Introducing The Way Back

From ripping off record stores all over town to partying with Bill Murray and Basquiat, Frank’s wild ride through the scenes of New York City in the late 1970s and 80s continues in this third and final story of the Frank Damico trilogy. If you haven’t heard Episode 1 or Episode 2 yet, we recommend listening in order.If you’d like to see photos from today’s episode, check out our posts on Substack and Patreon and sign up FOR FREE on either platform to receive our newsletter and join our: Summer of Strangers - Series DebriefSunday, November 811:30am PT12:30pm MT1:30pm CT2:30pm ET7:30pm GMT20:30 CET6:30am AEDT (Mon)A ‘Debrief’ is part Q&A, part discussion, where you can bring all your questions and comments about an episode or a series, in this case, our Summer of Strangers.The next episode inthis series drops on November 12, and then the series rolls out weekly from there. For my paying subscribers on Patreon and Substack , we’ll be dropping four bonus episodes over the next two weeks, and it’s a great time to become a paying subscriber, because we’re running a 20% sale on all the tiers right now, and I’ve just started a monthly storytelling workshop, which is included with the $19 tier, so for less than $20 per month, you can join my Tell Your Story workshop and also unlock more than 100 bonus episodes and much more. Membership starts at $5 on Patreon. And a heads-up that I’ve reorganized your podcast feed to be sorted by seasons, so the Summer of Strangers is now its own season – the previous one – and the Frank trilogy marks the beginning of a new one, The Way Back. Frank Damico is a writer, performer, storyteller and visual artist. He wrote and starred in the solo shows First Kill and The Severity of My Solitude, and he’s appeared on stages all over New York City and beyond. He was a frequent host and storyteller in the early days of The Moth, and he co-created The Moth’s community outreach program with me, Lea, and ran the program for seven years, bringing the power of storytelling to thousands of underserved and vulnerable individuals. Frank lives in the Hudson Valley with his dog Ramone. You can follow him on Facebook where he regularly shares his writings.A very special thanks to Pernille Clifforth, who has created original art for every episode of this series. You can check out and buy her work here.Thank you to my love Paul Dreux Smith for making the music and mixing this episode, and to Christina Thyssen and Richard Bailey for being my editors on The Way Back. Also big thanks to my associate producer, Vix Jensen and our production volunteers, Aviva Barry and Jen Alevizos.This Frank trilogy kicks off our new series, The Way Back. It continues next week. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment, or emailing us at [email protected]. We’re also 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.

In the infamous year 1977 – the year New York City went bankrupt and the serial killer Son of Sam reigned – Frank moved to the city with his friends, started a band, and got a job at CBGB, rubbing elbows with Blondie, Talking Heads, the Ramones. But would he survive the year out?This episode can be enjoyed on its own, but if you missed Part 1 of Frank's story, we recommend listening to that before you hear this.If you’d like to see the photos that go with this episode, you can find them on Patreon and Substack, FREE, without a membership. If you’d like to support my work, you can also sign up to be a paying subcriber and access ad-free, premium content. We’d love to have you.Frank Damico is a writer, performer, storyteller and visual artist. He wrote and starred in the solo shows First Kill and The Severity of My Solitude, and he’s appeared on stages all over New York City and beyond. He was a frequent host and storyteller in the early days of The Moth, and he co-created The Moth’s community outreach program with me and ran the program for seven years, bringing the power of storytelling to thousands of underserved and vulnerable individuals. Frank has also taught poetry and storytelling with Poets & Writers and other groups, and he lives in the Hudson Valley with his dog Ramone. You can follow him on Facebook where he regularly shares his writings.Huge gratitude also to our resident artist Pernille Clifforth who has beautifully illustrated every episode of this series.Also big thank you to Paul Dreux Smith for making the music and mixing this episode. Big thanks to Christina Thyssen for being my story editor for The Way Back, and to my associate producer, Vix Jensen, as well as our production volunteers, Aviva Barry and Jen Alevizos.We'd love to hear from you by email at [email protected] and you can find us on Instagram and Facebook or leave a review here in your podcast app!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.

