What is a life worth? One 9/11 widower’s fight for fairness

After Charles Wolf’s wife, Katherine, was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, he found himself taking on an unlikely new role: activist.  Wolf became a tireless advocate for victims’ families, challenging the federal compensation system and successfully pushing for reform. His …

A trip to Brimfield Antique Flea Market, where old things find new people

Welcome to the Brimfield Antique Flea Market! Thousands of buyers and sellers descend on a small Massachusetts town three times a year, filling fields with furniture, vintage clothes, tools, art, oddities and things you didn’t know existed five minutes ago.  We spend the day roaming the country’s…

'I Will Always Love You': Jada Star’s musical bond with her aunt Dolly Parton

In honor of Dolly Parton, we’re rebroadcasting a conversation with her niece, singer/songwriter Jada Star.  Jada shares what it was like growing up with Aunt Dolly, watching the rest of the world fall in love with her, and learning from her example of kindness, faith, hard work, and generosity. F…

Playboy: Two women revisit the very different lives behind their centerfolds

The Playboy Bunny is one of America’s most recognizable symbols, but it never represented a single experience.  Candace Jordan was both a Bunny and a Playmate in the ‘70s, and remembers Playboy as a source of sisterhood, ambition, opportunity and lifelong belonging.  Victoria Valentino was Miss S…

Journalist Scott Wallace on protecting the Amazon's last uncontacted tribes

For decades, journalist Scott Wallace has traveled the world documenting conflict, culture, and extraordinary lives. But nothing compared to a ten-week expedition through one of the most remote regions of the Brazilian Amazon.  His assignment: accompany an effort to help protect one of the last un…

Our gift to you: Pinch me moments that remind us how beautiful life can be

Most days fade into the next. You make the coffee, answer the emails, run the errands, fold the laundry, try to keep up.  But every once in a while, life gives you a moment that blows your freakin' mind.  For more than a year, at the end of Audacious interviews, we've asked guests one final quest…

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse speaks his truth. We’re listening.

When someone tells you they’ve survived sexual abuse, the conversation can feel tender for everyone involved: the person choosing what to share, and the person trying to respond with care. How can we make those moments feel safer, more honest, and less lonely?  Beth Hamilton, executive director of…

The kidney was just the beginning: Unexpected gifts after transplants

What happens when a Brooklyn woman who identifies as queer, liberal, vegan, and an atheist donates her kidney to a conservative Christian man from Virginia? Kerry Kennedy and Joey Shervey tell the story of what it looks like when compassion outvotes everything else. Their transplant crossed party …

A drummer, a rapper, and a violinist on disability and the art of adapting

How do you play the violin without a right hand? How do you drum after losing a leg? How do you rap and create beats when you can only move your head and shoulders?  Adrian Anantawan was born without his right hand and most of his right forearm, and learned violin using a custom bow adaptation att…

No stage? No problem! Stand-up comedy in offices, ferries, prisons, and nursing homes

When you go to a comedy club, you know what you’re there for. But what happens when comedy shows up somewhere else?  Meredith Dietz describes doing stand-up in a New York City office where employees were told not to laugh, and on a Staten Island Ferry where no one could escape the ride.  Years af…