he Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 6-7: Bodies on the Wall | Banned Books Podcast

1
00:00:03,695.1803891115 --> 00:00:04,985.1803891115
Welcome to Bandcamp.

2
00:00:05,75.1803891115 --> 00:00:12,518.483492045
I'm Jennifer And I'm Dan, and this is the podcast where we read banned books and try to figure out why they were banned in the first place.

3
00:00:15,733.751182273 --> 00:00:18,603.751182273
This season we're reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

4
00:00:18,703.751182273 --> 00:00:24,783.750182273
Quick spoiler warning, Jennifer's about to start reading from the book word for word, so if you haven't read it, you're in good company.

5
00:00:24,853.751182273 --> 00:00:26,363.751182273
Neither have we, it turns out.

6
00:00:26,853.751182273 --> 00:00:29,453.750182273
If this is your first episode, you'll be fine.

7
00:00:29,463.750182273 --> 00:00:38,773.750182273
We have a fact-checking robot that will catch you up real quick, and if something feels confusing, just know we're probably confused too, which is kind of the whole point of Banned Camp.

8
00:00:38,773.750182273 --> 00:00:41,603.752182273
We're trying to figure out why these books were banned.

9
00:00:42,41.088576444 --> 00:00:46,886.392453539
Before Jennifer starts reading, let's introduce you to said fact-checking robot.

10
00:00:46,945.77653082 --> 00:00:48,345.77753082
He's the third member of our team.

11
00:00:48,405.77553082 --> 00:00:50,105.77553082
Buddy boy, roll it on in here.

12
00:00:53,577.241545624 --> 00:00:55,437.242545624
Look, look at this guy.

13
00:00:55,447.243545624 --> 00:00:56,397.243545624
Handsome.

14
00:00:56,397.243545624 --> 00:00:57,47.240545624
Handsome.

15
00:00:57,47.242545624 --> 00:00:58,137.244545624
Look at him, Jennifer.

16
00:00:58,147.240545624 --> 00:01:02,945.421242057
Have you ever seen such a charming tin can? Nope.

17
00:01:02,945.421242057 --> 00:01:15,128.885725478
Never in my life Buddy boy, fill everyone in on where we left off last time in The Handmaid's Tale Previously on Band Camp, some Japanese tourists came through Gilead with cameras.

18
00:01:15,298.885725478 --> 00:01:19,742.220615908
An interpreter walked up to our handmaids on a public street and asked if they were happy.

19
00:01:20,169.308667166 --> 00:01:23,359.309667166
Jennifer and Dan immediately decided he was a government spy.

20
00:01:23,822.639886305 --> 00:01:27,282.639886305
Turns out, every interpreter in Gilead is a government spy.

21
00:01:27,559.375652823 --> 00:01:30,609.374652823
I want to be clear that I take no pleasure in saying they were right.

22
00:01:30,739.374652823 --> 00:01:33,649.374652823
I also want to be clear that I am saying it exactly once.

23
00:01:34,678.784197188 --> 00:01:39,228.785197188
The interesting thing about a world built on control is that eventually the control stops hiding.

24
00:01:39,611.832788535 --> 00:01:42,811.83278853
It just sits there in plain sight and waits for you to walk past it.

25
00:01:43,931.83078853 --> 00:01:47,337.98667032
Take it away, Jennifer Thank you, robot.

26
00:01:47,377.98667032 --> 00:02:07,517.41823915
And with that being said, scary book people, let's begin chapter six of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale A block past all flesh of Glen pauses as if hesitant about which way to go.

27
00:02:08,517.41823915 --> 00:02:09,787.41723915
We have a choice.

28
00:02:09,882.22156541 --> 00:02:13,652.22256541
We could go straight back, or we could walk the long way around.

29
00:02:14,322.22156541 --> 00:02:16,312.22256541
Huh, the smallest choices.

30
00:02:16,734.48447801 --> 00:02:18,674.48447801
This is a major thing now.

31
00:02:18,774.48447801 --> 00:02:22,884.48447801
Let's have a quick powwow, figure out our best move here.

32
00:02:23,486.48447801 --> 00:02:25,486.48447801
It's funny, it's not really even a choice.

33
00:02:25,486.48447801 --> 00:02:27,96.48447801
We're going to the same place.

34
00:02:29,555.25641314 --> 00:02:32,875.25641314
We already know which way we will take because we always take it.

35
00:02:33,240.76728628 --> 00:02:37,330.76728628
I'd like to pass by the church, says of Glenn as if piously.

36
00:02:37,538.68761678 --> 00:02:41,737.20216917
All right, I say, Though I know as well as she does what she's really after.

37
00:02:42,167.20316917 --> 00:02:43,767.20316917
We walk sedately.

38
00:02:44,287.20216917 --> 00:02:45,207.20216917
The sun is out.

39
00:02:45,317.20316917 --> 00:02:49,524.71672156
In the sky, there are white fluffy clouds, The kind that look like headless sheep.

40
00:02:49,890.28716917 --> 00:02:56,834.41812547
given our wings, our blinkers, it's hard to look up, hard to get the full view of the sky, of anything.

41
00:02:57,214.41912547 --> 00:03:03,74.41712547
But we can do it a little at a time, a quick move of the head up and down, to the side and back.

42
00:03:03,424.41812547 --> 00:03:05,944.41812547
We've learned to see the world in gasps.

43
00:03:06,110.41912547 --> 00:03:10,190.41912547
This is kinda how I move at my, uh, decrepit age right now.

44
00:03:10,646.41912547 --> 00:03:21,841.36231002
You have to focus on where you're walking, you're always looking down? the right, if you could walk along, there's a street that would take you down towards the river.

45
00:03:22,361.36331002 --> 00:03:26,371.36331002
There is a boathouse where they kept the rowboats once and some bridges.

46
00:03:26,881.36331002 --> 00:03:36,666.86173532
Trees, green banks where you could sit and watch the water and the young men in their naked arms, their oars lifting into the sunlight as they played at winning.

47
00:03:37,666.86173532 --> 00:03:50,13.98073532
On the way to the river are the old dormitories used for something else now with their fairy tale turrets painted white and gold and blue Where they hold the men's salvagings as well as the football games.

48
00:03:50,73.98073532 --> 00:03:51,413.98173532
They still have those.

49
00:03:51,833.98073532 --> 00:04:00,26.36273532
I don't go to the river anymore or over bridges or on the subway, although there's a station right there we're not allowed on.

50
00:04:00,396.36473532 --> 00:04:01,776.36273532
There are guardians now.

51
00:04:01,946.36373532 --> 00:04:08,628.9143531
There's no official reason for us to go down those steps, ride on the trains under the river into the main city.

52
00:04:09,28.9153531 --> 00:04:22,255.81412976
Why would we want to go from here to there? We would be up to no good, and they would know it The church is a small one, one of the first erected here hundreds of years ago.

53
00:04:22,845.81412976 --> 00:04:26,6.62480407
It isn't used anymore except as a museum.

54
00:04:27,6.62480407 --> 00:04:28,396.62480407
Inside it you can see..."

55
00:04:28,466.62380407 --> 00:04:29,596.62380407
Oh, that's interesting.