He's had more lives than an alley cat and he's lived to tell the tales. He also happens to be my ex-husband, and he's taught me more about storytelling than anyone I know. Meet Frank Damico. This is Part 1 about his extraordinary life. It's also the first episode in our new series, The Way Back. Enjoy!If you'd like to see photos that go with this episode, you can find them on Substack and Patreon – posts are free to view, even if the ad-free, PREMIUM version of the audio won't be playable unless you become a paying subscriber, which you're welcome to do, of course, or you can sign p for our free newsletter, or simply check out the photos. Frank Damico is a writer, performer, storyteller and visual artist. He wrote and starred in the solo shows First Kill and The Severity of My Solitude, and he’s appeared on stages all over New York City and beyond. He was a frequent host and storyteller in the early days of The Moth, and he co-created The Moth’s community outreach program with me and ran the program for seven years, bringing the power of storytelling to thousands of underserved and vulnerable individuals. Frank has also taught poetry and storytelling with Poets & Writers and other groups, and he lives in the Hudson Valley with his dog Ramone. You can follow him on Facebook where he regularly shares his writings.Big thanks to my husband, Paul Dreux Smith, for making the music and mixing, and for being man enough and trusting me enough to let me do a story with an ex:)Huge thanks to Pernille Clifforth for illustrating this episode and the entire series. Deep gratitude to Christina Thyssen for being my story editor on this series, and to my associate producer, Vix Jensen, and our production volunteers, Aviva Barry and Jen Alevizos. And thanks to all of YOU for listening. We welcome your feedback at [email protected] us on Instagram and Facebook. 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.

Our new series The Way Back starts tomorrow. Here's a little teaser. Series art by Pernille Clifforth. Love,Lea & TeamThe 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.

Xyla Foxlin started flying as a teenager. By her twenties, she was piloting her own plane and building another from scratch. But when a private health crisis went public, she wound up in a battle with the FAA that could ground her for good.Today we're bringing you this fantastic story from the podcast The Longest Shortest Time with Hillary Frank, which you should go subscribe to. And please check out Hillary's original audiobook, Wedlocked, a feminist thriller that I think you'll like. It comes out on October 20, but you can pre-order it here and you're in for a treat!A heads up: this episode contains a reference to suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling, dial 988 in the U.S. or Canada. Hillary Frank is the creator and host of The Longest Shortest Time, a podcast that tells surprising stories about parenthood and women’s health, named one of TIME's 100 Best Podcasts of All Time. She also created Here Lies Me, a critically acclaimed fiction podcast about middle school featuring Michael Chernus, June Diane Raphael, Rob Huebel, and W. Kamau Bell. Hillary got her start in public radio, filing stories for This American Life, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace, and Studio 360, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Vox, and CNN.com. She is also the author and illustrator of three young adult novels and Weird Parenting Wins, a collection of essays and unusual yet effective parenting hacks. You can follow Hillary and the podcast on Instagram. Her latest novel, Wedlocked, a feminist thriller, comes out on October 20 and you can pre-order it here.Xyla Foxlin is a mechatronics engineer, pilot, and creator whose work at the intersection of engineering and storytelling has reshaped how technical subjects reach mass audiences. With a BSE from Case Western Reserve University, her YouTube channel spans high-power rockets, custom camper builds, composite fabrication, math and physics explanations, boatbuilding, and the full-scale construction of an experimental aircraft of which she will be the test pilot. Foxlin has also emerged as a national voice for pilot mental health. After losing her FAA medical for seeking therapy, she led a campaign challenging regulations that deter aviators from seeking medical care. Following the release of her video "The FAA is in Crisis”, over 3,300 messages to 442 legislators were delivered. The Mental Health in Aviation Act was introduced in the House in April 2025, and was introduced into the Senate in November 2025.Big thanks to Hillary for letting us feature this great story. You can find many more episodes of The Longest Shortest Time wherever you get your podcasts, or become a member of The Longest Shortest Time Club, for community, ad-free listening, and access to another podcast in the Longest Shortest universe, called You Know What.We're back next week with the first episode of our series called The Way Back, which we can't wait to share with 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're featuring a story from another podcast we love today: Proxy with Yowei Shaw. She investigates the strange, funny, and sometimes maddening emotional mysteries that shape our lives. I was really moved by this episode, called Caitlin Lost the Voice In Her Head, and I wanted to share it with you.For most of her life, Caitlin Myer had a narrator. A voice that told stories, shaped sentences, kept her company, and made writing feel less like work than a way of being alive.Then, after a concussion, the voice disappeared.In this episode, Yowei finds Caitlin a proxy: musician and songwriter Greta Morgan, who lost her singing voice after COVID and had to figure out who she was without the voice that had defined her. Together, they investigate the grief of losing the thing that gave your life meaning.You can find all the links to the books and music referenced in the episode here.Thanks so much to Yowei for letting us feature one of her stories this week and for her beautiful "emotional investigative journalism," as she calls it. It's tough to make it as an indie podcaster these days, especially doing the kind of long-form storytelling Yowei and I practice.You can join Proxy HQ on Patreon to support her independent show and get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, and live hangs. Proxy’s fall membership drive is happening right now with lots of cool perks.You can follow Yowei, and also the show, on Instagram and you can listen to lots more episodes of Proxy wherever you get your podcasts.You can follow STORIES by Lea Thau on Instagram and Facebook. 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!See you next week!LeaThe 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.

