ON SATURDAY, OCT. 19, JOIN CHRISTINE AND JESSICA AT THE BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY! Stay tuned for the end of the episode for all the details about Saturday's "Freedom to Read Day of Action Rally," and see if one of the other 300 events that day throughout the country is happening near you!

This episode is a little different: inspired by last week's episode with Courtney Gore, Jessica tells Christine about "The Mind Polluters," a documentary that originally inspired Gore's path to joining the Granbury ISD school board, where she found that there was not, in fact, an insidious plot lurking in public schools threatening kids--and changed her mind. Taking the advice of friend of the pod, Maureen Corrigan, who talked this summer about the value of actually engaging with the things you might disagree with, Jessica learned so much about how we reached the point as a society where "Social and Emotional Learning" is viewed as a dirty word and librarians are being yelled at for being "groomers"--this discussion is a RIDE.

"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.

If you’d like to advertise with us, visit the "Contact Us" page on our website. If you liked our show, please rate and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The best way to support a new podcast is to share it with your friends!

Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwalddesigned our logo. Steph Karpuek is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.

Join us next week as Christine and Jessica read The 1619 Project!

Episode 7 links:

• "The Mind Polluters," by Mark and Amber Archer of Fearless Features (we are not suggesting you watch it, but it's there if you want to see for yourself for $4.99!)
• Mark Archer's IMDB page
• The actual history of Social and Emotional Learning
• The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey (featured in the film)
• Information about Alfred Kinsey (featured in the film)
• Further reading about sowing distrust in public schools from ProPublica

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a text to suggest books, plays, films, or guests, or just share your thoughts!

THIS EPISODE, y'all. Christine and Jessica have an absolutely fascinating conversation with Courtney Gore, a school board member from Granbury ISD. Courtney ran on a campaign to change what was happening in public schools because she'd heard that there were groups actively trying to sexualize children, particularly through the "Social and Emotional Learning" (or SEL) curriculum. When she was elected, she asked to see all of the curriculum for the schools in her district and read it all. And then--she changed her mind. She realized the goal of the books and class lessons was to teach kids to be kinder, more welcoming people. She decided to share the good news publicly with her community that the agenda she'd been told was targeting kids did not exist in the Granbury schools--only to receive death threats. What happened next, and what she learned about WHY books are being banned and schools are being targeted, is just stunning. You won't want to miss a minute of this one!

"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.

If you’d like to advertise with us, visit the "Contact Us" page on our website. If you liked our show, please rate and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The best way to support a new podcast is to share it with your friends!

Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwalddesigned our logo. Steph Karpuek is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.

Join us next week as Christine and Jessica dig into many of the things they learned in this conversation, including watching The Mind Polluters--the documentary that drove Courtney's campaign (and the work of many other people) in the first place.

Episode 6 Links:

• More about Courtney Gore
• In late 2021/early 2022, Granbury administrators pulled more than 100 library books off the shelves; the superintendent told librarians that knew many of the books did not talk about sex but did have LGBTQ themes.
• The May 2024 ProPublica feature about Gore: "She Campaigned for a Texas School Board Seat as a GOP Hard-Liner. Now She’s Rejecting Her Party’s Extremism."

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a text to suggest books, plays, films, or guests, or just share your thoughts!

Christine tells Jessica about Fahrenheit 451 the Musical...oh, wait, no, that's just what she invented on the spot. This is about the 1953 novel by Ray Bradbury, a staple of high school and college classrooms that eerily predicts our own ban-happy, screen-happy times. Come for the discussion of one of a canonical banned book, stay for Christine's extemporaneous show tunes--the musical idea is actually pretty great!

And special thanks to friend of the podcast, Keenya, for our first listener question! You can join the conversation for free on Patreon, or support our work for just $3 a month. In addition to joining the Banned Geeks Book Club, your $3 helps us stay the course by highlighting banned works and bringing you these conversations each week. Thank you for your support! The success of this podcast depends on you!

"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.

If you’d like to advertise with us, visit the "Contact Us" page on our website. If you liked our show, please rate and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The best way to support a new podcast is to share it with your friends!

Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwald designed our logo. Steph Karpuek is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.

Join us next week as Christine and Jessica have a fascinating discussion with Courtney Gore from Granbury ISD--here's a sneak peek in the ProPublica feature about her, "She Campaigned for a Texas School Board Seat as a GOP Hard-Liner. Now She’s Rejecting Her Party’s Extremism."

Episode 5 Links:

• More about Ray Bradbury
• More about Fahrenheit 451
• More about the Bal-Hi edition
• Buy a copy of the novel about the Book People from...BookPeople.

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a text to suggest books, plays, films, or guests, or just share your thoughts!