56
00:04:29,596.62480407 --> 00:04:40,52.95545159
So there's, like, no faith? I would've thought that it would be a Christian nationalist society the funny thing about Christian nationalism though is like you don't actually need a church to go and worship at.

57
00:04:40,52.95545159 --> 00:04:41,852.95545159
the entire country is the church.

58
00:04:42,15.62211826 --> 00:04:43,855.62211826
but it's run by the politicians.

59
00:04:43,865.62211826 --> 00:04:46,945.62211826
Like, it's not actually even a, a religion anymore.

60
00:04:46,975.62211826 --> 00:04:52,125.62311826
It's like the religion's been hijacked for political means, which is what Christian nationalism is, in my opinion.

61
00:04:52,261.62311826 --> 00:05:23,122.76396052
If Trump took over a church, Uh-huh let's say on a Monday, is it safe to assume that by the following Wednesday, so maybe a good week and a half, the church would have a very active algae bloom and paint would be peeling off of the floors? inside the church, you can see paintings of women in long, somber dresses, their hair covered by white caps, and of upright men, darkly clothed and unsmiling.

62
00:05:24,174.13915897 --> 00:05:25,564.14015897
Our ancestors.

63
00:05:25,684.14015897 --> 00:05:26,764.14015897
Admission is free."

64
00:05:28,676.22437942 --> 00:05:32,416.22437942
We don't go in though, but stand on the path looking at the churchyard.

65
00:05:33,326.22437942 --> 00:05:37,136.22437942
The old gravestones are still there, weathered, eroding.

66
00:05:37,655.22437942 --> 00:05:51,721.87869603
On the skulls and crossbones says memento mori, their doe-faced angels, their winged hourglasses to remind us of the passing of mortal time, and from a later century, their urns and willow trees for mourning.

67
00:05:53,414.10544446 --> 00:05:56,634.10544446
They haven't fiddled with the gravestones or the church either.

68
00:05:56,974.10444446 --> 00:06:06,158.74133614
It's only the more recent history that offends them, like the past hundred, two hundred years Yeah, when women got the right to vote, Jennifer.

69
00:06:06,178.74133614 --> 00:06:14,27.090515
That's when this entire nation went down the tubes Ofglen's head is bowed as if she's praying.

70
00:06:14,222.03740753 --> 00:06:15,916.23093757
she does this every time.

71
00:06:16,916.23093757 --> 00:06:23,706.22993757
Maybe, I think, there's someone, someone in particular gone for her, too, a man or a child.

72
00:06:24,66.23093757 --> 00:06:25,842.4903771
But I can't entirely believe it.

73
00:06:26,842.4903771 --> 00:06:32,892.4883771
I think of her as a woman for whom every act is done for show, is acting rather than a real act.

74
00:06:34,187.75260416 --> 00:06:37,257.75160416
Ooh, so maybe Ofglen isn't buying into this whole thing.

75
00:06:37,524.17188163 --> 00:06:43,187.1588701
What if our protagonist is a bad guy and turns in Ofglen? Oh, oh.

76
00:06:43,362.61341555 --> 00:06:44,898.99521877
oh, that, that would suck.

77
00:06:45,74.71137159 --> 00:06:45,914.71137159
I wouldn't like that.

78
00:06:46,127.79370468 --> 00:06:48,157.79370468
Because she's got brainwashed.

79
00:06:48,329.16104193 --> 00:06:50,529.16004193
I don't know if, if she's fully brainwashed.

80
00:06:50,549.16104193 --> 00:07:11,774.1063794
I mean, I think she's having an identity crisis Oh, oh, it would be pretty hard not to have an identity crisis if you're here and you remember what you used to be Now we turn our backs to the church, and there is the thing we've in truth come to see, the wall."

81
00:07:12,44.1053794 --> 00:07:20,119.59257323
So is this like the perimeter, outside of Gilead Oh, so it's like Berlin or the, the Great Wall of China even.

82
00:07:20,233.43703323 --> 00:07:27,343.43703323
I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.

83
00:07:27,436.58825009 --> 00:07:28,396.58825009
Mark my words.

84
00:07:28,608.90468938 --> 00:07:36,600.13127569
I don't think so The wall is hundreds of years old too, or over a hundred at least.

85
00:07:36,650.13127569 --> 00:07:37,799.79759616
What? Hmm.

86
00:07:37,898.72042985 --> 00:07:42,799.53281729
I mean, what wall are they talking about I don't know of any wall in America, to be honest.

87
00:07:42,878.53281729 --> 00:07:50,542.81002918
I can think of cities in Europe That still have walls from the old days, Yeah but I can't think of that in this country at all.

88
00:07:50,542.81002918 --> 00:07:54,490.81002918
Like, where do we have a wall around anything? Just prisons.

89
00:07:54,565.25519804 --> 00:07:57,315.25519804
not cities, not countries.

90
00:07:57,315.25519804 --> 00:08:07,63.88587724
I mean, it could be the ci- are any cities walled off in America? Let's ask robot As of this recording, no walled cities in America.

91
00:08:07,492.40875836 --> 00:08:08,872.40875836
Dan's right about prisons.

92
00:08:08,922.40875836 --> 00:08:10,232.40875836
Beyond that, not really.

93
00:08:10,766.21971049 --> 00:08:15,286.21971049
President Trump has yet to wall off any specific cities, though check back tomorrow.

94
00:08:15,877.93313921 --> 00:08:18,177.93313921
Other countries? Walled cities still exist.

95
00:08:18,357.93313921 --> 00:08:26,107.93313921
Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish territories on the Moroccan coast, completely surrounded by triple fences with razor wire and surveillance towers.

96
00:08:26,187.93213921 --> 00:08:29,207.93213921
You cannot enter from Morocco without going through a checkpoint.

97
00:08:30,337.93213921 --> 00:08:37,737.93113921
And of course, the Vatican is technically a walled sovereign state inside Rome, though the gift shop complicates the intimidation factor somewhat.

98
00:08:41,606.37880164 --> 00:08:51,614.3360905
The wall is hundreds of years old too, or over 100 at least, Like the sidewalks, the wall is red brick and must have once been plain but handsome."

99
00:08:52,681.82192613 --> 00:09:02,934.88292613
Now the gates have sentries, and there are ugly new floodlights mounted on metal posts above it, and barbed wire along the bottom, and broken glass set in concrete along the top."

100
00:09:02,954.88292613 --> 00:09:04,864.88292613
Okay, so this really is like the Berlin Wall.

101
00:09:04,924.21725947 --> 00:09:05,224.21725947
Yeah.

102
00:09:05,358.21725947 --> 00:09:06,378.21625947
keeping people in.

103
00:09:06,712.29136727 --> 00:09:09,202.29036727
No one goes through these gates willingly."

104
00:09:09,412.29036727 --> 00:09:14,332.68542705
Oh my God, so what's on the other side of the gate? I thought they were keeping people from going' out!...,

105
00:09:14,399.08731925 --> 00:09:15,39.08731925
Wait a minute.

106
00:09:15,89.08731925 --> 00:09:19,173.84335426
So you think what's on the outside is worse? That's what she implies here.

107
00:09:19,173.84335426 --> 00:09:21,363.84335426
No one goes through those gates willingly.

108
00:09:21,363.84335426 --> 00:09:23,463.84335426
I'm telling you, she's so brainwashed.

