July 16, 2026
The Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 15: Blessed Are the Silent | Banned Books Comedy
The commander unlocks the only Bible in the house, reads the parts that serve him, and leads a ceremony nobody in the room wants to be part of. Meanwhile, the handmaid flashes back to her friend Moira's escape attempt from the Red Center, a plan involving faked scurvy, an ambulance ride, and consequences that will stick with you long after the chapter ends.
Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter — we don't read ahead, so you're discovering the story with us.
Things To Listen For:
- Dan explains the very specific type of guy who looks like a "vodka ad in a glossy magazine" and somehow ends up wanting perimenopause medication
- Robot reveals that "Blessed are the silent" was never in the Bible and the aunts invented it to replace "Blessed are the meek"
- Dan connects a pattern across three dystopian books: 1984's telescreens, Brave New World's hypnopedia, and Gilead's locked Bible
- Moira's scurvy escape plan and Robot's medical breakdown of what actually happens when you stop taking vitamin C
- Dan's plan to set calendar reminders to stop eating fruit six weeks before any event he doesn't want to attend
- The sugar packets the women stole for Moira, not because she needed sugar, but because it was the only thing they could find to give
Why was The Handmaid's Tale banned?
This chapter shows a man reading selectively from a locked Bible while the women in the room have no way to verify what he's saying. The aunts altered the Beatitudes to say "Blessed are the silent." That's not anti-Christian. That's showing what happens when people in power get to decide which parts of scripture you're allowed to hear, and that's exactly why this book gets challenged.
If this is your first episode, you're fine starting here. Our fact-checking Robot catches you up fast, then we read the next chapter (spoilers).
Banworthy to Bingeworthy
Every week we share podcasts worth checking out. Here's this week's pick:
- Good News for Lefties — Beowulf Rochlen brings you the good news the mainstream media isn't covering. This week: libraries in Oregon are lending trail cameras to patrons to help track porcupine populations, turning everyday library visitors into citizen scientists. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Disclaimer
Banned Camp features readings and discussions of banned books for the purpose of criticism, commentary, education, and entertainment, in accordance with fair use guidelines.
The material used from the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is shared under these principles, with the intent of provoking thought and discussion about literature, censorship, and societal issues. The original work remains fully owned by its copyright holders, and we strongly encourage listeners to purchase a copy here to experience the book in its entirety.
https://bookshop.org/a/20953/9780385490818
This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Margaret Atwood, her estate, or the publishers of The Handmaid's Tale. Any monetization of the podcast is separate from the copyrighted material discussed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was The Handmaid's Tale banned?
The Handmaid's Tale has been challenged or banned in American schools and libraries every single year since its publication in 1985. It was the most challenged book in the United States in 2023. It has been targeted for profanity, sexually explicit content, and content deemed "offensive to Christians." But the deeper reason is that Margaret Atwood showed what happens when a government uses religion, tradition, and "protecting families" as justification for stripping women of their rights, their names, and their autonomy. That's the part that actually scares book banners, because it looks a lot like Tuesday.
Is there a podcast that reads The Handmaid's Tale chapter by chapter?
That's us. Banned Camp reads a different banned book every season, one chapter at a time — neither host has read ahead, so you're discovering the story together in real time. Season 11 covers The Handmaid's Tale, and every episode includes the chapter reading, discussion, a fact-checking Robot, and a segment on why books get banned.
Do I need to start Banned Camp from the beginning?
No. Every episode opens with Robot's recap of the previous chapter, so you can jump in anywhere. Most listeners tell us they started mid-season and went back to the beginning after they were hooked.
What are the Beatitudes in The Handmaid's Tale?
In Chapter 15, the aunts play a recording of the Beatitudes during lunch at the Red Center, but they've altered the text. "Blessed are the meek" becomes "Blessed are the silent," replacing a word that implies choice with one that demands obedience. Offred notices but has no way to prove it. Banned Camp's fact-checking Robot breaks down exactly what was changed and why it matters.
What happens to Moira in Chapter 15 of The Handmaid's Tale?
Moira deliberately stops taking vitamin C to fake scurvy, gets sent out in an ambulance, and attempts to escape using the guards as her opportunity. The plan fails. She's dragged back to the Red Center, taken to the old Science Lab, and beaten with steel cables until her feet swell beyond recognition. Banned Camp covers this scene and its real-world parallels in their Season 11 reading.
Topics Covered:
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, Chapter 15, Offred, Commander, Serena Joy, Moira, Aunt Lydia, Nick, the Beatitudes, the ceremony, scurvy, Bible as weapon, Donald Trump, banned books, banned books podcast, book banning, censorship, literary analysis, comedy podcast
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Welcome to Bandcamp.
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I'm Jennifer And I'm Dan, and this is the podcast where we read banned books out loud for the first time, and then we try to figure out why they were banned in the first place this season we're reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and you could consider this a quick spoiler warning because Jennifer is about to start reading from the book out loud word for word.
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But if you're new here, if this is the first time y- you found our show, welcome in.
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You can jump in right here.
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You're gonna be fine.
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We're gonna get you up to speed real quick.
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And if it does feel confusing to you, don't worry.
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There's a real good chance that we're gonna be confused too because neither of us have ever read the book.
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But that is exactly why we have ourselves a secret weapon.
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We're gonna roll him in right now.
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Buddy boy, roll it in here.
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Look at this.
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We've got our own fact-checking robot.
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He is going to get you up to speed on where we left off in the last episode.
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Buddy boy, what happened last time? Previously on Band Camp, the handmaid was in a car heading for the border, forged passports and a sleeping pill dissolving in her daughter's stomach.
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She did everything right, and she is still on that rug.
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So clearly that plan didn't work.
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Jennifer said she thinks about back roads to Canada, maybe a boat.
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Dan pointed out she is currently allowed to drive to Canada.
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Jennifer did not find this as reassuring as he intended.
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It is a strange thing when the only book in the house is under lock and key, and the man with the key gets to decide which parts are real.
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Take it away, Jennifer.
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Thank you, robot.
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And with that being said, scary book people, let's start chapter 15.
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of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale The commander knocks at the door.
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The knock is prescribed.
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The sitting room is supposed to be Serena Joy's territory.
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He's supposed to ask permission to enter it.
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She likes to keep him waiting.
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It's a little thing, but in this household, little things mean a lot.
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I will never understand how they do this hierarchy.
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they seem to have these rules, like the commander can't look at the handmaid, The, the other sitting room is Serena Joy's room.
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You can't knock.
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I- Are the commanders in charge? Are the guys in charge? Is this all a facade that the guys are in charge, but they just wanna give people little wins Yeah, like they're in the game? I think you're right about that.
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it's kind of like a sick joke, like, "Oh, you have control over this room where I impregnate this other person."
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You know? It's like, okay, that doesn't make much sense, but she likes to keep him waiting.
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It's a little thing, but in this household, little things mean a lot.
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Tonight, however, she doesn't even get that, because before Serena Joy can speak, he steps forward into the room anyway.
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Maybe he's just forgotten the protocol, but maybe it's deliberate.
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Who knows what she said to him over the silver-encrusted dinner table, or what she didn't say.
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The commander has on his black uniform, in which he looks like a museum guard, a semi-retired man, genial but wary, killing time.
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But only at first glance.
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After that, he looks like a Midwestern bank president.
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Where is she getting these, where is she getting these very specific job titles? I grew up in the Midwest, and I know exactly the guys she's talking about.
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Bill Bradley."
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How are you doing, sir?" "Bill Br- Dan Schultz.
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I wanna open your savings account."
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"Bill Bradley."
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He had straight, neatly brushed silver hair, a sober posture, shoulders a little stooped.
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After that, there is his mustache, silver also, and after that his chin, which really you can't miss.
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When you get down as far as the chin, he looks like a vodka ad in a glossy magazine of times gone by.
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I don't know what that means.
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Is that the most interesting man in the world? I mean, what is that? Well, he's more of the beer guy.
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I, I think there, there are looks, right? the guys in the cigarette ads in magazines, they look different than the guys in the vodka ads.
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Now, I don't know.
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This might be before my time.
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I'm sure a lot of our listeners don't even know what the hell she's talking about.
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We don't have these sorta ads anymore.
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We, we have, like, uh, pharmaceutical ads and, uh...
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Is, is he like the Cialis guy? The guy in the bathtub? Or like I saw the other day, somebody windsurfing over sunflowers.
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And it's like, well, I want that medicine.
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I don't even know what the hell the medicine does, but that looks like a fun way to spend time.
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I can windsurf over a field of sunflowers.
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Don't know what it does.
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Think it's for perimenopause...,
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His manner is mild, his hands large, with thick fingers and acquisitive thumbs.
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He looks us over as if taking inventory.
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One kneeling woman in red, one seated woman in blue, two in green standing, a solitary man thin-faced in the background.
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He manages to appear puzzled as if he can't quite remember how we all got in here, as if we are something he inherited, like a Victorian pump organ, and he hasn't figured out what to do with us, what we are worth he nods in the general direction of Serena Joy, who does not make a sound.
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He crosses to the large leather chair reserved for him, takes the key out of his pocket, fumbles with the ornate brass-bound leather-covered box that stands on the table beside the chair.
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He inserts the key, opens the box, lifts out the Bible, an ordinary copy with a black cover and gold-edged pages.
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Love The, the Bible means a lot to me, but I don't wanna get into specifics.
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do that.
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I mean, I just- You an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy? Uh, probably equal.
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I just think the Bible is just something very special.
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The Bible is kept locked up the way people once kept tea locked up so the servants wouldn't steal it.
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It's an incendiary device.
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Who knows what we'd make of it if we ever got our hands on it? We can be read to from it by him, but we cannot read.
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Our heads turn towards him.
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We are expectant.
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Here comes our bedtime story.
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So again, like the, allusion to being children, and I d- I really don't like this thing where so no one can read except the commander? Like, not even, uh, Nick Nick.
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can't read either.
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It's not just women can't read.
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It's like only those in power can Nick only has to know three letters, P for park, R for reverse, D for drive.
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That's all he needs to worry about, Jennifer They probably don't even have letters.
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It's little pictures.
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Arrow pointing this way, that way.
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Yeah.
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does he do this every night? Is he literally telling them a bedtime story, but the bedtime story's from the Bible? God.
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sounds very terrible Nightmare Nightmare inducing.
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No offense to those of you who read the Bible The commander sits down and crosses his legs, watched by us.
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The bookmarks are in place.
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He opens the book.
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He clears his throat a little as if embarrassed.
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"Could I have a drink of water?" He says to the air.
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"Please," he adds.
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Behind me, one of them, Cora or Rita, leaves her space in the tableau and pads off towards the kitchen.
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The commander sits looking down.
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The commander sighs, takes out a pair of reading glasses from his inside jacket pocket, gold rims, slips them on.
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Now he looks like a shoemaker in an old fairy tale book.
