I’m With the Banned

In this episode, Jarrett talks with Rex Ogle, aka Rey Terciero, author of over 100 books for kids and teens. Rex's popular graphic novel adaptation of "Little Women," titled "Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy," has been repeatedly challenged and banned in school districts across the country since 2020 for its LGBTQ+ representation. Hear Rex talk about the importance of vulnerability in writing and in life, his love of graphic novels, and why writing intensely personal stories for young people is a personal calling.
Host: Jarrett Dapier
Music Break and Coda: "Superconductive" by Dovetail Joint off their latest album, The Rock and Roll Conservancy
I'm With the Banned Logo by Thomas J. Quinn
I'm With the Banned theme music: "The Reckoning" performed and recorded by Joe Dapier

On this episode, Jarrett is joined by Randi Pink, author of 5 YA books, including Angel of Greenwood, a beautiful historical fiction novel suffused with warmth, elegance, and fire about two Black teenagers falling in love in the days that lead up to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Angel of Greenwood was banned from the 9th grade English curriculum by the school board of Pine Richland High School outside Pittsburgh, PA in January 2025, despite ongoing protests from many students, parents, and educators at the school who embraced the book. Randi discusses her own high school experiences, the "brilliant" teens she met when she visited Pine Richland after the ban came down, and how writing keeps her from "breaking her good dishes."
Host: Jarrett Dapier
Music Break: "Elated" by Rain Garden
Logo: Thomas J. Quinn
Theme music: "The Reckoning" by Joe Dapier

In this first episode, Jarrett speaks with author Jessie Ann Foley. Jessie is the award-winning author of books for kids and teens, including You Know I'm No Good, about one girl's fight to survive and escape the "troubled teen industry," Sorry For Your Loss, Agatha May and the Angler Fish, Severe and Unusual Weather, and Breda's Island. Her Printz Honor-winning debut novel, The Carnival at Bray, has been censored and banned in countless schools across the country since 2020 for reasons related to language, sexuality, and references to drugs. Jarrett and Jessie discuss the disingenuousness of book challenges, the power of reading, and how each of us contains multitudes that can't be erased.