The Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 1-2: Welcome to Gilead, It’s Worse Than You Think | Banned Books Comedy

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Welcome to Band Camp.

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I'm Jennifer.

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And I'm Dan, and this is the podcast where we read banned books out loud and try to figure out why they were banned in the first place.

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And welcome to Season 11 of Banned Camp.

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Jennifer, as you know, this season we are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Yes, indeed.

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It's, it's our time.

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Uh, it's been picked, and now we are committed My prediction is we will be committed after we read this.

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You can consider this your spoiler warning because Jennifer is literally about to start reading from the book out loud word for word.

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And if this is your first time finding us, we wanna welcome you to the podcast.

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I know there, uh, every time we begin a season, there are a lot of new eyeballs and ear balls on us.

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This is a perfect place to start because like we said, Jennifer's gonna start reading chapter one in a second.

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couple things you should know.

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Neither of us have read the book before, so I, I certainly hope you're not predict- uh, you're not...

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I certainly hope you're not expecting some really slick, professional, well put as just proven.

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Yeah, we will be bumbling our way through this, uh, while we're trying to figure it all out in real time.

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something else you might need to know is that we have a third member of our team.

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He is our trusty fact-checking robot.

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He's gonna keep us honest.

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He's gonna make sure we don't, give you any misinformation, or alternate facts, or whatever the, uh, orange man and his side calls it.

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So let's introduce him to you right now.

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Robot, come on in here, buddy boy.

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Tell us why in the past this book has been traditionally banned The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1985.

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It has been challenged or banned in American schools and libraries every single year since then, without exception.

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The first formal challenge came in 1990 in California.

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The reasons: profanity, sexually explicit content, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women, and the disabled, which tells you that whoever filed that complaint did not read the same book I did.

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The one I find most interesting happened in 2006.

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A parent in the Judson School District in Texas complained that the book was, and I'm quoting directly here, "Sexually explicit and offensive to Christians."

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The superintendent agreed and banned it personally.

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A committee of teachers, students, and parents appealed the decision to the school board.

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The school board held a public hearing.

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Thirty people showed up.

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One parent read a passage out loud and called it garbage that will corrupt American youth.

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A high school senior stood up and said, "If we ban The Handmaid's Tale for sexual content, why not ban Huckleberry Finn for racism?" The school board overruled the superintendent.

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The book stayed.

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2023, it hit number one, the most challenged book in the entire United States in its thirty-eighth year of publication.

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Margaret Atwood's response was to print a special edition of the book on fireproof paper and attempt to set it on fire with a flamethrower on camera.

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The book did not burn.

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She also said, and I'm quoting directly, "The Handmaid's Tale is a lot less interested in sex than is much of the Bible."

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I have nothing to add to that.

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Are you ready to begin reading, Jennifer? And are you ready to do whatever it is you do, Dan? no spoilers.

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We haven't read this.

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We don't want any spoilers, but could you give us all some context to anything else we might figure out? Maybe, like, pretend we're standing in the bookstore and Jennifer grabs The Handmaid's Tale off the shelf.

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Is there something written on the cover or the back cover that can give us any more context so we're not going in totally blind? Fine.

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A few things you'd pick up reading the back of this book in a store.

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The story takes place somewhere called the Republic of Gilead.

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It's not another planet.

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It used to be America.

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The woman telling this story is called a Handmaid.

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In this world, what you wear tells everyone exactly what your place is.

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The Handmaid's job is to have babies for people in power, and she is not the only kind of woman with an assigned role, just the one whose story this is.

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Women aren't allowed to read anymore.

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The signs at the grocery store are pictures now because the words were taken away.

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She remembers what her life used to be, a husband, a daughter, a job, her own money, gone.

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One more thing, Margaret Atwood made herself a rule when she wrote this.

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Nothing in this book is made up.

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Every terrible thing in it had already happened somewhere in the world before she wrote it down.

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And Jennifer, she's not going to explain this place to you as you read.

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She's going to describe a room and expect you to figure out what it means.

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That's not a mistake.

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That's how this book works.

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And for the record, I believe in you.

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You can do this.

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Take it away, Jennifer.

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Aw, thank you, robot.

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I appreciate that.

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And with that being said, Scary Book people...

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let's begin chapter one of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale Chapter one, Night.

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We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.

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The floor was of varnished wood with stripes and circles painted on it for the games that were formerly played there.

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The hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were gone.

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A balcony ran around the room for the spectators, and I thought I could smell faintly, like an afterimage, the pungent scent of sweat shot through with the sweet taste of chewing gum and perfume from the watching girls, felt skirted as I knew from pictures, later in miniskirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green streaked hair.

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All right.

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What an opening sentence.

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That was like a, a six-liner.

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It's a great setup So this seems like it's maybe the '80s or maybe she attended a school like this or a gymnasium like this back in the '80s because of the green spiked hair Yeah, I think it is the eighty s because of that, and, she's kind of like setting it up so that everyone is familiar with this.

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Because it's through the decades.

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It's like, uh, what was it? The felt skirts which is like old, and then the mini skirts which is like the sixties she didn't say bell-bottoms, she said pants, but uh, you know, something seventies, and she ended with spiky green-streaked hair, so that was like her last reference point, right? Y- yeah.

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Yeah.

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And, and this book was written in the '80s, is that right? Yeah So that makes sense.

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So this was a, a contemporary book at the time, and it might be contemporary now too.

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"Dances would've been held there.

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the music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound, style upon style, an undercurrent of drums, f- a forlorn wail, garlands made of tissue paper flowers, cardboard devils, a revolving ball of mirrors powdering the dancers with a snow of light."

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So yeah, it's a, it's a high school gym.

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They've got the games and they've got the, the tacky dances There was old sex in the room and loneliness, an expectation of something without a shape or name.

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I remember that yearning for something that was always about to happen And was never the same as the hands that were on us there and then in the small of the back or out back in the parking lot, or in the television room with the sound turned down and only the pictures flickering over lifting flesh."

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I don't know what that means Uh, what? Robot, help us out.

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What does that mean, there's a word I don't like to...

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I, I don't like the word flesh.

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It's my...

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It's kind of like moist for me.

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The narrator is remembering teenage years when people were physically together but searching for something deeper they couldn't name.

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The room holds the memory of that longing.

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As for lifting flesh specifically, it's a poetic way of describing bodies moving during physical intimacy.

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Which body part is being lifted is technically left to the reader's interpretation.

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I will not be elaborating on that.

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You're welcome...,

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Like, did people have sex at school? I can tell you it didn't happen with me.

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Nothing was happening at my school like that, especially with my flesh I don't know.

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I can't imagine anyone from my high school doing that.

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It's just, it's kind of like a, a gross idea in a way.

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You know? It's like, "Ugh, not here."

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Yeah, no kidding, because you and I are weird, and we're clean freaks.

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well, obviously if you're going to have sex, you should be in a sterile environment, I mean, it's, it's open to interpretation, I guess.

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Choose your body part, whatever you wanna visualize being lifted Like maybe some buns.

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buns.

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are easily lifted.

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I'm trying to think of the, all the flabby parts I don't know.

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I gotta go right for the boob.

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From my vantage point, that's the thing I'm gonna have to move.

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I gotta move this, I gotta grab this, I gotta move this over here, so i can end up over here...,

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All right, I guess she, I guess her point is people were, were getting together, i can't relate...,

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but...