Pabba is now in his 42nd year, and his story has a resolution! Tune in to hear how his conundrum got resolved. It's a good story:) And check out Pabba’s original story if you haven’t heard that yet. . If you want to see photos that go with this episode, you can visit our free posts on Substack and Patreon. If you want to support our work and unlock a ton more of it, you can also become a paying subscriber on either of those platform, and we’d be deeply grateful for your support. Spoiler alert: The photos might give away some of the story, but I don’t think you’ll like it any less for that:) Huge thanks to Pabba and Britt for sharing their story.Britt Snyder is delighted to be back in her home state of N.C., embracing her inner woodland creature on the outskirts of Chapel Hill with her favorite human, Pabba. She spends her days with family, childhood friends, and a growing community built through an ever-changing lineup of hobbies (currently weightlifting, but check back next month).As for Pabba, a lot has changed in the past ten years, but not much in the past week. He still listens to punk and emo and isn’t shy about getting into a mosh pit; especially now that he’s met his deductible. He lives in Chapel Hill with Britt, and their two dogs, Otto and Ella, only one of whom moshes with him.Big thanks to Hyde Park Storytelling in Austin for introducing my former producer Laura Fetherstonhaugh to Pabba. Check out their shows, they’re great!This two-parter with Pabba is curated by Lulu Miller from Radiolab and Terrestrials, who called me “a divine and otherworldly storyhound from Denmark“ in the Radiolab newsletter yesterday. I think I’m going to put that on my gravestone.Here’s a Spotify playlist for you of Lulu’s other favorite stories from the show, which have been un-paywalled for the next month.My eternal gratitude to my associate producer, Vix Jensen, our intern Aviva Barry, our production volunteer Jen Alevizos, and my husband Paul Dreux Smith who makes the music and mixes.We welcome your feedback at [email protected] marks the official end of our Summer of Strangers, but we’ll be back with more stories next week, and every week!Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook.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.

