How Buffy The Vampire Slayer Continues To Inspire Generations Of Fans

The floorboards successful our one-bedroom flat were massive, wide planks of honey-colored wood original to nan brownstone, which had been built alongside Brooklyn’s historical Green-Wood Cemetery successful 1910. The room was mini (when you opened nan oven doorway it astir touched nan other wall) and we had only 1 closet—especially analyzable fixed nan truth that we needed room for 2 people, 1 cat, and Jenny’s fourteen guitars—but it was a magical abstraction frequented by occurrence flight raccoons and a colony of parakeets that had been roosting successful nan vicinity since nan 1970s. Local lore maintained that a motortruck afloat of greenish monk parakeets had collapsed connected its measurement to a pet shop and nan birds, erstwhile liberated, took up residence successful nan cemetery’s galore trees and spires.

Article continues aft advertisement

The flat felt truthful magical, successful fact, that Kristin—always waiting for nan different footwear to drop—was convinced she’d beryllium deed by a autobus for nan first 4 months that we lived there.

“You aren’t going to get deed by a bus.”

(Jenny has ever been a spot much grounded successful reality.)

It was 2012, we’d been making love for 3 years, and things betwixt america had go superior capable for Jenny to cohabitate pinch Kristin and her aging cat, Trey, contempt important feline allergies. So it was nary astonishment when, successful speech for this sacrifice, an ultimatum was introduced. For nan business to stand, Kristin had to do what countless queer women had done earlier her: she had to watch Buffy nan Vampire Slayer with her girlfriend.

“It’s a show astir a girl who kills vampires but besides dates them sometimes!”

Jenny, encouraged by nan slightest raise successful Kristin’s eyebrows, continued, “It’s besides nan communicative of a group of individuals brought together by relationship and destiny led by a preternaturally powerful young female pinch a ineffable calling, waging warfare against nan forces of darkness, sometimes triumphant, sometimes bruised and bloodied by a conflict pinch nary extremity successful sight, but 1 which they cannot springiness up on, nary matter nan cost!”

Kristin, not good versed successful genre tv and ever instinctively opposed to a melodramatic income pitch, rolled her eyes. This was not Jenny’s first “watch Buffy with me” blitz. If anything, she’d mislaid ground.

“Okay, okay, okay, see this: it’s gayer than you are.”

Only past did Kristin return Jenny’s DVD boxed group of each 7 seasons of Buffy off nan bookshelf and prime up nan distant control.

“Nothing,” Kristin said, “is gayer than I am.” 

And so, we watched.

We’d watched tv together before, of course, but watching Buffy in this enchanted, cemetery-adjacent, first-home-together space—Kristin sprawled crossed our IKEA sofa pinch Trey perched connected nan cushions down her, Jenny successful her favourite spot connected nan surviving room level pinch a pillow tucked nether her head—this was different. If it wasn’t already evident from her displayed boxed group of nan series, this was Jenny’s show. It was a show she’d watched complete and complete again, anytime she needed comfort, a cozy vampire broad that had been pinch her for complete a decade. So sharing it pinch Kristin was nary mini thing.

Jenny, to her delight, was correct: erstwhile Kristin’s first skepticism began to fade, she fell successful emotion pinch nan characters and nan story. She laughed erstwhile Buffy’s mom lovingly made a cup of basking cocoa for nan evil vampire Spike, and she cried erstwhile Buffy sacrificed her first emotion successful bid to prevention nan world. For what it’s worth, Kristin maintains that she was besides correct astir astatine slightest 1 thing: thing is gayer than she is.

Once it became clear that we could stock not only a emotion for each different but besides a emotion for nan Slayer, we made plans to wed nan pursuing year. As you do.

Our wedding was held astatine The Bell House successful Brooklyn connected August 25, 2013. Only 2 months earlier, we’d held our activity arsenic nan Supreme Court decided whether our matrimony would beryllium worthy of nickname and protection crossed nan country. It was adjacent parts powerful and overwhelming erstwhile 9 appointed justices decided that yes, it was.

The Bell House was a euphony venue wherever Jenny had played connected galore occasions, and it felt for illustration an hold of home. Huge exposed beams crossed nan vaulted ceilings successful a storage abstraction that was built successful 1931 and had spent astir of its life arsenic a printing press. Our friends and family danced together, ate barbecue caller from a smoker group up connected nan sidewalk, and took turns successful nan venue’s vintage photograph booth. It was an perfectly beautiful day.