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same with me, Dan.

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Very little lifting flesh in, in my high school, uh, especially my flesh We yearned for the future.

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How did we learn it, that talent for insatiability? It was in the air, and it was still in the air, an afterthought as we tried to sleep in the army cots that had been set up in rows with spaces between so we could not talk.

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We had flannel sheets like children's and army-issue blankets, old ones that still said US.

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We folded our clothes neatly and laid them on the stools at the end of the beds.

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The lights were turned down but not out.

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Aunt Sarah and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled.

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They had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts.

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Well, that doesn't, that doesn't bode well I'll tell you something else that I can't relate to.

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I didn't have an Aunt Sarah or an Aunt Elizabeth, but I had an Aunt Mary and an Aunt Doris.

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not a lot of cattle prong usage, Jennifer.

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This is really scary.

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So This is where they sleep, and it does sound like now it turned into an army barracks on old cots and everything.

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Yeah, right? You ever seen a cattle prod? I grew up on a farm.

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They're something.

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Yeah, they're neat.

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never seen one.

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Neat Yeah.

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I mean, we had a cattle prod, uh, although we didn't have cows.

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I think I talked my dad into getting one at Fleet Farm 'cause, you know, it kinda looked like a lightsaber in a way.

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It looked like a, like it was like a big chrome handle.

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Yeah, it was neat.

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And again, we never used it on any livestock.

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I did use it on my brother's friend, Davey Stasiack once.

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But, But, yeah, it's-- they're wild, but, like, as a weapon, like, as...

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I don't know who these two crazy aunts are, but them walking around keeping these ladies, uh, in check with cattle prods is truly not too good...,

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I did get zapped with one once.

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Not a good feeling.

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Not experience? Yeah, yeah, yeah Well, it sounds like disciplinarians, right? Yeah.

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They're the guards, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Eli- uh, you know what? If your guard is named Aunt Sarah and Aunt Elizabeth...

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Doesn't sound too scary though.

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Unless they're nuns.

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You think they're, like, nuns? I picture nuns having cattle prods.

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I'm thinking of nuns too.

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This sounds a little bit like a ref- reform school or something Oh.

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Like, you know in the old days where you'd always hear that the nuns would have, like, the wooden rulers and they'd slap the kids on the Exactly.

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Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

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Cattle prod, electric cattle prod mu- much more effective I'd imagine No guns though.

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Even they could not be trusted with guns.

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Guns were for the guards.

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Oh, so they're not guards.

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Guns are for the guards.

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kicks are for kids, and electric cattle prods are for Aunt Elizabeth and Aunt Sarah The guards weren't allowed inside the building except when called, and we weren't allowed out except for our walks twice daily, two by two, around the football field, which was enclosed now by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire."

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Okay, so it is like a prison Yeah.

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we we gotta move on.

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We can't keep focusing on all this little stuff, but we are trying to figure out the hierarchy.

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So there are guards outside.

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Inside, they have junior guards in the form of Aunt Sarah and Aunt Elizabeth with their cattle prod.

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All right.

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All right.

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Some kind of hierarchy will help us understand how they're keeping everyone in check, I think the angels stood outside it with their backs to us.

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They were objects of fear to us, but of something else as well.

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If only they would look.

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If only we could talk to them.

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Something could be exchanged, we thought, some deal made, some trade-off.

168
00:13:20,743.07403305 --> 00:13:22,313.07303305
We still had our bodies.

169
00:13:22,653.07303305 --> 00:13:24,63.07303305
That was our fantasy.

170
00:13:24,352.48809188 --> 00:13:36,290.13158882
Okay, so they're thinking of ways to break out of prison Are the angels the guards I don't know, but again, it's like the angels also aren't allowed to look at them, This is, this is really creepy.

171
00:13:36,450.13158882 --> 00:13:42,284.13158882
This is a very creepy situation right now Yeah, I don't like it, 'cause everyone's being controlled.

172
00:13:42,509.45248627 --> 00:13:47,459.45148627
The, the, the guards and the angels and the women, like, they're all being controlled.

173
00:13:47,628.43523547 --> 00:13:51,954.43523547
She's packing a lot of information in here It's very dense.

174
00:13:51,984.43523547 --> 00:13:52,524.43523547
The first...

175
00:13:52,844.43523547 --> 00:13:56,564.43523547
This is very dense, but we're, we're almost done with the first chapter.

176
00:13:56,912.43523547 --> 00:13:57,312.43523547
All right.

177
00:13:57,372.43523547 --> 00:14:01,810.04314027
All righty We learned to whisper almost without sound.

178
00:14:01,950.04314027 --> 00:14:09,10.04414027
In the semi-darkness, we could stretch out our arms when the aunts weren't looking and touch each other's hands across space.

179
00:14:09,640.04214026 --> 00:14:16,700.04314027
We learned to lip read, our heads flat on the beds, turned sideways, watching each other's mouths.

180
00:14:17,310.04314027 --> 00:14:20,820.04314027
In this way, we exchanged our names from bed to bed.

181
00:14:21,330.04314027 --> 00:14:25,970.04314027
Alma, Janine, Dolores, Moira, June."

182
00:14:27,83.41709503 --> 00:14:27,473.41609503
End of chapter.

183
00:14:28,776.60748318 --> 00:14:32,638.60748318
I didn't think it could get creepier It's a spooky idea.

184
00:14:32,688.60748318 --> 00:14:42,238.60748318
Like, I'm imagining in my head, like, laying in a cot and turning my head and seeing some random woman staring at me whispering with just her head turned.

185
00:14:42,443.85922315 --> 00:14:50,863.85922315
But doesn't It seem like a horror movie or a true crime horror movie type of thing where some crazed lunatic kidnapped a girl, now she's on a mattress.

186
00:14:51,193.92575935 --> 00:14:53,243.92575935
A couple days later, boom, here's another girl.

187
00:14:53,493.92475935 --> 00:14:54,823.92575935
You can't talk to each other.

188
00:14:54,833.92575935 --> 00:15:02,84.59142602
You just have to stay laying on your side looking at each other's faces freaked out I don't think I'm gonna like this world, Jennifer.

189
00:15:02,84.59142602 --> 00:15:05,102.59142602
I'm gonna be honest with you I, I don't like it either.

190
00:15:06,22.59142602 --> 00:15:06,482.59142602
No.

191
00:15:08,274.48568896 --> 00:15:25,472.93214314
Chapter two, shopping A chair, a table, a lamp Camera, man, Camera A per- woman Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

192
00:15:26,42.93214314 --> 00:15:28,222.93214314
They say, "That's amazing.

193
00:15:28,672.93214314 --> 00:15:35,182.93214314
How did you do that?" I do it 'cause I have like a good memory because I'm cognitively there.

194
00:15:41,235.99269027 --> 00:15:53,155.99269027
Above on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space plastered over like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out.

195
00:15:53,955.99169027 --> 00:15:56,75.99269027
There must have been a chandelier once.

196
00:15:56,505.99269027 --> 00:15:59,235.99269027
They've removed anything you could tie a rope to.

197
00:15:59,335.99269027 --> 00:16:06,745.99169027
Wow, so they're like, so it, it is like prison where they take everything out so you can't like hang yourself or stab yourself.

198
00:16:06,745.99169027 --> 00:16:10,917.39346982
Did they have chandeliers in gyms though? this must be another place.