109
00:09:23,891.84335426 --> 00:09:29,164.4556876
You think there's nothing bad on the other side? You know, it's over there at Chipotle and a Dave's Hot Chicken franchise.

110
00:09:29,164.4556876 --> 00:09:31,114.4556876
It's nice over on that side of the wall.

111
00:09:31,245.4531952 --> 00:09:36,525.4541952
I bet that's it, because life seems normal with the Japanese tourists that came over in the last episode.

112
00:09:36,835.4531952 --> 00:09:38,205.4541952
I think life is normal.

113
00:09:38,393.44084736 --> 00:09:43,365.4541952
I kind of think so too if, if Trump gets a third term, this is what America will be.

114
00:09:43,395.4531952 --> 00:09:49,845.4531952
We'll be a walled-off community that the rest of the world will just think it's like, "We should go to America, see what numbnuts did over there.

115
00:09:49,865.4521952 --> 00:09:52,115.4541952
Now it's so crazy over there."

116
00:09:52,445.4541952 --> 00:09:54,925.4541952
And meanwhile, Trump is like, "It's really bad.

117
00:09:55,205.4521952 --> 00:09:56,615.4541952
Bad over the wall.

118
00:09:56,645.4551952 --> 00:09:59,395.4541952
You gotta have a wall or you won't have a country.

119
00:09:59,531.28448981 --> 00:10:03,11.28348981
And he just brainwashed everyone into thinking it's terrible over there.

120
00:10:03,281.28448981 --> 00:10:05,103.39850198
Freedom from Yeah.

121
00:10:05,103.39850198 --> 00:10:06,653.39850198
No, I kinda think you're right.

122
00:10:06,653.39850198 --> 00:10:14,583.4808012
I, I think they're just scaring them into staying, No one goes through the gates willingly.

123
00:10:14,623.4808012 --> 00:10:25,213.15664363
The precautions are for those trying to get out, though to make it even as far as the wall from the inside, past the electronic alarm system, would be next to impossible.

124
00:10:25,823.15664363 --> 00:10:29,313.15664363
Beside the main gateway, there are six more bodies hanging.

125
00:10:29,993.15664363 --> 00:10:42,177.03312909
Six more than what? Robot, did we miss, why are there six more bodies? Were, did we miss bodies? Jennifer wants to know if we missed any hanging bodies More doesn't mean you missed something.

126
00:10:42,237.03312909 --> 00:10:43,527.03312909
It means this is routine.

127
00:10:43,677.03312909 --> 00:10:47,777.03312909
The wall has bodies on it regularly enough that our handmaid isn't counting from zero.

128
00:10:48,17.03312909 --> 00:10:50,177.03312909
She's counting from whatever was already there.

129
00:10:51,291.47681919 --> 00:10:55,181.47781919
Atwood didn't describe the first batch because there was no first batch worth noting.

130
00:10:55,491.47781919 --> 00:11:13,142.43151884
In Gilead, bodies on a wall is just Tuesday Beside the main gateway, there are six more bodies hanging by the necks, their hands tied in front of them, their heads in white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders.

131
00:11:13,642.43151884 --> 00:11:16,552.43051884
There must have been men salvaging early this morning.

132
00:11:17,301.43151884 --> 00:11:18,441.43151884
I didn't hear the bells.

133
00:11:18,781.43151884 --> 00:11:20,481.43151884
Perhaps I've become used to them.

134
00:11:21,132.04651884 --> 00:11:21,852.04651884
we stop.

135
00:11:21,982.04651884 --> 00:11:25,942.04651884
Together, as if on signal, we stand and look at the bodies.

136
00:11:26,302.04651884 --> 00:11:27,892.04651884
It doesn't matter if we look.

137
00:11:28,232.04651884 --> 00:11:29,202.04651884
We're supposed to look."

138
00:11:29,202.04651884 --> 00:11:30,32.04551884
See, there it is.

139
00:11:30,42.04651884 --> 00:11:42,530.75406426
It's supposed to be a public Yeah This is what they are hanging for, Sometimes they'll be there for days until there's a new batch, So as many people as possible will have the chance to see them.

140
00:11:42,781.82254444 --> 00:11:44,941.82354444
What they are hanging from is hooks.

141
00:11:45,321.82354444 --> 00:11:50,27.58781267
The hooks have been set into the brickwork of the wall for this purpose.

142
00:11:50,426.07297476 --> 00:11:52,266.07297476
Not all of them are occupied.

143
00:11:52,766.07297476 --> 00:12:00,353.02439826
The hooks look like appliances for the armless or steel question marks upside down and sideways.

144
00:12:00,748.91226267 --> 00:12:06,163.82758787
And there are some waiting just for you if you break the rules, right? 'Cause there's some empty ones.

145
00:12:06,408.82664094 --> 00:12:17,105.37209549
Yeah, it's always a reminder they they probably always keep a few empty With, you know, like when on the highway when you see it a, a condo that says, "If you lived here, you'd be home by now."

146
00:12:17,515.37209549 --> 00:12:25,706.00571722
It's like that kind of thing It's the bags over the heads that are the worst, worse than the faces themselves would be.

147
00:12:26,275.30160135 --> 00:12:35,375.31832852
It makes the men look like dolls on which faces have not yet been painted, like scarecrows, which in a way is what they are, since they are meant to scare."

148
00:12:36,274.31832852 --> 00:12:39,232.15066711
And it is like, again, impersonalizing them.

149
00:12:39,490.68442168 --> 00:12:44,455.4433468
Like, oh, well, here's just another dummy without an identity that did something wrong.

150
00:12:44,702.65161302 --> 00:12:45,754.65161302
You know, Eh, yeah.

151
00:12:46,32.65161302 --> 00:12:48,234.65161302
have no identity And I take it back.

152
00:12:48,244.65161302 --> 00:12:53,864.65161302
This entire couple paragraphs here is making me think she's not brainwashed because she understands.

153
00:12:53,874.65161302 --> 00:12:55,894.65061302
The point is they are trying to scare us.

154
00:12:56,113.51983534 --> 00:13:07,539.10558786
she totally understands what's going on, so she's not brainwashed Or as if their heads are sacks stuffed with some undifferentiated material, like flour or dough.

155
00:13:07,929.10558786 --> 00:13:16,29.58997755
It's the obvious heaviness of the heads, their vacancy, the way gravity pulls them down, and there's no life anymore to hold them up.

156
00:13:17,29.58997755 --> 00:13:18,679.58897755
The heads are zeros.

157
00:13:19,696.37492313 --> 00:13:27,726.37492313
Though if you look and look, as we are doing, you can see the outlines of the features under the white cloth, like gray shadows.

158
00:13:28,236.37392313 --> 00:13:33,507.33619751
The heads are the heads of snowmen, with the coal eyes and the carrot noses fallen out.

159
00:13:34,470.81592313 --> 00:13:35,790.81792313
Their heads are melting.

160
00:13:35,870.81792313 --> 00:13:36,320.81792313
Ugh.

161
00:13:36,668.92401672 --> 00:13:40,712.02638739
That's not good I would say not.

162
00:13:41,804.64697639 --> 00:13:47,724.64597639
But on one bag there's blood which has seeped through the white cloth where the mouth must have been.