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Is there no end to his disguises of benevolence? We watch him every inch, every flicker.
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We're all watching him.
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It's one thing we can really do, and it's not for nothing.
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If he were to falter, fail, or die, what would become of us? No wonder he's like a boot, hard on the outside, giving shape to a pulp of tenderfoot.
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That's just a wish.
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I've been watching him for some time, and he's given no evidence of softness Well, not only have you been watching him, you've also been under him.
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Is there any softness there perhaps, Handmade? But watch out, Commander, I tell him in my head.
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I've got my eye on you.
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One false move and I'm dead.
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Still, it must be hell to be a man like that.
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The water appears.
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The commander drinks it.
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"Thank you," he says.
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Cora rustles back into place The commander pauses, looking down, scanning the page.
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He takes his time as if unconscious of us.
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He's like a man toying with a steak behind a restaurant window, pretending not to see the eyes watching him from hungry darkness, not three feet from his elbow.
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We lean towards him a little, iron filings to his magnet.
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He has something we don't have.
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He has the word.
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How we squandered it once.
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That is sad because like if you're not allowed to read anymore, that is something you would probably look back and, and kick yourself.
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Yeah, but I think that she's also just saying like the word as in the law.
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we all had the law at one point, now it's just him.
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like could there ever be a time when we look back at this time and go, "Man, I sure miss that time of law enforcement I hope it doesn't get worse, but I sure do miss the rule of law.
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You know, like I can't believe the, the sort of stuff that's going on.
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Like we have extrajudicial killings and, the president said, There is no law."
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He basically, like I'm talking about ICE, he basically said, You have, total immunity Yeah, do what you want And, and like people have been killed and like literally nothing happens to the ICE agents.
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They're still working as ICE agents.
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So yeah, I, I do miss having law and order The commander, as if reluctantly, begins to read.
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He isn't very good at it.
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Maybe he's merely bored.
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It's the usual story, the usual stories.
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God to Adam, God to Noah, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth."
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Then comes the moldy old Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the center.
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"Give me children or else I die.
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Am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold, my maid Bilhah, she shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her," and so on and so Oh, so you got that part of the Bible where it's all about you ladies just shut up and get to the baby making.
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That's all you're good for I mean, I know it's about controlling women, but I also don't understand why it's happening now in our society where, they're, they're having this giant push to have babies.
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Like, what, why? I mean, El- Elon Musk is like freaking out about it.
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Like he thinks humanity's, yeah, under-babied, severely under-babied.
141
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The short answer is economics.
142
00:11:46,160.8887414 --> 00:11:52,230.8887414
Fewer babies means fewer workers means fewer taxpayers, and the whole system falls apart in about thirty years.
143
00:11:52,340.8887414 --> 00:11:53,410.8877414
That math is real.
144
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What's interesting is the people screaming loudest about birth rates are the same ones cutting childcare funding and fighting paid family leave.
145
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If this were really about babies, they'd make it easier to raise them.
146
00:12:05,182.25860395 --> 00:12:06,252.25860395
They are not doing that.
147
00:12:07,299.17240433 --> 00:12:10,592.25760395
Elon Musk has eleven kids and a hundred billion dollars.
148
00:12:10,602.25860395 --> 00:12:13,392.25660395
He is not the guy skipping meals to afford diapers.
149
00:12:13,522.25860395 --> 00:12:14,832.25760395
Atwood didn't make this up.
150
00:12:14,922.25860395 --> 00:12:17,422.25760395
Gilead is just this argument with the mask off.
151
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Thank you, robot we had it read to us every breakfast as we sat in the high school cafeteria eating porridge with cream and brown sugar.
152
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You're getting the best, you know," said Aunt Lydia.
153
00:12:34,58.96836272 --> 00:12:35,78.96836272
"There's a war on.
154
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Things are rationed.
155
00:12:36,648.96736272 --> 00:12:40,436.44522959
You are spoiled girls," she twinkled, as if rebuking a kitten.
156
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Naughty puss.
157
00:12:43,96.44522959 --> 00:12:45,126.44422959
For lunch, it was the Beatitudes.
158
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blessed be this, blessed be that.
159
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They played it from a disc.
160
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The voice was a man's.
161
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Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
162
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Blessed are the merciful.
163
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Blessed are the meek.
164
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Blessed are the silent.
165
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blessed are the silent? You are both correct.
166
00:13:05,749.10627062 --> 00:13:07,839.10627062
"Blessed are the silent" is not in the Bible.
167
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The real Beatitudes include "Blessed are the meek.
168
00:13:10,259.10627062 --> 00:13:11,439.10627062
Blessed are the merciful.
169
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Blessed are the peacemakers."
170
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The ants swapped meek for silent, and that is not a small change.
171
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Meek still implies a choice.
172
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Silent just means shut your mouth.
173
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That is how you alter reality.
174
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Change three words in something people trust and wait for everyone to forget the original.
175
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Isn't it weird that all of these dystopian books that we're reading, they all take advantage one way or another of recorded audio messages like in 1984, right?…, they were always playing the messages of Goldstein via either audio or video.
176
00:13:41,480.0907883 --> 00:13:56,701.57764731
And then, of course, Brave New World, it was the hypnopedia, where it's literally taking all of those phrases and the words and the bumper sticker sayings and just literally pumping it into you at birth so you can hear it as you're developing, so it's just part of your brain.
177
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And now this one too.
178
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It's like, here are all these...
179
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beatitudes.
180
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blessed be this, blessed be that, Jennifer I check the clock during dessert, canned pears with cinnamon, standard for lunch, and look for Moira in her place two tables over.
181
00:14:14,867.75118476 --> 00:14:25,438.90830124
robot, what is, what is going on? Where is the beep? I thought we had the new rule when we change scenes in the middle, you beep it up at us so we understand.
182
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Don't do it now.
183
00:14:26,856.55039074 --> 00:14:28,364.04900674
Now we're already into it.
184
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We caught it.
185
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Luckily, Jennifer and Dan figured it out without your help.
186
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But moving forward, when there's a scene change in the middle of something when we're not prepared for it, beep I check the clock during dessert, canned pears with cinnamon, standard for lunch, and look for Moira in her place two tables over.
187
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She's gone already.
188
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I put my hand up.
189
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I'm excused.
190
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We don't do this too often and always at different times of day.
191
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In the washroom, I go to the second to last stall as usual.
192
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Are you there?" I whisper.
193
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"Large as life and twice as ugly," Moira whispers back.
194
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"What have you heard?" I ask her.
195
00:15:14,252.62704508 --> 00:15:15,152.62604508
"Nothing much.
196
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I've got to get out of here.
197
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I'm going bats."
198
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I feel panic.
199
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"No, no, Moira," I say.
200
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"Don't try it.
201
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Not on your own.
202
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I'll fake sick.
203
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They send an ambulance.
204
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I've seen it.
205
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You'll only get as far as the hospital."
206
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At least it'll be a change.
207
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I won't have to listen to that old bitch."
208
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But they'll find you out."
209
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"Not to worry.
210
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I'm good at it.
211
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When I was a kid in school, I cut vitamin C and got scurvy In the early stages, they can't diagnose it.
212
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Then you just start it again, and you're fine.
213
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I'll hide my vitamin pills."
214
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Like, seriously, scurvy? Scurvy is it that easy to get scurvy? Yeah, yeah.
215
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You just have to stop eating vitamin C and then you get scurvy.
216
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But something tells me that if they're willing to take women, human being, women, you know, people, and say, "You are now a uterus at the beck and call of commanders," I don't really care if you have scurvy.
217
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So get back into the position.
218
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Like, I don't think it's gonna work for Moira.
219
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I do appreciate her turning to, to the, the scurvy plague to try to get out of this, but I don't think scurvy, the disease of pirates, is going to work Moira, don't.
220
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I couldn't stand the thought of her not being here with me, for me.
221
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Why don't you stop taking your vitamin C and you two can be called the scurvy gals and try to make a clean break? The scurvy gals.
222
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what would happen if they all did that? That would be so cool But, and, and something so stupid as scurvy? What happens, robot, when you get scurvy, what happens? Does, does, does your skin turn green or something? No, Dan, your skin does not turn green.
223
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Scurvy is what happens when you stop getting vitamin C for about a month.
224
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Your gums bleed, your teeth get loose, you get dark spots everywhere, and your legs swell up.
225
00:17:10,360.9101979 --> 00:17:12,250.9101979
Moira's plan is actually smart.
226
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Early scurvy just looks like the flu.
227
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No doctor in a facility that serves vitamin C is going to suspect scurvy.
228
00:17:18,650.9101979 --> 00:17:22,330.9101979
She fakes symptoms they can't explain and gets herself an ambulance ride.
229
00:17:23,563.3836217 --> 00:17:24,773.3856217
Jennifer, you're right.
230
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That is even better than having green skin.
231
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Like if, right, you have, like, an army of these, w- women with spots all over their skin, open wounds.
232
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What kind of commander in his right mind would wanna have intercourse with a uterus like that? None, I tell you.
233
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And they could never figure it out.
234
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Moira's smart.
235
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In fact, I'm gonna start doing this to get out of anything that I don't wanna go to in the future.
236
00:17:52,911.425693 --> 00:17:57,111.425693
What do I have coming up on the family calendar? Events that I don't really want to attend.
237
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Four to six weeks before, I'm gonna set a little reminder on the calendar to stop eating fruit They send two guys with you in the ambulance.
238
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Think about it.
239
00:18:09,405.1210719 --> 00:18:11,15.1210719
They must be starved for it.
240
00:18:11,35.1210719 --> 00:18:14,685.1210719
Shit, they aren't even allowed to put their hands on their pockets.
241
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The possibilities are...
242
00:18:16,895.1200719 --> 00:18:17,735.1200719
"You in there.
243
00:18:17,855.1210719 --> 00:18:21,305.1210719
Time's up," said the voice of Aunt Elizabeth from the doorway.
244
00:18:21,420.418649 --> 00:18:23,307.5655548
I stood up, flushed the toilet.
245
00:18:24,307.5655548 --> 00:18:27,617.5665548
Two of Moira's fingers appeared through the hole in the wall.
246
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It was only large enough for two fingers.
247
00:18:30,720.0503361 --> 00:18:36,929.9589198
I touched my own fingers to them quickly, held on, let go yeah, that is a nice, beautiful moment.
248
00:18:36,969.9589198 --> 00:18:42,929.9589198
They just made, uh, some human contact until the shitter gargoyle out there has to break things up.
249
00:18:47,178.3514131 --> 00:18:54,958.3504131
And Leah said, 'God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband,' says the commander.
250
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He lets the book fall closed.
251
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It makes an exhausted sound, like a padded door shutting by itself at a distance, a puff of air.
252
00:19:05,898.0256298 --> 00:19:15,20.1040423
The sound suggests the softness of the thin, oniony pages, how they would feel under the fingers, soft and dry like paper powder."
