Teen People Anna Soper

The Columbine massacre of April 20, 1999, was the deadliest mass shooting at a K-12 school in US history, until it was surpassed by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012, and, later, the Uvalde school shooting in May 2022. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in US history, until the Parkland high school shooting in February 2018.

Ten of the twelve students killed at Columbine were in the school library, where the two perpetrators also ended their own lives. Twenty-one additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Another three people were injured trying to escape.

In their coverage of Columbine, TEEN PEOPLE magazine described earlier examples of mass shootings in the US. (Columbine was the fifth deadly school shooting in the previous two years.) They wrote, “This kind of thing seems to be happening more and more—and in the quiet little places where you’d least expect it: Pearl, Mississippi; Springfield, Oregon; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Paducah, Kentucky; and Conyers, Georgia."

TEEN PEOPLE quoted a psychologist who had worked with mass shooting survivors. He said this incident would “put to rest the notion of being immune to this... Maybe that’s a good thing,” he said, “because now we can get down to answers.”

In this episode of Teen People, I read excerpts of survivors' stories from the August 1999 issue of TEEN PEOPLE.

Podcast notes:

Find my interview with TEEN PEOPLE Trendspotter Padraic Maroney, who spoke with me about Columbine's after-effects: https://soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/padraic

Credits:

"A school under siege" by Tod Olson and John DiConsiglio, TEEN PEOPLE, August 1999.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre.

President Clinton's Remarks Regarding Columbine HS Shooting (1999) courtesy; William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.

TCM host Dave Karger joins me to speak about his new book, 50 OSCAR NIGHTS! Featuring Dave's original interviews with Hollywood legends like Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, and Martin Scorsese, 50 OSCAR NIGHTS is the perfect gift for cinephiles.

Dave started his career as an entertainment journalist, writing for ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, and freelancing for TEEN PEOPLE. He spoke with me about interviewing Britney Spears and LFO, as well as his favourite Academy Awards moments!

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Podcast notes:

Thanks to Running Press for sending me a copy of Dave's book! Buy it here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/dave-karger/50-oscar-nights/9780762486328/?lens=running-press

Find me on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod
And online at www.annasoper.ca

Music and sounds:

The Sound of dial-up Internet by wtermini on Pixabay

Spirit Blossom by RomanBelov on Pixabay

Poor, But Happy by HoliznaCC0 CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)
Public Domain Dedication creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

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Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.

In part two of a two-part interview, I speak with Sarah Ditum about her new book, TOXIC. It’s a scathing reexamination of the lives of nine female celebrities: Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kim Kardashian, Chyna, and Jennifer Aniston. Each experienced some form of global fame, as well as the consequences that come with too much attention.

In this episode, Sarah and I leaf through my collection of TEEN PEOPLE magazines! You'll hear her hot takes on how TEEN PEOPLE covered Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Aaliyah, Jennifer Aniston, and Lindsay Lohan. Plus: Sarah's thoughts on a topic she's been thinking about (and writing about) for some time.

Part I: https://soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/sarah-ditum-toxic

Notes:

Find me online at www.annasoper.ca and on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod.

Find Sarah online on Twitter and Instagram at sarahditum.

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Buy Sarah's book! Here's how:

UK: www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/sarah-d…9780349727134/

North America: www.abramsbooks.com/product/toxic_9781419763113/

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Author photo: Paul Clarke

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Additional thanks: Stephanie Palumbo at Canadian Manda Group, Toronto

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Music:

Drop It by Coma-Media on Pixabay
Fighter [No Vocals] - punk rock by 22941069 on Pixabay

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Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.

In part one of a two-part interview, I speak with Sarah Ditum about her new book, TOXIC. It’s a scathing reexamination of the lives of nine female celebrities: Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kim Kardashian, Chyna, and Jennifer Aniston. Each experienced some form of global fame, as well as the consequences that come with too much attention.