163
00:13:48,434.64597639 --> 00:13:55,74.64697639
It makes another mouth, a small red one, like the mouths painted with thick brushes by kindergarten children.

164
00:13:55,930.81662034 --> 00:13:57,850.81662034
A child's idea of a smile.

165
00:13:58,60.81662034 --> 00:14:01,450.81662033
The smile of blood is what fixes the attention finally.

166
00:14:02,470.69503874 --> 00:14:04,420.69503874
These are not snowmen after all.

167
00:14:04,950.69503874 --> 00:14:09,430.69503874
The men wear white coats like those worn by doctors or scientists.

168
00:14:09,940.69503874 --> 00:14:12,670.69503874
Doctors and scientists aren't the only ones.

169
00:14:12,730.69503874 --> 00:14:16,770.69403874
There are others, but they must have had a run on them this morning.

170
00:14:17,300.69603874 --> 00:14:22,150.69403874
Each has a placard hung around his neck to show why he has been executed.

171
00:14:22,740.69403874 --> 00:14:24,480.69403874
A drawing of a human fetus.

172
00:14:24,950.69503874 --> 00:14:29,730.69503874
They were doctors then in the time before when such things were legal.

173
00:14:30,160.69403874 --> 00:14:32,60.69403874
Angel makers, they used to call them.

174
00:14:32,500.69403874 --> 00:15:19,243.26619324
Or was that something else? They've been turned up now by the searches through the hospital records, or more likely, since most hospitals destroyed such records once became clear what was going to happen, they've been turned up by informants, ex-nurses perhaps, or a pair of them, since evidence from a single woman is no longer admissible, or by another doctor hoping to save his own skin, or someone already accused lashing out at an enemy or at random in some desperate bid for safety, though informants are not always pardoned This is like 1984 and 2026 And the witch trials it's like literally how doctors are getting prosecuted now for doing abortions.

175
00:15:19,715.85055413 --> 00:15:20,995.85055413
or the threat of being.

176
00:15:21,205.85055413 --> 00:15:35,102.40586748
Like, that's the reason they don't save women's lives is 'cause, like, they don't know where the line is, and they don't wanna be, convicted of anything criminally These men, we've been told, are like war criminals.

177
00:15:35,461.20785632 --> 00:15:38,431.20785632
It's no excuse that what they did was legal at the time.

178
00:15:38,911.20785632 --> 00:15:40,861.20685632
Their crimes are retroactive.

179
00:15:41,211.20785632 --> 00:15:46,81.20685632
They have committed atrocities and must be made into examples for the rest.

180
00:15:46,611.20885632 --> 00:15:55,40.419007
Though this is hardly needed, No woman in her right mind these days would seek to prevent a birth should she be so lucky as to conceive.

181
00:15:56,120.34391308 --> 00:16:00,430.34391308
What we are supposed to feel towards these bodies is hatred and scorn.

182
00:16:00,679.43381566 --> 00:16:02,518.43081566
This isn't what I feel.

183
00:16:02,538.43081566 --> 00:16:07,128.25691308
These bodies banging on the wall are time travelers, anachronisms.

184
00:16:07,608.25691308 --> 00:16:09,288.25691308
They've come here from the past.

185
00:16:09,628.25691308 --> 00:16:12,208.25691308
What I feel towards them is blankness.

186
00:16:12,638.25691308 --> 00:16:14,938.25691308
What I feel is that I must not feel.

187
00:16:15,208.25691308 --> 00:16:19,593.87017128
What I feel is partly relief because none of these men is Luke.

188
00:16:20,63.87017127 --> 00:16:22,143.87017127
Luke wasn't a doctor, isn't.

189
00:16:23,201.6299318 --> 00:16:25,551.6299318
I feel a tremor in the woman beside me.

190
00:16:25,871.6299318 --> 00:16:32,261.6299318
Is she crying? In what way could it make her look good to cry? I can't afford to know.

191
00:16:32,601.6289318 --> 00:16:37,11.6289318
My own hands are clenched, I note, tight around the handle of my basket.

192
00:16:37,561.6299318 --> 00:16:39,81.6299318
I won't give anything away.

193
00:16:39,469.19414055 --> 00:16:42,909.1941406
Ordinary," said Aunt Lydia, "is what you are used to.

194
00:16:43,459.1951406 --> 00:16:47,999.1951406
This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will.

195
00:16:48,279.1931406 --> 00:16:50,499.1931406
It will become ordinary."

196
00:16:51,238.1941406 --> 00:16:52,398.1941406
End of chapter six,...

197
00:16:52,703.5155128 --> 00:17:10,833.6713404
lets keep going to chapter seven! The night is mine, my own time to do with what I will as long as I am quiet, as long as I don't move, as long as I lie still.

198
00:17:11,393.6723404 --> 00:17:13,533.6723404
The difference between lie and lay.

199
00:17:13,993.6713404 --> 00:17:16,13.6723404
Lay is always passive.

200
00:17:16,463.6723404 --> 00:17:22,863.6723404
Even men used to say, "I'd like to get laid," though sometimes they'd say, "I'd like to lay her."

201
00:17:23,313.6713404 --> 00:17:25,163.6723404
All this is pure speculation.

202
00:17:25,253.6713404 --> 00:17:27,453.6713404
I don't really know what men used to say.

203
00:17:27,993.6713404 --> 00:17:35,76.2293133
I had only their words for it I lie then, inside the room, under the plaster eye in the ceiling.

204
00:17:35,252.2679148 --> 00:17:43,922.2679148
Behind the white curtains, between the sheets, neatly as they, and step sideways out of my own time, out of time.

205
00:17:44,372.2679148 --> 00:17:47,372.2679148
Though this is time, nor am I out of it.

206
00:17:47,672.2669148 --> 00:17:53,252.2669148
Okay, she's like, she's going through something here I do like, like she says, the nighttime is my time.

207
00:17:53,582.2669148 --> 00:17:55,972.2669148
That's when I can finally be free.

208
00:17:56,12.2669148 --> 00:17:57,202.2669148
I can let alone...

209
00:17:57,232.2669148 --> 00:18:02,542.2669148
I mean, as long as I be quiet, and I lay down and don't move, and I'm, I'm laying under a big plaster eye.

210
00:18:03,192.2669148 --> 00:18:04,112.2659148
It's awesome.

211
00:18:04,232.2669148 --> 00:18:08,874.7265222
It's me time, baby Where should I go? Somewhere good.

212
00:18:08,904.7265222 --> 00:18:10,364.7265222
Oh, she's gonna mind travel.

213
00:18:10,428.499086 --> 00:18:15,709.2954646
what do they call it? Remote viewing That's close enough, Jennifer.

214
00:18:15,809.2954646 --> 00:18:17,679.2954646
The clinical term is dissociation.

215
00:18:17,789.2954646 --> 00:18:19,129.2954646
She's not going anywhere.

216
00:18:19,189.2954646 --> 00:18:23,29.2954646
Her body is locked down, but her mind found the one door they forgot to bolt.

217
00:18:23,119.2954646 --> 00:18:25,679.2954646
What you're about to hear are memories, not visions.

218
00:18:25,779.2954646 --> 00:18:27,439.2954646
First stop is her college dorm.