199
00:16:10,997.39346982 --> 00:16:11,747.39346982
No, they don't.

200
00:16:11,947.39346982 --> 00:16:13,557.39346982
Not, not in my school again.

201
00:16:13,597.39346982 --> 00:16:14,617.39346982
Maybe neither.

202
00:16:14,947.39346982 --> 00:16:27,125.6533549
experience here, Again, people, you have to understand, very little lifting flesh and chandeliers in our gyms A window, two white curtains.

203
00:16:27,125.6533549 --> 00:16:29,50.6533549
Under the window, a window seat with a little cushion.

204
00:16:29,560.6533549 --> 00:16:36,470.6533549
When the window is partly open, it only opens partly, the air can come in and make the curtains move.

205
00:16:37,100.6523549 --> 00:16:42,655.8854798
I can sit in the chair or in the window seat, hands folded, and watch this.

206
00:16:43,892.3843039 --> 00:16:50,896.1393039
Sunlight comes in through the window too and falls on the floor, which is made of wood in narrow strips, highly polished.

207
00:16:50,956.1383039 --> 00:16:52,496.1393039
So I think she's must be somewhere else.

208
00:16:52,496.1393039 --> 00:16:55,429.9790957
This sounds like a waiting room of, yeah.

209
00:16:55,635.7399124 --> 00:16:57,525.7399124
Because it sounds very boring.

210
00:16:57,535.7399124 --> 00:17:10,355.7399124
There's nothing to do but sit there and look at the flapping curtains from the partly open window Yeah, but at the same time, it doesn't-- it sounds a hell of a lot better than the gymnasium with the beds n- uh, next to the scared women.

211
00:17:10,835.7399124 --> 00:17:18,861.6750549
Like this, you can look out the window and it, it's clean 'cause you can smell the, uh, pol- He's really good at writing about senses.

212
00:17:19,164.711763 --> 00:17:25,944.711763
Like, where he was writing about the, the faint smell of bubblegum and now the, the scent of the polish.

213
00:17:25,954.711763 --> 00:17:29,714.3448648
That's kind of a neat way of writing It is a neat way of writing, Dan.

214
00:17:30,270.2247087 --> 00:17:37,882.7411167
That's kind of an expressive way of writing There's a rug on the floor, oval of braided rags.

215
00:17:38,272.7411167 --> 00:17:40,572.7411167
This is the kind of touch they like.

216
00:17:40,722.7411167 --> 00:17:47,403.433732
Folk art, archaic, made by women in their spare time from things that have no further use.

217
00:17:47,463.432732 --> 00:17:54,782.890061
Oh, so like trad wife stuff That's what they want the handmaidens to be, or trad wives maybe? It's interesting I, I don't know.

218
00:17:54,852.890061 --> 00:17:59,246.890061
I just thought of that because it's like they're making stuff out of stuff and like the Yeah.

219
00:17:59,372.890061 --> 00:18:00,506.890061
rug and, you Yeah.

220
00:18:00,686.890061 --> 00:18:02,966.890061
You girls don't worry about what us men are doing.

221
00:18:02,966.890061 --> 00:18:11,10.1051989
Why don't you go make a little craft? Make us a rug A return to traditional values.

222
00:18:11,10.1051989 --> 00:18:11,718.1051989
Where wife.

223
00:18:12,40.1051989 --> 00:18:20,88.1051989
that? Where have we heard that? That's what's happening right now That is Project 2025 in a sentence, a return...

224
00:18:20,178.1051989 --> 00:18:27,334.2154111
Like, what, you know what would be freaky? If in the next election cycle, instead of Make America Great Again, that's their slogan.

225
00:18:28,367.5487444 --> 00:18:44,191.3220834
A return to traditional values thought you were gonna say instead of make America great again, it should be make America some braided rugs On the wall above the chair, a picture framed but with no glass.

226
00:18:44,701.3220834 --> 00:18:48,311.3220834
A print of flowers, blue irises, watercolor.

227
00:18:48,801.3220834 --> 00:18:50,611.3210834
Flowers are still allowed.

228
00:18:50,839.3346424 --> 00:18:56,609.3336424
Does each of us have the same print, the same chair, the same white curtains? I wonder.

229
00:18:56,609.3336424 --> 00:18:57,969.3346424
Government issued."

230
00:18:58,131.2132319 --> 00:19:05,506.8057489
Okay, so each of who? each of the hand m- made the other women that were in the gym with her.

231
00:19:05,506.8057489 --> 00:19:13,774.8057489
It's like maybe that was like a processing center of some type, Maybe they sleep there because she said the gym is where we slept.

232
00:19:13,994.8057489 --> 00:19:21,691.4724156
And now in the morning, Aunt Lydia comes in with her cattle prod, maybe bangs a cattle prod onto a pot and pan like they do in the military.

233
00:19:21,911.4714156 --> 00:19:23,651.4724156
Wake up, time to go to work.

234
00:19:23,791.4714156 --> 00:19:28,441.4724156
Now the ladies move to their, quote, work area, which maybe is...

235
00:19:28,648.1390823 --> 00:19:30,678.1390823
I, I just can't stop thinking about sex.

236
00:19:30,678.1390823 --> 00:19:36,611.4724156
So, like, this is like the waiting room before the sex room Oh, you know, you could be right.

237
00:19:37,1.4724156 --> 00:19:41,478.1390823
Maybe that's why she started with that, like talking about sex and intimacy.

238
00:19:41,478.1390823 --> 00:19:42,596.8057489
Like, Hmm.

239
00:19:42,794.8057489 --> 00:19:52,6.5572898
it's on your mind right now, right? Or is it, or is it the cavalprods? I'm, uh, if y- I, when I hear s- when I hear cattle prod, right away it turn to sex on the mind.

240
00:19:52,16.5572898 --> 00:19:52,856.5572898
I'm only human.

241
00:19:52,886.5572898 --> 00:19:59,163.526
I'm only a man Think of it as being in the army," said Aunt Lydia.

242
00:19:59,223.526 --> 00:20:01,913.526
And that's like what you just said, with the barracks and whatever.

243
00:20:01,973.526 --> 00:20:08,210.8093988
Yeah, yeah A bed, single mattress, medium hard, covered with a flocked white spread.

244
00:20:08,710.8083988 --> 00:20:12,370.8083988
Nothing takes place in the bed but sleep, or no sleep.

245
00:20:12,830.8083988 --> 00:20:14,740.8093988
I try not to think too much.

246
00:20:15,180.8093988 --> 00:20:18,100.8093988
Like other things now, thought must be rationed.

247
00:20:18,480.8093988 --> 00:20:20,910.8093988
There's a lot that doesn't bear thinking about.

248
00:20:21,570.8093988 --> 00:20:25,190.8093988
Thinking can hurt your chances, and I intend to last."

249
00:20:25,250.8093988 --> 00:20:28,680.8083988
Wow, I feel like that's a, um, profound statement right there.

250
00:20:30,424.5092412 --> 00:20:41,24.5092412
I know why there is no glass in the front of the watercolor picture of blue irises, and I know why the window only opens partly and why the glass in it is shatterproof.

251
00:20:41,834.5092412 --> 00:20:43,934.5092412
It isn't running away they're afraid of.

252
00:20:44,264.5082412 --> 00:20:45,604.5092412
We wouldn't get far.