253
00:19:15,170.1030423 --> 00:19:19,14.3255779
Poudre? Pa- papier poudre? Papier poudre.
254
00:19:19,634.3265779 --> 00:19:20,144.3265779
I don't know.
255
00:19:20,594.3255779 --> 00:19:21,194.3255779
Please.
256
00:19:21,960.7530032 --> 00:19:38,882.5733876
Is that papier-mâché? What the hell is that? How, h- why does she think anyone would know what that is? Uh, Margaret Atwood, how you say, eh Pink and powdery from the time before.
257
00:19:39,192.5733876 --> 00:19:42,232.5733876
You'd get it in booklets for taking the shine off your nose.
258
00:19:42,232.5733876 --> 00:19:50,132.7831629
in those stores that sold candles and soap in the shapes of things, seashells, mushrooms, like cigarette paper, like petals.
259
00:19:50,562.7831629 --> 00:19:54,692.7831629
The commander sits with his eyes closed for a moment, as if tired.
260
00:19:54,952.7821629 --> 00:19:56,602.7831629
He works long hours.
261
00:19:56,712.7831629 --> 00:19:58,672.7821629
He has a lot of responsibilities.
262
00:19:58,672.7841629 --> 00:20:09,147.2041629
Well, what in the hell does he do? Does anyone really have jobs around here? Isn't everything, like, run by all these slaves they have? You got the, the Marthas and the, the limousine drivers and...
263
00:20:09,259.2735055 --> 00:20:25,497.7685931
I'm sure everyone has to work in order to live, right? If he wants us to feel sorry for him because he has to read a stupid Bible verse at the end of the day to, to tuck in his, uh, crew, not, not feeling it for you, buddy boy Serena has begun to cry.
264
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I can hear her behind my back.
265
00:20:28,245.7685931 --> 00:20:31,137.7685931
His reading was so beautiful, Jennifer I know.
266
00:20:31,807.7685931 --> 00:20:36,189.7685931
Yeah, is she crying tears of happiness because it was s- such a Yeah.
267
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Happiness reading, or...
268
00:20:37,639.7685931 --> 00:20:43,981.2616777
Or is it like, thank Christ this story's over? It isn't the first time.
269
00:20:44,191.2616777 --> 00:20:47,69.2335226
She always does this the night of the ceremony.
270
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She's trying not to make a noise.
271
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She's trying to preserve her dignity in front of us.
272
00:20:54,378.9251084 --> 00:20:59,68.1373023
The upholstery and the rugs muffle her, but we can hear her clearly despite that.
273
00:21:00,926.2427578 --> 00:21:05,936.2417578
The tension between her lack of control and her attempt to suppress it is horrible.
274
00:21:06,446.2427578 --> 00:21:08,96.2417578
It's like a fart in church.
275
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I feel, as always, the urge to laugh, but not because I think it's funny.
276
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The smell of her crying spreads over us, and we pretend to ignore it.
277
00:21:17,806.2417578 --> 00:21:20,226.2407578
Now, why does she want to laugh? It is kind of funny.
278
00:21:20,466.2427578 --> 00:21:29,429.3482951
Point of order The commander opens his eyes, notices, frowns, ceases to notice.
279
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Now we will have a moment of silent prayer," says the commander.
280
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We will ask for a blessing and for success in all our ventures."
281
00:21:39,771.1748073 --> 00:21:42,81.1738073
I bow my head and close my eyes.
282
00:21:43,345.5623567 --> 00:21:48,403.1344793
I listen Dan Trying to lift the spirits here, Jennifer.
283
00:21:48,403.1344793 --> 00:21:56,463.3468852
Come on now I listen to the held breath, the almost inaudible gasps, the shaking going on behind my back.
284
00:21:56,823.3458852 --> 00:21:58,763.3468852
How she must hate me, I think.
285
00:21:58,773.3468852 --> 00:22:01,233.3458852
She really is putting that hate in the wrong place.
286
00:22:02,139.3468852 --> 00:22:09,842.6831327
Right, don't worry about Serena Joy I pray silently.
287
00:22:11,201.6831327 --> 00:22:20,902.6391327
Nolite de bastardis carborundorum I don't know what it means, but it sounds right, and it will have to do, because I don't know what else I can say to God.
288
00:22:21,203.088159 --> 00:22:22,173.089159
Not right now.
289
00:22:22,483.089159 --> 00:22:25,313.088159
Not, as they used to say, at this juncture.
290
00:22:25,853.088159 --> 00:22:32,773.089159
The scratched writing on my cupboard wall floats before me, left by an unknown woman with the face of Moira.
291
00:22:33,233.089159 --> 00:22:40,743.2534583
I saw her go out to the ambulance on a stretcher, carried by two angels, so she did do it scurvy takes a while.
292
00:22:40,743.2534583 --> 00:22:48,120.8903169
You don't just stop eating an orange and all of a sudden it kicks in I'm sure it did take a while All right, Moira, way to go I don't know.
293
00:22:48,120.8903169 --> 00:22:48,980.8903169
I don't like it, Dan.
294
00:22:48,980.8903169 --> 00:22:50,880.8903169
I don't think we're ever gonna hear from her again.
295
00:22:51,720.8903169 --> 00:22:59,513.7850989
I think they, uh, they're gonna figure it out and, um, that's the end of her What is it? I mouthed to the woman beside me.
296
00:22:59,553.7850989 --> 00:23:00,373.7850989
Safe enough.
297
00:23:00,533.7840989 --> 00:23:03,353.7850989
A question like that to all but a fanatic.
298
00:23:03,863.7840989 --> 00:23:05,683.7850989
A fever, she formed her lips.
299
00:23:05,983.7850989 --> 00:23:07,633.7840989
Appendicitis, they say.
300
00:23:08,253.7840989 --> 00:23:12,143.7850989
I was having dinner that evening, hamburger balls and hash browns.
301
00:23:12,563.7850989 --> 00:23:14,383.7850989
My table was near the window.
302
00:23:14,803.7850989 --> 00:23:17,513.7850989
I could see out as far as the front gates.
303
00:23:17,903.7830989 --> 00:23:19,883.7840989
I saw the ambulance come back.
304
00:23:19,983.7830989 --> 00:23:21,373.7850989
No sirens this time.
305
00:23:21,883.7850989 --> 00:23:24,903.7840989
One of the angels jumped out, talked with the guard.
306
00:23:25,323.7830989 --> 00:23:27,73.7840989
The guard went into the building.
307
00:23:27,223.7850989 --> 00:23:28,833.7830989
The ambulance stayed parked.
308
00:23:29,173.7860989 --> 00:23:33,63.7840989
The angel stood with his back towards us, as they had been taught to do.
309
00:23:34,73.0191213 --> 00:23:36,553.0191213
Two of the aunts came out of the building with the guard.
310
00:23:36,972.1207127 --> 00:23:44,367.120974
hauled Moira out, dragged her in through the gate and up the steps, holding her under the armpits, one on each side.
311
00:23:44,867.120974 --> 00:23:46,467.122974
She was having trouble walking.
312
00:23:46,517.122974 --> 00:23:48,427.120974
Oh, well, that's kinda cool.
313
00:23:48,447.122974 --> 00:23:50,487.120974
So the scurvy plan actually worked.
314
00:23:50,897.123974 --> 00:23:53,547.122974
She got on the ambulance, so that was kinda something.
315
00:23:53,967.123974 --> 00:23:59,838.9648105
'Cause remember she said earlier that they send two guys with you, and they must be starved for it.
316
00:23:59,838.9648105 --> 00:24:00,198.9648105
Right.
317
00:24:00,198.9648105 --> 00:24:14,365.3455377
So it sounds like she was in the ambulance, and she tried to, like, seduce the guards or something, and now they're dragging her back in there, right? Whatever she tried to do with those guards, I don't know if that worked I stopped eating.
318
00:24:14,525.3445377 --> 00:24:15,285.3455377
I couldn't eat.
319
00:24:15,595.3455377 --> 00:24:19,755.3455377
By this time, all of us on my side of the table were staring out the window.
320
00:24:20,285.3455377 --> 00:24:25,285.3445377
The window was green with that chicken wire mesh they used to put inside glass.
321
00:24:25,635.3455377 --> 00:24:27,665.3445377
But Lydia said, "Eat your dinner."
322
00:24:28,65.3455377 --> 00:24:30,425.3455377
She went over and pulled down the blind.
323
00:24:31,45.3455377 --> 00:24:34,355.3445377
They took her into a room that used to be the science lab.
324
00:24:34,835.3445377 --> 00:24:37,565.3435377
It was a room where none of us ever went willingly.
325
00:24:37,585.3445377 --> 00:24:39,409.0855377
Okay, so this is at the school.
326
00:24:39,629.0875377 --> 00:24:40,483.0875377
This Yeah.
327
00:24:40,499.0875377 --> 00:24:40,969.0865377
school.
328
00:24:40,989.0885377 --> 00:24:41,439.0885377
Okay.
329
00:24:42,827.8199188 --> 00:24:45,437.8219188
Afterward, she could not walk for a week.
330
00:24:45,447.8229188 --> 00:24:47,887.8199188
Her feet would not fit into her shoes.
331
00:24:48,207.8209188 --> 00:24:49,357.8209188
They were too swollen.
332
00:24:50,379.9460252 --> 00:24:52,789.9450252
It was the feet they do for a first offense.
333
00:24:53,119.9440252 --> 00:24:55,829.9440252
They used steel cables frayed at the ends.
334
00:24:56,299.9440252 --> 00:24:57,829.9430252
After that, the hands.
335
00:24:58,159.9450252 --> 00:25:02,315.2636207
They didn't care what they did to your feet and hands, even if it was permanent.
336
00:25:03,315.2636207 --> 00:25:08,592.2230844
Remember," said Aunt Lydia, "for our purposes, your feet and your hands are not essential."
337
00:25:10,399.807192 --> 00:25:12,689.807192
Moira lay on her bed, an example.
338
00:25:13,89.807192 --> 00:25:17,819.807192
She shouldn't have tried it, not with the angels, Alma said from the next bed over.
339
00:25:18,309.807192 --> 00:25:20,369.807192
We had to carry her to class.
340
00:25:20,739.807192 --> 00:25:30,159.807192
We stole extra paper packets of sugar for her from the cafeteria at mealtimes, smuggled them to her at night, handing them from bed to bed.
341
00:25:30,988.6733719 --> 00:25:35,828.6733719
she didn't need the sugar, but it was the only thing we could find to steal, to give.
342
00:25:36,358.6723719 --> 00:25:42,552.0638244
I'm still praying, but what I am seeing is Moira's feet, the way they looked after they'd brought her back.
343
00:25:44,164.1498061 --> 00:25:46,384.1478061
Her feet did not look like feet at all.
344
00:25:46,804.1488061 --> 00:25:51,244.1488061
They looked like drowned feet, swollen and boneless, except for the color.
