Allan “Alonzo” Wild’s Andean Adventures and Beyond

Season 3, Episode #53

About AJ:

Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), having worked on and off with the Agency primarily overseas on diplomatic assignments from 1990 to 1992 and 1999 to 2019 in the Peru, Nicaragua, Angola, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Africa and the Southern Africa USAID Regional Missions. He provided oversight to U.S. government foreign aid development and humanitarian assistance, and supported U.S. Ambassadors as their senior development officer on multiple U.S. Embassy Country Teams.

What's inside this episode:

00:00 Meet Alonzo!

02:04 Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind's story

05:53 Interview begins with the question "Where in the world are you right now AJ?" (hint: somewhere in the Middle East...)

07:31 A discussion of the historical and current political climate regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict

20:50 Is peace in the middle east possible?

24:20 AJ's life as an explorer: when you call so many places home, where does it feel like home-base?

26:10 AJ's dip into Science Fiction Writing

30:15 How our moments that change us shape our view of the world and of our selves

33:00 AJ's thoughts on what it takes to change people's minds

41:25 Oversimplifying solutions to big problems/Actively seeking to shift your own perspective.

47:22 Final thoughts from guest, AJ "Alonzo" Wild

49:23 Closing thoughts from the host

Helpful Links related to this discussion:

• Visit Alonzo Wind's website to read AJ's blog, get a copy of his recent memoir Andean Adventures and more.
• Watch Fauda on Netflix
• Read John McWhorter's controversial book, Woke Racism

Looking to connect with our guest?

@galacticemp on Twitter

Allan "Alonzo"'s Facebook page

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