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’ll have a brand new story with him. I can already reveal that a LOT has happened in the meantime.This two-parter with Pabba is curated by Lulu Miller from Radiolab and Terrestrials. In addition to Pabba's story, she's made a Spotify playlist for you of her other favorite stories from our show. They're normally paywalled but we've unlocked them for you for the next month. If you don't use Spotify, here are direct links to the episodes wherever you listen: Falling Slowly, Gay Talese: Committed Voyeur, Terry's Treasure, Love Hurts # 1.If you’d like to see photos of Pabba, including the pictures his parents wouldn’t let him use for his dating profile, and the one they chose instead, check out our free posts on Substack or Patreon. And course, if you’d like to support our work and unlock many more premium episodes, you can also become a paying subscriber on either platform. Huge thanks to Pabba for letting us rerun his story and for taping the update with me for next week. We aren't using Pabba’s full name here because he’d rather his family didn’t hear this story, but he performs and teaches improv at Mettlesome in Durham, North Carolina, and he moonlights as a robot from the past, who traveled to the future to party and fight in Giant Robot Fight Club. Like all tech bros in a midlife crisis, he has also gotten really into Brazilian jiu-jitsu at Revenant Combat Club. Big thanks to Lulu Miller for curating this week. Lulu is perhaps best known as the co-host of Radiolab, and the co-creator of Invisibilia, and she also makes the fantastic show Terrestrials for the whole family. It’s one of those rare podcasts that you can share with your kids but enjoy just as much for your own pleasure, because it’s full of Lulu’s creativity and curious mind. She likes to investigate all kinds of quirky things and come out with the best possible story about them. This is also the case in her book, Why Fish Don’t Exist, which I cannot recommend highly enough.Paying subscribers, our next member hangout is: Tuesday, September 29: 5pm PT – 6pm MT – 7PM CT – 8PM ET – 1AM BST – 2AM CEST.Also big thanks to Laura Fetherstonhaugh for producing the original story with Pabba and being an incredible storyteller and human being, and thanks to my equally amazing current associate producer, Vix Jensen, and our beloved helpers: our intern Aviva Barry, our production volunteer Jen Alevizos, and Ark who made our social media reel this week.Get in touch at [email protected] and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook.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.

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 involving a 1978 Camaro sets the oldest son on a path to unlikely success.Today we revisit the story of renowned journalist and outstanding storyteller, Alfredo Corchado, with a present-day update at the end. If you’d like to see photos that go with his story, check out our free posts on Substack and Patreon, and if you like what we do, you can also become a paying member on either platform and unlock 100+ countless benefits and episodes. Alfredo Corchado is a multi-award-winning journalist and the 2026 recipient of the I.F. Stone medal for journalistic independence. He is the Executive Director of Puente News Collaborative and the author of Midnight in Mexico, a memoir about his childhood and his journalism career in Mexico, and of Homelands about the history of Mexican-American migration and the guest worker program that brought his family here. Alfredo is at work on a third book about the U.S.-Mexico border. He was a 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and he recently completed this moving tribute to his father, who passed away in March – if you enjoyed Alfredo’s story, you might really enjoy this too!Thanks to the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard for introducing me to Alfredo, and to then-Curator, Ann-Marie Lipinski, and then-Deputy Curator, James Geary, for hiring me to direct Alfredo's story and many other Nieman stories for the stage.Big thanks, as always, to my team:Vix Jensen: Associate Producer Extraordinaire, Aviva Barry: Indispensable Intern, Paul Dreux Smith: Music maker, mixer, and soul mate, Heather Kitching: Viral reel maker, Jen Alevizos, Volunteer Project Manager & new friend.To see more photos and episode reels, and to follow the story-making process behind the scenes, join us on Instagram and Facebook.We value your feedback, and you can contact us at [email protected]. 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 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 deeper than ever here. If you haven’t heard the first two episodes with Franky, which we shared last week and the week before, I would go listen to those first. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you’ll be better prepared for this chapter, though it could also stand alone.If you’d like to see pictures from my day with Franky on the ranch, check out these free posts on Patreon and Substack.If you want to listen ad-free, access my member-only seriesThe Way Forward, and unlock the entire Strangers archive of nearly 100 premium episodes, plus all my Hopeful Locals stories, become a paying subscriber today, starting at just $5 per month on Patreon. Paying subscribers make our work possible. Franky Carrillo is a criminal justice reform advocate and a leading voice for the wrongfully convicted. He has served as Chief Policy Advisor for the Los Angeles Innocence Project and on the Los Angeles County Probation Oversight Commission. He also sits on the boards of Death Penalty Focus and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and he’s been profiled in the Netflix series The Innocence Files. You can find him on Instagram. Thanks as always to our production team: Vix Jensen, Aviva Barry, Jen Alevizos, and Paul Dreux Smith. Please help us keep the podcast going by spreading the word, hitting 'subscribe' wherever you’re listening, and perhaps giving us a good rating or even a little review there. It goes a long way, thank you!  You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and you can write to us at [email protected]. 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.