--:-- Alex Ritson: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. America's Social Casino. Download the Moto Casino app today.
--:-- Announcer: Go on, get a little out there, into the big heart of Nevada, where you can go off-road and off the map, on two lakes or on horseback. Dip into hot springs and dive into deserts. Climb a mountain or make your best effort. See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies. Stake out haunted hotels. Can you make it to sunrise? There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be. Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com
--:-- Alex Ritson: This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in this edition, even if things seem almost impossible, we can do it. We can do anything we want. If it's something that's important to you, just go. Don't stop until you get somewhere you want to be.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The man trying to get his music career back after a life-changing stroke. You can be beautiful and wear lipstick. I wear lipstick when I play rugby because I just feel like I don't have to sacrifice one or the other. Like, I can be a beast in the field but also feel beautiful and wear lipstick.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The young female athlete trying to inspire the next generation to follow in her footsteps. Plus, we find out why dozens of people have been queuing outside a funeral home in China.
--:-- Alex Ritson: And... I think when I went to bed, because I can remember I was up at half past two, talking, yacking away. So it should be getting on for three o'clock before I went to bed.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Meet the woman raving on her 105th birthday.
--:-- Alex Ritson: We start with one man's remarkable journey back to doing what he loves. Tony Romain is a musician from Inverness in Scotland. At the age of 49, he suffered a stroke which left him unable to speak or walk.
--:-- Tony Romain: At first, I couldn't move hardly at all. I mean, it seemed pretty obvious I wouldn't play guitar again. Now I can move a lot better, but my left arm's still, well, pretty much useless. But things have come on a lot, and I hope they continue to.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: How did you inspire yourself to relearn how to play the guitar and how to sing again?
--:-- Tony Romain: I never really thought that I didn't think I would, if that makes sense. Just even when I was lying in the ICU, I couldn't move. I was still thinking about when I get better, I'm going to do this.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: That must have been incredibly difficult when you were told that you were going to have to relearn how to speak and walk again.
--:-- Tony Romain: Yes, it was. And I think at the time as well, because of the brain injury, my emotions were all over the place and not even my emotions just my reactions to things I would start crying for no reason even when I wasn't sad or I would start laughing just at anything at all for no reason quite often quite inappropriate moments but when I realised everything I had to do it was hard to think about but I wasn't going to let anything get in the way.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: How did you even begin to teach yourself how to play the guitar one-handed?
--:-- Tony Romain: First of all, I laid it on a bench in front of me and I tried to use one hand to do it. That didn't work but I just kept trying everything I could. Eventually, I've got it sat in my wheelchair so it's supported by the armrest and I'll basically use, obviously, just the one hand.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: How did it feel to be sat with your guitar again playing music?
--:-- Tony Romain: It made me very sad but very happy at the same time. It was just things I couldn't do which I used to be able to do and then things I could do which I never thought I would be able to do at the same point.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: How has music helped your recovery?
--:-- Tony Romain: I think it's just given me a focus. I mean, apart from family, obviously. It's the one thing in life that I really love and I just can't imagine giving up.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: Even since your stroke, you've got on stage to perform. How was that, stepping back on the stage? What did that feel like?
--:-- Tony Romain: It felt really good. It was almost like feeling like myself again, if that makes sense.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: What have your family said about you teaching yourself how to use musical instruments again?
--:-- Tony Romain: Keep the noise down. No, they've been very supportive.
--:-- Holly Gibbs: Do you want to use music in the future to inspire other people who have suffered a stroke to help them in their recovery?
--:-- Tony Romain: Definitely. Well, I want to raise awareness for stroke. I would love to help encourage other people to keep on going and show them what can be done. Don't give up. Even if things seem almost impossible, we can do it. We can do anything we want. If it's something that's important to you, just go. Don't stop until you get somewhere you want to be.
