Leftist Teen Drama Podcast

💖TRAILER DROP💖 'Genera+ion' Takes On The Messiness and Complexity of Gen Z Teen Politics | @mariadip.bsky.social feat Dondré Taylor-Stewart

Episode #38 of #LeftistTeenDrama premieres Sun, Nov 2, everywhere you get your podcasts!

Tag yourself @ the Cavendish College sit-in: I’m Ms. Masters

Episode 37 of #LeftistTeenDrama is all about #SexEducation’s Season 4 disability justice plotlines, now streaming wherever you get your podcasts!

💗EP 37 CLIP💗 On the latest episode of #LeftistTeenDrama, Kelly Diaz and Sasha Blair-Goldensohn explain the “Curb Cut Effect!”

Stream Ep 37 now to hear us discuss wheelchair user Isaac Goodwin’s fight to make Cavendish College wheelchair accessible on #SexEducation Season 4! ♿

Hosted by @mariadip.bsky.social, produced by @ducksanddabs.bsky.social, with art by Charles O’Leary, Episode 37 of #LeftistTeenDrama is now streaming everywhere you get your podcasts.

Kelly and Maria also generally break down disability representation on the show, as shown through the characters of Isaac Goodwin and Aisha Green, a deaf character introduced in Season 4 who also plays a pivotal role in the sit-in. ♿

We talk about this inspiring direct action and how it parallels the real-life fight to make the New York City subway system fully wheelchair-accessible, a fight of which Sasha is part!

In Sex Education Season 4, wheelchair user Isaac Goodwin disrupts mock exams to protest the chronically broken elevator at Cavendish College, inspiring the entire student body to hold an impromptu sit-in until the lift is fixed.

a stylized light green collage-y episode cover with an image of Isaac Goodwin on Sex Education protesting the broken elevator at his school and text: “Leftist Teen Drama,” “‘We’re Not Moving Until It Gets Fixed’: Isaac Goodwin, Aisha Green, and Disability Justice on ‘Sex Education’ feat Kelly Diaz and Sasha Blair-Goldensohn,” and “Ep 37.”

✨EP 37 OUT NOW✨ Maria is joined by recurring guest Kelly Diaz and disability rights activist Sasha Blair-Goldensohn to talk about disability justice on both #SexEducation and in real life.

💖TRAILER DROP💖 ‘We’re Not Moving Until It Gets Fixed’: Isaac Goodwin, Aisha Green, and Disability Justice on ‘Sex Education’ | @mariadip.bsky.social feat Kelly Diaz and Sasha Blair-Goldensohn

Episode #37 of #LeftistTeenDrama premieres Sun, Oct 26, everywhere you get your podcasts!

Hosted by @mariadip.bsky.social, produced by @ducksanddabs.bsky.social, with art by Charles O’Leary, Episode 36 of #LeftistTeenDrama is now streaming everywhere you get your podcasts.

We break it all down while also arguing that Paige’s experience pressing charges against her rapist is essentially an essay on why the carceral system fails to bring any sort of meaningful justice for sexual assault survivors.

From spontaneously singing “Poor Thing” and driving Dean out of a public space to outing him as a rapist at his frat house and facing his lawyer down in court, Paige goes on quite the character journey as she processes her trauma.

a stylized orange, black, and white collage-y episode cover with an image of Paige Michalchuk on Degrassi with a guitar performing the song “Poor Thing” and text: “Leftist Teen Drama,” “Paige Michalchuk Is Not Your Poor Thing: An Abolitionist Take On The First ‘Degrassi’ Sexual Assault Plotline feat Rosalie Murray and Kelly Gilbert,” and “Ep 36.”

✨EP 36 OUT NOW✨ @mariadip.bsky.social is joined by Rosalie Murray and Kelly Gilbert to discuss Paige Michalchuk’s sexual assault plotline as depicted over several seasons of #Degrassi. Similar to Tim Riggins’ arc that we discussed in Episode #7, this plotline begs for an abolitionist reading.

💖TRAILER DROP💖 Paige Michalchuk Is Not Your Poor Thing: An Abolitionist Take On The First ‘Degrassi’ Sexual Assault Plotline | @mariadip.bsky.social feat Rosalie Murray & Kelly Gilbert

Episode #36 of #LeftistTeenDrama premieres Sun, Oct 19, everywhere you get your podcasts!

a green, white, pink, red, black, and blue collage with patterned paper and star stickers and a bow and various images of characters in TV teen dramas participating in political protests, along with LEFTIST TEEN DRAMA and other political words like "they have money, we have the people," "unions," "workers," and "Revolutions."