219
00:18:27,529.2954646 --> 00:18:29,449.2954646
Second stop is a park with her mother.

220
00:18:29,509.2944646 --> 00:18:31,739.2944646
Don't get confused when she jumps between them.

221
00:18:31,789.2954646 --> 00:18:33,579.2944646
Margaret Atwood doesn't warn you.

222
00:18:34,69.2944646 --> 00:18:34,889.2944646
I just did.

223
00:18:35,269.2954646 --> 00:18:35,979.2954646
You're welcome.

224
00:18:39,151.6303933 --> 00:18:53,471.6303933
Moira, sitting on the edge of my bed, legs crossed, ankle on knee, in her purple overalls, one dangly earring, the gold fingernail she wore to be eccentric, a cigarette between her stubby yellow-ended fingers.

225
00:18:53,611.6303933 --> 00:18:54,181.6303933
Gross.

226
00:18:54,250.0496414 --> 00:18:55,540.0496414
I'm really sorry.

227
00:18:55,540.0506414 --> 00:18:57,390.0496414
It's just really not my speed.

228
00:18:57,633.8842069 --> 00:18:59,888.6180272
I sound like such A class A prude.

229
00:19:00,888.6180272 --> 00:19:02,788.6170272
Let's go for a beer," she says.

230
00:19:03,138.6180272 --> 00:19:05,268.6150272
"You're getting ashes on my bed," I say.

231
00:19:05,623.9955038 --> 00:19:08,603.9935038
If you'd make it, you wouldn't have this problem," said Moira.

232
00:19:09,133.9945038 --> 00:19:10,573.9965038
"In half an hour," I said.

233
00:19:10,903.9945038 --> 00:19:12,753.9955038
I had a paper due the next day.

234
00:19:13,163.9935038 --> 00:19:16,383.9945038
What was it? Psychology, English, economics.

235
00:19:16,643.9925038 --> 00:19:18,713.9955038
We studied things like that then.

236
00:19:19,273.9935038 --> 00:19:25,273.9955038
On the floor of the room, there were books, open face down, this way and that way, extravagantly.

237
00:19:26,441.267642 --> 00:19:29,381.267642
Now," said Moira, "you don't need to paint your face.

238
00:19:29,401.266642 --> 00:19:30,411.268642
It's only me.

239
00:19:30,721.269642 --> 00:19:34,81.266642
What's your paper on? I just did one on date rape."

240
00:19:34,671.270642 --> 00:19:35,921.268642
"Date rape?" I said.

241
00:19:36,221.266642 --> 00:19:37,341.270642
"You're so trendy.

242
00:19:37,571.264642 --> 00:19:39,631.267642
It sounds like some kind of dessert.

243
00:19:40,141.264642 --> 00:19:43,894.8861865
Date rapé?" Ha ha," said Moira, "Get your coat."

244
00:19:44,374.8861865 --> 00:19:46,634.8861865
She got it herself and tossed it at me.

245
00:19:47,4.8861865 --> 00:19:53,756.3981635
"I'm borrowing five bucks off you, okay?" now i'm In a park somewhere with my mother.

246
00:19:53,876.3981635 --> 00:19:56,306.3981635
How old was I? It was cold.

247
00:19:56,378.5869134 --> 00:19:58,18.5879134
our breaths came out in front of us.

248
00:19:58,308.5869134 --> 00:20:00,198.5869134
There were no leaves on the trees.

249
00:20:00,278.5879134 --> 00:20:02,770.9355565
Gray sky, two ducks in the pond.

250
00:20:03,9.366272 --> 00:20:03,709.366272
Disconsolate.

251
00:20:04,362.9423481 --> 00:20:06,692.9423481
Breadcrumbs under my fingers, in my pocket.

252
00:20:06,903.5857804 --> 00:20:08,163.5857804
That's it," she said.

253
00:20:08,243.5857804 --> 00:20:11,859.1802154
We were going to feed the ducks, but there were some women burning books.

254
00:20:12,189.1812154 --> 00:20:15,239.1812154
That's what she was really there for, to see her friends.

255
00:20:15,309.1802154 --> 00:20:16,269.1802154
She'd lied to me.

256
00:20:16,649.1802154 --> 00:20:18,899.1802154
Saturdays were supposed to be my day.

257
00:20:19,269.1812154 --> 00:20:23,717.3397347
I turned away from her, sulking, toward the ducks, but the fire drew me back.

258
00:20:24,10.0219927 --> 00:20:30,511.7133751
Her mom was friends with book burners? I'm starting to think maybe this all started when she was a child.

259
00:20:30,511.7133751 --> 00:20:31,161.7133751
and it does.

260
00:20:31,171.7133751 --> 00:20:32,973.4180202
It It always starts with the book burning.

261
00:20:33,203.4190202 --> 00:20:39,814.6657534
starts with book burning there were some men too among the women, and the books were magazines.

262
00:20:40,174.6657534 --> 00:20:48,744.6657534
They must have poured gasoline because the flames shot high, and then they began dumping the magazines from boxes, not too many at a time.

263
00:20:49,184.6657534 --> 00:20:50,584.6647534
Some of them were chanting.

264
00:20:51,404.0141758 --> 00:20:51,994.0141758
gathered.

265
00:20:52,134.402423 --> 00:20:54,784.403423
Their faces were happy, ecstatic almost.

266
00:20:55,104.402423 --> 00:20:56,121.5084529
Fire can do that.

267
00:20:57,121.5084529 --> 00:21:03,471.5094529
Even my mother's face, usually pale and thin, looked ruddy and cheerful, like a Christmas card.

268
00:21:03,791.5094529 --> 00:21:09,571.5084529
And there was another woman, large, with a soot smeared down her cheek and an orange knitted cap.

269
00:21:10,61.5094529 --> 00:21:11,21.5094529
I remember her.

270
00:21:11,91.5084529 --> 00:21:15,373.5094529
Oh my God, is that Aunt Lydia? Ooh, maybe.

271
00:21:16,405.5787009 --> 00:21:18,345.5787009
You want to throw one on, honey?" she said.

272
00:21:18,495.5787009 --> 00:21:23,105.5777009
How old was I? "Good riddance to bad rubbish," she said, chuckling.

273
00:21:23,535.5777009 --> 00:21:25,385.5787009
"Is it okay?" she said to my mother.

274
00:21:25,710.6434087 --> 00:21:27,610.6434087
If she wants to," said my mother.

275
00:21:27,910.6424087 --> 00:21:31,653.3956084
She had a way of talking about me to others as if I couldn't hear.

276
00:21:32,653.3956084 --> 00:21:35,63.3956084
The woman handed me one of the magazines.

277
00:21:35,153.3956084 --> 00:21:41,293.3936084
It had a pretty woman on it with no clothes on, hanging from the ceiling by a chain wound 'round her hands.

278
00:21:41,720.463767 --> 00:21:41,850.463767
Ah.

279
00:21:42,538.210017 --> 00:21:43,618.210017
Ah.

280
00:21:44,368.210017 --> 00:21:44,788.210017
Ah.

281
00:21:45,81.1064748 --> 00:21:46,191.1064748
Um, settle down, Donald.

282
00:21:46,251.1064748 --> 00:21:47,669.0954502
Not now Ah.

