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PODCAST

SoftPower/FulStories

Christopher Wurst

Epic weekly tales from every corner of the globe. Forget politics, academia, or the office, these are "soft, powerful stories" told by those who lived them. Is what happens in Kinshasa really important in Kansas? Should an Idahoan care about the problems of an Indonesian? (The answer is yes, but...) SP/FS gives the human story center stage. People can debate the virtues of global soft power, but no one--from Osaka to Omaha to Ouagadougou--can deny the magic of these encounters. Each episode begins

society & culture places & travel

All Episodes

00:35:35

PS4 - Ka Vang (Powerful Stories #4)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/30

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James BaldwinKa Vang was born in Laos and raised in Minnesota, in a world shaped by memory, migration, and the quiet weight of what is carried across generations. As a Hmong-American storyteller and journalist, she exposes her culture and her experiences so they may be seen. It is telling, then, that the current situation in Minnesota finds her hoping to become invisible, at least to those sowing

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00:31:54

#32 - Paul Barker (Iran)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/27

Less than 24 hours after he graduated from college, Paul Barker was on a plane, en route to Iran, where he would spend the next five years as a Peace Corps volunteer, immersed in Iranian culture and history. And though he followed that with three decades of international work, he remained--remains!--in the thrall of Iran. And he understands, more so than almost anyone, the scope of the cataclysm unfolding there. (Recorded on March 12, 2026.)SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore

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00:34:59

#31 - John Dinkelman

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/20

John Dinkelman--or "Dink" as he is known to countless current and former U.S. Foreign Service Officers--is something of a legend. He spent nearly four decades serving his country as a diplomat--and now he serves those same diplomats as the President of the American Foreign Service Association (or AFSA). And, if there's a more caring and compassionate steward, I have not yet met them.In difficult times, true leadership is priceless.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to

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00:43:09

PS3 - Chief Rondo

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/16

As a child, growing up in South Minneapolis, Medaria Arradondo--or, "Rondo"-- was aware that the adults in his neighborhood were watching. They had the kids' backs, but their expectations were very high. Flash forward. After more than three decades with the Minneapolis Police Department, including as its Chief during the tumultuous period following the murder of George Floyd, Rondo's perspective has shifted in a subtle but powerful way. What motivates him now is that our children

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00:30:24

#30 - Claire St. Amant

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/13

Claire St. Amant left her beloved Texas to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, halfway across the world. When she was finished, she was ready to return to Texas. But what she learned in between--in the classroom of the Peace Corps--were the skills that propelled her success as a reporter, then a producer on the television show 48 Hours, then as a podcast host and producer for Final Days on Earth (a true crime program that has us hooked), and now as an author. This week: From Texas to

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00:32:51

#29 - Ambassador Kate Byrnes

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/06

Even though her classmates may have recognized her as a future ambassador before she did herself, Kate Byrnes' swift ascent from the U.S. Information Agency to the Department of State to, yes, becoming a U.S. Ambassador, left little to doubt. A big part of her success was learning at a young age (a very young age, in her case) the value of showing up, being present, listening, and finding the ever-present opportunities that present themselves daily as diplomats interact with people around the

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00:43:45

PS2 - "Jane" from Minneapolis (PowerfulStories #2)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/03/02

In the face of ICE's sweeping detention and deportation push, Minnesotans are responding not with panic or illegal action, but with a steady, deeply-rooted ethic of neighborliness--quietly organizing, opening their homes and houses of worship, showing up in public to bear witness, and drawing on the State's long traditions of civic engagement and moral seriousness, to insist that dignity, due process and basic human decency remain stronger than fear. And it is with every one of these

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00:31:57

#28 - Marian Rivman

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/02/27

Everybody assumed that Marian Rivman would grow out of her high school fascination with the Peace Corps. She did not. But her early experiences in the Peace Corps left a lot to be desired. Dangerous areas, bats, rats, and snakes, and even a dead body in her living room, were enough for her to question what she had gotten herself into. Enter the Diaz family. And Marian Rivman's life would never be the same.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world

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00:24:52

#27 - Mark Ward (Part 2)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/02/23

(Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1.)Mark Ward is a committed humanitarian who led teams to provide critical help after natural or man-made disasters. He saved lives and restored hope to communities affected by many disasters over two decades, including the 2004 tsunami and the Syrian Civil War. In (so-called) retirement, he returned to Afghanistan to lead a humanitarian organization. None other than George H.W. Bush dubbed him "Mr

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00:29:09

#27 - Mark Ward (Part 1)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/02/20

Mark Ward is a committed humanitarian who led teams to provide critical help after natural or man-made disasters. He saved lives and restored hope to communities affected by many disasters over two decades, including the 2004 tsunami and the Syrian Civil War. In (so-called) retirement, he returned to Afghanistan to lead a humanitarian organization. None other than George H.W. Bush dubbed him "Mr. Disaster." He is--in short--a guy whose stories cannot be contained in a single

