Life” YouTube channel, where he provides tips, reviews of assistive devices, and interviews with visually impaired community members. Diagnosed with Stargardt disease at the age of 11, Sam has dedicated 30 years to researching and understanding assistive devices. Among the inventions Sam mentions during this conversation are Ray Ban Meta AI glasses, the Be My Eyes app, the WeWalk smart cane, and braille tablets 

Jonathan Goodwin: a retired stunt performer, screenwriter, keynote speaker, and hypnotherapist. In 2021, he was paralyzed while rehearsing a stunt for America's Got Talent: Extreme. He has been exploring a new piece of assistive technology called Kim-e, a self-balancing personal mobility robot

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

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What makes your jaw drop? A celestial event? A powerful piece of music? 

In this episode, explore awe in its many forms, from a total solar eclipse to the psychology of wonder. 

Psychologist Dacher Keltner breaks down the science of awe, cellist Yumi Kendall shares how music transports us, and Audacious listeners share their most treasured moments of awe. 

GUESTS: 

• Mara Suttmann-Lea, Joseph Dickerson, and Stefan Keller: Awestruck with Chion in Vermont during the April 8, 2024 total eclipse

Dacher Keltner: Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center. He hosts The Science of Happiness podcast, and he’s the author of many scientific articles and several books, including Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life Yumi Kendall: Assistant Principal Cellist at the Philadelphia Orchestra. She founded and co-hosts the Tacet No More podcast  

• Awestruck Audacious listeners who sent in voice memos (in order of appearance): Brenton Graveley, Carissa Teff, Levi Lomasky, Vinny Camire, Khaleel Rahman, Anne Mercer, Michelle Horsley, Erin Shapland, Pamela Morrison-Wolf, Maria Raviele, Carl Delmolino, Paul Gladis, Jane Carroll, Nell Codner, Catherine Shen, Maggie Downie, Brian Foley, Allison Durham, Jennifer LaRue, Lisa Sanchez Gonzalez 

Jessica Severin de Martinez, Meg Fitzgerald, Robyn Doyon-Aitken, and Meg Dalton contributed to this show, with help from our interns, Kathy Wang and Angelica Gajewski.

Audacious with Chion Wolf is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Tune In, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and email.

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Imagine feeling an unbearable itch, convinced that tiny insects are crawling under your skin. But no doctor believes you. You try to prove it, collecting samples, documenting everything. But under a microscope? Nothing is there.

That was Paula Cox’s experience with delusional infestation, a rare disorder where people are absolutely certain they’re infested with bugs, despite all evidence to the contrary. In this episode, Paula shares her harrowing experience, and experts - a leading entomologist and a psychiatrist-dermatologist - explain what’s really happening in the brain and how healing is possible.

Suggested episodes:

• Body Integrity Dysphoria: When being disabled is a desire
• When every face you see is distorted: Living with PMO

GUESTS: 

• Dr. Gale Ridge: an entomologist and Associate Scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. She oversees the daily activities of the insect inquiry office. She’s also the editor of The Physician's Guide to Delusional Infestation
• Paula Cox: a woman in Australia who experienced delusional infestation. She started a Facebook support group called “Delusional parasitosis help”
• Dr. John Koo: a Professor of Dermatology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center and Director of the UCSF Psoriasis Skin and Treatment Center. He is board-certified in both dermatology and psychiatry and co-author of Morgellons Disease: High Yield Principles for Clinical Practice

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What’s it like to live in the shadow of legends and still shine?

Meet Marshall Charloff, a Prince tribute artist with a personal connection to the artist himself. And Rick Torres, an Elvis impersonator whose two decades as the King has brought him to some surprising places.

From the joy and empowerment of embodying their heroes to navigating the challenges of the work, they discuss the artistry behind keeping music royalty alive.

Suggested episodes:

• Actors Mary Elizabeth Kelly and Dean Edwards on the art of impressions
• You Should Talk: Voices At Work
• What Happens When You Act Like You Belong

GUESTS: 

• Marshall Charloff: a singer, songwriter, and producer based in Minneapolis. Besides his solo career, he has been impersonating Prince as the co-founder of “The Purple xPeRIeNCE” since 2011 
• Rick Torres: a tribute artist and prominent Elvis impersonator based in the San Francisco Bay Area 

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In 2022, Just Stop Oil protestors threw tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting in London. The world collectively gasped, but some UK lawmakers responded by supporting fewer investments in new oil projects.