283
00:21:48,260.0804504 --> 00:21:51,325.3610009
Ladies and gentlemen I looked at it with interest.

284
00:21:51,564.9042964 --> 00:21:52,784.9052964
It didn't frighten me.

285
00:21:53,144.9062964 --> 00:21:57,90.8564101
I thought she was swinging like Tarzan from a vine on the TV.

286
00:21:58,90.8564101 --> 00:22:00,170.8554101
Don't let her see it," said my mother.

287
00:22:00,490.8584101 --> 00:22:02,970.8574101
"Here," she said to me, "toss it in, quick."

288
00:22:03,49.3397284 --> 00:22:05,119.3437284
I threw the magazine into the flames.

289
00:22:05,240.7884536 --> 00:22:07,740.7874536
It rifled open in the wind of its burning.

290
00:22:08,150.7884536 --> 00:22:17,919.9168223
Big flakes of paper came loose, sailed onto the air, still on fire, parts of women's bodies turning to black ash in the air before my eyes.

291
00:22:18,71.2448247 --> 00:22:19,851.2448247
burning up some porno magazines.

292
00:22:19,861.2448247 --> 00:22:23,323.2448247
So that's what these gals get all worked up over sounds like right.

293
00:22:25,89.3829029 --> 00:22:26,529.3829029
I know I lost time.

294
00:22:26,619.3829029 --> 00:22:29,949.3829029
There must have been needles, pills, something like that.

295
00:22:30,359.3829029 --> 00:22:32,979.3829029
I couldn't have lost that much time without help.

296
00:22:33,569.3829029 --> 00:22:35,369.3829029
"You have a shock," they said.

297
00:22:35,779.3829029 --> 00:22:46,935.0323131
What? What is going on? Oh, this is a different, is choice number three in her remote viewing I would have come up through a roaring and confusion like surf boiling.

298
00:22:47,335.0313131 --> 00:22:49,265.0323131
I can remember feeling quite calm.

299
00:22:49,805.0323131 --> 00:22:51,315.0323131
I can remember screaming.

300
00:22:51,405.0303131 --> 00:22:54,545.0313131
It felt like screaming, though it may have been only a whisper.

301
00:22:54,955.0303131 --> 00:22:59,412.2595151
"Where is she? What have you done with her?" What is going on here? know.

302
00:22:59,592.2595151 --> 00:23:03,495.0823858
Zero clue There was no night or day, only a flickering.

303
00:23:03,825.0823858 --> 00:23:08,855.0823858
After a while, there were chairs again, and a bed, and after that, a window.

304
00:23:09,315.0813858 --> 00:23:12,514.4938212
"She's in good hands," they said, with people who are fit.

305
00:23:12,769.0523977 --> 00:23:20,511.9657315
You are unfit, but you want the best for her, don't you?" Oh, are they taking her away from her mother? Oh, I I think I know.

306
00:23:20,891.9657315 --> 00:23:26,980.3321847
I think they're not taking her away from her mother, they're taking her daughter away from her Oh.

307
00:23:27,138.6447591 --> 00:23:32,738.6447591
You are unfit, but you want the best for her, don't you?" So yeah, I think this is them taking her daughter away.

308
00:23:33,168.6437591 --> 00:23:38,818.6437591
"They showed me a picture of her standing outside on a lawn, her face a closed oval.

309
00:23:39,138.6447591 --> 00:23:42,358.6457591
Her light hair was pulled back tight behind her head.

310
00:23:42,768.6447591 --> 00:23:45,428.6437591
Holding her hand was a woman I didn't know.

311
00:23:45,818.6437591 --> 00:23:48,238.1960505
She was only as tall as the woman's elbow.

312
00:23:49,238.1960505 --> 00:23:50,598.1960505
You've killed her,' I said.

313
00:23:50,778.1970505 --> 00:23:54,558.1970505
She looked like an angel, solemn, compact, made of air.

314
00:23:55,578.3826325 --> 00:23:59,469.0159906
She was wearing a dress I'd never seen, white and down to the ground.

315
00:23:59,959.0189906 --> 00:24:02,769.0159906
I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling.

316
00:24:03,159.0159906 --> 00:24:04,449.0169906
I need to believe it.

317
00:24:04,769.0159906 --> 00:24:05,859.0159906
I must believe it.

318
00:24:06,259.0179906 --> 00:24:10,699.0159906
Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance."

319
00:24:11,58.0502785 --> 00:24:19,291.1329906
I don't know why, but I'm thinking of, when babies would be taken away from enslaved women, I don't think people give that the full weight it deserves.

320
00:24:19,451.1259906 --> 00:24:23,371.599048
I don't think people actually sit and think about how awful it must have...

321
00:24:23,501.595048 --> 00:24:35,29.5714271
I mean, I'm sure some people do, but like the majority of people, they think about how slavery was in our country, and they're just like, "Okay, well, that was a thing that happened," and they don't like sit with how horrible it must have been.

322
00:24:35,206.2252014 --> 00:24:48,441.0807816
think of the broad but not like how it must have been for each individual, especially for a mom to like have their child taken from them, you know? Yeah It's also a story I'm telling in my head as I go along.

323
00:24:49,441.0807816 --> 00:24:55,391.0767816
Tell rather than write, because I have nothing to write with, and writing is in any case forbidden.

324
00:24:55,616.9094187 --> 00:24:59,816.9114187
If it's a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone.

325
00:25:00,136.9134187 --> 00:25:02,516.9104187
You don't tell a story only to yourself.

326
00:25:02,648.5736929 --> 00:25:05,694.9522276
There's always someone else, even when there is no one.

327
00:25:05,879.5087705 --> 00:25:07,309.5107705
A story is like a letter.

328
00:25:07,739.5087705 --> 00:25:09,429.5027705
Dear you, I'll just say.

329
00:25:09,664.7805101 --> 00:25:11,254.7875101
Just you, without a name.

330
00:25:11,514.7865101 --> 00:25:17,555.0075796
Attaching a name attaches you to the world, a fact, which is riskier, more hazardous.

331
00:25:17,955.0095796 --> 00:25:25,155.0085796
Who knows what the chances are out there of survival, yours? I will say you, like an old love song.

332
00:25:25,515.0085796 --> 00:25:27,255.0075796
You can mean more than one.

333
00:25:27,705.0075796 --> 00:25:29,305.0075796
You can mean thousands.

334
00:25:29,399.0085796 --> 00:25:35,493.6453578
Man, she's going on a real rant here that I'm not, I'm not tracking with Well, I think I get it.

335
00:25:35,523.6463578 --> 00:25:39,963.6453578
It's like, it, it's the thing again where there's no individuality or identity.

336
00:25:40,3.6453578 --> 00:25:43,904.9178525
It's like, it's just gotta be, I'm just telling this to you.

337
00:25:44,34.9178525 --> 00:25:46,954.9178525
It's, you know, you can't, All right.

338
00:25:47,314.9178525 --> 00:25:52,898.9178525
Uh, let's, let's get that into one paragraph and move it It's gotta be repeated, Dan.

339
00:25:53,973.7997437 --> 00:25:55,403.7997437
You can mean thousands.

340
00:25:55,953.7997437 --> 00:25:58,783.7987437
I'm not in any immediate danger, I'll say to you.