#LeftistTeenDrama is a podcast celebrating political moments on TV teen dramas, hosted by @mariadip.bsky.social (hi, I made this collage in my new junk journal!) Season 5 of the pod is currently airing with new eps streaming on Sundays thru Dec 14, 2025! Listen wherever you get podcasts✨ #collage

Hosted by @mariadip.bsky.social, produced by @ducksanddabs.bsky.social, with art by Charles O'Leary, Episode 35 of #LeftistTeenDrama is now streaming everywhere you get your podcasts.

We break down the character journeys of our activist characters and the myriad tactics used throughout the movement, from canvassing for petition signatures and interviews with campus blogs to civil disobedience and even a hunger strike.

Much like the Switched At Birth Season 2 plotline Maria and Kelly discussed on Episode #28, this plotline is inspired by real-life events: namely the 2015 racial justice protests at the University of Missouri.

In Season 5 of #SwitchedAtBirth, a second protest movement emerges over multiple episodes, this time in the university setting of UMKC, purposefully told from the point of view of three Black secondary characters while they fight for racial justice on campus.

a stylized light purple and white collage-y episode cover with images from Switched at Birth Season 5’s Black Student Union protest plotline and text: “Leftist Teen Drama,” “#Starving4Change At UMKC: The Black Student Union Protest Movement in ‘Switched At Birth’ Season 5,’ feat Kelly Diaz,” and “Ep 35.”

✨EP 35 OUT NOW✨ In the #LeftistTeenDrama Season 5 premiere, @mariadip.bsky.social is joined by Kelly Diaz to discuss one of the most comprehensive student protest movements that Kelly analyzed in her dissertation on depictions of youth activism on television.

💖TRAILER DROP💖#Starving4Change At UMKC: The Black Student Union Protest Movement in ‘Switched At Birth’ Season 5

@mariadip.bsky.social feat Kelly Diaz

Episode #35 of #LeftistTeenDrama premieres Sun, Oct 12, everywhere you get your podcasts!

We’ve got all our usual suspects: sit-ins and encampments and queer awakenings and class conflict galore.

So check out a little taste of Season 5, premiering on Sundays starting October 12 through December 14, 2025. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️

As always, we’re diving into a mix of the new-school and the old-school teen shows, from A Different World, Saved By The Bell, and Freaks and Geeks to Derry Girls, Genera+ion, and We Were Liars.

🎀 #LeftistTeenDrama Season 5 ⭐TRAILER DROP⭐

Season 5 is filled with a stacked cast of new and returning guests, and I’m happy to announce that, for the first time since 2022, this season has been extended to 10 episodes!

💗SEASON 5 SHOW REVEAL💗

Here’s our annual reveal of the shows we’re covering this season on #LeftistTeenDrama! Trailer drops Sunday, Oct 5, so stay tuned!

that moment while recording #LeftistTeenDrama season 5 earlier when we realized all of our favorite movies are teen movies 🫡🤝

Maria: Heathers
Abir: High School Musical 3
Jillian: Mean Girls

Right after I posted this, I tried to start the new ep for a sixth or seventh time and it worked! COMPLAINING WORKS 🫡 #TheSummerITurnedPretty

...Camp Rock. (And we promise we’ll be covering the sequel next summer!)

Hosted by @mariadip.bsky.social, produced by @ducksanddabs.bsky.social, with art by Charles O'Leary, this latest episode of Leftist Teen Drama is now streaming wherever you get your podcasts.

From watching teens and tweens network at camp (gross) to trying to place the subprime mortgage crisis in the story’s timeline to cheering on Mitchie as she stands up for service workers, we had a blast analyzing the class anxiety that motivates Mitchie’s actions throughout her first summer at...

a screencap of Camp Rock showing a photo of characters Tess and Mitchie overlaid with “Leftist Teen Drama” and more text: “MOVIE SPECIAL Camp Rock feat Kelly Gilbert and MG Gilbert.”

✨MOVIE SPECIAL OUT NOW✨ Welcome back to #LeftistTeenDrama's series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by twins and self-professed “camp freaks” Kelly and MG Gilbert to break down all the class conflict inherent to the plot of Camp Rock!