We remained successful nan brownstone pinch nan wide floorboards for 2 much years earlier Jenny’s euphony profession took america west.

After years of making albums of her ain and touring connected repeat, she had nan opportunity to research nan world of cowriting successful collaboration pinch different artists and songwriters, and overmuch of that world is headquartered successful Los Angeles. If our Brooklyn floorboards could talk, they’d show tales of Trey’s ongoing rivalry pinch nan occurrence flight raccoons, his vacation contented of shitting nether nan Christmas character (just erstwhile per almanac year), and his emotion of meticulously licking nan condensation disconnected of each and each model during nan wintertime months. They would besides person to show you astir Trey’s declining kidneys, astir nan months we spent administering fluids from an IV container to thief support him hydrated and spry, and nan time that 2 loving nurses came to our location from nan veterinarian’s agency to easiness Trey’s modulation into nan awesome beyond.

We near nan time aft Christmas, without saccharine Trey, to thrust to California. We’d emptied nan full flat of each of our belongings (Buffy DVDs thrice Bubble-Wrapped) isolated from for nan Christmas character itself, which Kristin refused to return down until nan infinitesimal we walked retired nan doorway for nan past time.

Los Angeles felt for illustration a photograph antagonistic of what we’d near behind. Where location erstwhile were vivid greens, location were now godforsaken browns; alternatively of a snowy season, we knowledgeable our first occurrence season; successful spot of our occurrence flight raccoons, we now had nightly visits from backyard coyotes. We missed home. Perhaps to distract america from nan things we were missing, aliases possibly moreover arsenic a measurement to scope backmost toward our aged vicinity cemetery, Jenny brought up an thought she’d erstwhile projected successful our Brooklyn apartment: Wouldn’t it beryllium nosy to commencement a podcast astir Buffy nan Vampire Slayer?

Kristin, anxious for immoderate distraction from nan achromatic widow spider we’d recovered successful nan room earlier successful nan week, agreed.

Jenny had already put together a location signaling workplace successful our spare bedroom, and she came equipped pinch a knowledge of some vampires and microphones, truthful our method instauration was solid. Kristin, contempt her position arsenic a Buffy novice, had clocked rather a fewer hours during her teen years reference Anne Rice and wearing custom-molded vampire fangs to school. Both of america had grown up conscionable a fewer hours extracurricular NYC successful nan 1990s, wearing JNCO jeans, smoking clove cigarettes, and listening to Nirvana connected our Discmans, truthful we were besides tapped into nan nostalgia factor.

We released our first section of Buffering nan Vampire Slayer on September 14, 2016. We couldn’t person imagined that only a fewer weeks later, we’d person thousands of caller listeners.

We besides could not person imagined that a statesmanlike campaigner would erupt from a real-life Hellmouth conscionable 2 months later, triumph power of nan country, and alloy america and our expanding organization for a fight.

That we’d get pregnant aft months of trying, only to acquisition a miscarriage conscionable hours earlier going onstage for a unrecorded podcast signaling successful Madison, Wisconsin.

That we’d denote a Buffy Prom successful Los Angeles and past watch successful awe arsenic it sold retired successful little than 3 minutes. Or that, conscionable a week earlier that first Buffy Prom, Jenny would show Kristin she was leaving our marriage.

That successful nan aftermath of our divorce, we’d someway negociate to proceed podcasting together, bracing done immoderate of our darkest times while simultaneously witnessing immoderate of nan podcast’s highest highs.

That 7 years later we’d still beryllium here, each remarried, 1 of america pinch a toddler, still talking astir Buffy nan Vampire Slayer from our abstracted houses (Jenny successful Maine and Kristin successful upstate New York) pinch lives some abstracted and intertwined.

We didn’t cognize immoderate of this erstwhile we sat down to grounds our first episode, Jenny successful her agency chair monitoring nan audio, Kristin successful nan cozy greenish armchair conscionable a fewer feet away.

All we knew past was that we loved Buffy.

That she and her friends would beryllium riding sidecar to our lives for galore years to follow, situation managing by example, would uncover itself complete time.

__________________________________

Excerpted from Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl In All The World Showed Us How To Hold On by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs. Copyright © 2025 by nan authors and reprinted by support of St. Martin’s Press, a section of Macmillan.