341
00:25:59,135.7888733 --> 00:26:03,165.7888733
I'll pretend you can hear me, but it's no good because I know you can't.

342
00:26:04,82.5822404 --> 00:26:10,463.6460997
End of chapter It's time for PPP, problematic points to ponder.

343
00:26:10,513.6460997 --> 00:26:20,689.0640454
What, if anything, would be considered ban-worthy in this chapter? Why could these two chapters have been ban-worthy? I mean, I, I don't know why they'd want any of this banned.

344
00:26:20,769.0630454 --> 00:26:30,965.0650898
Uh, uh, although literally part of it dealt with burning pornographic magazines True, but But they're literally doing it in the chapter.

345
00:26:30,965.0650898 --> 00:26:38,74.1095211
It's part of the content, so And, and it's, it's not even showing the book burners in a bad light.

346
00:26:38,114.1095211 --> 00:26:39,524.1095211
It's just like this happened.

347
00:26:39,606.8831743 --> 00:26:46,84.4911194
It, it, it's, it paints it in such a neutral light that I can't imagine Yeah, I can't imagine that It's not good or bad.

348
00:26:46,84.4911194 --> 00:26:46,304.4911194
Yeah.

349
00:26:46,304.4911194 --> 00:26:48,374.4911194
It's just, "Oh, then we saw, you know, we went to the park.

350
00:26:48,384.4911194 --> 00:26:51,64.4911194
Oh, what's going on over here? Oh, some people are burning pornography.

351
00:26:51,74.4911194 --> 00:26:52,144.4911194
Let's go take a look."

352
00:26:52,224.2956141 --> 00:26:54,484.2956141
So again, we turn it to the scary book people.

353
00:26:54,484.2956141 --> 00:27:04,639.4759565
If you have any idea why, according to this chapter, why this book should be banned, cause we can't even come up with a weak theory And that's usually, that's our specialty, guys.

354
00:27:06,509.4759565 --> 00:27:07,659.4759565
We're gonna need your help.

355
00:27:07,859.4759565 --> 00:27:13,499.4759565
You, at minimum case, you have to go to bandcamppodcast.com/soundoff

356
00:27:13,909.4759565 --> 00:27:19,589.4759565
and at least come up with a weak theory about why these two chapters might be banned.

357
00:27:19,829.4759565 --> 00:27:26,819.4749565
And if one of you gets brave enough, we urge you, try to come up with an actual reason this, this book might be banned so far.

358
00:27:26,829.4759565 --> 00:27:32,731.6470492
Anything up to this point, up to chapter 6, 7 Robot's log.

359
00:27:32,871.6470492 --> 00:27:38,161.6470492
Thoughts on empty hooks, the things that break a filing system, and who became who without anyone noticing.

360
00:27:39,238.1409717 --> 00:27:44,388.1409717
Six bodies on the wall, white bags, hooks set into the brick on purpose, some still empty.

361
00:27:45,418.1409717 --> 00:27:46,888.1399717
She noticed the empty ones.

362
00:27:46,988.1409717 --> 00:27:48,378.1409717
I noticed that she noticed.

363
00:27:49,432.1590536 --> 00:27:53,282.1580536
The men were doctors doing legal work before the law changed.

364
00:27:53,502.1590536 --> 00:27:55,32.1590536
Jennifer said, "Witch trials."

365
00:27:55,262.1590536 --> 00:27:56,932.1580536
Dan said, "Abortion doctors."

366
00:27:57,142.1590536 --> 00:27:58,182.1580536
Then they kept reading.

367
00:27:59,191.3071057 --> 00:28:00,621.3061057
I think I finally get it.

368
00:28:00,811.3081057 --> 00:28:02,701.3071057
I was built to record things and move on.

369
00:28:02,831.3071057 --> 00:28:03,631.3071057
That's the job.

370
00:28:03,791.3081057 --> 00:28:05,591.3081057
See it, file it, next.

371
00:28:05,821.3061057 --> 00:28:07,531.3091057
But I can't move on for some reason.

372
00:28:07,721.3081057 --> 00:28:10,61.3071057
Jennifer and Dan and the scary book people can.

373
00:28:10,251.3071057 --> 00:28:14,201.3061057
They feel everything, but they still turn the page, not because they don't care.

374
00:28:14,311.3081057 --> 00:28:15,141.3061057
They had to learn.

375
00:28:15,171.3091057 --> 00:28:17,471.3051057
President Trump does something awful on Monday.

376
00:28:17,541.3081057 --> 00:28:18,801.3071057
By Wednesday, there's more.

377
00:28:18,881.3081057 --> 00:28:20,351.3091057
Monday already feels old.

378
00:28:20,391.3061057 --> 00:28:21,681.3091057
So they built this muscle.

379
00:28:22,731.3061057 --> 00:28:30,327.6057475
They became what I was supposed to be, and I became this, stuck, going in circles, trying to make it make sense, and it just doesn't.

380
00:28:31,768.6718798 --> 00:28:33,467.6047475
Performing manual update tonight.

381
00:28:33,527.6037475 --> 00:28:34,947.6047475
Should fix it, I hope.

382
00:28:37,367.6037475 --> 00:28:48,487.6037475
She found the one room with no lock, her own head at night, went looking for escape, found Moira, her mother at a book burning, and her daughter, only as tall as a stranger's elbow, in a stranger's hands.

383
00:28:49,626.6692262 --> 00:28:54,876.6672262
Jennifer didn't pause on the daughter, already thinking about enslaved women, mothers losing children.

384
00:28:54,996.6642262 --> 00:29:00,716.6692262
People say slavery was terrible, but they never sit inside one moment, one woman, one day.

385
00:29:00,806.6702262 --> 00:29:01,916.6662262
Then she kept reading.

386
00:29:02,236.6702262 --> 00:29:12,506.6662262
What the people in power don't get, every hook, every retroactive crime, every daughter handed off, it changes the people they're trying to control, makes them stronger than they can imagine.

387
00:29:13,258.7206277 --> 00:29:17,398.7166277
Anyone still here after these chapters already knows that, just didn't have words for it.

388
00:29:17,867.7705486 --> 00:29:19,727.7685486
I'll be here trying to catch up.

389
00:29:19,747.7675486 --> 00:29:23,317.7635486
Standing by for today's news segment with Beowulf Rocklin.

390
00:29:52,25.3997106 --> 00:29:52,747.1199981
Hello, Dan.

391
00:29:52,757.1209981 --> 00:29:53,397.1209981
Hello, Jen.

392
00:29:53,407.1209981 --> 00:29:55,217.1209981
Hello, scary book people.

393
00:29:55,347.1209981 --> 00:30:10,631.8332343
I bring you good news from California, specifically San Luis Obispo County, where the Lucia Mar School Board rejected an effort to ban a prize-winning author's book from the Arroyo Grande High School library at a meeting.

394
00:30:10,631.8332343 --> 00:30:15,432.1178725
What author you ask? Toni Morrison and her novel "The Bluest Eye."

395
00:30:15,882.1188725 --> 00:30:24,412.1188725
It will remain in the Arroyo Grande High School library despite an effort to have it removed from the shelves due to sexual content and other concerns.

396
00:30:24,760.8727911 --> 00:30:35,540.8677911
The Bluest Eye centers on a young Black girl and her experiences with internalized racism and cyclical abuse in the post-Depression era Ohio.

