Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.: Student Speech & a Moving-Day Disaster

Henrique Couto opens with a passionate June 2021 reaction to Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the U.S. Supreme Court’s student-speech decision issued days before this recording. The Court held that the Pennsylvania school district violated B.L.’s First Amendment rights after she was suspended from the junior-varsity cheerleading squad for vulgar off-campus Snapchat posts. Henrique sees the ruling as a meaningful check on institutional power.The discussion explores the difference between speech that occurs at school and expression posted elsewhere, while recognizing that the Court did not eliminate every school interest in off-campus conduct. Henrique connects the case to his own school experiences, his work as an artist and his free-speech absolutism; Michelle offers a quieter counterpoint about choosing where to spend money after unpleasant interactions. Their opinions are a contemporaneous debate, not legal advice or a universal rule for student discipline.Away from constitutional law, Henrique describes the technical side of independent filmmaking: checking sound, preparing master files and assembling deliverables for Blu-ray, DVD and video-on-demand distribution. He also recounts simultaneously shipping a new Devil’s Trail edition and the Babysitter Massacre book while preparing Weekly Spooky story collections. Those products and release plans belong to 2021 and are not presented as current offers.Michelle closes with a moving-day disaster from helping her mother change homes. A dresser will not fit upstairs, another large piece cannot leave the old house and a particle-board desk breaks during the move. She also reports scratches to floors and walls and several damaged knobs, but the story stays her family’s personal recollection rather than an accusation against an identified company. Even the episode’s underwear joke comes from the stranded dresser sitting in the dining room.LinksEmail the hosts: [email protected]