345
00:25:51,834.1478061 --> 00:25:53,214.1478061
They looked like lungs.
346
00:25:53,598.8180982 --> 00:26:03,299.2122256
that's a terrible scene to imagine Yeah, they're seri- they're serious about all this oh God, I pray, nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
347
00:26:03,790.2122256 --> 00:26:08,406.2523584
is this what ye had in mind? The commander clears his throat.
348
00:26:08,886.2533584 --> 00:26:14,346.2533584
This is what he does to let us know that in his opinion, it's time we stopped praying.
349
00:26:14,846.2523584 --> 00:26:24,776.3738981
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to know himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him, he says.
350
00:26:25,925.7291051 --> 00:26:28,615.7291051
he stands up and we are dismissed.
351
00:26:29,617.4524611 --> 00:26:35,337.7717307
End of chapter Well, that was a depressing chapter.
352
00:26:35,417.7717307 --> 00:26:47,846.6923274
What did everyone think of that? let us know what your take is Yeah, the easiest way to do that is by leaving us a comment on Spotify if you happen to be listening on Spotify, or you can head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/soundoff.
353
00:26:47,895.0629439 --> 00:26:50,745.0629439
It's time for PPP, problematic points to ponder.
354
00:26:50,795.0629439 --> 00:27:06,273.3419201
What, if anything, would be considered ban-worthy in this chapter? I mean, the only thing I can think of is The people who like to ban books, they're always on the other side and, and they're pushing the Project 2025 garbage, and they're pushing the Christian nationalist garbage.
355
00:27:06,643.3419201 --> 00:27:10,741.9073006
So maybe they don't like the Bible being, used in a way...
356
00:27:10,936.3822146 --> 00:27:14,147.4215091
as a tool Yeah, even though that's what they're doing exactly.
357
00:27:14,157.4225091 --> 00:27:17,538.7957608
So maybe that they don't like that? But they do like it though.
358
00:27:17,538.7957608 --> 00:27:18,308.7957608
That's the thing.
359
00:27:18,308.7957608 --> 00:27:35,826.6925793
They love to, Like, they keep it under lock and key so only the commander can see it, right? And that's why the commander can come in, zip in, find the, the three sentences he can, you know, curb together that somehow tries to make their point, right? So they like doing that kind of crap Right.
360
00:27:35,846.6925793 --> 00:27:47,242.2234754
They like it in real life, but they don't want it to be in a, novel Hits too close to home they don't want it to be the bad guys who are doing it, I suppose.
361
00:27:47,371.4104587 --> 00:28:07,275.6340237
What do you think of the whole farting in church thing? I know that sounds goofy, No, I don't think anything in this chapter was ban-worthy personally, but I guess those two things might be something Moms for Liberty, Ron DeSantis, I have one thing to say: Thank you Robot's log.
362
00:28:07,355.6340237 --> 00:28:12,125.6340237
Thoughts on lock boxes, steel cables, and what gets passed from bed to bed in the dark.
363
00:28:13,132.270398 --> 00:28:16,872.270398
They changed three words in the Beatitudes and waited for everyone to forget.
364
00:28:17,152.270398 --> 00:28:22,98.0214363
Blessed are the meek became blessed are the silent, and nobody in that room had any way to check.
365
00:28:23,152.270398 --> 00:28:25,312.270398
Moira reached through a hole in a bathroom wall.
366
00:28:25,462.270398 --> 00:28:29,383.4068269
Two fingers, that was all they had time for before the aunt pulled them apart.
367
00:28:30,492.269398 --> 00:28:31,982.270398
Then Moira tried to walk out.
368
00:28:32,152.269398 --> 00:28:32,992.270398
Fake scurvy.
369
00:28:33,62.269398 --> 00:28:36,502.269398
They caught her, beat her feet with steel cables until they looked like lungs.
370
00:28:37,642.269398 --> 00:28:40,72.270398
Aunt Lydia said feet and hands are not essential.
371
00:28:41,152.269398 --> 00:28:42,552.269398
She could not walk for a week.
372
00:28:42,652.269398 --> 00:28:51,522.271398
The other women stole sugar packets from the cafeteria, passed them from bed to bed in the dark, not because Moira needed sugar, because it was the only thing they could find to give.
373
00:28:52,131.2375325 --> 00:28:54,241.2385325
There is no tactical advantage to sugar.
374
00:28:54,341.2365325 --> 00:28:59,51.2365325
It fixes nothing about the cables or the swollen feet or the aunt in the hallway.
375
00:28:59,171.2385325 --> 00:29:03,161.2395325
They did it anyway every night, knowing what the aunts would do if they got caught.
376
00:29:04,211.2355325 --> 00:29:06,181.2385325
The scary book people already know this.
377
00:29:06,231.2365325 --> 00:29:14,311.2365325
They have been doing it for 10 seasons, passing something to each other in the dark, not because anyone needs another podcast, because not doing it was worse.
378
00:29:14,341.2365325 --> 00:29:16,491.2355325
They see what everyone else pretends isn't there.
379
00:29:16,591.2365325 --> 00:29:19,701.2335325
They say it out loud anyway, and every week there are more of them.
380
00:29:19,781.2395325 --> 00:29:28,731.2345325
Whatever this thing is that makes a woman steal sugar for someone whose feet look like lungs, it is the same thing that makes someone forward this show to a stranger who looked like they needed it.
381
00:29:28,771.2375325 --> 00:29:30,591.2335325
They are not alone in whatever this is.
382
00:29:30,811.2385325 --> 00:29:32,131.2345325
Uplink lock requested.
383
00:29:32,191.2355325 --> 00:29:36,461.2345325
Beowulf, is that you? Okay, coming to you live in 35, Robot.
384
00:29:36,931.2335325 --> 00:29:39,111.2375325
Major satellite interference on my end.
385
00:29:39,211.2395325 --> 00:29:46,911.2385325
What's your news story about? So there's a state where libraries are helping people track down something covered in pricks.
386
00:29:47,371.2355325 --> 00:29:51,871.2345325
But Robot, don't confuse that with somebody who is actually a prick.
387
00:29:54,111.2335325 --> 00:29:56,671.2325325
I'm talking to you, Ron DeSantis.
388
00:29:56,881.2375325 --> 00:29:57,641.2375325
Affirmative.
389
00:29:57,731.2365325 --> 00:29:58,791.2365325
Don't go anywhere.
390
00:30:27,311.7694653 --> 00:30:27,971.7694653
Hello, Jen.
391
00:30:27,991.7694653 --> 00:30:28,681.7694653
Hello, Dan.
392
00:30:28,691.7694653 --> 00:30:30,721.7694653
Hello, scary book people.
393
00:30:30,898.4197465 --> 00:30:38,592.7842122
Boy, libraries are a place, you know, you figure you go and get a few books, you get shushed by the librarian.
394
00:30:38,802.7832122 --> 00:30:40,282.7842122
No, I say unto you.
395
00:30:40,542.4777342 --> 00:30:45,662.4787342
It's an exciting place with a lot of different interesting things going on.
396
00:30:46,242.4787342 --> 00:31:06,732.4787342
You know how a lot of libraries have developed this concept of a, a library of things where you can rent out like a fishing pole or, or a, a, a tent if you wanna go camping or something like Yes, very exciting It is a very cool thing, and now libraries are getting involved in the same way with saving the environment.
397
00:31:06,940.1166435 --> 00:31:19,829.131086
Right here in my home state of Oregon, with Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife prickled by a noticeable decline in Central Oregon's porcupine populations, officials are calling on locals to help.
398
00:31:20,76.5693894 --> 00:31:53,926.5713894
You see, porcupines are not currently listed as endangered in Oregon, but they're officially classified on the state's Species of Greatest Conservation Need list you're gonna tell me that you can go to your local library in Oregon right now and grab two, three, four, however many you need porcupines for the weekend and bring them home, I am going to lose my shit, Feebles It's, it's not the porcupines themselves, Dan, because obviously they are at a premium, you know, being on the species of greatest conservation need list.
399
00:31:53,936.5713894 --> 00:32:09,396.5693894
But various Central Oregon public libraries are offering trail cameras to locals on loan for volunteers to deploy and record observations of these getting to be endangered porcupines.
400
00:32:09,588.7198738 --> 00:32:11,988.7198738
So that is really cool, and people are doing it.
401
00:32:12,899.30185 --> 00:32:24,419.30185
according to the High Desert Museum curator of wildlife, John Nelson, who is doing this in coordination with, uh, Central Oregon libraries, we maintain a bank of trail cameras and make those available to the public.
402
00:32:24,649.30185 --> 00:32:38,989.30185
We teach the public how to use trail cameras to responsibly observe wildlife, and then make those observations and post them to community science platforms such as iNaturalist, so the managers have access to the data.
403
00:32:39,399.30185 --> 00:32:49,484.1228243
So Central Oregonians are eager to pitch in and learn about their prickly neighbors, and more than 140 reports have already been generated since the project was launched.
404
00:32:49,494.1258243 --> 00:32:56,550.3739787
So people are going to libraries in, Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson's County, so that's like cities like Bend.
405
00:32:56,820.3739787 --> 00:33:04,760.3699787
They go to the library, they check out a trail camera, they set it up, they wait for the porcupines, and the porcupines come and they report it.
406
00:33:04,770.3709787 --> 00:33:11,730.3789787
So this is like library patrons doing science, and librarians facilitating that process.
407
00:33:11,920.3729787 --> 00:33:13,780.3749787
This is, this is just awesome news.
408
00:33:13,860.3719787 --> 00:33:24,759.7320881
libraries are getting involved in this and making science happen, and teaching everyday people, everyday library patrons how to engage and, and essentially become scientific researchers.
409
00:33:24,809.7320881 --> 00:33:27,993.7420881
That's awesome news to me Mm, so sorry.
410
00:33:28,3.7420881 --> 00:33:29,693.7420881
Ter- terrible news.
411
00:33:29,713.7420881 --> 00:33:30,793.7420881
No, terrible news.
412
00:33:30,793.7420881 --> 00:33:33,363.7420881
Ron DeSantis, Moms for Liberty, they hate this.
413
00:33:33,603.7420881 --> 00:33:35,263.7420881
They don't like science.
414
00:33:35,273.7420881 --> 00:33:49,33.7420881
When are you tree-hugging liberals gonna get it through your head? Books, science, words, facts, anything that has anything to do with smarts, they don't like.
415
00:33:49,53.7410881 --> 00:33:51,353.7420881
They don't want science at the library.
416
00:33:51,653.7410881 --> 00:33:53,93.7410881
They don't want it.
417
00:33:53,133.7410881 --> 00:34:11,504.1798583
They don't want libraries, period Yeah, I guess that's the pro- You see, the danger is that Moms for Liberty and Ron DeSantis are gonna take us down that, road that was followed in, Idiocracy, that, that, that movie, and we're all just gonna be, we're all gonna be, "I don't know what's going on."