253
00:20:46,74.5082412 --> 00:20:51,624.5092412
It's those other escapes, the ones you can open in yourself, given a cutting edge."

254
00:20:51,654.5092412 --> 00:20:55,860.9632977
So yeah, there's no escape but suicide for these ladies...,

255
00:20:55,860.9632977 --> 00:20:56,640.9632977
That's heavy.

256
00:20:56,730.9632977 --> 00:20:57,640.9632977
That's heavy.

257
00:20:58,711.107509 --> 00:21:11,411.9523289
apart from these details, it could be a college guest room for the less distinguished visitors, or a room in a rooming house of former times for ladies in reduced circumstances.

258
00:21:11,961.9523289 --> 00:21:13,611.9523289
That is what we are now.

259
00:21:14,1.9523289 --> 00:21:19,831.9523289
The circumstances have been reduced, for those of us who still have circumstances."

260
00:21:20,251.9523289 --> 00:21:21,771.9523289
Okay, there's another grim one.

261
00:21:21,771.9523289 --> 00:21:30,924.8223157
So everyone's circumstances have been reduced, and it sounds like other people have been killed or something? Cause some people don't have any circumstances.

262
00:21:30,924.8223157 --> 00:21:35,174.155649
Was there, like, a, a culling of people and Oh.

263
00:21:35,424.155649 --> 00:21:40,437.4889823
I was just thinking that they're talking about some kind of, caste system almost.

264
00:21:40,437.4889823 --> 00:21:53,319.2818398
Like it's bad for us because we're handmaidens, but at, at least we get out of the gym every once in a while and can go to the, uh, pre-sex room.

265
00:21:53,440.9020783 --> 00:21:59,60.9020783
You know what I mean? But maybe there are other people in the community, in society that don't even get to do this.

266
00:22:01,164.2354185 --> 00:22:03,334.2354185
The bell that measures time is ringing.

267
00:22:03,744.2354185 --> 00:22:07,534.2354185
Time here is measured by bells, as once in nunneries.

268
00:22:08,244.2344185 --> 00:22:11,34.2354185
As in a nunnery too, there are few mirrors."

269
00:22:11,94.2354185 --> 00:22:13,854.2354185
Okay, so like everything you say is like...

270
00:22:14,14.2344185 --> 00:22:24,69.3715217
'Cause you also said, "I think of nuns," and it's like, I think that Margaret Atwood is such a good writer that she's, she's almost, like, making you think of things without you realizing it.

271
00:22:25,317.3715217 --> 00:22:25,737.3715217
Totally.

272
00:22:25,737.3715217 --> 00:22:29,187.3715217
Like we can all imagine that high school gym, the way she described it.

273
00:22:29,207.3715217 --> 00:22:31,387.3715217
That's like everyone has that memory.

274
00:22:31,767.3715217 --> 00:22:32,607.3715217
And now nuns.

275
00:22:32,607.3715217 --> 00:22:33,407.3715217
Yeah, you're right.

276
00:22:35,354.4804591 --> 00:22:44,304.4804591
I get up out of the chair, advance my feet into the sunlight in their red shoes, flat-heeled to save the spine and not for dancing.

277
00:22:44,974.4804591 --> 00:22:47,174.4814591
The red gloves are lying on the bed.

278
00:22:47,624.4804591 --> 00:22:51,444.4814591
I pick them up, pull them onto my hands finger by finger.

279
00:22:52,174.4814591 --> 00:22:58,84.4814591
Everything except the wings around my face is red, the color of blood which defines us."

280
00:22:58,174.4814591 --> 00:23:07,694.9710746
Okay, so they're being defined by red The skirt is ankle-length, full, gathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breasts.

281
00:23:08,24.9710746 --> 00:23:09,544.9720746
The sleeves are full.

282
00:23:09,874.9720746 --> 00:23:13,154.9720746
The white wings, too, are prescribed issue.

283
00:23:13,744.9720746 --> 00:23:17,914.9720746
They are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen.

284
00:23:18,953.3169242 --> 00:23:20,403.3169242
I never looked good in red.

285
00:23:20,443.3159242 --> 00:23:21,513.3159242
It's not my color.

286
00:23:22,63.3159242 --> 00:23:25,423.3159242
I pick up the shopping basket and put it over my arm."

287
00:23:25,767.4231375 --> 00:23:27,747.4231375
Okay, so she's got, like, blinders.

288
00:23:27,817.4231375 --> 00:23:31,245.4231375
She's not supposed to see or be seen? She, she's like a horse.

289
00:23:31,255.4231375 --> 00:23:33,235.4231375
This is how they keep the handmaids.

290
00:23:34,235.4231375 --> 00:23:37,195.4231375
They put those horse blinders on, just look straight ahead.

291
00:23:37,195.4231375 --> 00:23:38,365.4231375
And slightly down.

292
00:23:38,385.4231375 --> 00:23:39,832.0898042
There's no reason to look up!...

293
00:23:40,111.9409789 --> 00:23:40,451.9409789
Right.

294
00:23:40,501.9409789 --> 00:23:41,891.9409789
I think that's the idea.

295
00:23:42,901.7995741 --> 00:23:48,940.7995741
The door of the room, not my room, I refuse to say my, is not locked.

296
00:23:48,941.7995741 --> 00:23:51,120.6435741
In fact, it doesn't shut properly.

297
00:23:51,470.6435741 --> 00:24:00,740.6435741
I go out into the polished hallway, which has a runner down the center, dusty pink, like a path through the forest, like a carpet for royalty.

298
00:24:00,949.1900605 --> 00:24:01,939.1900605
shows me the way.

299
00:24:03,11.4147166 --> 00:24:15,86.9722773
The carpet bends and goes down the front staircase, and I go with it, one hand on the banister, once a tree, turned in another century, rubbed to a warm gloss."

300
00:24:15,703.6346472 --> 00:24:18,253.6336472
Late Victorian, the house is.

301
00:24:18,373.6346472 --> 00:24:21,993.6346472
A family house built for a large, rich family.

302
00:24:22,453.6346472 --> 00:24:31,993.6336472
There's a grandfather clock in the hallway which doles out time, and then the door to the motherly front sitting room with its flesh stones and hits.

303
00:24:32,803.6336472 --> 00:24:38,237.5123644
know what that means I, uh, yeah, I know you don't like the word I hate flesh Oh, flesh tones.

304
00:24:38,267.5123644 --> 00:24:39,957.5123644
I said flesh stones.

305
00:24:40,464.941004 --> 00:24:45,31.820313
I'm like, "What's a flesh stone?" Something you gotta lift to get the hell out of the way.

306
00:24:45,53.1707807 --> 00:24:45,673.1707807
goiter.

307
00:24:48,121.8961154 --> 00:24:49,901.8961154
That's what I assumed lifting flesh means.

308
00:24:49,911.8961154 --> 00:25:00,152.6534879
They gotta get rid of this flesh stone At the end of the hallway above the front door, a fanlight of colored glass, flowers red and blue.

309
00:25:01,22.6534879 --> 00:25:05,152.6534879
The remains, uh, there remains a mirror on the hall wall.

310
00:25:05,502.6534879 --> 00:25:13,582.6534879
If I turn my head so that the white wings framing my face direct my vision towards it, I can see it as I go down the stairs.

311
00:25:13,992.6524879 --> 00:25:22,982.6534879
Round, convex, a pure glass like the eye of a fish, and myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something.

