Who rejoices in making a bad episode of public radio? We do! But only the best kind of bad.

On this episode of Audacious, meet Jon from Jon Breaks Bad News, who delivers other people’s worst messages for a living. Then, the co-founders of the Golden Raspberry Awards - also known as the Razzies - celebrate Hollywood’s most spectacular cinematic failures. And finally, a few listeners share their stories of terrible dates, followed by a conversation with Rachel Lithgow. She shares her memoir, My Year of Really Bad Dates.

Suggested episodes:

• I snuck my incarcerated boyfriend out of prison in a dog crate
• Nothing goes as planned: A first-time offender’s prison story from arrest to release
• How regret teaches us to live

GUESTS:

• Jon Breaks Bad News: Creator and host of the Jon Breaks Bad News Show, delivering difficult or awkward messages on behalf of others
• John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy: Creators of the Razzie Awards
• Michelle Horsley, Maria Grove, Lindsay Ewing: Audacious listeners who had really bad dates
• Rachel Lithgow: Author of My Year of Really Bad Dates

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 lines and personal beliefs to create an unexpected friendship.

Then, Lindsay Vigue describes how a small flyer on the wall of a diner led her to become a living kidney donor, and then to becoming the executive director of Donate Life Connecticut.

Resources:

• Donate Life Connecticut
• National Kidney Foundation
• National Kidney Registry
• OrganDonor.gov
• Former Middletown mayor Dan Drew's TED Talk about why he donated his kidney

Suggested episode:

• The Story Of The First African American Face Transplant

GUESTS:

• Joey Shervey: Kidney transplant recipient from Moneta, Virginia
• Kerry Kennedy: Living kidney donor from Brooklyn, New York
• Lindsay Vigue: Living kidney donor and the executive director of Donate Life Connecticut

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When does creation become prayer? And when does prayer become protest?

Artist and poet Zulynette talks about her new book, Becoming a Soft Woman with a Machete. It's equal parts gospel, therapy session, and roast.

From laughter to liberation, explore how art can be both sanctuary and sword.

Suggested episodes:

• Poet Zulynette on “Seeing in the Dark”
• The playfulness of poetry with Andrew Dean Wright
• A fireside conversation with Hartford’s “Love Poet”, Olusanya Bey
• Words over weapons: When anti-war poems go viral
• An extended conversation about forgiveness with poet David Whyte

GUEST:

• Zulynette: Poet, artist, facilitator, and author of Becoming a Soft Woman with a Machete. She is also the creator and director of the annual storytelling event, A Little Bit of Death, and the author of two other books of poetry, Seeing in the Dark, and Building a Powerhouse

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.