STORIES by Lea Thau

Joshua Safran was born in a coven of lesbian witches in a Haight-Ashbury commune. After the fall of Saigon, young Joshua Safran hit the open road with his mother, and things only got stranger from there. This story is a rerun from 2016. Next week, we’ll run a follow-up with Joshua.

A word of warning: This episode contains moments you may find disturbing. Please use discretion and avoid listening around kids.

To see the photos that go with Joshua’s story, check out these free posts on Patreon or Substack, where you can also sign up for our free newsletter. To unlock another 80 Strangers episodes + new premium content, and to listen ad-free, consider becoming a paying subscriber.

Joshua Safran is a nationally recognized advocate for the rights of women, survivors of domestic violence, and the wrongfully incarcerated. He has won many awards for his work in this field, and he’s the author of the memoir Free Spirit: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid. Joshua and his co-counsel, and their client, Deborah Peagler, were subjects of the documentary Crime After Crime, which was an Official Selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and has won 25 awards. Joshua is also the co-founder and general counsel of Medical Justice Alliance, a nonprofit that protects the right to medical care for prisoners.

Big thanks as always, to Paul Dreux Smith for making the music and helping me mix, and to my Associate Producer Vix Jensen and our interns, Aviva Barry and Crab Saylor Hochsprung-Cottrell. Also huge thanks to Jen Alevizos and Heather Kitching for their production support, and to my original co-producer on Joshua’s story, Laura Fetherstonhaugh.

Paying subscribers, we have a member hangout tomorrow: Thursday, July 23, 5pm PT – 6pm MT – 7pm CT – 8pm ET – 1am BST – 2am CEST – 10am AEST. Zoom link is in your member inbox.

Did you catch last week’s beloved episode, Unconditional, with Deborah Jiang-Stein and the introductory episode to our Summer of Strangers, called Something Old, Something New, Something Light, Something True with Holly Rothschild, another Strangers favorite? Find them right here in your feed.

How are you liking the Summer of Strangers so far?

Don’t be a stranger and let us know your thoughts at stories@leathau.com or on Facebook and Instagram.
The entire back catalogue of Strangers can be found at STORIES by Lea Thau on Patreon and Substack, where you can also find my new work in its entirety, all of it ad-free. You can join as a free or paid member, so come be part of my community! Or follow my new work in my new public feed, STORIES by Lea Thau, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
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This is a story of mothers, love, regret, and redemption, and of secrets from many years past that cast long shadows into our lives. It’s about how Deborah Jiang-Stein came to be pulled over by two highway patrolmen at 19 years-old, with a trunkload of dope, a .38 revolver, and a 10” switch blade. That was only the beginning of her long journey towards what she was looking for.

This story is a Strangers rerun from 2015, followed by a little catch-up with Deborah. It's the first installment of our Summer of Strangers where we revisit some of our favorite stories from that show. All the stories we’ve picked for the series relate in some way to the American experience, as we take a close look at the country that just turned 250, through the personal stories of some of its people.

If you’d like to see pictures that go with this episode, you can find them in these free, public posts on Patreon or Substack where you can also sign up for our free newsletter.

Thanks to our storyteller, Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of the memoir Prison Baby, and the story collection Lucky Tomorrow, and founder & CEO of the unPrison Project.

Thanks to Paul Dreux Smith for making the music for the new parts of this episode and for helping me mix. Big thanks, as always, to my associate producer Vix Jensen, and to our interns, Crab Saylor Hochsprung-Cotrell and Aviva Barry, as well as to Heather Kitching.

We’d love to hear what you think of this story, and of this series, and of life in America.

If you have anything to say, send a voice memo to stories@leathau.com and we might use it on the show, or just send us a regular email.

You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram.

If you’d like to help make our work possible and access another 80 Strangers episodes like the one you just heard, and much more, become a paying subscriber on Patreon or Substack.

Thanks for listening…and don’t be strangers:)

The entire back catalogue of Strangers can be found at STORIES by Lea Thau on Patreon and Substack, where you can also find my new work in its entirety, all of it ad-free. You can join as a free or paid member, so come be part of my community! Or follow my new work in my new public feed, STORIES by Lea Thau, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we wrap up The Hopeful Locals and preview our SUMMER of STRANGERS with a Strangers story that has been offline since 2014.

The SUMMER of STRANGERS officially kicks off July 15.

Comment on Patreon, Substack,Facebook or Instagram as to which Strangers stories you most want us to rerun or follow up on!

Or leave a review wherever you’re listening right now to let us know!

To whet your appetites and tide you over until kick-off, we’re taking three episodes from the Strangers archive each week and making them available right here in your public feed.

We’re NOT reposting these at the top of the feed, so they will be under their original publication dates, and each set of episodes will only be available for ONE WEEK, so make sure you’re subscribed and that you listen to or download the episodes while they’re unlocked.
This week we’re featuring the series Two Men and a Baby, which ran from 2014 to 2017, and the episodes will be available until July 2nd. Start with the first one, Two Men and a Baby, then Like a Pizza, Two Men and a Baby - The Follow Up, and Two Men and a Baby - The Final Episode!
But hey, if you want access to the entire Strangers archive today and want to help make my new work possible, become a paying subscriber today on Patreon or Substack.