--:-- Alex Ritson: For many of the world's greatest athletes, success isn't just measured on the field. It's also about inspiring the next generation. And in recent months, interest in women's rugby has soared, thanks in large part to one player in particular.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: And here is Elona Ma with a hooker and a fly-half to beat.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Oh, she's going to do it! It is quite simply marvellous.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Thousands of fans packed out Bristol's Ashgate Stadium, a record crowd for the South West England team.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: That's because of a new addition to the squad, a social media sensation and the new unofficial ambassador for women's rugby, Elona Marr.
--:-- Elona Ma: OK, thanks, guys. OK, I'm going to sign one more thing and then I've got to go take a million pictures.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Honestly, it's so exciting.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: She is the biggest name in rugby at the moment. She's just really made it so much more exciting and accessible to younger people as well.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: She really funny She really inspirational for young girls and stuff Especially tall broad women like me who wanted someone like Elona to look up to
--:-- Ella Bicknell: And we just excited to support women sports and support Ilona We so happy to be here
--:-- Ella Bicknell: After a bronze medal winning performance for Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics the 28-year-old Sevens player has moved to the UK to elevate her 15-a-side game.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: And she's bringing her 8 million social media followers with her.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: I'm so excited to join the Bristol Bears and play Premiership women's rugby with and against some of the best rugby players in the world.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Just a question. Is it going to be this cold the whole time?
--:-- Ella Bicknell: It's got a little chilly.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: It is.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: They see me through an app all the time. They see me that way and connected with me through social media.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: So getting to see me play, getting to see me in person, puts more of a realness to it. I am a real person. That is who I am online. It's who I am in real life.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: And I'm so happy that they all came. We had so many people come out who have never watched a rugby game before. This was their first one. And so I'm happy that this was a good game, a great day for it.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Mar's performance on the field combined with her humorous behind-the-scenes videos made her one of the standout stars of last year's Olympics.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: She's since been a contestant on primetime American television show Dancing with the Stars.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: She's been featured in magazines like Forbes and Sports Illustrated and signed multiple brand deals.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Her motto beast beauty brains reflects her unapologetic approach to life.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: She wants women to be themselves regularly jumping on TikTok to discuss body positivity and what it's like as a high-profile female athlete.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: I want to talk to you all today about imposter syndrome and why people automatically assume that successful women have it.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: I have cellulite everywhere. It is completely normal, completely natural.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: It does not take away from your athletic ability or how fast or how fit you are. We all have it.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Speaking to the BBC, Ma says it's an honour to be a role model for young girls, if that's what's needed to make the sport grow.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: The thing is, like, athletes and women are so versatile. You can be beautiful and wear lipstick. I wear lipstick when I play rugby because I just feel like I don't have to sacrifice one or the other. Like, I can be a beast in the field but also feel beautiful and wear lipstick.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: I also am smart. I have a nursing degree. I have a master's in business.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: I think for those girls out there, rugby is a really sport that allows you to express yourself in the fullest way possible.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Ilona Ma's contract with the Bristol Bears might just be three months long, but she hopes to be back in England for this summer's Women's Rugby World Cup.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: I want to make that World Cup squad next year and I want to be myself in the best, the most deserving position to make it.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: And I think for rugby as a whole, this is just a shine light on this league as well because this is a semi-professional league.
--:-- Ella Bicknell: Hopefully it becomes a professional league so these girls can play rugby, can fill these stands more and so little girls can dream of being a professional rugby player someday.
--:-- Alex Ritson: To southwest China now, where food lovers have been flocking to an unlikely destination.
--:-- Celia Hatton: Cues of people have formed outside a small funeral home in Guizhou.
--:-- Celia Hatton: Some even posing as mourners, just to try a popular noodle dish served in the Funeral Homes canteen.
--:-- Celia Hatton: Asia-Pacific editor Celia Hatton told Oliver Conway more about this latest food craze.
--:-- Celia Hatton: These noodles, I've got to say, they do look delicious.