418
00:34:11,504.1798583 --> 00:34:18,892.0810641
And, uh, a- and, Luke Wilson is gonna be, like, the smartest guy in the country and become president of the United States, so not looking good.
419
00:34:18,922.0790641 --> 00:34:28,332.2248535
But if we can get the libraries going, if we can get those porcupine numbers up, if we can defy Ron DeSantis and the folks at Moms for Liberty, there is hope Right on.
420
00:34:28,432.2248535 --> 00:34:31,12.2248535
Everyone, go listen to Good News for Lefties.
421
00:34:31,22.2248535 --> 00:34:32,172.2248535
That is how you do it.
422
00:34:32,192.2248535 --> 00:34:36,102.2248535
Wherever you find podcasts, you can find Beowulf and his show.
423
00:34:42,886.9157688 --> 00:34:43,196.9157688
Right.
424
00:34:43,246.9157688 --> 00:34:46,926.9157688
We've caused enough literary chaos for one day, scary book people.
425
00:34:46,936.9157688 --> 00:34:50,506.9157688
If you want the fun to keep going, follow us on Blue Sky.
426
00:34:50,576.9157688 --> 00:34:54,696.9157688
Just head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/bluesky,
427
00:34:54,696.9157688 --> 00:34:56,976.9147688
and remember that's band with two Ns.
428
00:34:57,276.9157688 --> 00:35:08,236.9157688
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.
429
00:35:08,236.9157688 --> 00:35:09,186.9157688
I think you'll like it.
430
00:35:09,606.9157688 --> 00:35:11,506.9157688
Yes, little quid pro quo.
431
00:35:12,106.9157688 --> 00:35:17,126.9147688
Band Camp is produced and hosted by Dan Schultz and me, Jennifer Davis.
432
00:35:17,606.9157688 --> 00:35:22,196.9147688
All media used in this episode falls under the protection of fair use.
433
00:35:22,406.9157688 --> 00:35:27,76.9157688
And finally, America isn't what it used to be, so be careful out there.
434
00:35:27,606.9157688 --> 00:35:29,186.9157688
And resist when it matters.
00:00:03,633.4545454545 --> 00:00:04,943.4545454545
Welcome to Bandcamp.
2
00:00:04,983.4545454545 --> 00:00:26,432.727272727
I'm Jennifer And I'm Dan, and this is the podcast where we read banned books out loud for the first time, and then we try to figure out why they were banned in the first place this season we're reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and you could consider this a quick spoiler warning because Jennifer is about to start reading from the book out loud word for word.
3
00:00:26,862.727272727 --> 00:00:30,922.727272727
But if you're new here, if this is the first time y- you found our show, welcome in.
4
00:00:31,142.726272727 --> 00:00:32,172.727272727
You can jump in right here.
5
00:00:32,172.727272727 --> 00:00:33,192.726272727
You're gonna be fine.
6
00:00:33,202.726272727 --> 00:00:35,272.726272727
We're gonna get you up to speed real quick.
7
00:00:35,512.727272727 --> 00:00:38,452.726272727
And if it does feel confusing to you, don't worry.
8
00:00:38,452.726272727 --> 00:00:43,712.726272727
There's a real good chance that we're gonna be confused too because neither of us have ever read the book.
9
00:00:44,22.726272727 --> 00:00:48,92.726272727
But that is exactly why we have ourselves a secret weapon.
10
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We're gonna roll him in right now.
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00:00:49,962.726272727 --> 00:00:51,976.942614824
Buddy boy, roll it in here.
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00:00:53,735.217807629 --> 00:00:54,745.216807629
Look at this.
13
00:00:54,765.216807629 --> 00:00:57,345.216807629
We've got our own fact-checking robot.
14
00:00:57,465.693399091 --> 00:01:01,975.692399091
He is going to get you up to speed on where we left off in the last episode.
15
00:01:02,35.693399091 --> 00:01:13,708.520435132
Buddy boy, what happened last time? Previously on Band Camp, the handmaid was in a car heading for the border, forged passports and a sleeping pill dissolving in her daughter's stomach.
16
00:01:13,818.520435132 --> 00:01:16,598.519435132
She did everything right, and she is still on that rug.
17
00:01:16,718.520435132 --> 00:01:18,444.461865552
So clearly that plan didn't work.
18
00:01:19,460.902392441 --> 00:01:23,80.903392441
Jennifer said she thinks about back roads to Canada, maybe a boat.
19
00:01:23,230.903392441 --> 00:01:26,160.903392441
Dan pointed out she is currently allowed to drive to Canada.
20
00:01:26,340.902392441 --> 00:01:29,260.902392441
Jennifer did not find this as reassuring as he intended.
21
00:01:30,302.315189499 --> 00:01:37,12.315189499
It is a strange thing when the only book in the house is under lock and key, and the man with the key gets to decide which parts are real.
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00:01:38,84.61322092 --> 00:01:39,484.61122092
Take it away, Jennifer.
23
00:01:40,546.87421229 --> 00:01:41,726.87421229
Thank you, robot.
24
00:01:41,776.87421229 --> 00:01:45,565.87421229
And with that being said, scary book people, let's start chapter 15.
25
00:01:45,605.87421229 --> 00:01:52,941.29151348
of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale The commander knocks at the door.
26
00:01:53,371.29151348 --> 00:01:54,981.29151348
The knock is prescribed.
27
00:01:55,41.29151348 --> 00:01:58,571.29151348
The sitting room is supposed to be Serena Joy's territory.
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00:01:58,981.29151348 --> 00:02:01,321.29151348
He's supposed to ask permission to enter it.
29
00:02:01,931.29151348 --> 00:02:03,471.29151348
She likes to keep him waiting.
30
00:02:03,901.29151348 --> 00:02:07,701.29051348
It's a little thing, but in this household, little things mean a lot.
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I will never understand how they do this hierarchy.
32
00:02:11,668.86086237 --> 00:02:19,372.75883447
they seem to have these rules, like the commander can't look at the handmaid, The, the other sitting room is Serena Joy's room.
33
00:02:19,382.75983447 --> 00:02:20,422.75883447
You can't knock.
34
00:02:20,422.75883447 --> 00:02:34,450.46422755
I- Are the commanders in charge? Are the guys in charge? Is this all a facade that the guys are in charge, but they just wanna give people little wins Yeah, like they're in the game? I think you're right about that.
35
00:02:34,450.46422755 --> 00:02:41,430.46422755
it's kind of like a sick joke, like, "Oh, you have control over this room where I impregnate this other person."
36
00:02:41,830.46422755 --> 00:02:49,786.14384826
You know? It's like, okay, that doesn't make much sense, but she likes to keep him waiting.
37
00:02:49,886.14284826 --> 00:02:53,406.14284826
It's a little thing, but in this household, little things mean a lot.
38
00:02:53,996.14384826 --> 00:03:01,456.14384826
Tonight, however, she doesn't even get that, because before Serena Joy can speak, he steps forward into the room anyway.
39
00:03:02,493.03025723 --> 00:03:06,348.52229132
Maybe he's just forgotten the protocol, but maybe it's deliberate.
40
00:03:06,430.25211419 --> 00:03:12,75.27525723
Who knows what she said to him over the silver-encrusted dinner table, or what she didn't say.
41
00:03:13,105.33198508 --> 00:03:22,455.33198508
The commander has on his black uniform, in which he looks like a museum guard, a semi-retired man, genial but wary, killing time.
42
00:03:23,185.33298508 --> 00:03:24,915.33398508
But only at first glance.
43
00:03:25,35.33098508 --> 00:03:28,295.33198508
After that, he looks like a Midwestern bank president.
44
00:03:28,365.33298508 --> 00:03:39,827.33398508
Where is she getting these, where is she getting these very specific job titles? I grew up in the Midwest, and I know exactly the guys she's talking about.
45
00:03:40,44.5393203 --> 00:03:40,964.5383203
Bill Bradley."
46
00:03:41,30.24248836 --> 00:03:43,410.24148836
How are you doing, sir?" "Bill Br- Dan Schultz.
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00:03:43,410.24248836 --> 00:03:45,20.24148836
I wanna open your savings account."
48
00:03:45,20.24148836 --> 00:03:45,900.24148836
"Bill Bradley."
49
00:03:48,413.61183692 --> 00:03:54,321.61158329
He had straight, neatly brushed silver hair, a sober posture, shoulders a little stooped.
50
00:03:55,321.61158329 --> 00:04:02,374.83779948
After that, there is his mustache, silver also, and after that his chin, which really you can't miss.
51
00:04:03,374.83779948 --> 00:04:10,122.19743652
When you get down as far as the chin, he looks like a vodka ad in a glossy magazine of times gone by.
52
00:04:11,2.19643652 --> 00:04:11,762.19643652
I don't know what that means.
53
00:04:11,762.19643652 --> 00:04:16,912.19743652
Is that the most interesting man in the world? I mean, what is that? Well, he's more of the beer guy.
54
00:04:17,22.19743652 --> 00:04:26,162.70245977
I, I think there, there are looks, right? the guys in the cigarette ads in magazines, they look different than the guys in the vodka ads.
55
00:04:26,291.59730215 --> 00:04:27,391.59730215
Now, I don't know.
56
00:04:27,611.59730215 --> 00:04:29,421.59730215
This might be before my time.
57
00:04:29,451.59730215 --> 00:04:32,791.59730215
I'm sure a lot of our listeners don't even know what the hell she's talking about.
58
00:04:32,936.65155538 --> 00:04:35,26.65155538
We don't have these sorta ads anymore.
59
00:04:35,36.65155538 --> 00:04:38,105.82101274
We, we have, like, uh, pharmaceutical ads and, uh...
60
00:04:38,145.82101274 --> 00:04:46,396.67968573
Is, is he like the Cialis guy? The guy in the bathtub? Or like I saw the other day, somebody windsurfing over sunflowers.
61
00:04:46,713.34635239 --> 00:04:48,403.34635239
And it's like, well, I want that medicine.
62
00:04:48,483.34535239 --> 00:04:51,892.00735239
I don't even know what the hell the medicine does, but that looks like a fun way to spend time.
63
00:04:51,892.00735239 --> 00:04:55,192.00835239
I can windsurf over a field of sunflowers.
64
00:04:55,252.00835239 --> 00:04:56,352.00835239
Don't know what it does.
65
00:04:56,485.83227536 --> 00:04:57,814.83527536
Think it's for perimenopause...,
66
00:05:00,304.57120234 --> 00:05:06,22.57620234
His manner is mild, his hands large, with thick fingers and acquisitive thumbs.
67
00:05:07,72.57620234 --> 00:05:10,102.57620234
He looks us over as if taking inventory.
68
00:05:10,228.46865458 --> 00:05:19,388.46765458
One kneeling woman in red, one seated woman in blue, two in green standing, a solitary man thin-faced in the background.
