Teen People

In 2002, Teen People published several stories about 9/11 and how it affected young people in the US and Afghanistan. Join me as I leaf through the March 2002 and September 2002 issues of Teen People, uncovering personal and political histories through this iconic teen magazine.

Credits:

Music by Lesfm from Pixabay

Subway sound effects: Jay Reed from Winslow Township, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0), via Wikimedia Commons commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lexi…ue_Line_vc.ogv

9/11 coverage: archive.org/details/911/day/20010911 (Content from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is excerpted here under Sections 29, 29.1, and 29.2 of the Copyright Act for the purpose of research, private study, education, parody or satire, criticism or review, or news reporting.)

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

My favourite book about the internet is by the Canadian author Douglas Coupland. In his 2014 book, Kitten Clone: Inside Alcatel-Lucent, Coupland asks, “Where did the sense of invention go—the sense of futurity—the sense that by working in tech, you were somehow building a better tomorrow, a smarter tomorrow, a more democratic tomorrow?"

Colette Shade begins her book, Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was), in a period in which it was generally felt that by working in tech, you were somehow building a better tomorrow, a smarter tomorrow, and a more democratic tomorrow. (Plus ça change!)

In Y2K, Colette asks, “What was the Y2K Era and why are we still living in its shadow?”

Y2K’s essays—on subjects as varied as blobby furniture and see-through consumer electronics; VOGUE magazine and disordered eating; and McMansions, Hummers and Starbucks—explore this question.

We talk:

3:33 : "I want to write a book. What should I write about?" - Colette

4:04: Why 1998 was the best year of Colette's life

5:18: On being a kid in the '90s (Pokémon, riding your bike, watching TV)

6:00: The Dot-com Bubble in the 1990s

6:35: Netscape mentioned

6:55: "There was no understanding that [the internet] was a place where you could make a lot of money." - Colette

8:00: Colette's uncle got rich when his company was bought by Nokia

10:29: This meant that Colette went to college debt-free, without student loans

10:58: It's hard to write nonfiction about current events because you have to stop when it's time to publish, and current events keep happening. But Y2K feels timely, nonetheless.

13:27: The 90s/2000s purity culture is now repackaged as trad culture/retvrn culture

14:40: Colette wrote about taking a sex-positive sex ed class that contrasts from the typical way Americans learn sex ed; and, as Colette argues, played into the culture war now happening online and in real life

17:38: Colette says that the culture war is a proxy war

19:38: "The Christian right has a great enemy. It's gays! It's all those slutty women!" - Colette

20:25: This contrasts with her parents' worldview as secular liberals

22:12 "The people who want to ban books... that feels accessible to them, whereas gaining control of their economic conditions does not." - Colette

22:48: "Your body. My choice."

24:44: Donald Trump wants to make Canada the 51st state (wtf??)

25:41: 25% tariff

26:35 McMansions and Hummers as symbols of the post-9/11, pre-2008 bubble

27:40 "Americans don't always have the stomach" to think critically about their history - Colette

28:23: Colette on Greg Grandin's Pulitzer Prize-winning book The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America (2019)

29:35: Colette paraphrases Grandin's argument on the cause of the American Revolution, which gave America "a mandate for endless expansion" (sound familiar?)

33:15: Colette compares American expansion to the PlayStation game Katamari Damacy

35:04: America First

36:12: Cyberspace as a frontier

36:34: Early internet users saw themselves as Cyber Cowboys and settlers in "a place where they could be free," says Colette

37:55: Property ownership and the American Dream

39:00: The 2008 subprime mortgage crisis marked "a real break in American history," says Colette

40:45: The information superhighway

40:55: Olivia Rodrigo asks first dates whether they like Elon Musk

41:21: "The years start coming and they don't stop coming." - Smash Mouth

42:17: What advice would Colette give her teenage self?

Buy Y2K: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/y2k-colette-shade

Colette's website: http://www.coletteshade.com/

My website: https://www.annasoper.ca/

Music:

The Sound of dial-up Internet by wtermini on Pixabay

Spirit Blossom by RomanBelov on Pixabay

Fighter [No Vocals] - punk rock by 22941069 on Pixabay

......

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

Party like it's 1999... in 2025!

How did TEEN PEOPLE magazine usher in the new millennium? Join me as I leaf through the December 1999/January 2000 issue of TEEN PEOPLE.

................

