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What happens when you spend a lifetime moving between worlds—never entirely leaving one behind, never quite belonging to just one?

Nancy Xiong is a first-generation Hmong American, daughter of war refugees from Laos, whose life has taken her from northern Wisconsin to Japan, the East Coast, India, and back to Minnesota. Along the way, the seemingly unrelated pieces of her life began doing something unexpected: they started connecting.

Culture. Identity. Survival. Service. Sound. The stories we carry—and the places we carry them from.

This is a conversation about what can happen when you stop trying to make your life fit neatly into one world.

Sometimes the space between cultures isn’t empty space at all. It’s where you discover who you are.

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Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

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What do Greasers, Grunge, Hippies, Bowie, Punk, Prince, Emo—and a pair of ripped jeans with a duct-tape flourish—have in common? More than you think.

Dr. Kathryn Reiley takes us through the fascinating collision of music and fashion, where a sound becomes a look—and a look becomes a statement.

From Motown’s polished elegance to Hippie flower power, Bowie’s Glam, Punk’s leather and safety pins, Prince’s ruffles and heels, and Emo’s eyeliner and skinny jeans, fashion becomes belonging, identity, freedom—and sometimes something entirely unexpected.

So who decides what comes next?

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Is your inbox a crime scene?

Then comes an email. Urgent. Looks official. Right logo and right name. You click. The frantic call from a loved one. Needs money! The voice sounds right.

What happens when we can no longer trust what we see—or what we hear?

Certified ethical hacker and former U.S. Army Signals Intelligence Analyst Cheyne Taylor takes us inside a digital world where phishing has become super sophisticated, AI can clone a voice in seconds, and information we casually scatter online can reveal far more about us than we realize.

Be informed, not fearful. Hit play- and maybe share it with someone who needs to hear it. And hey—what’s one online habit you’re changing today?

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Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

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This brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.

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What happens when we stop asking, “What’s wrong?” and start asking, “What’s possible?

👀 Vinya Sankaran Vasu has spent her life looking past labels, assumptions, and the limits we place on one another. From classrooms in Oakland to school systems in India 🌏, she has seen what can happen when a child is truly seen, a parent is truly heard, and an educator refuses to give up on possibility.

🔥 But this conversation goes beyond education. We talk about courage, burnout, belonging, self-trust, breaking ceilings, and the hard-earned wisdom of learning to listen to your own life.

🚧 Some people see obstacles. Vinya sees the person standing behind them. ❤️

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Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

Joan of Arc Scroll Medal
This brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.

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What does it take to turn a handful of plastic bricks, a maddening little cube, and a wide-eyed kitty into international cultural phenomena?

Barry Schwartz knows — because he was there.

At 95, the legendary toy industry publicist takes us inside the fast-talking, idea-charged world of mid-century New York, when a handshake mattered, television could ignite a national craze, and one audacious pitch could change everything.

This is not simply a story about toys. It is a story about timing, instinct, and imagination — and the man who knew how to make the world stop, look, and play.

 

Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

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The life you planned and the life you got may have more in common than you think.

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He calls it a hobby. But Randy Lowden lies flat at the waterline behind  a camo-covered lens. He studies light, wind, reflection, and the split-second instincts of birds that vanish if you move too fast. 

The result? Images that put you nose-deep in the water, inches from creatures most people will never see up close. A duck in motion, with feet slapping water like it's running across glass; a Reddish Egret, gliding like it  owns the sky.

Randy takes us inside the art- and glorious obsession- of wildlife photography: the waiting, the research, the missed shots, the giant 600mm lens, and the quiet thrill of chasing a single perfect frame.

This episode is for anyone who has ever wanted to follow a fascination—and wondered if they had what it took.

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Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

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This brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.

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What if the most dangerous thing right now isn't the chaos — it's your certainty?

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She rises at 3:00 AM, lifts a copper pail filled with river water, and begins to walk. What follows is not activism, performance, or protest. It is prayer.

Anishinaabe Elder and Water Walker Mary Anne Caibaiosai shares a way of seeing the world that is both ancient and urgently needed. Walking rivers at dawn—singing, praying, and carrying water home—she reminds us that healing begins with relationship: to the earth, to our ancestors, and to ourselves.

This is a story about devotion in an age of distraction. About keeping your eyes forward when the world feels fractured and loud. About remembering who you are when everything around you is trying to make you forget.

You may never look at a river—or your own reflection—the same way again.

Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

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Who were the American women who traveled to the ancient land of Modern Persia? Not diplomats. Not adventurers. Nurses. They built hospitals, opened the first nursing schools in the country, and gave women a professional path that would change the course of their lives.

Dr. Lydia Wytenbroek has spent years in the archives recovering this forgotten history. What she found will surprise you.

This is not a simple story of heroism. It's not a simple story of imperialism either. It's messier than that. More human than that. And right now — given everything happening in the world — it might be exactly the story we need.

Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

Joan of Arc Scroll Medal
This brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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