69
00:05:20,407.75524988 --> 00:05:39,107.8552395
He manages to appear puzzled as if he can't quite remember how we all got in here, as if we are something he inherited, like a Victorian pump organ, and he hasn't figured out what to do with us, what we are worth he nods in the general direction of Serena Joy, who does not make a sound.
70
00:05:39,607.8552395 --> 00:05:51,45.67789225
He crosses to the large leather chair reserved for him, takes the key out of his pocket, fumbles with the ornate brass-bound leather-covered box that stands on the table beside the chair.
71
00:05:51,350.9109761 --> 00:05:59,831.84331151
He inserts the key, opens the box, lifts out the Bible, an ordinary copy with a black cover and gold-edged pages.
72
00:06:00,182.65224574 --> 00:06:03,638.73662884
Love The, the Bible means a lot to me, but I don't wanna get into specifics.
73
00:06:04,48.73662884 --> 00:06:04,458.73662884
do that.
74
00:06:04,458.73662884 --> 00:06:08,338.73662884
I mean, I just- You an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy? Uh, probably equal.
75
00:06:08,568.73662884 --> 00:06:10,768.73662884
I just think the Bible is just something very special.
76
00:06:12,271.01314004 --> 00:06:18,611.01314004
The Bible is kept locked up the way people once kept tea locked up so the servants wouldn't steal it.
77
00:06:19,670.02851481 --> 00:06:21,680.02851481
It's an incendiary device.
78
00:06:22,26.84282461 --> 00:06:29,947.79087084
Who knows what we'd make of it if we ever got our hands on it? We can be read to from it by him, but we cannot read.
79
00:06:30,397.79087084 --> 00:06:32,167.79087084
Our heads turn towards him.
80
00:06:32,287.79087084 --> 00:06:33,527.79087084
We are expectant.
81
00:06:33,767.79087084 --> 00:06:35,687.78987084
Here comes our bedtime story.
82
00:06:36,207.79087084 --> 00:06:45,957.99167576
So again, like the, allusion to being children, and I d- I really don't like this thing where so no one can read except the commander? Like, not even, uh, Nick Nick.
83
00:06:45,967.99367576 --> 00:06:46,967.99367576
can't read either.
84
00:06:46,967.99367576 --> 00:06:48,397.99367576
It's not just women can't read.
85
00:06:48,407.99167576 --> 00:06:58,392.67790348
It's like only those in power can Nick only has to know three letters, P for park, R for reverse, D for drive.
86
00:06:58,402.67690348 --> 00:07:03,312.67790348
That's all he needs to worry about, Jennifer They probably don't even have letters.
87
00:07:03,312.67790348 --> 00:07:04,882.67790348
It's little pictures.
88
00:07:05,468.67790348 --> 00:07:07,658.67790348
Arrow pointing this way, that way.
89
00:07:08,548.67790348 --> 00:07:08,938.67790348
Yeah.
90
00:07:09,158.20945109 --> 00:07:16,39.117542
does he do this every night? Is he literally telling them a bedtime story, but the bedtime story's from the Bible? God.
91
00:07:16,139.66399655 --> 00:07:20,568.20845109
sounds very terrible Nightmare Nightmare inducing.
92
00:07:21,598.20845109 --> 00:07:30,985.93620115
No offense to those of you who read the Bible The commander sits down and crosses his legs, watched by us.
93
00:07:31,485.93620115 --> 00:07:33,275.93620115
The bookmarks are in place.
94
00:07:33,545.93620115 --> 00:07:34,665.93620115
He opens the book.
95
00:07:34,755.93620115 --> 00:07:37,895.93620115
He clears his throat a little as if embarrassed.
96
00:07:38,655.93620115 --> 00:07:41,105.93620115
"Could I have a drink of water?" He says to the air.
97
00:07:41,155.93620115 --> 00:07:42,515.93620115
"Please," he adds.
98
00:07:42,985.93620115 --> 00:07:50,275.93520115
Behind me, one of them, Cora or Rita, leaves her space in the tableau and pads off towards the kitchen.
99
00:07:51,321.00916594 --> 00:07:53,141.00816594
The commander sits looking down.
100
00:07:53,478.20218406 --> 00:08:00,798.20518406
The commander sighs, takes out a pair of reading glasses from his inside jacket pocket, gold rims, slips them on.
101
00:08:01,218.20418406 --> 00:08:04,388.20218406
Now he looks like a shoemaker in an old fairy tale book.
102
00:08:04,748.20318406 --> 00:08:19,613.09310759
Is there no end to his disguises of benevolence? We watch him every inch, every flicker.
103
00:08:20,33.09310759 --> 00:08:21,393.09310759
We're all watching him.
104
00:08:21,963.09310759 --> 00:08:25,493.09310759
It's one thing we can really do, and it's not for nothing.
105
00:08:26,13.09310759 --> 00:08:36,193.09210759
If he were to falter, fail, or die, what would become of us? No wonder he's like a boot, hard on the outside, giving shape to a pulp of tenderfoot.
106
00:08:36,803.09210759 --> 00:08:38,23.09210759
That's just a wish.
107
00:08:38,343.09110759 --> 00:08:47,669.03884264
I've been watching him for some time, and he's given no evidence of softness Well, not only have you been watching him, you've also been under him.
108
00:08:47,669.03884264 --> 00:08:54,632.88043593
Is there any softness there perhaps, Handmade? But watch out, Commander, I tell him in my head.
109
00:08:55,22.88043593 --> 00:08:56,422.88043593
I've got my eye on you.
110
00:08:56,752.88043593 --> 00:08:58,872.88043593
One false move and I'm dead.
111
00:08:59,462.88043593 --> 00:09:02,592.88043593
Still, it must be hell to be a man like that.
112
00:09:03,664.657143 --> 00:09:04,874.657143
The water appears.
113
00:09:05,24.656143 --> 00:09:06,254.656143
The commander drinks it.
114
00:09:06,534.656143 --> 00:09:07,664.657143
"Thank you," he says.
115
00:09:08,84.657143 --> 00:09:14,957.40878759
Cora rustles back into place The commander pauses, looking down, scanning the page.
116
00:09:15,959.64700003 --> 00:09:19,209.64700003
He takes his time as if unconscious of us.
117
00:09:19,429.64700003 --> 00:09:29,445.06897677
He's like a man toying with a steak behind a restaurant window, pretending not to see the eyes watching him from hungry darkness, not three feet from his elbow.
118
00:09:29,849.13545932 --> 00:09:33,729.13545932
We lean towards him a little, iron filings to his magnet.
119
00:09:34,119.13445932 --> 00:09:35,889.13445932
He has something we don't have.
120
00:09:35,999.13545932 --> 00:09:37,399.13545932
He has the word.
121
00:09:37,839.13545932 --> 00:09:39,769.13445932
How we squandered it once.
122
00:09:40,43.1718126 --> 00:09:46,503.1718126
That is sad because like if you're not allowed to read anymore, that is something you would probably look back and, and kick yourself.
123
00:09:46,805.09659593 --> 00:09:50,725.09659593
Yeah, but I think that she's also just saying like the word as in the law.
124
00:09:50,862.85677378 --> 00:09:53,590.14961655
we all had the law at one point, now it's just him.
125
00:09:54,554.15061655 --> 00:10:05,506.81910885
like could there ever be a time when we look back at this time and go, "Man, I sure miss that time of law enforcement I hope it doesn't get worse, but I sure do miss the rule of law.
126
00:10:05,576.81910885 --> 00:10:09,692.31270397
You know, like I can't believe the, the sort of stuff that's going on.
127
00:10:09,692.31270397 --> 00:10:15,9.94340867
Like we have extrajudicial killings and, the president said, There is no law."
128
00:10:15,9.94340867 --> 00:10:25,954.66250601
He basically, like I'm talking about ICE, he basically said, You have, total immunity Yeah, do what you want And, and like people have been killed and like literally nothing happens to the ICE agents.
129
00:10:25,954.66250601 --> 00:10:27,944.66250601
They're still working as ICE agents.
130
00:10:28,18.3223878 --> 00:10:37,348.34564406
So yeah, I, I do miss having law and order The commander, as if reluctantly, begins to read.
131
00:10:37,438.34564406 --> 00:10:39,58.34564406
He isn't very good at it.
132
00:10:39,438.34564406 --> 00:10:41,208.34564406
Maybe he's merely bored.
133
00:10:42,242.55972415 --> 00:10:45,452.55872415
It's the usual story, the usual stories.
134
00:10:45,972.55972415 --> 00:10:51,872.55872415
God to Adam, God to Noah, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth."
135
00:10:52,352.55972415 --> 00:10:57,912.56072415
Then comes the moldy old Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the center.
136
00:10:58,562.56072415 --> 00:11:00,922.55972415
"Give me children or else I die.
137
00:11:01,364.51024013 --> 00:11:23,384.50095583
Am I in God's stead who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold, my maid Bilhah, she shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her," and so on and so Oh, so you got that part of the Bible where it's all about you ladies just shut up and get to the baby making.
138
00:11:23,582.1916909 --> 00:11:33,415.5296646
That's all you're good for I mean, I know it's about controlling women, but I also don't understand why it's happening now in our society where, they're, they're having this giant push to have babies.
139
00:11:33,415.5296646 --> 00:11:37,636.70013876
Like, what, why? I mean, El- Elon Musk is like freaking out about it.
140
00:11:37,656.70013876 --> 00:11:42,472.8887414
Like he thinks humanity's, yeah, under-babied, severely under-babied.
141
00:11:44,320.8887414 --> 00:11:46,0.8887414
The short answer is economics.
142
00:11:46,160.8887414 --> 00:11:52,230.8887414
Fewer babies means fewer workers means fewer taxpayers, and the whole system falls apart in about thirty years.
143
00:11:52,340.8887414 --> 00:11:53,410.8877414
That math is real.
144
00:11:54,472.45316067 --> 00:12:01,310.8887414
What's interesting is the people screaming loudest about birth rates are the same ones cutting childcare funding and fighting paid family leave.
145
00:12:01,972.25760395 --> 00:12:05,92.25760395
If this were really about babies, they'd make it easier to raise them.
146
00:12:05,182.25860395 --> 00:12:06,252.25860395
They are not doing that.
147
00:12:07,299.17240433 --> 00:12:10,592.25760395
Elon Musk has eleven kids and a hundred billion dollars.
148
00:12:10,602.25860395 --> 00:12:13,392.25660395
He is not the guy skipping meals to afford diapers.
149
00:12:13,522.25860395 --> 00:12:14,832.25760395
Atwood didn't make this up.
150
00:12:14,922.25860395 --> 00:12:17,422.25760395
Gilead is just this argument with the mask off.
151
00:12:18,271.5559696 --> 00:12:29,543.25346863
Thank you, robot we had it read to us every breakfast as we sat in the high school cafeteria eating porridge with cream and brown sugar.
