STORIES by Lea Thau

Summer of Strangers: Pabba's 32nd Year

Imagine your parents controlled your online dating profile. That’s what happened to Pabba and this is his story.  We first ran this story 10 years ago and next week we’l

Summer of Strangers: Midnight in Mexico – Then & Now

A family tragedy sends the Corchados from Mexico to California, searching for greener pastures. Upon arrival, that’s hardly what they find, but some years later, a deal i

13 Years Later – Franky Carrillo #3: Still Franky

This is a brand new installment in the Franky Carrillo saga that I’m very excited to share with you. Franky is the same great storyteller he's always been, and he goes de

Summer of Strangers: Franky Carrillo #2: Life Now – 2017

I hope you heard Franky’s story from last week, because it’s heartbreaking, and uplifting, and enraging, and inspiring, and it’s the foundation for today’s episode, which

Summer of Strangers – Franky Carrillo #1 Life

Franky Carrillo was 16 when he received a double life sentence for a crime he had nothing to do with. This is his story. It's one of the most beloved Strangers stories of

14 Years Later: And Justice for All?

Last week we posted Sharon Houston's hilarious and beloved old Strangers story And Justice for All? and this week we're following up with Sharon to see what she's up to n

Summer of Strangers: And Justice for All?

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

10 Years Later – The Son, The Goddess & Leopoldo

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 fr

Summer of Strangers: The Son, The Goddess & Leopoldo

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 thi

Summer of Strangers: Unconditional

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 ca

Something Old, Something New, Something Light, Something True

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 offic

The Hopeful Locals #7: John

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

The Hopeful Locals #6: Cowboy Country

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 Ep

The Hopeful Locals #5: Visionaries of The Wind River, Part 2

The hope holds strong in this second episode about people working for change on the Wind River Reservation. It is brought to you by Tink Media, Podcast The Newsletter, a

The Hopeful Locals #4: Visionaries of the Wind River, Part 1

This is Episode 4 of The Hopeful Locals (Episode 7 if you’re a paying subscriber and get bonus episodes!).  You’re getting this episode ad-free because the people in it

The Hopeful Locals #3: Erika

This is Episode 3 of The Hopeful Locals for free subscribers (Episode 6 for paying subscribers).  Our storyteller today is Erika Warren-Yarber. She’s the COO of the Wind

The Hopeful Locals #2: On the Road Again

This is Episode 2 of my series, The Hopeful Locals. It’s a direct continuation of Episode 1, so if you haven’t heard that, I’d go start there. Huge thanks to my husband,

The Hopeful Locals #1: A Portrait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged Woman

This is the prologue to my new series, The Hopeful Locals, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. The story continues on Friday.  Huge thanks to Dengue Fever, Paul’s band, for lett

Introducing 'STORIES by Lea Thau'

Hi friends, I’m back! New episodes start dropping Tuesday!  Also, heads-up: I’ll be changing the name of this podcast from Strangers to STORIES by Lea Thau on Monday. Th

Falling Slowly

Strangers, at its core, is about the beauty and the struggle of human connection and what happens in those moments when we get closer to someone else, or, say, further re