--:-- Celia Hatton: They're kind of these hand-pulled noodles made in the canteen and they're served with pork, they're a little bit spicy, they're topped with peanuts.
--:-- Celia Hatton: It's a bit of a local delicacy but it just shows that Chinese food lovers will go to great lengths to find good food.
--:-- Celia Hatton: So word began to spread that this little tiny cafeteria inside a funeral home complex was serving fantastic noodles and people started pretending that they were attending funerals, pretending to be mourning the dead in order to go and try the noodles.
--:-- Celia Hatton: And it was said that at one point the lineups outside the canteen were about two hours long.
--:-- Celia Hatton: Some waited for two hours in order to pay about a dollar for a bowl of these fantastic noodles.
--:-- Celia Hatton: Yeah, the pictures suggest the canteen is quite busy just seeing those people there crammed in.
--:-- Celia Hatton: Can it cope?
--:-- Celia Hatton: Well, they have said they've had to make a concession that they are willing for members of the public to come and try the noodles.
--:-- Celia Hatton: In fact, the chef says he will give 50 free bowls of noodles away a day as long as those people, the noodle lovers don't get in the way of the actual mourners, people actually attending funerals.
--:-- Celia Hatton: So they've had to make some concessions.
--:-- Celia Hatton: But I think they're seeing it as a huge compliment that people all over China are going to this one tiny location because the noodles are so good.
--:-- Celia Hatton: And this is a big thing in China. You hear about some good food and you do anything to try and get there.
--:-- Celia Hatton: That's right. I mean, Chinese people love really good food.
--:-- Celia Hatton: So when word begins to spread, and social media has just amplified this, word begins to spread that one particular thing is really, really good.
--:-- Celia Hatton: People almost enjoy the challenge of being able to track it down and to line up for huge amounts of time and to really kind of put in the time in order to score this.
--:-- Celia Hatton: And I think the added challenge of having to pretend to be mourning and to pretend to be attending a funeral was just what some people just couldn't even ignore.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Fitness trends might come and go, but this latest one has raised some eyebrows.
--:-- Edward Main: Codrobics is a form of exercise which involves copying the movement of animals by walking on all fours.
--:-- Edward Main: It's also taken off as a social media trend in Russia.
--:-- Edward Main: However, some senior politicians there have threatened to ban it.
--:-- Edward Main: One Japanese man hopes to stop that and spread the benefits of the sport, as Edward Main reports.
--:-- Edward Main: I think it's utterly ridiculous for any government to think of banning quadrobics, something that has so many benefits as a sport.
--:-- Edward Main: That's Kenichi Ito from Japan.
--:-- Edward Main: He's one of the fastest humans on four limbs.
--:-- Edward Main: On your mark! Ready? Go!
--:-- Edward Main: Kenichi held the Guinness World Record from 2015 to 2022 after covering 100 metres in a remarkable 15.71 seconds.
--:-- Edward Main: Kenichi lives in Tokyo where he's something of a celebrity.
--:-- Edward Main: Now 42, he devotes much of his time to training and promoting quadrobics as a sport.
--:-- Edward Main: With a wary physique and collar-length brown hair, he was dressed in a tracksuit.
--:-- Edward Main: Despite the poor connection, Kenichi's passion for quadrobics shone through.
--:-- Edward Main: So how did it all begin?
--:-- Edward Main: I've always loved monkeys.
--:-- Edward Main: When I went to the zoo and saw patas monkeys running, I was struck by how agile and fast they were.
--:-- Edward Main: I wanted to be able to run just like them.
--:-- Edward Main: When I got home, I started researching running on four limbs on the internet.
--:-- Edward Main: It looked like nobody had thought of doing it competitively yet.
--:-- Edward Main: I started training and researching because I wanted to turn it into a competitive sport.
--:-- Edward Main: At the time, Kenichi was studying in the US.
--:-- Edward Main: When people asked, hey dude, what are you doing?
