Judith is a woman I have known since we met in 1976 and took a car trip to New Mexico. I have never regretted a moment of her friendship, and we have shared some wonderful times. Judy is a wonderful writer. She always surprises and her humor is deep and organic to her work. When I met Judith, all of our friends wanted to be artists but most of them stopped the hard work when they found that art is like a religious vocation--poverty, obedience to work and little public acclaim. Judith was then and is now an artist, and the only woman I know who can take an engine out of a car, fix it, put it back in, write a poem and then make quiche for dinner. God Bless her!!

I first met Judith Stephens in Berkeley in the 70s; she's a marvelous poet and a great wit, and I was so glad that KPFA took this opportunity to interview her about her book, Rancho Armadillo. The stories paint a true picture of a moment in counterculture history that she tells with not just an eye to detail and drama, but her inimitable irony and dark humor about well-intentioned people whose experiments in living in a new way went awry. Check out the book!

Lovely. I'm glad that Judith didn't have to commit real murder, and that she could be satisfied with a fictional version. Her storynovel is a wonderful mixture of humor and pathos, enough of the latter to make me glad I never opted to live in a commune.