STORIES by Lea Thau

10 Years Later – The Son, The Goddess & Leopoldo

July 29, 2026·47 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

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 a

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