Kristy and the Secret of Susan! (Part Two)

Explicit content warning

08/17/21 • 66 min

Generation BSC: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast

Kate and Lauryn promised another neurodivergent and autistic voice to discuss Kristy and the Secret of Susan and are back with another super special episode to do just that, this time speaking with Brianne Leeson, a writer, artist, voice actor, podcast host, and sensitivity reader who joined us to share her experiences and perspectives. She introduced us to the word "allistic," which means not autistic, giving some additional nuance to the discussion surrounding autisic, neurodivergent, and neurotypical. In addition to discussing Kristy and the Secret of Susan, we dive into Brianne's experiences working with writers as a sensitivity reader, offering examples of what that entails and the type of feedback she's able to provide, discuss characters coded as autistic (rather than outright described as such), including Elle Woods from Legally Blonde and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and hear more about the podcast she created - Today's Lucky Winner - which she described as "a raunchy, chaotic, supernatural comedy - Buffy for stoners."

Connect with Brianne!
Instagram: @brianne_leeson
Twitter and Tik Tok: @hotsauceghost
Podcast: Today's Lucky Winner (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: @luckywinnershow)

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.

Connect with Brianne!
Instagram: @brianne_leeson
Twitter and Tik Tok: @hotsauceghost
Podcast: Today's Lucky Winner (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook: @luckywinnershow)

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.

Previous Episode

Kristy and the Secret of Susan! (Part One)

Kate and Lauryn are back from their summer vacation with a main series episode that's also a super special episode! As promised, we're returning to Kristy and the Secret of Susan, which we skipped in our regularly-scheduled rotation due to the franky pretty terrible plot focused on Susan, an autistic girl in the neighborhood, and Kristy's problematic reactions to Susan and her family and life. And also as promised, we've invited someone with significantly more experience with neurodivergence and autism the spectrum to join us to share their perspective and help to unpack all of the issues with this book. Our guest is Lyric Holmans, the Neurdivergent Rebel themselves! We discuss the ins and outs of Kristy and the Secret of Susan, the autism spectrum and neurodivergence in pop culture (spoiler alert - it's basically never good or right), and Lyric's recommendations for supporting other neurodivergents and being a good ally.

Connect with Lyric!
Website: https://neurodivergentrebel.com
Instagram and Tik Tok: @neurodivergentrebel
Twitter: @NeuroRebel

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.

Next Episode

Re-Watch 01: Emergency Meeting - Netflix Season One, Episode One: Kristy’s Great Idea!

Welcome to our end of summer re-watch of season one of the Baby-Sitters Club series on Netflix. For the next few weeks, watch along with us and revisit our thoughts on the series before season two drops in October.

We’ll be back in the fall with our own season two as well, and can’t wait to catch up with you then. In the meantime, keep your eye on our social media and don’t forget to e-mail. We love to hear from you all!

Kate and Lauryn are back with the first Emergency Meeting episode in their summer mini-series to discuss the (hopefully first) season of The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix! It’s a revisiting of Kristy’s Great Idea, updated to modern day. We discuss how the themes of the episode compare with those of the book it’s based on and find that this one sticks pretty close in spirit, if not in actual plot. There’s a fun montage of Edie trying to find a babysitter that we feel does a great job of justifying why the BSC would be useful and needed even with all the technology we have available today. We touch on how great it is that the kids on the show actually look like kids and discuss how perfectly cast everyone seems to be (with the caveat that there will be further discussions of potentially problematic casting when it comes to Jessi). We laugh at the fact that there is an actual “Danny Tanner Moment,” while appreciating that the show does a great job of turning it into a conversation rather than a parental soliloquy. We absolutely love of Watson and his inclusion in this episode in very integral ways that give us the foundation for his relationship with Kristy we were lamenting not being able to see when we discussed Kristy and the Walking Disaster. Edie’s parenting style when in comes to Kristy vs. Sam and Charlie gives us an opportunity to discuss how we wish the show had done better in some ways. We also obsess over the fashion, question how much kids actually babysit today, praise the level of detail in production design, and round out the episode quoting Kristy’s Breakfast Club-y essay voiceover.

Generation BSC logo created by Jordyn Hunter.