--:-- Edward Main: I told them that I wanted to be able to run quickly on all fours and was training for that.
--:-- Edward Main: They'd encourage me once they learned that.
--:-- Edward Main: Even police officers encouraged me after I explained to them what I was doing.
--:-- Edward Main: However, when Kenichi moved back home, he received a very different reaction.
--:-- Edward Main: There was a major cultural shift in the way I was perceived.
--:-- Edward Main: People would report me to the police or they'd avoid me on the streets.
--:-- Edward Main: In an effort to escape that hostility, Kenichi headed for the countryside.
--:-- Edward Main: I went to go and stay with a friend who was a monk as he owned a hut in the mountains.
--:-- Edward Main: I thought I'd be able to roam around freely on all fours, 24-7.
--:-- Edward Main: However, this almost proved fatal when a hunter mistook Kenichi for a wild boar.
--:-- Edward Main: One day when I was going about my business on all fours, I heard a loud rustling noise in the distance.
--:-- Edward Main: And when I looked up, I could see the muzzle of a gun pointed at me.
--:-- Edward Main: I sprang up and yelled, I'm human.
--:-- Edward Main: Kenichi rejects claims by Russian officials that quadrobics has a negative effect on young people.
--:-- Edward Main: And Kenichi has this message Quadrobics is such a beautiful thing that shouldn't be stopped by any government.
--:-- Edward Main: I want you to be able to keep doing the quadrobics that you love despite all this.
--:-- Edward Main: We passed on Kenichi's message to Maria, the teenage quadroba from Moscow.
--:-- Maria: I would answer thank you very much for your support and such words.
--:-- Maria: I think this will be very important for many.
--:-- Maria: I would like all quadrobbers to hear those words.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Coming up in this podcast all of a sudden I'm 27 years old I'm living the American dream I'm living in a 10,000 square foot mansion and I didn't like what I thought the man who gave up his NFL career to become a farmer
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--:-- Alex Ritson: See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies.
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--:-- Alex Ritson: According to a nationwide survey conducted by GeneSight, nearly 9 in 10 Americans who've been diagnosed with depression or anxiety believe that mental health medications are somewhat or very effective.
--:-- Alex Ritson: However, despite that belief, more than half of those individuals say they have avoided taking medication due to concerns about potential side effects.
--:-- Alex Ritson: That's why Dr. Whitney Brown, a family and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner based in Alabama, often recommends genetic testing to our patients as part of their treatment journey.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: As part of my treatment plan, I offer the GeneSightTest, site tests, which analyzes how a patient's genes may influence how they metabolize or respond to certain mental health medications.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: It gives me insights and takes out some of the guesswork that can be associated with prescribing them.
--:-- Alex Ritson: If you or someone you love is facing challenges with depression or anxiety, talk to your doctor about how genetic testing may help.
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--:-- Alex Ritson: In 2022, Canada became the first country to allow same-sex figure skaters to compete in pairs at national level.
--:-- Alex Ritson: But two former Olympic champions are attempting to spark change globally in a sport bound by strict gender rules.
--:-- Alex Ritson: All throughout last month, Madison Hubble from the US and Gabriela Papadakis of France performed as an all-female duo at a figure skating gala in Switzerland.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Their aim was to inspire other governing bodies to allow same-sex couples to compete.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: For many years, Madison Hubble and Gabriela Papadakis were rivals on the ice.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: But during their time as competitors, they also formed a friendship.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: After their retirement, the pair trained together in Canada and posted videos of them skating together online.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: Then, as Papadakis put it, one thing led to another.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: And they ended up performing at an ice gala that took place in cities across Switzerland.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: One reviewer described the performance as a work of art full of softness and intimacy, which breaks through the slick and polished surface of the sport.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: The two former Olympians acknowledged that the inclusion of same-sex couples in competitive skating would be a slow process.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: But Papadakis, who is bisexual, said she hoped their pairing would at least start a conversation.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: For young people, oftentimes they want to do international competitions, they want to go to Worlds, they want to go to the Olympics.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: So if it's not allowed, they're not necessarily interested yet to participate at the national level.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: And I think a lot of young people too, they're afraid of being judged.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: But I think for us it's nice to use our status in the skating world to show that actually it's something that people enjoy.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: So having spent decades performing alongside men, does it feel any different to skate with a woman?