Big thanks to Holly Rothschild for sharing her story. She and her husband, Luke Rothschild, and cellist Joseph Harvey, co-founded the genre-bending super-group, String Theory. Based in Los Angeles, they’re a hybrid performance ensemble, consisting of musicians and dancers, and combining architectural harp installations, original music, dance, and projections. Holly is also a choreographer and dancer, and she’s the artistic director of the dance & performance installation company, Bipedal Herd, which she founded.

Holly’s story was originally produced with support from KCRW’s Independent Producer Project.
Thanks to my love, Paul Dreux Smith for making the music and mixing, and to his band, Dengue Fever, for letting me play the song you heard in the outro. It’s called Tooth & Nail and it’s from the album Venus on Earth.

Deep gratitude to my Associate Producer, Vix Jensen, for her help kicking off the summer series and producing The Hopeful Locals, and to the newest member of the team, our summer intern, Crab Saylor Hochsprung-Cottrell.

Also thanks to my project editor, Christina Thyssen, and to Pernille Clifforth for illustrating The Hopeful Locals so beautifully. A special thanks to Heather Kitching and Sunny Jen Adrian for their help.
The entire back catalogue of Strangers can be found at STORIES by Lea Thau on Patreon and Substack, where you can also find my new work in its entirety, all of it ad-free. You can join as a free or paid member, so come be part of my community! Or follow my new work in my new public feed, STORIES by Lea Thau, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
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This is Episode 7 of the Hopeful Locals, but this installment can also stand alone. Today you’re going to meet John Doyle, and I’m going to let him tell most of the story, because I like the way he tells it. John has had an interesting life, and he tells his story in the same warm, frank, meandering way that he seems to approach most things.

He lives and works in the town of Crow Agency, and it’s small enough that the only directions he gave me to his office were to “drive through town and look for the pink house.” Inside, I found John, surrounded by machines and samples that related to his scientific research, and I found a story of hope, resilience, and reconciliation, beyond what I’d imagined – and beyond what I, myself, can muster, even on my best days.

This episode is brought to you without commercial interruption by Tink Media, Podcast the Newsletter, and our paying subscribers on Patreon and Substack.

Big thanks to John Doyle for sharing his story. He’s getting ready to retire from Little Big Horn College where he’s served as Principal Investigator and Project Coordinator for the Crow Water Quality Project and several environmental health grant research initiatives. He also works closely with Montana State University and with the Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee, which he co-founded. John serves on the Board of the local non-profit, Plenty Doors, which he helped Charlene Johnson start. They’re a native CDFI, supporting new businesses on the reservation, and they run a number of great programs, including a workforce development program and an Elders and Youth program, where the youth learn from the elders and benefit from their cultural knowledge and wisdom. Be sure to check out and support their work!

Thanks to Paul Dreux Smith for making the music and mixing, and to my Associate Producer, Vix Jensen, for her help with this story and so many other things. Also thanks to my project editor, Christina Thyssen, and to Pernille Clifforth for illustrating this series. A special thanks to Heather Kitching and Jen Alevizos for their help this month.

If you'd like to see photos for John's story and all the stories we share, become a FREE newsletter subscriber on Patreon or Substack, or join my community on Facebook and Instagram. If you'd like to support my work, you can also become a paying subscriber and get invited to my member hangout in Copenhagen on June 25, our monthly community hangs on Zoom, our member-only Discord, our Episode Debriefs, AND you'll get lots of bonus episodes.

You can email us anytime at stories@leathau.com. We love hearing from you!
The entire back catalogue of Strangers can be found at STORIES by Lea Thau on Patreon and Substack, where you can also find my new work in its entirety, all of it ad-free. You can join as a free or paid member, so come be part of my community! Or follow my new work in my new public feed, STORIES by Lea Thau, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
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As L.A. burns behind me, I drive deeper into cowboy country through Wyoming to Montana, trying to untangle the many contradictions of the country I call home.

This is Episode 6 of The Hopeful Locals, and it is in loving memory of Crawford White Eagle.

This series is made with suppport from our sponsors Tink Media and Podcast The Newsletter, and from our paying subscribers on Patreon and Substack.

Big thanks to Jackie White, for letting me visit with her. Jackie's husband, Crawford White Eagle was a ceremonial leader and one of the Northern Arapaho’s Four Old Men. He worked tirelessly for preservation of the tribe’s language and culture, and he helped establish the Northern Arapaho endowment for tribal students at the University of Wyoming, where he also received an honorary doctorate. Crawford served his country in the Vietnam War and was twice wounded in combat, receiving a Purple Heart and many other medals for his service. He was also a master jewelry maker and silversmith.

Thanks to Paul Dreux Smith, for making the music and mixing this episode, and to my Associate Producer, Vix Jensen, for her help with this story and many other things. Also big thanks to Pernille Clifforth for illustrating the series, and to Heather Kitching for her support.

Lauren Passell of Podcast The Newsletter also created the newsletters Podcast Marketing Magic, where you can find all sorts of awesome marketing tips and tricks, and Podcasts We Text About. Enjoy them all!

We’d love your thoughts on this episode (and anything else) and you can email us at stories@leathau.com, or find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks for listening!

The entire back catalogue of Strangers can be found at STORIES by Lea Thau on Patreon and Substack, where you can also find my new work in its entirety, all of it ad-free. You can join as a free or paid member, so come be part of my community! Or follow my new work in my new public feed, STORIES by Lea Thau, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.