Claudia and the Baby-sitters Club Books We Really Needed

Remixed and re-titled book covers imagine all the bullshit Claudia Kishi had to deal with.



For a certain generation of young readers, Claudia Kishi is an icon.

Any fan of The Baby-sitters Club will tell you that Claudia is artistic, stylish, fashionable and a terrible student. She's also the Asian one. As the Japanese American member of The Baby-sitters Club, she was a rarity when Ann M. Martin's prolific, mega-popular novel series debuted in 1986. In a literature landscape so often devoid of characters of color, many Asian American readers saw themselves in Claudia.

In Keep Out, Claudia! (Book #56) the Baby-sitters Club is hired by a new family who are totally cold and rude to Claudia when she comes over to babysit their kids, for reasons she can't understand. But when the BSC's white sitters come over, they're cool. Then later, when Jessi, who is African American, comes over to sit, they won't even let her through the door. Turns out, the family is racist!

It was one of the few times the series addressed issues of racial prejudice, albeit clunkily, in its 200+ volume run. But it gets you wondering how that racism might have further affected Claudia, as one of the seemingly few Asian American residents in the fictional town of Stonybrook, Connecticut. As an Asian American character, Claudia busted some stereotypes. But realistically, she probably had to deal with her share of bullshit.

What would those books look like?

Let us imagine a few Baby-sitters Club stories, using re-titled and remixed covers of actual Baby-sitters Club books, that might have seen Claudia realistically and frankly grappling with her identity as a racial minority.

And now we have #StarringConstanceWu

Inspired by #StarringJohnCho.



By now, you've seen the fun and brilliant #StarringJohnCho social campaign, in which popular and worthy Asian American actor John Cho is cleverly Photoshopped into movie posters and bestowed leading man status in a host of Hollywood movies. Because why not John Cho? The campaign calls out the movie industry's perpetual whiteness, and advances the notion that Asian American actors can indeed be leading men.

And leading women. Because you can't let John Cho have all the fun. Inspired by #StarringJohnCho, some fans have taken the idea a step further with #StarringConstanceWu, similarly re-imagining Hollywood movies starring none other than Constance Wu. She currently shines as Jessica Huang, ruler of everything around me, on ABC's Fresh Off The Boat, and she deserves to topline Hollywood feature films too.

Ain't no harm in imagining. Why not? Here are a few examples of #StarringConstanceWu in action:

Imagine all the Hollywood movies. Starring John Cho.

What would it look like if today's Hollywood blockbusters starred an Asian American leading man?



The ongoing dialogue around the whitewashing of Asian roles in movies like Ghost in the Shell and Dr. Strange has prompted some pretty interesting conversations about the dismal lack of opportunities for Asian American performers in Hollywood. One thing is for sure: Asian American leading men and women in feature films are few and far between. That's why #StarringJohnCho is so awesome.

The #StarringJohnCho campaign challenges Hollywood's resistance to casting Asian leads. "Today, only 1% of lead roles go to Asians. But if studies show that films with diverse casts result in higher box office numbers and higher returns on investments for film companies, why doesn't Hollywood cast lead actors to reflect this fact?"

Look, Asian Americans have the chops to be lead actors. Even if Hollywood continually refuses to see it. #StarringJohnCho is a social movement that literally shows you what it would look like if today's Hollywood blockbusters cast an Asian American actor -- specifically John Cho -- as their leading man.

And it looks pretty good. Check it out:

Sikh man's selfie doctored to look like Paris terrorist

Veerender Jubbal has never even been to Paris.



By now, you've seen and heard about the deadly terror attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris last week. While there has been an international outpouring of support and compassion, the aftermath has also seen assholes act like bigger assholes, as assholes so often do. For instance, the asshole who doctored this photo of a Canadian Sikh man to make him look like one of the terrorists purportedly responsible for the attack.

Doctored photo wrongly accuses Sikh man of being Paris terrorist

Shortly after the attacks, someone doctored a photo of Veerender Jubbal, a Canadian Sikh man who months ago posted a selfie taken in front of a mirror. Mr. Jubbal, who wears a turban and beard in observance of his faith, was holding an iPad. The image was altered to show him holding a Quran and wearing a suicide vest.

What. The. Fuck.

When the doctored image began to spread -- and even got picked up and reported by one of Spain's biggest newspapers -- Jubbal posted the original photo as evidence that he had nothing to do with the attacks. He's never even been to Paris. He's just a regular guy with a turban who posted a selfie, which unfortunately is enough fodder for some Photoshopping asshole to turn him into a terrorist.

"Are You Asian and Don't Want To Be?"

All these years later, this fake billboard keeps making the rounds.



Feeling the need to post this, since an old meme seems to have popped up and is making the rounds again... Every couple of months, and once again within in the last week or so, I've recently seen several people post this photo with the expected levels of exasperation, usually in the realm of "WTF? Have you seen this?"

As a public service, let's make it clear: this image is at least seven years old, and it's fake.