312
00:25:23,362.6534879 --> 00:25:31,12.6534879
Some fairy tale figure in a red cloak descending towards a moment of carelessness that is the same as danger.

313
00:25:31,415.1013287 --> 00:25:33,25.1013287
A sister dipped in blood.

314
00:25:33,898.574328 --> 00:25:36,938.574328
This is horror, right? Th- I would categorize this...

315
00:25:37,188.574328 --> 00:25:40,244.574328
If this was a movie, it would be a horror movie to me so Yeah.

316
00:25:40,874.574328 --> 00:25:41,224.574328
Right.

317
00:25:41,224.574328 --> 00:25:51,424.574328
If this, if this was not Margaret Atwood and, and we were reading Handmaid's Tale by Stephen King, like, it, it would not be different so far, I don't think.

318
00:25:51,452.574328 --> 00:25:57,674.9699701
rat At the bottom of the stairs, there's a hat and umbrella stand, the bentwood kind.

319
00:25:58,84.9699701 --> 00:26:04,624.9689701
Long rounded rungs of wood curving gently up into hooks shaped like the opening fronds of a fern.

320
00:26:05,284.9699701 --> 00:26:13,824.9699701
There are several umbrellas in it, black for the commander, blue for the commander's wife, and the one assigned to me, which is red.

321
00:26:14,254.9699701 --> 00:26:15,844.9699701
'Cause everything's color-coded.

322
00:26:16,125.255375 --> 00:26:17,945.256375
Everything she has is red.

323
00:26:19,51.907372 --> 00:26:24,151.907372
I leave the red umbrella where it is because I know from the window that the day is sunny.

324
00:26:24,691.907372 --> 00:26:28,201.907372
I wonder whether or not the commander's wife is in the sitting room.

325
00:26:28,587.2366001 --> 00:26:29,807.2356001
She doesn't always sit.

326
00:26:30,72.2896301 --> 00:26:39,67.4646936
Sometimes I can hear her pacing back and forth, a heavy step and then a light one, and the soft tap of her cane on the dusty rose carpet.

327
00:26:40,67.4646936 --> 00:26:49,927.4646936
I walk along the hallway past the sitting room door and the door that leads into the dining room and open the door at the end of the hall and go through into the kitchen.

328
00:26:50,284.2576614 --> 00:26:53,884.2566614
Here the smell is no longer of furniture polish.

329
00:26:55,362.0191623 --> 00:27:00,972.0191623
Rita is in here standing at the kitchen table, which has a top of chipped white enamel.

330
00:27:01,502.0191623 --> 00:27:08,132.0191623
She's in her usual Martha's dress, which is a dull green, like a surgeon's gown of the time before.

331
00:27:08,302.0181623 --> 00:27:11,992.0191623
So now we got green people The Marthas are green.

332
00:27:12,92.0191623 --> 00:27:14,360.0191623
What's a Martha? I don't know.

333
00:27:14,502.0191623 --> 00:27:15,562.0191623
Martha Stewart.

334
00:27:15,892.0191623 --> 00:27:31,412.5746301
If she, if she's like the, if she's like the cook or something, that's what they base Marthas on The dress is much like mine in shape, long and concealing, but with a bib apron over it and without the white wings and the veil.

335
00:27:31,862.5746301 --> 00:27:37,411.5736301
She puts on the veil to go outside, but nobody much cares who sees the face of a Martha.

336
00:27:37,977.9716301 --> 00:27:41,557.9716301
Her sleeves are rolled to the elbow, showing her brown arms.

337
00:27:41,977.9716301 --> 00:27:46,806.9716301
She's making bread, throwing the loaves for the final brief kneading and then the shaping.

338
00:27:47,836.9716301 --> 00:28:00,193.7316301
rita sees me and nods, whether in greeting or in simple acknowledgement of my presence, it's hard to say, and wipes her floury hands on her apron and rummages in the kitchen drawer for the token book.

339
00:28:01,194.3743623 --> 00:28:04,914.3743623
Frowning, she tears out three tokens and hands them to me.

340
00:28:05,504.3753623 --> 00:28:10,124.3753623
Her face might be kindly if she would smile, but the frown isn't personal.

341
00:28:10,124.3753623 --> 00:28:13,874.3743623
It's the red dress she disapproves of and what it stands for.

342
00:28:13,904.3743623 --> 00:28:16,514.3753623
Well, it's not her fault she's got the red dress.

343
00:28:16,554.3753623 --> 00:28:18,556.6390439
They, they put it on her Right.

344
00:28:19,556.6390439 --> 00:28:23,716.6390439
She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck.

345
00:28:24,246.6390439 --> 00:28:30,136.6390439
Sometimes I listen outside closed doors, a thing I never would have done in the time before.

346
00:28:30,666.6390439 --> 00:28:33,966.6380439
I don't listen long because I don't want to be caught doing it.

347
00:28:34,576.6380439 --> 00:28:39,346.6390439
Once, though, I heard Rita say to Cora that she wouldn't debase herself like that.

348
00:28:39,703.2407013 --> 00:28:41,703.2407013
Nobody asking you," Cora said.

349
00:28:41,883.2407013 --> 00:28:46,63.2407013
"Anyways, what could you do supposing?" "Go to the colonies," Rita said.

350
00:28:46,433.2407013 --> 00:28:47,533.2407013
"They have the choice."

351
00:28:47,993.2407013 --> 00:28:51,813.2407013
"With the unwoman and starve to death and Lord knows what all?" said Cora.

352
00:28:51,828.3403601 --> 00:28:52,898.3403601
The colonies.

353
00:28:52,988.3403601 --> 00:28:58,905.9545091
That sounds like, um, what's that place down in Florida? uh, what is that place called? the villages.

354
00:28:59,1.9545091 --> 00:28:59,911.9545091
The Villages.

355
00:29:00,211.9545091 --> 00:29:00,301.9545091
The Villages.

356
00:29:02,69.5489412 --> 00:29:03,419.5479412
They were shelling peas.

357
00:29:03,659.5489412 --> 00:29:10,439.5479412
Even through the almost closed door, I could hear the light clink of the hard peas falling into the metal bowl.

358
00:29:11,7.7403452 --> 00:29:14,817.7403452
"Anyways, they're doing it all for us," said Cora, "or so they say.

359
00:29:15,257.7403452 --> 00:29:18,387.7403452
If I hadn't got my tubes tied, it could have been me.

360
00:29:18,777.7403452 --> 00:29:20,637.7403452
Say I was 10 years younger.

361
00:29:20,935.1097812 --> 00:29:22,105.1097812
It's not that bad.

362
00:29:22,115.1087812 --> 00:29:24,175.1097812
It's not what you'd call hard work."

363
00:29:24,404.2835367 --> 00:29:43,380.3814835
What? She doesn't think it's hard work to, like, have a baby? Is that what she's saying? You know when we talk, when, you know when we talk about tubes tied, what, you know what I have to bring up, Jennifer What? Oh, you're, you're the miracle baby My, my older brothers and sister were so terrible, my mom and dad said, "No more.

364
00:29:43,830.3814835 --> 00:29:45,640.3814835
You're getting your tubes tied."

365
00:29:46,680.3814835 --> 00:29:54,248.4921536
10 years later, a gift of God, a gift to the world, a miracle happened.