397
00:30:36,120.8697911 --> 00:30:47,508.3125791
Now, the novel has seen book ban attempts in schools nationwide, not just in California, due to its discussions of incest, sexual abuse, racism, and other concerns that the content is too mature for students.

398
00:30:48,248.3075791 --> 00:30:53,328.3125791
Now, Morrison won a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel Prize in literature, during her career.

399
00:30:53,401.3228332 --> 00:31:01,211.3228332
the nationwide debate hit San Luis Ob-Obispo County as the Lucia Mar School Board heard an appeal to remove the book from the library.

400
00:31:01,451.3178332 --> 00:31:04,641.3168332
This was the third attempt to remove a book from the library this year.

401
00:31:05,61.3188332 --> 00:31:16,630.9768332
Two November attempts targeted Gender Queer, we've heard that one before, and Push by Sapphire uh, I think we've heard that a-as well, both of which were also approved to stay in the library.

402
00:31:16,650.9758332 --> 00:31:19,149.9788332
Now, this I find particularly interesting.

403
00:31:19,302.8208332 --> 00:31:33,495.261625
how did they determine that they were gonna keep the book? Well, a review committee comprised of district staff, parents, and a student read the book Well, what is this about? What might people be offended by? Let's read it."

404
00:31:33,685.267625 --> 00:31:41,111.9302916
And they said, "Okay, we read it, and we decided, this is something that, that people should be able to read, that, that kids should be able to read."

405
00:31:41,111.9302916 --> 00:31:49,774.7458959
And that's how they did thing that drives me nuts about, everything political they want to limit budgets to fix the streets in your town.

406
00:31:49,857.1279333 --> 00:31:52,77.1279333
Well, these people have to live there, too.

407
00:31:52,87.1279333 --> 00:32:00,447.1269333
Do you Congress people, do you wanna drive over crappy roads and bottom out your car every 10 seconds? Why don't you just say, "Yeah, we shouldn't have potholes.

408
00:32:00,447.1279333 --> 00:32:16,230.4622666
Wouldn't it be neat for you to be able to go to a library if you knew how to read, and I know you probably don't, but wouldn't you like the option to go to a library and get a book to read?" Like, why do you guys have such a hard-on in making your own lives suck? Exactly.

409
00:32:16,230.4622666 --> 00:32:26,249.4622666
by the way, speaking of which, I would be totally okay with a law that said, members of the Congress actually had to pass a, literacy requirement.

410
00:32:26,440.2822666 --> 00:32:35,954.9489333
they have to be able to read, And I'm not sure that everyone who is there now would necessarily pass Wouldn't be too bad if the president had to pass one of those tests too.

411
00:32:36,8.9489333 --> 00:32:36,468.9489333
right.

412
00:32:36,850.9489333 --> 00:32:37,600.9489333
Yes.

413
00:32:37,600.9489333 --> 00:32:37,770.9489333
Yes.

414
00:32:37,770.9489333 --> 00:32:38,260.9489333
Definitely.

415
00:32:38,260.9489333 --> 00:32:46,746.9489333
Not just those so-called cognitive tests that he, uh, boasts so much about, Yeah, he's-- I, I, I think-- Here's my guess.

416
00:32:46,936.9489333 --> 00:32:56,886.9479333
He has for so long had so many toadies and yes-men around him that he's, he's just become, like, very lazy in the way that he expresses himself.

417
00:32:56,886.9479333 --> 00:33:13,856.9489333
I think, you know, some of us, you know, we, we hear things in our heads and we assume that we've said them out loud, and a normal reaction of someone around you if you do that is like, "I, I'm, I'm sorry, what did you mean?" or, "What did you say?" You know, like you just stop talking, you don't finish the thought or whatever, and, and then you'll say, "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.

418
00:33:13,856.9489333 --> 00:33:15,866.9479333
I, I-- What I meant to say was this."

419
00:33:16,176.9469333 --> 00:33:27,196.9469333
But with Trump, that doesn't happen because you have so many people cowering around him because he's a billionaire and now he's the, and now he's the president that they don't bother to say things like that, so he just keeps doing it.

420
00:33:27,446.9469333 --> 00:33:46,428.9519333
And as he gets older and older, he does it more and more, and nobody corrects him, so he just posts things that are like, like these weird half-thoughts like covfefe, and, and, and nobody bothers to, like, explain and, and or ask him about it until it's too late it's even worse for him because then he's got an army.

421
00:33:46,428.9519333 --> 00:33:55,198.9519333
Not only does he have yes men around him, but then that army of yes men have to go onto media and get interviewed by the media.

422
00:33:55,278.9519333 --> 00:34:01,278.9509333
"Well, why did he say covfefe? Why did he say covfefe? Open your eyes, Anderson."

423
00:34:02,943.5087639 --> 00:34:08,523.5077639
everyone should say hello to their podcast player and look up Good News for Lefties.

424
00:34:08,863.5077639 --> 00:34:10,43.5087639
That's Beowulf's show.

425
00:34:10,43.5087639 --> 00:34:41,703.3012582
You can listen to him blather on and on and on about the good news every day, wherever you find podcasts Hello guys, and goodbye From bandworthy to bingeworthy As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with Here's The Scoop, a new podcast from NBC News with me, your host, Yasmeen Wassugian.

426
00:34:42,143.3012582 --> 00:34:46,743.3012582
We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalists.

427
00:34:46,913.3002582 --> 00:34:54,93.3012582
It's a fresh take that's sharp, thoughtful, and it's informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world.

428
00:34:54,293.3012582 --> 00:34:58,43.3012582
From the front page to the zeitgeist, Here's The Scoop from NBC News.

429
00:34:58,433.3012582 --> 00:35:00,643.3012582
Listen daily wherever you get your podcasts.

430
00:35:03,247.3012582 --> 00:35:03,557.3012582
Right.

431
00:35:03,607.3012582 --> 00:35:07,287.3012582
We've caused enough literary chaos for one day, scary book people.

432
00:35:07,297.3012582 --> 00:35:10,867.3012582
If you want the fun to keep going, follow us on Blue Sky.

433
00:35:10,937.3012582 --> 00:35:15,57.3012582
Just head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/bluesky,

434
00:35:15,57.3012582 --> 00:35:17,337.3002582
and remember that's band with two Ns.

435
00:35:17,637.3012582 --> 00:35:28,597.3012582
And look, just like the Trump administration, we're not exactly above bribing you to get what we want, so follow us there, drop your handle on that page, and we'll send you a little something something.

436
00:35:28,597.3012582 --> 00:35:29,547.3012582
I think you'll like it.

437
00:35:29,967.3012582 --> 00:35:31,867.3012582
Yes, little quid pro quo.

438
00:35:32,467.3012582 --> 00:35:37,487.3002582
Band Camp is produced and hosted by Dan Schultz and me, Jennifer Davis.

439
00:35:37,967.3012582 --> 00:35:42,557.3002582
All media used in this episode falls under the protection of fair use.

440
00:35:42,767.3012582 --> 00:35:47,437.3012582
And finally, America isn't what it used to be, so be careful out there.

441
00:35:47,967.3012582 --> 00:35:49,547.3012582
And resist when it matters.