A generation of Bay Area kids was born in the wide-eyed tumult of the late '60s, indelibly shaped by free-floating sex and drugs, shifting identities, and a complete lack of constraint. Joshua Safran — full-time attorney, sometimes rabbi, big-time advocate for survivors of domestic violence — was such a child. His memoir, Free Spirit: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid, offers an astounding, sometimes uncomfortable, glimpse of the city: the early days of Project Artaud, drum circles, womyn's covens, Candy From Strangers (a babysitting service provided by gay men for liberated female activists). Safran's mother, unwaveringly called Claudia by her young son, then left in search of "community." Things slid quickly down a very muddy hill, most of the time without electricity or running water, and ended in horrors perpetrated by Claudia's alcoholic husband. Free Spirit benefits from Safran's preternatural memory, hours of interviews with Claudia, and a lot of hard work with women trapped in vicious cycles (Safran's prison advocacy is captured in the award-winning documentary Crime After Crime). The result is a personal history that speaks for more than a few of us.
415-387-2272
Comments are closed.