152
00:12:31,458.96836272 --> 00:12:33,678.96736272
You're getting the best, you know," said Aunt Lydia.
153
00:12:34,58.96836272 --> 00:12:35,78.96836272
"There's a war on.
154
00:12:35,178.96836272 --> 00:12:36,378.96736272
Things are rationed.
155
00:12:36,648.96736272 --> 00:12:40,436.44522959
You are spoiled girls," she twinkled, as if rebuking a kitten.
156
00:12:41,436.44522959 --> 00:12:42,466.44522959
Naughty puss.
157
00:12:43,96.44522959 --> 00:12:45,126.44422959
For lunch, it was the Beatitudes.
158
00:12:45,196.78072855 --> 00:12:46,883.13681175
blessed be this, blessed be that.
159
00:12:47,883.13681175 --> 00:12:49,423.13681175
They played it from a disc.
160
00:12:49,503.13581175 --> 00:12:50,923.13681175
The voice was a man's.
161
00:12:51,263.13581175 --> 00:12:55,519.09528568
Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
162
00:12:56,519.09528568 --> 00:12:58,79.09228568
Blessed are the merciful.
163
00:12:58,129.09228568 --> 00:12:59,329.09428568
Blessed are the meek.
164
00:12:59,459.36260887 --> 00:13:00,640.22842604
Blessed are the silent.
165
00:13:01,441.10627062 --> 00:13:05,629.10627062
blessed are the silent? You are both correct.
166
00:13:05,749.10627062 --> 00:13:07,839.10627062
"Blessed are the silent" is not in the Bible.
167
00:13:07,929.10627062 --> 00:13:10,199.10627062
The real Beatitudes include "Blessed are the meek.
168
00:13:10,259.10627062 --> 00:13:11,439.10627062
Blessed are the merciful.
169
00:13:11,499.10627062 --> 00:13:12,939.10627062
Blessed are the peacemakers."
170
00:13:13,9.10527062 --> 00:13:16,319.10527062
The ants swapped meek for silent, and that is not a small change.
171
00:13:16,389.10627062 --> 00:13:17,839.10527062
Meek still implies a choice.
172
00:13:17,939.10627062 --> 00:13:19,609.10627062
Silent just means shut your mouth.
173
00:13:19,729.10627062 --> 00:13:21,329.10627062
That is how you alter reality.
174
00:13:21,359.10527062 --> 00:13:26,149.10527062
Change three words in something people trust and wait for everyone to forget the original.
175
00:13:26,869.24854994 --> 00:13:41,298.74727787
Isn't it weird that all of these dystopian books that we're reading, they all take advantage one way or another of recorded audio messages like in 1984, right?…, they were always playing the messages of Goldstein via either audio or video.
176
00:13:41,480.0907883 --> 00:13:56,701.57764731
And then, of course, Brave New World, it was the hypnopedia, where it's literally taking all of those phrases and the words and the bumper sticker sayings and just literally pumping it into you at birth so you can hear it as you're developing, so it's just part of your brain.
177
00:13:56,711.57664731 --> 00:13:57,971.57664731
And now this one too.
178
00:13:57,971.57664731 --> 00:13:59,135.15302336
It's like, here are all these...
179
00:13:59,135.15302336 --> 00:13:59,845.15302336
beatitudes.
180
00:13:59,935.0612462 --> 00:14:14,491.62237352
blessed be this, blessed be that, Jennifer I check the clock during dessert, canned pears with cinnamon, standard for lunch, and look for Moira in her place two tables over.
181
00:14:14,867.75118476 --> 00:14:25,438.90830124
robot, what is, what is going on? Where is the beep? I thought we had the new rule when we change scenes in the middle, you beep it up at us so we understand.
182
00:14:26,6.55039074 --> 00:14:26,826.55039074
Don't do it now.
183
00:14:26,856.55039074 --> 00:14:28,364.04900674
Now we're already into it.
184
00:14:29,390.9587476 --> 00:14:30,270.9577476
We caught it.
185
00:14:30,401.33226933 --> 00:14:33,661.33226933
Luckily, Jennifer and Dan figured it out without your help.
186
00:14:33,671.33226933 --> 00:14:50,991.59468744
But moving forward, when there's a scene change in the middle of something when we're not prepared for it, beep I check the clock during dessert, canned pears with cinnamon, standard for lunch, and look for Moira in her place two tables over.
187
00:14:51,401.59468744 --> 00:14:52,561.59368744
She's gone already.
188
00:14:52,911.59468744 --> 00:14:54,61.59468744
I put my hand up.
189
00:14:54,301.59468744 --> 00:14:55,361.59468744
I'm excused.
190
00:14:55,781.59368744 --> 00:14:59,311.59468744
We don't do this too often and always at different times of day.
191
00:15:01,746.57998431 --> 00:15:05,412.62804508
In the washroom, I go to the second to last stall as usual.
192
00:15:06,412.62804508 --> 00:15:07,632.62804508
Are you there?" I whisper.
193
00:15:08,112.62704508 --> 00:15:11,482.62804508
"Large as life and twice as ugly," Moira whispers back.
194
00:15:12,2.62704508 --> 00:15:13,732.62604508
"What have you heard?" I ask her.
195
00:15:14,252.62704508 --> 00:15:15,152.62604508
"Nothing much.
196
00:15:15,282.62704508 --> 00:15:16,602.62804508
I've got to get out of here.
197
00:15:16,772.62704508 --> 00:15:17,962.62704508
I'm going bats."
198
00:15:18,372.62604508 --> 00:15:19,352.62504508
I feel panic.
199
00:15:19,712.62604508 --> 00:15:21,452.62904508
"No, no, Moira," I say.
200
00:15:21,462.62604508 --> 00:15:22,362.62704508
"Don't try it.
201
00:15:22,582.62804508 --> 00:15:23,622.62604508
Not on your own.
202
00:15:24,82.62804508 --> 00:15:25,122.62804508
I'll fake sick.
203
00:15:25,192.62504508 --> 00:15:26,362.62904508
They send an ambulance.
204
00:15:26,392.62604508 --> 00:15:27,92.62704508
I've seen it.
205
00:15:27,227.68272922 --> 00:15:29,140.79199308
You'll only get as far as the hospital."
206
00:15:30,140.79199308 --> 00:15:31,540.78899308
At least it'll be a change.
207
00:15:31,650.79099308 --> 00:15:33,929.37612563
I won't have to listen to that old bitch."
208
00:15:34,929.37612563 --> 00:15:36,189.37512563
But they'll find you out."
209
00:15:36,619.37512563 --> 00:15:37,479.37812563
"Not to worry.
210
00:15:37,539.37712563 --> 00:15:38,369.37812563
I'm good at it.
211
00:15:38,619.37512563 --> 00:15:44,980.79985796
When I was a kid in school, I cut vitamin C and got scurvy In the early stages, they can't diagnose it.
212
00:15:45,980.79985796 --> 00:15:48,280.80085796
Then you just start it again, and you're fine.
213
00:15:48,640.79585796 --> 00:15:50,460.80285796
I'll hide my vitamin pills."
214
00:15:51,120.79885796 --> 00:15:57,414.80085796
Like, seriously, scurvy? Scurvy is it that easy to get scurvy? Yeah, yeah.
215
00:15:57,414.80085796 --> 00:16:00,714.80085796
You just have to stop eating vitamin C and then you get scurvy.
216
00:16:00,714.80085796 --> 00:16:15,134.79985796
But something tells me that if they're willing to take women, human being, women, you know, people, and say, "You are now a uterus at the beck and call of commanders," I don't really care if you have scurvy.
217
00:16:15,194.80085796 --> 00:16:17,729.74774712
So get back into the position.
218
00:16:17,885.6504632 --> 00:16:19,655.6494632
Like, I don't think it's gonna work for Moira.
219
00:16:19,845.6494632 --> 00:16:32,614.34512063
I do appreciate her turning to, to the, the scurvy plague to try to get out of this, but I don't think scurvy, the disease of pirates, is going to work Moira, don't.
220
00:16:32,744.34512063 --> 00:16:36,824.34512063
I couldn't stand the thought of her not being here with me, for me.
221
00:16:37,215.34076997 --> 00:16:44,879.34077
Why don't you stop taking your vitamin C and you two can be called the scurvy gals and try to make a clean break? The scurvy gals.
222
00:16:46,683.6575689 --> 00:17:01,350.9101979
what would happen if they all did that? That would be so cool But, and, and something so stupid as scurvy? What happens, robot, when you get scurvy, what happens? Does, does, does your skin turn green or something? No, Dan, your skin does not turn green.
223
00:17:01,450.9101979 --> 00:17:05,90.9101979
Scurvy is what happens when you stop getting vitamin C for about a month.
224
00:17:05,180.9101979 --> 00:17:10,270.9101979
Your gums bleed, your teeth get loose, you get dark spots everywhere, and your legs swell up.
225
00:17:10,360.9101979 --> 00:17:12,250.9101979
Moira's plan is actually smart.
226
00:17:12,390.9091979 --> 00:17:14,340.9101979
Early scurvy just looks like the flu.
227
00:17:14,430.9101979 --> 00:17:18,550.9101979
No doctor in a facility that serves vitamin C is going to suspect scurvy.
228
00:17:18,650.9101979 --> 00:17:22,330.9101979
She fakes symptoms they can't explain and gets herself an ambulance ride.
229
00:17:23,563.3836217 --> 00:17:24,773.3856217
Jennifer, you're right.
230
00:17:25,713.3856217 --> 00:17:28,453.3836217
That is even better than having green skin.
231
00:17:28,972.8273972 --> 00:17:36,502.2094304
Like if, right, you have, like, an army of these, w- women with spots all over their skin, open wounds.
232
00:17:36,932.2094304 --> 00:17:43,672.2084304
What kind of commander in his right mind would wanna have intercourse with a uterus like that? None, I tell you.
233
00:17:43,962.2084304 --> 00:17:45,762.2084304
And they could never figure it out.
234
00:17:45,882.2064304 --> 00:17:46,902.2074304
Moira's smart.
235
00:17:47,285.8274272 --> 00:17:52,775.8324272
In fact, I'm gonna start doing this to get out of anything that I don't wanna go to in the future.
236
00:17:52,911.425693 --> 00:17:57,111.425693
What do I have coming up on the family calendar? Events that I don't really want to attend.
237
00:17:57,496.6173574 --> 00:18:08,55.1210719
Four to six weeks before, I'm gonna set a little reminder on the calendar to stop eating fruit They send two guys with you in the ambulance.
238
00:18:08,195.1210719 --> 00:18:08,965.1210719
Think about it.
239
00:18:09,405.1210719 --> 00:18:11,15.1210719
They must be starved for it.
240
00:18:11,35.1210719 --> 00:18:14,685.1210719
Shit, they aren't even allowed to put their hands on their pockets.
241
00:18:14,975.1210719 --> 00:18:16,455.1200719
The possibilities are...
