Kate Vlasek
Co-Host of Generation BSC: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast
Kate grew up a Mary Anne who desperately wanted to be a Stacey. As an adult, she’s a Claudia/Shannon hybrid whose days are spent practicing law and whose evenings and weekends are spent making jewelry and purses in between walks with her dog, Indiana, and her husband. She would like to thank her mom for “loaning” all her BSC books to cousins when she was a child, as it resulted in the Friday afternoon eBay hunt and resulting purchase that inspired the creation of this podcast.
Kate Vlasek has hosted 102 Episodes.
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Episode 045: Kristy and the Baby Parade!
June 27th, 2023 | 1 hr 3 mins
kristy, main series
It's the book where everyone's obsessed with babies! Our girls take an infant care class and are immediately inundated with jobs sitting for babies, which coincides with the bi-annual baby parade in Stoneybrook. The Baby-Sitters Club decides to enter a float and it goes disastrously, but they ultimately learn that communication is key to success. This is, of course, after another instance of our girls treating each other poorly when things don't go perfectly and they feel embarrassed, but all's well that ends well!
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SS06: New York, New York!
June 13th, 2023 | 1 hr 22 mins
guest, super special
Summer Semester has arrived and we're back with a new super special! We're joined by YA librarian, Crissy Varnell of the Chattanooga Public Library, to discuss another two-week vacation from school for our babysitters, this time with a trip for all of them to New York City, inspired by Claudia's desire to attend a specific art school during the break. As is typical for super specials, our girls have varying levels of ridiculousness in their assorted adventures, including international intrigue, agoraphobia, jealousy, and, of course, boys.
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EM024: Emergency Meeting - Good Riddance, Cokie Mason!
May 30th, 2023 | 37 mins 16 secs
emergency meeting
Hello, fellow members of Generation BSC!! Kate and Lauryn are back after their extended fall and winter break and are so happy to be back to reading and discussing the Baby-Sitters Club! We discuss where we've been and our plans for the near and distant future when it comes to the podcast. We're back for our summer semester season and can't wait to share new episodes with you all!
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Episode 044: Dawn and the Big Sleepover!
September 20th, 2022 | 1 hr 15 mins
dawn, main series
The elementary school kids in Stoneybrook have pen pals who live and attend school on a Zuni reservation in New Mexico. After a fire at the school and several homes in that community, Dawn is inspired to get the Stoneybrook community involved in some fundraising and donation drives in what could've been heartwarming, but ultimately just felt generally not great for us due to the communities involved and the book's inability to dive deeper and tell a better version of this story (although we acknowledge this might be another "be careful what you wish for" situation). This is on top of a few different culturally insensitive and downright terrible comments and situations from our kids that aren't really addressed as being bad. There are some fun notes - like the carnival in the Pikes' back yard - but this was another book we just wanted more from.
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Episode 043: Stacey's Emergency!
September 6th, 2022 | 57 mins 36 secs
main series, stacey
Stacey's long-foreshadowed health emergency has finally arrives. After extended periods being super tired and very hungry and thirsty, Stacey finally admits how she's feeling and ends up in the hospital in NYC for two weeks. Her time there is helped by two visits from the Baby-Sitters Club, but severely hindered by her parents' inability to be in the same room and remain civil while Stacey insists she wants and needs them there together. Stacey ends up recovering and having a heart-to-heart with her mom (and then her dad off-screen) about how they are treating her and what she needs from them. Charlotte takes things poorly back in Stoneybrook, exhibiting clear hypochondria that Dr. Johansson somehow fails to properly understand.
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Episode 042: Jessi and the Dance School Phantom!`
August 16th, 2022 | 1 hr 7 mins
jessi, main series
Jessi gets the starring role in Sleeping Beauty over older girls in her ballet classes, which causes various levels of jealousy and anger. This results in Jessi getting threatening notes in her bag along with multiple incidents of stolen and damaged personal property. The BSC helps narrow down the suspects to three and Jessi uses logic and ingenuity to figure out the culprit and then... just forgives her for terrorizing her? The logic goes out the window and the teachable moment doesn't go the way we'd prefer. Also there's a pet show.
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Episode 041: Mary Anne vs. Logan!