--:-- Chantal Hartle: For Hubble, not so much.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: It was really fun to skate with someone who's obviously a more fluid and soft style than my partner had been.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: But it didn't feel like I had the cognizant thought, I'm skating with a female, so I must change for a female.
--:-- Chantal Hartle: It was just another person that I was learning to skate with.
--:-- Alex Ritson: For many, a career as a professional sports star is what dreams are made of.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Jason Brown chose to play football in high school as a way to get a college scholarship and having done just that, he made it to the NFL becoming the best paid player in the position.
--:-- Alex Ritson: But despite his success at the age of 29 he walked away from the sport to become a farmer in North Carolina where he gives away tons of food every year.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Jason spoke to Katie Smith
--:-- Jason Brown: It is a beautiful farm a gorgeous thousand acre farm.
--:-- Jason Brown: And here in North Carolina more sweet potatoes grown here than anywhere else.
--:-- Jason Brown: So that is one of our staple crops.
--:-- Jason Brown: Most of our food that we have grown, harvested and donated, which to date is more than two million pounds of food, about 1. million pounds of that have been sweet potatoes.
--:-- Jason Brown: I can hear the passion in your voice when you talk.
--:-- Jason Brown: And you talk like someone who has done this their entire life.
--:-- Jason Brown: But I wonder if you could take us back to the moment where your career is going really well, you're in the NFL.
--:-- Jason Brown: For a lot of people, you are living the dream.
--:-- Jason Brown: Where was that moment where you saw, actually for me, I'm not sure I am living the dream.
--:-- Jason Brown: I was inspired by my older brother, Lunsford Bernard Brown II, he was slain in service over in Iraq.
--:-- Jason Brown: I wish that I could say that so much of my passion and being so tough came from a happy place.
--:-- Jason Brown: Actually, all of my passion came from a really dark place of not wanting to let my older brother down.
--:-- Jason Brown: Like no matter what it took, all of a sudden, I'm 27 years old.
--:-- Jason Brown: I'm living the American dream. I'm living in a 10,000 square foot mansion.
--:-- Jason Brown: And I didn't like what I saw because in reflection, Lunsford lived a life of service and giving back.
--:-- Jason Brown: And I was living a life of fortune, fame, and selfishness, a lot of materialistic things.
--:-- Jason Brown: And it hit me to my core.
--:-- Jason Brown: I knew that I had to give back.
--:-- Jason Brown: And I always told myself, I'm never going to forget about where I come from.
--:-- Jason Brown: And you have to keep a certain level of humility and a certain level of humanity and that compassion for your fellow man.
--:-- Jason Brown: You say that you don't want to forget where you come from, but actually you didn't come from a farm, did you?
--:-- Jason Brown: So where did the farm come into this?
--:-- Jason Brown: That was my grandfather.
--:-- Jason Brown: He was a large farmer here in North Carolina.
--:-- Jason Brown: I was inspired by stories that my father would tell me about my grandfather, about how giving he was.
--:-- Jason Brown: Every Christmas, he gave every single one of his family members and friends a 50-pound sack of beans, a gallon of molasses, and a salt-cured ham or a shoulder.
--:-- Jason Brown: That's an awesome gift.
--:-- Jason Brown: If you're a family that's struggling and going through food insecurity, that's the type of gift that can help you to make it throughout another month or so.
--:-- Jason Brown: And all while growing up, I saw the miracles of agriculture, even just on fruit trees.
--:-- Jason Brown: I would even make fun with my mother when I would ask her for some money.