Find me on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod

And online at www.annasoper.ca

Music: Scottish Folk Song -Auld Lang Syne by Trygve Larsen on Pixabay

................

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

Teen People is inspired by my collection of TEEN PEOPLE magazines. Published between 1998 and 2006, TEEN PEOPLE featured real teens in every issue. Two decades on, I track down TEEN PEOPLE's real teens, and speak with authors delving into the late '90s and early 2000s. Join us!

In 2023, I interviewed Sarah Ditum, whose book, 'Toxic: Women, Fame and the Tabloid 2000s' explores noughties pop culture through a scathing reexamination of the lives of nine female celebrities; including Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Amy Winehouse.

Months later, I interviewed Lisa Whittington-Hill. Her 2023 book, 'Girls, Interrupted: How Pop Culture is Failing Women' (Véhicule Press) is a frank and personal essay collection that challenges longstanding media portrayals of famous women. A fierce defender of Courtney Love, Lisa also celebrates Winona Ryder and Demi Moore; writing about gender bias in celebrity memoir coverage, problematic portrayals of middle-aged women and the sexist pressure on female pop stars to constantly reinvent themselves.

Podcast notes:

Buy 'Girls, Interrupted' in ebook or paperback formats: vehiculepress.com/shop/girls-inter…hittington-hill/

Find it at your local library: https://search.worldcat.org/title/1385447726

Check out my interview with Sarah Ditum:

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

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

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

Lost Love Letters by @foglake

................

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

Alonso Duralde joins me to talk about his new book, 'Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film'. Published in May 2024, 'Hollywood Pride' presents a history of film from the dawn of cinema to the "pansy craze" of the 1930s and the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s, all the way up to today.

Illustrated with more than 175 colour and black-and-white images, 'Hollywood Pride' points to the bright future of LGBTQ+ representation in cinema, by revealing the story of the community's inclusion and erasure, its visibility and invisibility, and its triumphs and tragedies.

................

Time stamps:

4:00 I ask Alonso about the formative media that inspired his career in journalism

8:42 "Tell me about how your career has developed..."

9:00 Alonso has worked as a film festival programmer

11:00 Alonso tells me about his other books, including books on Christmas movies

11:19 I ask Alonso about his work with Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

14:52 Queer representation in film, especially in the 1990s (as in 'Mrs. Doubtfire'; 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', etc.)

17:41 "What's valuable about a book like this is that it's a reminder that [inclusion] didn't all just happen... they could take it all away real quick..."

18:47 Rock Hudson, Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter's happy ending

20:38 Alonso on closeted famous Hollywood stars

21:27 Claudette Colbert and Marlene Dietrich ride an amusement park slide at a birthday party for Carole Lombard, as you do

22:00 The end of Pre-Code American cinema

24:08 Home media as a "Godsend" for access to LBGTQ+ films

27:14 'Brokeback Mountain' and the mid-2000s

32:42 Same-sex marriage in the US and Canada

37:00 Metrosexual culture in the 2000s: "guyliner", guys kissing, etc.

39:20 Reality TV and LGBTQ+ representation

41:06 Alonso tells me about interviewing Heath Ledger for The Advocate on a junket at the Toronto International Film Festival

45:14 "'Brokeback Mountain' is hardly Jane Austen, but it is [about] people living in a society that's being rather proscriptive about who you are allowed to love and not allowed..."

46:30 I put Alonso on the spot and ask him about his favourite film in 'Hollywood Pride'

48:50 "What advice would you give your teenage self today?"

................

Podcast notes:

Thanks to Running Press for sending me a copy of Alonso's book! Buy it here: https://www.runningpress.com/titles/alonso-duralde/hollywood-pride/9780762485895/

Check out my interview with TCM host Dave Karger: https://soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/davekarger

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

................

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

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!

................

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/

................

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.

................

Buy Sarah's book! Here's how:

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

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

................

Author photo: Paul Clarke

................

Additional thanks: Stephanie Palumbo at Canadian Manda Group, Toronto

................

Music:

Drop It by Coma-Media on Pixabay

Fighter [No Vocals] - punk rock by 22941069 on Pixabay

................

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.

................

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/

................

Author photo: Paul Clarke

................

Additional thanks: Stephanie Palumbo at Canadian Manda Group, Toronto

................

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

................

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.

................

Sounds and music:

The Sound of dial-up Internet by wtermini on Pixabay

Spirit Blossom by RomanBelov on Pixabay

................

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