August 3rd, 2022 | 1 hr 35 secs
main series, mary anne
Logan continues to be the worst and basically never being understanding of anything Mary Anne wants or needs and after she cools things off for a bit (which he respects for a literal day), they end up breaking up for real. We recall our prior conversations where perhaps we internalized Logan and Mary Anne being the BSC OTP because there's a whole lot of tell, not show in the series. There's some Jenny Prezzioso-related antics throughout and the BSC does their best to support Mary Anne through her tough times with Logan, including Dawn swinging back toward best BSC friend.
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Episode 040: Claudia and the Middle School Mystery!
July 19th, 2022 | 1 hr 25 mins
claudia, main series
There's literally no mystery in this one where Claudia is accused of cheating on a math test after she gets an A- and just so happens to have the exact same right and wrong answers as Shawna Riverson, who obviously cheated off Claudia in what turns out to be a premeditated offense. Seriously - we did not remember Shawna, but she's somehow worse than Cokie Mason. Claudia and the BSC have some antics and eventually resolve the issue at hand and Claudia gets some recognition for her hard work and success.
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SS05: California Girls!
July 5th, 2022 | 1 hr 48 mins
guest, super special
We're back from our Summer Vacation with another super special! We're joined by YA librarian and mom of next generation BSC readers, Dr. Lyn Scharf Hunter, to discuss our babysitters' two-week, non-Christmas winter break trip to California after winning the lottery. As usual, hyjinks of varying levels occur, but this time around we're spared of any extended truly life-or-death stakes.
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Episode 039: Poor Mallory!
June 1st, 2022 | 1 hr 17 mins
main series, mallory
We get what we've been wishing for when the BSC finally tackles the issues of wealth and class in Stoneybrook when Mr. Pike loses his job (and then promptly and relatively easily finds a new one) in Poor Mallory. And as a result, we learn sometimes getting what you've asked for isn't the best...
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Episode 038: Kristy's Mystery Admirer!!!!!!!!!!
May 17th, 2022 | 1 hr 33 mins
kristy, main series
The day Kate has been anxiously awaiting has finally arrived - Kate and Lauryn are finally getting around to discussing Kristy's Mystery Admirer!! And as an added bonus, we're joined by Kelly Biscopink, co-host of the Nancy Drew "faux crime" podcast, It's a Clue! There's plenty to hear about and we had a great conversation, but please do not disregard just how problematic and truly scary Cokie Mason is in this one!
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Episode 037: Dawn and the Older Boy!
May 3rd, 2022 | 1 hr 14 mins
dawn, main series
Dawn finds herself in a problematic crush situation (that no one else seems to realize is a problem) and it's not great for her or us!
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Episode 036: Jessi's Baby-Sitter!
April 19th, 2022 | 1 hr 5 mins
jessi, main series
Jessi's mom is headed back to the working world, so Mr. Ramsey's sister, Cecelia, is moving in to help manage the house and watch the kids. Jessi thinks she's too old for a babysitter and she and Becca pull pranks straight out of The Sound of Music, but the book completely disregards that cultural reference. There's science fair antics and troubling racial commentary and we question just how much thought the Ramseys put into their plan to have Aunt Cecelia move in.
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SS04: Baby-sitters' Island Adventure!
April 5th, 2022 | 1 hr 25 mins
guest, super special
It's another super special with the return of our first super special guest, Katie Schneller! We discuss Dawn and Claudia's shipwrecked adventure off the coast of Connecticut and question the intelligence and decision-making of basically every parent in Stoneybrook.
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EM023: Emergency Meeting - Netflix Season Two, Episode Eight: Kristy and the Baby Parade!
February 22nd, 2022 | 1 hr 39 secs
emergency meeting, kristy, netflix series
Kate and Lauryn wrap up their discussion of Season Two of The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix. We discuss Kristy and the Baby Parade! We're taking a short Spring Break and will be back with our next super special on April 5th!
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EM022: Emergency Meeting - Netflix Season Two, Episode Seven: Claudia and the Sad Goodbye!
February 8th, 2022 | 47 mins 48 secs
claudia, emergency meeting, netflix series
Kate and Lauryn continue their discussion of Season Two of The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix. We discuss Claudia and the Sad Goodbye!