--:-- Jason Brown: And she said, hey, son, why are you asking me for money?
--:-- Jason Brown: What do you think? Money grows on trees?
--:-- Jason Brown: I said, well, no, it doesn't.
--:-- Jason Brown: But food grows on trees.
--:-- Jason Brown: That there's something of value that grows on trees.
--:-- Jason Brown: That's why one of the first things that we planted here at First Fruits Farm was as many perennial fruit and nut trees as we possibly could.
--:-- Jason Brown: And my son, JW, who was four years old at the time, he said, hey, dad, when are we going to be able to harvest and eat some of these fresh nuts?
--:-- Jason Brown: I said, what I'm doing right now, you and your children are going to benefit from these trees more so than I ever will.
--:-- Jason Brown: I said, but you have to learn right now what it means to invest in our future, what it means to sow a seed, to plant a tree.
--:-- Jason Brown: But yet it's going to be beneficial and help to feed our families for generations to come.
--:-- Alex Ritson: If you were lucky enough to make it to 105, how would you celebrate?
--:-- Alex Ritson: One woman from Derbyshire in central England put on a rave with the help of her care home.
--:-- Harry Bly: A DJ, rave lighting, UV paint and glow sticks. It's the sort of birthday celebration you'd have if you're a teenager.
--:-- Harry Bly: You might think. This party, however, was for Hilda Jackson, who was turning 105 years old.
--:-- Harry Bly: Hilda is the oldest resident at Holbrook Hall Residential Home, which hosted the event.
--:-- Harry Bly: Bit of dancing, a bit of raving, you know, whatever.
--:-- Harry Bly: So why a rave?
--:-- Harry Bly: The staff at her care home who organised the rave say Hilda has always been a big fan of dancing and living life to the fullest.
--:-- Harry Bly: Well, I've been like it all my life.
--:-- Harry Bly: I can't be a person that just sits there and not says anything.
--:-- Harry Bly: I like to join in everything that's going off, especially here where I am.
--:-- Harry Bly: I speak to everybody that comes in and they just look at me and I think some of them think I'm not right.
--:-- Harry Bly: And here's how it went.
--:-- Harry Bly: The reason we are all here this evening, can we make some noise for the birthday girl on her 105th birthday?
--:-- Harry Bly: Happy birthday, Hilda!
--:-- Harry Bly: Alongside the dance bangers, her celebration included traditional party songs and an array of food and drink.
--:-- Harry Bly: Ahead of the big day, Hilda received dozens of cards, including one from King Charles and Queen Camilla.
--:-- Harry Bly: What a splendid achievement. We send you our congratulations and warmest best wishes for your 105th birthday on the 25th of February 2025.
--:-- Harry Bly: Oh, I was shocked when I got that. That was an absolute surprise.
--:-- Harry Bly: I never thought I'd ever get that. So I was so pleased to have it. And it's wonderful.
--:-- Harry Bly: So a big party for a grand old lady. But did she enjoy it?
--:-- Harry Bly: Here's Hilda the morning after.
--:-- Harry Bly: Absolutely fabulous. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
--:-- Harry Bly: I think when I went to bed, because I can remember I was up at half past two, talking, yakking away.
--:-- Harry Bly: So it should be getting on for three o'clock.
--:-- Harry Bly: And on whether she will repeat this next year for her 106th.
--:-- Harry Bly: Keep your fingers crossed as I'm still here.
--:-- Harry Bly: From all of us here, happy birthday, Hilda.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Harry Bly reporting.
--:-- Alex Ritson: And that's all from the Happy Pod for now.
--:-- Alex Ritson: We'd love to hear from you as ever.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
--:-- Alex Ritson: This edition was produced by Holly Gibbs and Harry Bly.
--:-- Alex Ritson: It was mixed by Rebecca Miller.
--:-- Alex Ritson: The editor is Karen Martin.
--:-- Alex Ritson: I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
--:-- Alex Ritson: Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