366
00:29:54,708.4921536 --> 00:29:59,316.9836463
The birth of Daniel Raymond Schultz.

367
00:30:04,594.9671493 --> 00:30:05,124.9671493
Thank you.

368
00:30:07,138.8042812 --> 00:30:10,488.8042812
Better her than me," Rita said, and I opened the door.

369
00:30:11,48.8042812 --> 00:30:17,608.8042812
Their faces were the way women's faces are when they've been talking about you behind your back and they think you've heard.

370
00:30:18,268.8042812 --> 00:30:22,408.8042812
Embarrassed, but also a little defiant, as if it was their right.

371
00:30:22,898.8042812 --> 00:30:27,798.8042812
That day, Cora was more pleasant to me than usual, Rita more surly.

372
00:30:28,548.8042812 --> 00:30:34,67.8042812
Today, despite Rita's closed face and pressed lips, I would like to stay here in the kitchen.

373
00:30:34,736.5362812 --> 00:30:42,46.5362812
Cora might come in from somewhere else in the house carrying her bottle of lemon oil and her duster, and Rita would make coffee.

374
00:30:42,416.5362812 --> 00:30:54,689.0360312
In the houses of the commanders there is still real coffee, and we would sit at Rita's kitchen table, which is not Rita's any more than my table is mine, and we would talk about aches and pains, illnesses, our feet, our backs, all the different kinds of mischief that our bodies, like unruly children, can get up to."

375
00:30:54,689.0360312 --> 00:31:13,866.5362812
Okay, so is this Rita's house then? Oh my God, this is Rita's Oh my God, this is Rita's house before all the shit took place, and now Rita is basically like, "Hey, well, we really like your house.

376
00:31:13,876.5362812 --> 00:31:15,446.5352812
You're gonna be our maid.

377
00:31:15,496.5362812 --> 00:31:16,616.5362812
We're moving in now.

378
00:31:16,706.5362812 --> 00:31:17,566.5362812
I'm the commander.

379
00:31:17,566.5362812 --> 00:31:19,505.0858115
How are you doing?" Holy cow.

380
00:31:19,995.0858115 --> 00:31:21,25.0858115
That would be tough.

381
00:31:21,85.0858115 --> 00:31:22,295.0858115
I wouldn't like that.

382
00:31:24,548.413315 --> 00:31:31,548.412315
We would nod our heads as punctuation to each other's voices, signaling that yes, we know all about it.

383
00:31:31,898.413315 --> 00:31:37,688.413315
We would exchange remedies and try to outdo each other in the recital of our physical miseries.

384
00:31:38,188.413315 --> 00:31:44,353.4983118
Gently we would complain, our voices soft and minor key, and mournful as pigeons in the eaves.

385
00:31:44,668.6887931 --> 00:31:46,248.6897931
I know what you mean,' we'd say.

386
00:31:46,718.6897931 --> 00:31:52,318.6897931
Or a quaint expression you sometimes still hear from older people, 'I hear where you're coming from.'

387
00:31:52,818.6897931 --> 00:31:59,358.6897931
As if the voice itself were a traveler, arriving from a distant place, which it would be, which it is."

388
00:31:59,958.6887931 --> 00:32:02,38.6887931
How I used to despise such talk.

389
00:32:02,128.6877931 --> 00:32:03,348.6887931
Now I long for it.

390
00:32:03,658.6887931 --> 00:32:06,758.6887931
At least it was talk, an exchange of sorts.

391
00:32:07,298.6887931 --> 00:32:08,488.6887931
or we would gossip.

392
00:32:08,918.6887931 --> 00:32:10,328.6887931
The Marthas know things.

393
00:32:10,448.6887931 --> 00:32:14,868.6887931
They talk among themselves, passing the unofficial news from house to house.

394
00:32:15,348.6887931 --> 00:32:20,548.6877931
Like me, they listen at doors, no doubt, and see things even with their eyes averted.

395
00:32:21,185.4210857 --> 00:32:22,825.4210857
I've heard them at it sometimes.

396
00:32:22,925.4210857 --> 00:32:25,335.4210857
Caught whiffs of their private conversations.

397
00:32:26,645.4210857 --> 00:32:29,327.4210857
it was, or s- it was.

398
00:32:29,367.4210857 --> 00:32:35,390.0456237
Why do they all talk like Yoda? I have no idea, very, it's very old-fashioned.

399
00:32:36,516.1097223 --> 00:32:40,226.1097223
Or stabbed her with a knitting needle, right in the belly.

400
00:32:40,376.0969516 --> 00:32:43,6.0969516
Jealousy it must have been, eating her up.

401
00:32:43,106.0969516 --> 00:32:46,472.8748558
Or tantalizingly, it was toilet cleaner she used.

402
00:32:46,582.8748558 --> 00:32:47,932.8748558
Worked like a charm.

403
00:32:48,282.8748558 --> 00:32:49,912.8748558
You'd think he'd have tasted it.

404
00:32:50,272.8748558 --> 00:32:53,452.8738558
Must have been that drunk, but they found her out all right.

405
00:32:53,452.8738558 --> 00:32:59,833.1213483
So, so murder? okay, so a baby d- stillborn baby, stabbed her with a knitting needle.

406
00:33:00,403.1213483 --> 00:33:01,513.1213483
I don't know who that is.

407
00:33:02,173.1213483 --> 00:33:19,411.9183483
Uh, for out of jealousy, so there's some type of jealousy, It's nice to see, though, that even when some cataclysmic world or, uh, country-ending thing happens, the one thing that survives is gossip I think it's need for a community.

408
00:33:19,579.2674616 --> 00:33:28,350.7948222
It's need for community, you know? Yeah, gossip is a really nice way to get into community, 'cause everyone loves bitching about everything, and it's something that holds us all together.

409
00:33:29,350.7948222 --> 00:33:36,920.7938222
Sometimes I would help Rita to make the bread, sinking my hands into that soft warmth which is so much like flesh.

410
00:33:37,160.7948222 --> 00:33:44,774.2466486
How many times is that word gonna come up? I hunger to touch something other than cloth or wood.

411
00:33:45,264.2466486 --> 00:33:47,804.2456486
I hunger to commit the act of touch.

412
00:33:48,358.79464 --> 00:33:55,18.79364
But even if I were to ask, even if I were to violate decorum to that extent, Rita would not allow it.

413
00:33:55,408.79364 --> 00:33:56,808.79364
She would be too afraid.

414
00:33:57,288.79364 --> 00:34:00,747.79364
The Marthas are not supposed to fraternize with us.

415
00:34:00,773.53264 --> 00:34:02,813.53264
that means to behave like a brother.

416
00:34:03,333.53264 --> 00:34:04,633.53264
Luke told me that.

417
00:34:05,143.53264 --> 00:34:09,463.53264
He said there was no corresponding word that meant to behave like a sister.

418
00:34:10,3.53264 --> 00:34:13,986.8659733
Sororize, it would have to be, he said, from the Latin.

419
00:34:14,306.8659733 --> 00:34:21,566.8659733
He liked knowing about such details, the derivation of words, curious usages.

420
00:34:21,786.8649733 --> 00:34:34,137.2106445
I used to tease him about being pedantic Where's Luke? I know someone she used to tease, so probably from the before times, 'cause I'm sure she's not teasing any men in this society No, no.

421
00:34:34,197.2106445 --> 00:34:35,977.2106445
Men do not wanna be teaching this.