On this episode, meet one of those soup-throwers, and hear from two other people who have been part of creative protests: a spokesperson from an anti-circumcision group that wears all white with giant, red splotches on the groin area; and a woman who organized a college campus protest featuring thousands of sex toys to rally against Texas gun laws.

GUESTS: 

• Anna Holland: Member of Just Stop Oil, a nonviolent civil resistance group demanding that the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects. In 2022, alongside Phoebe Plummer, they threw tomato soup onto Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting in London's National Gallery
• Harry Guiremand: Spokesperson for the anti-circumcision group, Bloodstained Men and Their Friends. They protest wearing all white with red splotches of paint over their groin
• Jessica Jin: Organizer of Cocks Not Glocks, protesting Texas laws that allow concealed handguns on college campuses, while openly carrying sex toys is a Class C misdemeanor

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What drives someone to ski solo across Antarctica or leap off cliffs in a wingsuit? 

Meet Liv Arnesen, the first woman to ski alone and unsupported to the South Pole, and Ellen Brennan Frat, the ‘Fastest Flying Woman in the World.’  

From battling -30°F winds to soaring at 100 mph, these women share their extraordinary journeys of courage, resilience, and pushing boundaries. 

 

Suggested episodes:

• Below the surface: The stories behind underwater world records
• What solitude does to you in the wilderness and in prison
• Extreme ironing, cheese rolling, and shin kicking: The world of weird sports

 

GUESTS: 

• Ellen Brennan Frat: a wingsuit BASE jumper and extreme sports athlete based in France. She has become known as the ‘Fastest Flying Woman in the World’ due to her exceptional performances in wingsuit competitions 
• Liv Arnesen: a Norwegian polar explorer, educator, and lecturer. In 1994, she became the first woman to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole. In 2001, she and American polar explorer Ann Bancroft became the first women in history to sail and ski across Antarctica’s landmass 

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Ever had someone finish your sentence before you even opened your mouth? Now imagine they knew what you were going to say before you did. That’s what it’s like to experience Dr. Kruti Parekh in action.

Through a mix of psychology, intuition, and age-old wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita and Vedic traditions, Dr. Parekh believes we all have the potential to tap into this power. No magic wands, no crystal balls, just a deeper connection to the intuition you already have.

Ready to see what your mind is really capable of?

Suggested episodes:

•  Animal psychics reveal what our pets really think
• Reincarnation, past life regressions, and you (whoever you are)

GUEST: 

• Dr. Kruti Parekh: Mentalist, motivational speaker, mind trainer, and entertainer based in India. She uses psychology, intuition, and creativity to explore the power of the human mind in front of audiences worldwide. Some of her work can be found on YouTube and Instagram

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

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What can you gain when you lose your vision?

Christine Ha was in her early 20s when she began losing her sight. Instead of giving up on her dreams, she taught herself how to cook - so well, in fact, that she became the first and only person who is blind to win MasterChef. Now, she’s a celebrated chef and author who’s proving that great cooking is about taste, texture, and trust - not sight.

And Edward Hirsch, a poet who began losing his sight later in life, discovered something unexpected - exhilaration. He says that blindness has made him more alive, more curious, and more connected to the world in ways he never expected.

Listen to this bonus excerpt from Chion's conversation with Christine Ha where she answers one-of-a-kind questions from a fan —and Chion's friend— Ashley Cook!

Resources:

• List of resources for people with low vision by the American Council of the Blind
• Lighthouse Guild (as mentioned by Edward Hirsch)

Suggested episodes:

• Revealing Our Blind Spots About Blindness

GUESTS: 

• Christine Ha: Winner of MasterChef Season 3. She has neuromyelitis optica (NMO), in which a person's own immune system attacks the optic nerves and spinal cord 
• Edward Hirsch: Poet and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Wrote a guest essay in the NYT: “I am Going Blind, and I Now Find It Strangely Exhilarating.” He has retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disease that causes progressive vision loss 

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.