In TOXIC, Sarah writes, "…tearing these women to pieces was both a social activity and a form of divination. In the entrails of their reputations, we hunted for clues about what a woman ought to be…"

We talk: teen magazines, blogs, promise rings, sex tapes, and Britney Spears' "cult of virginity", celebrity memoirs, Justin Timberlake's homemade shotgun, why Taylor Swift reminds me of Avril Lavigne, and what Donald Trump owes to WWE.

Part II: https://soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/sarah-ditum-toxic-teen-people

Notes:

Find me online at www.annasoper.ca and on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod.

Find Sarah online on Twitter and Instagram at sarahditum.

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Buy Sarah's book! Here's how:

UK: https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/sarah-ditum/toxic/9780349727134/

North America: https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/toxic_9781419763113/

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Author photo: Paul Clarke

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Additional thanks: Stephanie Palumbo at Canadian Manda Group, Toronto

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Sounds and music:

The Sound of dial-up Internet by wtermini on Pixabay
Drop It by Coma-Media on Pixabay
Fighter [No Vocals] - punk rock by 22941069 on Pixabay

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Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.

Resi Ibañez is a poet, public historian, and community organizer in Lowell, Massachusetts. We connected on Instagram, when they sent me a DM asking if I could track down a TEEN PEOPLE article they remembered reading in the mid-2000s.

With a few keywords and a rough idea of the timing, I searched a periodicals database I use to find guests for this podcast. I found three possible articles for Resi, and it turns out that one of these three is probably the article they remembered reading as a teenager!

The article is an "it-happened-to-me" kind of story; a staple of the teen magazine genre. It featured a teenager who had come out to her friends and family. For a few reasons (which we explore in this interview), the article resonated with Resi.

Resi is now working on a book-length project about LGBTQ icons of their young adult years. We spoke about this project and how the TEEN PEOPLE article influenced them, and also about their mother's powerful legacy.

Podcast notes:

Find me online at www.annasoper.ca and on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod.

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Sounds and music:

The Sound of dial-up Internet by wtermini on Pixabay
Spirit Blossom by RomanBelov on Pixabay

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Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.

As a teen, James Frankie Thomas modelled a prom dress and smooch-proof makeup in a 2004 issue of TEEN PEOPLE magazine. Now, he's the author of a compelling novel, IDLEWILD, published by The Overlook Press.

James spoke with me about crafting this novel at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and how he navigated the highs and lows of getting a book into the world. Plus: find out why James jokes that he and Elliot Page are like "two ships in the night", and why it's hard to read (and write) about big events like 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Podcast notes:

James' book list:

The Family Chao, by Lan Samantha Chang
Eighty-sixed, by David B. Feinberg (not to be confused with 86'd, by Dan Fante)
A Dream of a Woman, by Casey Plett
Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters
Darryl, by Jackie Ess
Nevada, by Imogen Binnie
I'm Supposed to Protect You from All This: A Memoir, by Nadja Spiegelman
All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews
This Other Eden, by Paul Harding
Pageboy: A Memoir, by Elliot Page

Music:

Franz Joseph Haydn, 'The Heavens Are Telling' (The Creation), St. Matthew's Choir, 2010. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Frédéric Chopin, ‘Berceuse Op. 57’, Christine Hartley-Troskie. CC BY 2.5 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons.

Hear my first interview with James: www.soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/frankie

Thanks to Stephanie Palumbo, Christian Westermann, and Andrew Gibeley at Abrams Books for sending me a review copy of IDLEWILD and securing permissions to excerpt IDLEWILD in this episode! Buy IDLEWILD here: www.abramsbooks.com/product/idlewil…_9781419769146/.

Like this episode? Please leave a rating or review!

Find James on Twitter at james_f_thomas and online at www.jamesfrankiethomas.com.
Find me on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod and online at www.annasoper.ca.

Advocacy resources related to banned and challenged books from the American Library Association and Ontario Library Association:

www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks
www.freedomtoread.ca

Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.