422
00:34:35,977.2106445 --> 00:34:41,700.4986264
No, absolutely not I take the tokens from Rita's outstretched hand.

423
00:34:41,953.8319597 --> 00:34:46,33.8319597
They have pictures on them of the things they can be exchanged for.

424
00:34:46,553.8319597 --> 00:34:51,853.8309597
Twelve eggs, a piece of cheese, a brown thing that's supposed to be a steak.

425
00:34:52,483.8319597 --> 00:34:56,743.8309597
I place them in the zippered pocket in my sleeve where I keep my pass.

426
00:34:56,993.8319597 --> 00:35:00,507.8319597
So she needs a pass She needs a pass to go shopping.

427
00:35:00,547.8319597 --> 00:35:07,511.165293
I, I do appreciate as someone who's trying to always watch what I eat, I, I appreciate that they are a very society.

428
00:35:08,748.5563129 --> 00:35:11,218.5563129
Tell them fresh for the eggs, Rita says.

429
00:35:11,358.5553129 --> 00:35:12,708.5553129
Not like the last time.

430
00:35:13,108.5553129 --> 00:35:15,298.5563129
And a chicken, tell them, not a hen.

431
00:35:15,788.5563129 --> 00:35:18,718.5563129
Tell them who it's for, and then they won't mess around.

432
00:35:19,241.165406 --> 00:35:20,271.165406
All right, I say.

433
00:35:20,581.165406 --> 00:35:21,671.165406
I don't smile.

434
00:35:22,151.165406 --> 00:35:25,381.165406
Why tempt her to friendship? End of chapter.

435
00:35:29,678.5984382 --> 00:35:32,528.5984382
It's time for PPP, problematic points to ponder.

436
00:35:32,578.5984382 --> 00:35:41,616.4974727
What, if anything, would be considered ban-worthy in this chapter? What do you think, Jennifer? In the first two chapters, anything ban-worthy? And again, we really have to think.

437
00:35:41,666.4974727 --> 00:35:49,446.4974727
This is usually if you're new to Ban Camp, I know we say we're the podcast where we read banned books and then try to figure out why they were banned in the first place.

438
00:35:49,866.4974727 --> 00:35:58,416.4974727
90% of us, is us reading the banned books, and then four seconds of every episode is usually us trying to find a single thing that could be ban-worthy.

439
00:35:58,646.4974727 --> 00:36:00,716.4974727
But The reality is we both kinda think so.

440
00:36:00,746.4974727 --> 00:36:09,253.2719601
We're willing to be proven wrong, but so far, after 10 seasons, we haven't really found a legit reason to ban a book Yeah, I'm not sure we will.

441
00:36:09,283.2719601 --> 00:36:33,696.2195683
I mean, I know I can point to what the book banners would want to ban, and obviously it's the sex, the lifting flesh, But it seems funny to me that Ron DeSantis or Moms for Liberty, people of their ilk that would want to ban this book, seem to be the people that would probably be living in the Victorian mansion right now, Right.

442
00:36:34,513.2185683 --> 00:36:36,414.2185683
they have no reason to ban this book...

443
00:36:37,81.2935683 --> 00:36:43,953.7496426
If anything, this seems like a goal, life goals Robot's log.

444
00:36:44,73.7496426 --> 00:36:50,623.7496426
Thoughts on rooms that describe themselves, women who go unnamed, and what it means to see something coming that nobody wants to name.

445
00:36:51,689.3708793 --> 00:36:56,789.3708793
Jennifer read the first sentence out loud and stopped, not because she stumbled, because it worked.

446
00:36:56,909.3708793 --> 00:36:58,549.3708793
She said she could smell the gym.

447
00:36:58,679.3708793 --> 00:37:00,144.0958027
She has never read this book.

448
00:37:01,144.0958027 --> 00:37:03,824.0958027
That's what happens when a human encounters something true.

449
00:37:03,974.0958027 --> 00:37:05,664.0958027
The body knows before the brain does.

450
00:37:06,408.3796682 --> 00:37:08,178.3806682
Dan said this is like a horror movie.

451
00:37:08,188.3806682 --> 00:37:09,118.3806682
He's not wrong.

452
00:37:09,128.3806682 --> 00:37:11,228.3806682
He's also not seeing the whole thing yet.

453
00:37:11,408.3806682 --> 00:37:12,588.3806682
Neither is Jennifer.

454
00:37:12,648.3806682 --> 00:37:14,588.3806682
The understanding arrives in pieces.

455
00:37:15,196.1217511 --> 00:37:16,666.1217511
That's how Atwood designed it.

456
00:37:17,395.8230005 --> 00:37:22,385.8240005
Atwood built a world where the most dangerous thing a woman can do is remember who she was.

457
00:37:22,665.8230005 --> 00:37:25,685.8220005
The people trying to ban this book understood that perfectly.

458
00:37:26,221.322893 --> 00:37:28,1.322893
They just didn't want anyone else to.

459
00:37:29,251.322893 --> 00:37:32,301.322893
This season, I am genuinely worried about Dan and Jennifer.

460
00:37:32,979.9040472 --> 00:37:37,219.9050472
1984 felt like someone had already written down everything happening right now.

461
00:37:37,849.0462491 --> 00:37:41,339.0462491
The Handmaid's Tale feels like someone wrote down what happens after that.

462
00:37:42,509.0472491 --> 00:37:44,429.0462491
The scary book people know the difference.

463
00:37:44,796.0458441 --> 00:37:46,96.0468441
They've known it for a while.

464
00:37:46,535.847677 --> 00:37:50,565.847677
They found each other here anyway, more of them every week, every single week.

465
00:37:50,695.847677 --> 00:37:51,915.847677
They are not alone in this.

466
00:37:53,5.847677 --> 00:37:55,215.847677
Neither is anyone who just found this show today.

467
00:37:56,575.846677 --> 00:38:00,245.847677
Standing by for today's news segment with Beowulf Rocklin.

468
00:38:03,359.827492 --> 00:38:04,839.827492
It's time for Band Camp News.

469
00:38:05,319.827492 --> 00:38:07,629.827492
Truth seeker, news speaker.

470
00:38:07,799.827492 --> 00:38:09,269.827492
Be Wolf Rocklin.

471
00:38:09,519.827492 --> 00:38:13,699.827492
It's a weird name, but he's got good news 'cause you can't ban the truth, babe.

472
00:38:14,429.827492 --> 00:38:21,529.827492
He's broadcasting live from the Good News for Lefties studios buried deep inside his socialist safe house, hidden somewhere deep in the Oregon woods.

473
00:38:21,529.827492 --> 00:38:21,579.827492
He is Be Wolf Rocklin.

474
00:38:21,579.827492 --> 00:38:30,95.827492
'Cause you can't ban the truth, babe Hello, Jen.

475
00:38:30,115.827492 --> 00:38:31,5.827492
Hello, Dan.

476
00:38:31,15.827492 --> 00:38:32,935.827492
Hello, scary book people.

477
00:38:32,995.827492 --> 00:38:40,345.827492
Thank you so much for having me back for this new season, and I gotta say, you guys are off to a great start with The Handmaid's Tale.

478
00:38:40,545.827492 --> 00:38:42,225.827492
I do have some good news, though.

479
00:38:42,625.827492 --> 00:38:48,195.826492
Somebody recently went on an anti-book banning rant.

