STORIES by Lea Thau

Welcome back to our Summer of Strangers. Today's story is an old Strangers episode with Sharon Houston, and next week we'll do a follow-up with her.

If you want to see photos that go with today’s episode, you can find them in these posts on Patreon or Substack, where you can also join our free community and sign up for our newsletter. If you’d like to support our work, consider becoming a paying subscriber on either platform.

Sharon Houston is a comedian, actress, content creator, producer, and writer, who has experience across all aspects of web and TV production. She has numerous court shows under her belt, including "Judge Joe Brown", "Divorce Court", "Judge Alex", "The Hollywood Judge", "Judge Faith", and "Judge Jerry." Sharon has produced TV and digital programming for VH1, MTVTres, Mun2, FOX, Universal Music Group, E!,OWN, Oxygen, NBC, FX, and CBS. Her original concepts have garnered deals with The Gurin Company, Scout Productions, UnbelEVAble Productions, Wanda Sykes' Push It Productions, Live Animals, Fox21, MGM, Catalyst Content Group, EveryWoman Studios, and Russell Westbrook's Westbrook Enterprises. Sharon continues to create and innovate and you can follow her on instagram and across all platforms as goforsharon.

Big thanks to my man, Paul Dreux Smith, for making the music for the new parts of this episode and for helping me mix, and to our production team: my associate producer, Vix Jensen, and our intern, Aviva Barry, as well as Heather Kitching and Jen Alevizos.

Want to join the conversation? Let us know what you think of this episode, or share a story of your own, by writing to stories@leathau.com. You can also find us 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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Thank you for all the love we’ve received about Joshua Safran’s story from last week. This episode is a follow-up with Joshua about his life now.

It's quite different from the original episode, because it's more of a conversation and less of a story, and because a lot has changed in 10 years – in Joshua's life, and the U.S., and the world.

Big thanks to Joshua Safran. He is the author of the memoir Free Spirit: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid, which formed the basis of last week’s story. Joshua, and his co-counsel, and their client, Deborah Peagler, were also the subjects of the multi-award-winning documentary Crime after Crime, about the long effort to free Deborah from prison. Joshua is the co-founder and general counsel of Medical Justice Alliance, a nonprofit that protects the right to medical care for the incarcerated.

I’m deeply grateful for the help from my associate producer, Vix Jensen, and Heather Kitching, who’s been making promo reels for us, including the one about Joshua's story that has gone viral on Instagram this week, as well as Jen Alevizos who has been helping us project manage, and who picked Joshua’s story for the Summer of Strangers. Also big thanks to our fabulous interns, Aviva Barry and Crab Saylor Hochsprung-Cottrell, and of course to my love, Paul Dreux Smith, for making the music and mixing. Finally, thanks to Avi Odenheimer for making the epsiode art this week.

You can join our member communities on Substack or Patreon, where you can sign up for our newsletter and join the chat about the latest episode, free of charge. Paying subscribers also get access to 80 exclusive Strangers episodes like Joshua’s from last week, plus all my new work, all of it ad-free, as well as invitations to member hangouts, and much more.

Want another way to get in touch? Drop us a line at stories@leathau.com or find us on Facebook or 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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.