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00:27:32

#26 - Christine Herbert

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/02/13

From the time of her childhood, Christine Herbert seemed destined to follow those Saturday morning TV commercials proclaiming "the toughest job you'll ever love." In her case, it meant rural Zambia and, far more than the snakes, "flat dogs," or baby owls, it was the people she came to treasure. And they, in turn, loved the muzungu who kept them all entertained.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid

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00:36:45

PS1 - Feeling Minnesota (PowerfulStories #1)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/02/09

PLEASE LEND YOUR EARS: This inaugural episode of 'Powerful Stories" (PS1) features a chorus of Minnesota voices—frontline witnesses, supportive neighbors, community leaders—bearing witness to the unprecedented and antagonistic ICE surge in the Twin Cities. Their impressions are raw, immediate, and very personal. Together, they help form a portrait of a deep, diverse community refusing to fracture under pressure. To a person, this is a moment unlike any they have ever experienced. From my

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00:30:10

#25 - Cy Kuckenbaker

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/02/06

Cy Kuckenbaker is an award-winning American filmmaker, video artist, and arts professor. He is also something of an expert on Lithuania and its tortured past. First as a Peace Corps volunteer, then as a Fulbright scholar, his immersion in the small Baltic country was profound. The lessons he's learned echo powerfully in the present.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps

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00:27:17

#24 - Chris Thomas

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/01/30

Chris Thomas remembers well where he came from and how he got to where he is. As a young Peace Corps volunteer in rural Sierra Leone, he quickly understood that the people who had so warmly welcomed him into the village were rapidly teaching him valuable lessons about life and community. It's fair to say that Chris has spent the rest of his life paying those lessons forward and helping to unleash human ingenuity all over the world.'SoftPower/FulStories' uses first-person stories to

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00:48:16

#23 - Hamse Warfa

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/01/23

Hamse Warfa's remarkable life has taken him from war-torn Somalia to currently-torn Minnesota. A small list of his stops between these two locations includes refugee camps in Kenya, Harvard, the Minnesota State Government, and the U.S. Department of State, as the highest-ranking Somali-American Presidential appointee ever. He did not regularly receive formal education until he entered high school in the United States, yet he now possesses a Bachelor's degree, and Masters of Science, and a

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00:31:15

SP/FS Presents: Global Development Interrupted...

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/01/19

SP/FS is proud to share the new episode of Global Development Interrupted, a podcast and Substack page we follow enthusiastically. You may remember that GDI's founder and host, Leah Petit, was featured on SP/FS #18 (go find it if you haven't yet listened — she's great), talking about her long career in global health work. GDI shares the voices of people whose work was upended when USAID was dismantled and foreign aid was cut, revealing what the loss means for America and progress

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00:29:37

#22 - Alonzo Wind

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/01/16

He left the U.S. as Allan J. Wind, but by the time his Peace Corps stint in Ecuador ended, he had been rechristened as "Dr. Alonzo" - which is what his driver's license now says. From being an unlikely radio star, to a health minister's good luck charm, to a series of NGO roles worldwide, and eventually to Gaza in the midst of a war, Allen J. Alonzo Wind has had an incredible journey.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters

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00:32:59

#21 - Jody Olsen

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2026/01/09

Jody Olsen called her Peace Corps memoir 'A Million Miles' - and while the distance from her traditional Mormon upbringing in Utah and a rural Tunisian health clinic may not have been a literal million miles, it likely felt like even more. But those miles brought countless lessons, all of which she put to good use when, after decades of leadership roles within the Peace Corps, she became its 20th Director.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the

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00:35:53

SP/FS BONUS: Happy 2026 (from the Class of '25)

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2025/12/30

Let's face it, 2025, things could have gone a whole lot better. But it was the birth year for SP/FS, and on this special bonus episode, virtually the entire SP/FS Class of '25 storytellers return with reflections on the year past and wishes for 2026. Join us for a special cup of kindness.Guest voices: Steve Herman, Pamela White, Jack & Sarah Seybold, Fred de Sam Lazaro, Warren Acuncius, Julia Irwin, Steve Callahan, Roland Merullo, Betsy Small, Keith Mines, Florence Reed, Mark D. Walker, Jon

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00:31:31

#20 - Ambassador Lewis Lucke

SoftPower/FulStories ·

2025/12/26

As a young boy, dreaming of becoming an archeologist, Lewis Lucke wanted to visit the Holy Lands to see if the Bible stories he'd read were true. Indeed, his career did lead him overseas, though as a diplomat with USAID--from West Africa to Central America, finally the Middle East, and eventually as a US ambassador. Along the way, he confirmed many times over there are many stories that you just can't make up.SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in

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