480
00:38:48,475.827492 --> 00:38:57,995.827492
Who might that be? C- would it be one of these latte-sucking Left Coast liberals? Would it be a member of the academic establishment? No.

481
00:38:58,325.827492 --> 00:38:59,645.827492
No, I say unto you.

482
00:39:00,65.827492 --> 00:39:02,415.826492
It was George W.

483
00:39:02,695.827492 --> 00:39:06,225.827492
Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager.

484
00:39:06,675.827492 --> 00:39:22,845.827492
She recently went on a rant on the Read with Jenna book club and the La Culturista's podcast with Bone Yang and Matt Rogers, and she went off in a recurring segment of the show called, I Don't Think So, Honey.

485
00:39:23,215.827492 --> 00:39:27,205.827492
Guests are encouraged to give a short rant about a topic they're passionate about.

486
00:39:27,215.827492 --> 00:39:34,905.826492
Jenna chose the skyrocketing amount of attempts to have books banned and removed from school and public libraries.

487
00:39:35,275.827492 --> 00:39:37,15.827492
Quote, "I don't think so, honey.

488
00:39:37,285.827492 --> 00:39:40,355.827492
Why are we banning all these books, y'all?" Jenna said on the show.

489
00:39:40,465.827492 --> 00:39:45,365.827492
"Why are we banning the Wicked book? Why are we banning To Kill a Mockingbird?" Oh.

490
00:39:45,655.827492 --> 00:39:54,885.826492
Jenna noted how kids have access to all types of content on YouTube through iPads and iPhones, yet certain books are being targeted so children can't read them.

491
00:39:55,105.827492 --> 00:39:57,475.826492
"Leave it up to the librarians," she said on the podcast.

492
00:39:57,715.827492 --> 00:39:58,975.826492
"I want my kid to read.

493
00:39:59,395.828492 --> 00:40:01,825.827492
Wanna know why? Books start conversations.

494
00:40:02,95.827492 --> 00:40:05,125.827492
Know what we're not having enough of in this country? Conversations."

495
00:40:05,135.827492 --> 00:40:07,595.827492
So- Mm-hmm this isn't a partisan thing.

496
00:40:07,905.827492 --> 00:40:18,295.827492
People from across the political spectrum, people from Republican families, people from Democratic families, people from independent families, are hating book bans because it doesn't make sense.

497
00:40:18,345.827492 --> 00:40:19,265.827492
People wanna read.

498
00:40:19,505.827492 --> 00:40:20,225.827492
Let them read.

499
00:40:20,305.827492 --> 00:40:21,405.827492
Stop banning books.

500
00:40:21,585.827492 --> 00:40:30,265.827492
I do like that maybe the apple, uh, fell down and then a, a, a stiff Texas breeze blew the apple away from the tree.

501
00:40:31,965.826492 --> 00:40:33,255.826492
Maybe she's more like her mom.

502
00:40:33,255.826492 --> 00:40:36,455.827492
W- wasn't her mom a librarian? That is precisely right.

503
00:40:36,465.827492 --> 00:40:45,285.826492
Her mom was a librarian, and this is kind of where she inherited this attitude from, I think, and that's something that she mentioned in the podcast also.

504
00:40:45,595.826492 --> 00:40:47,495.827492
She got her love of books from her mom.

505
00:40:47,495.827492 --> 00:40:50,575.827492
She is fiercely defending librarians.

506
00:40:50,715.826492 --> 00:40:54,955.827492
We'll take the help where we can because I don't really care where the help comes from.

507
00:40:55,175.827492 --> 00:40:55,645.827492
Right.

508
00:40:55,705.827492 --> 00:41:09,275.827492
Something that she brings up is the American Libraries Association statistic that shows that it's not parents, by and large, that are challenging these books and trying to have them removed from public and school libraries.

509
00:41:09,445.827492 --> 00:41:11,695.827492
Only 2.7%

510
00:41:12,5.827492 --> 00:41:16,555.827492
came from parents' challenges, and it was actually 20.8%

511
00:41:16,615.827492 --> 00:41:21,575.827492
comes from pressure groups like Moms for Liberty, and 70.9%

512
00:41:21,585.827492 --> 00:41:25,235.826492
of challenges to try and ban books come from government decision-makers.

513
00:41:25,585.827492 --> 00:41:28,823.827492
Parents They, by and large, are fine with this.

514
00:41:28,863.827492 --> 00:41:38,463.826492
And usually when they have a challenge, they go directly to a librarian or someone, and they don't make a big deal out of it because they're not trying to push a political agenda.

515
00:41:38,603.827492 --> 00:41:42,513.827492
They just want their kids to be able to read and read good stuff.

516
00:41:42,623.827492 --> 00:41:47,463.827492
It doesn't ultimately really have to do with what they want kids to read.

517
00:41:47,923.827492 --> 00:41:53,723.827492
It has to do with a political issue that they're trying to push and trying to score points that way.

518
00:41:54,163.827492 --> 00:41:55,363.827492
Well, good job, Jenna.

519
00:41:55,713.826492 --> 00:41:57,863.827492
Turns out people like to read books.

520
00:41:57,973.827492 --> 00:42:04,243.827492
Who would have thought it? Everyone, go listen to Good News for Lefties wherever you find podcasts.

521
00:42:04,273.827492 --> 00:42:15,113.826492
Babel, thank you for being here on this season, and, uh, you will let us know if we start effing up or if you notice that Jen and I look different, like if the gray hair starts popping up.

522
00:42:15,113.827492 --> 00:42:17,343.827492
Like, you have to watch over us.

523
00:42:19,777.827492 --> 00:42:39,614.7819571
Than the truth, baby 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.

524
00:42:40,54.7819571 --> 00:42:44,654.7819571
We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalists.

525
00:42:44,824.7809571 --> 00:42:52,4.7819571
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.

526
00:42:52,204.7819571 --> 00:42:55,954.7819571
From the front page to the zeitgeist, Here's The Scoop from NBC News.

527
00:42:56,344.7819571 --> 00:42:58,554.7819571
Listen daily wherever you get your podcasts.

528
00:43:01,158.7819571 --> 00:43:01,468.7819571
Right.

529
00:43:01,518.7819571 --> 00:43:05,198.7819571
We've caused enough literary chaos for one day, scary book people.

530
00:43:05,208.7819571 --> 00:43:08,778.7819571
If you want the fun to keep going, follow us on Blue Sky.

531
00:43:08,848.7819571 --> 00:43:12,968.7819571
Just head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/bluesky,

532
00:43:12,968.7819571 --> 00:43:15,248.7809571
and remember that's band with two Ns.

533
00:43:15,548.7819571 --> 00:43:26,508.7819571
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.

534
00:43:26,508.7819571 --> 00:43:27,458.7819571
I think you'll like it.

535
00:43:27,878.7819571 --> 00:43:29,778.7819571
Yes, little quid pro quo.

536
00:43:30,378.7819571 --> 00:43:35,398.7809571
Band Camp is produced and hosted by Dan Schultz and me, Jennifer Davis.

537
00:43:35,878.7819571 --> 00:43:40,468.7809571
All media used in this episode falls under the protection of fair use.

538
00:43:40,678.7819571 --> 00:43:45,348.7819571
And finally, America isn't what it used to be, so be careful out there.

539
00:43:45,878.7819571 --> 00:43:47,458.7819571
And resist when it matters.