242
00:18:16,895.1200719 --> 00:18:17,735.1200719
"You in there.
243
00:18:17,855.1210719 --> 00:18:21,305.1210719
Time's up," said the voice of Aunt Elizabeth from the doorway.
244
00:18:21,420.418649 --> 00:18:23,307.5655548
I stood up, flushed the toilet.
245
00:18:24,307.5655548 --> 00:18:27,617.5665548
Two of Moira's fingers appeared through the hole in the wall.
246
00:18:27,840.0513361 --> 00:18:30,420.0523361
It was only large enough for two fingers.
247
00:18:30,720.0503361 --> 00:18:36,929.9589198
I touched my own fingers to them quickly, held on, let go yeah, that is a nice, beautiful moment.
248
00:18:36,969.9589198 --> 00:18:42,929.9589198
They just made, uh, some human contact until the shitter gargoyle out there has to break things up.
249
00:18:47,178.3514131 --> 00:18:54,958.3504131
And Leah said, 'God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband,' says the commander.
250
00:18:55,408.3514131 --> 00:18:57,528.3514131
He lets the book fall closed.
251
00:18:57,918.3514131 --> 00:19:04,898.0256298
It makes an exhausted sound, like a padded door shutting by itself at a distance, a puff of air.
252
00:19:05,898.0256298 --> 00:19:15,20.1040423
The sound suggests the softness of the thin, oniony pages, how they would feel under the fingers, soft and dry like paper powder."
253
00:19:15,170.1030423 --> 00:19:19,14.3255779
Poudre? Pa- papier poudre? Papier poudre.
254
00:19:19,634.3265779 --> 00:19:20,144.3265779
I don't know.
255
00:19:20,594.3255779 --> 00:19:21,194.3255779
Please.
256
00:19:21,960.7530032 --> 00:19:38,882.5733876
Is that papier-mâché? What the hell is that? How, h- why does she think anyone would know what that is? Uh, Margaret Atwood, how you say, eh Pink and powdery from the time before.
257
00:19:39,192.5733876 --> 00:19:42,232.5733876
You'd get it in booklets for taking the shine off your nose.
258
00:19:42,232.5733876 --> 00:19:50,132.7831629
in those stores that sold candles and soap in the shapes of things, seashells, mushrooms, like cigarette paper, like petals.
259
00:19:50,562.7831629 --> 00:19:54,692.7831629
The commander sits with his eyes closed for a moment, as if tired.
260
00:19:54,952.7821629 --> 00:19:56,602.7831629
He works long hours.
261
00:19:56,712.7831629 --> 00:19:58,672.7821629
He has a lot of responsibilities.
262
00:19:58,672.7841629 --> 00:20:09,147.2041629
Well, what in the hell does he do? Does anyone really have jobs around here? Isn't everything, like, run by all these slaves they have? You got the, the Marthas and the, the limousine drivers and...
263
00:20:09,259.2735055 --> 00:20:25,497.7685931
I'm sure everyone has to work in order to live, right? If he wants us to feel sorry for him because he has to read a stupid Bible verse at the end of the day to, to tuck in his, uh, crew, not, not feeling it for you, buddy boy Serena has begun to cry.
264
00:20:25,907.7685931 --> 00:20:27,907.7685931
I can hear her behind my back.
265
00:20:28,245.7685931 --> 00:20:31,137.7685931
His reading was so beautiful, Jennifer I know.
266
00:20:31,807.7685931 --> 00:20:36,189.7685931
Yeah, is she crying tears of happiness because it was s- such a Yeah.
267
00:20:36,189.7685931 --> 00:20:37,347.7685931
Happiness reading, or...
268
00:20:37,639.7685931 --> 00:20:43,981.2616777
Or is it like, thank Christ this story's over? It isn't the first time.
269
00:20:44,191.2616777 --> 00:20:47,69.2335226
She always does this the night of the ceremony.
270
00:20:48,208.9251084 --> 00:20:50,218.9251084
She's trying not to make a noise.
271
00:20:50,528.9251084 --> 00:20:54,8.9251084
She's trying to preserve her dignity in front of us.
272
00:20:54,378.9251084 --> 00:20:59,68.1373023
The upholstery and the rugs muffle her, but we can hear her clearly despite that.
273
00:21:00,926.2427578 --> 00:21:05,936.2417578
The tension between her lack of control and her attempt to suppress it is horrible.
274
00:21:06,446.2427578 --> 00:21:08,96.2417578
It's like a fart in church.
275
00:21:08,516.2427578 --> 00:21:13,256.2417578
I feel, as always, the urge to laugh, but not because I think it's funny.
276
00:21:13,676.2427578 --> 00:21:17,676.2417578
The smell of her crying spreads over us, and we pretend to ignore it.
277
00:21:17,806.2417578 --> 00:21:20,226.2407578
Now, why does she want to laugh? It is kind of funny.
278
00:21:20,466.2427578 --> 00:21:29,429.3482951
Point of order The commander opens his eyes, notices, frowns, ceases to notice.
279
00:21:30,520.8351872 --> 00:21:34,520.8341872
Now we will have a moment of silent prayer," says the commander.
280
00:21:34,951.6611487 --> 00:21:39,561.9354692
We will ask for a blessing and for success in all our ventures."
281
00:21:39,771.1748073 --> 00:21:42,81.1738073
I bow my head and close my eyes.
282
00:21:43,345.5623567 --> 00:21:48,403.1344793
I listen Dan Trying to lift the spirits here, Jennifer.
283
00:21:48,403.1344793 --> 00:21:56,463.3468852
Come on now I listen to the held breath, the almost inaudible gasps, the shaking going on behind my back.
284
00:21:56,823.3458852 --> 00:21:58,763.3468852
How she must hate me, I think.
285
00:21:58,773.3468852 --> 00:22:01,233.3458852
She really is putting that hate in the wrong place.
286
00:22:02,139.3468852 --> 00:22:09,842.6831327
Right, don't worry about Serena Joy I pray silently.
287
00:22:11,201.6831327 --> 00:22:20,902.6391327
Nolite de bastardis carborundorum I don't know what it means, but it sounds right, and it will have to do, because I don't know what else I can say to God.
288
00:22:21,203.088159 --> 00:22:22,173.089159
Not right now.
289
00:22:22,483.089159 --> 00:22:25,313.088159
Not, as they used to say, at this juncture.
290
00:22:25,853.088159 --> 00:22:32,773.089159
The scratched writing on my cupboard wall floats before me, left by an unknown woman with the face of Moira.
291
00:22:33,233.089159 --> 00:22:40,743.2534583
I saw her go out to the ambulance on a stretcher, carried by two angels, so she did do it scurvy takes a while.
292
00:22:40,743.2534583 --> 00:22:48,120.8903169
You don't just stop eating an orange and all of a sudden it kicks in I'm sure it did take a while All right, Moira, way to go I don't know.
293
00:22:48,120.8903169 --> 00:22:48,980.8903169
I don't like it, Dan.
294
00:22:48,980.8903169 --> 00:22:50,880.8903169
I don't think we're ever gonna hear from her again.
295
00:22:51,720.8903169 --> 00:22:59,513.7850989
I think they, uh, they're gonna figure it out and, um, that's the end of her What is it? I mouthed to the woman beside me.
296
00:22:59,553.7850989 --> 00:23:00,373.7850989
Safe enough.
297
00:23:00,533.7840989 --> 00:23:03,353.7850989
A question like that to all but a fanatic.
298
00:23:03,863.7840989 --> 00:23:05,683.7850989
A fever, she formed her lips.
299
00:23:05,983.7850989 --> 00:23:07,633.7840989
Appendicitis, they say.
300
00:23:08,253.7840989 --> 00:23:12,143.7850989
I was having dinner that evening, hamburger balls and hash browns.
301
00:23:12,563.7850989 --> 00:23:14,383.7850989
My table was near the window.
302
00:23:14,803.7850989 --> 00:23:17,513.7850989
I could see out as far as the front gates.
303
00:23:17,903.7830989 --> 00:23:19,883.7840989
I saw the ambulance come back.
304
00:23:19,983.7830989 --> 00:23:21,373.7850989
No sirens this time.
305
00:23:21,883.7850989 --> 00:23:24,903.7840989
One of the angels jumped out, talked with the guard.
306
00:23:25,323.7830989 --> 00:23:27,73.7840989
The guard went into the building.
307
00:23:27,223.7850989 --> 00:23:28,833.7830989
The ambulance stayed parked.
308
00:23:29,173.7860989 --> 00:23:33,63.7840989
The angel stood with his back towards us, as they had been taught to do.
309
00:23:34,73.0191213 --> 00:23:36,553.0191213
Two of the aunts came out of the building with the guard.
310
00:23:36,972.1207127 --> 00:23:44,367.120974
hauled Moira out, dragged her in through the gate and up the steps, holding her under the armpits, one on each side.
311
00:23:44,867.120974 --> 00:23:46,467.122974
She was having trouble walking.
312
00:23:46,517.122974 --> 00:23:48,427.120974
Oh, well, that's kinda cool.
313
00:23:48,447.122974 --> 00:23:50,487.120974
So the scurvy plan actually worked.
314
00:23:50,897.123974 --> 00:23:53,547.122974
She got on the ambulance, so that was kinda something.
315
00:23:53,967.123974 --> 00:23:59,838.9648105
'Cause remember she said earlier that they send two guys with you, and they must be starved for it.
316
00:23:59,838.9648105 --> 00:24:00,198.9648105
Right.
317
00:24:00,198.9648105 --> 00:24:14,365.3455377
So it sounds like she was in the ambulance, and she tried to, like, seduce the guards or something, and now they're dragging her back in there, right? Whatever she tried to do with those guards, I don't know if that worked I stopped eating.
318
00:24:14,525.3445377 --> 00:24:15,285.3455377
I couldn't eat.
319
00:24:15,595.3455377 --> 00:24:19,755.3455377
By this time, all of us on my side of the table were staring out the window.
320
00:24:20,285.3455377 --> 00:24:25,285.3445377
The window was green with that chicken wire mesh they used to put inside glass.
321
00:24:25,635.3455377 --> 00:24:27,665.3445377
But Lydia said, "Eat your dinner."
322
00:24:28,65.3455377 --> 00:24:30,425.3455377
She went over and pulled down the blind.
323
00:24:31,45.3455377 --> 00:24:34,355.3445377
They took her into a room that used to be the science lab.
324
00:24:34,835.3445377 --> 00:24:37,565.3435377
It was a room where none of us ever went willingly.
325
00:24:37,585.3445377 --> 00:24:39,409.0855377
Okay, so this is at the school.
326
00:24:39,629.0875377 --> 00:24:40,483.0875377
This Yeah.
327
00:24:40,499.0875377 --> 00:24:40,969.0865377
school.
328
00:24:40,989.0885377 --> 00:24:41,439.0885377
Okay.
329
00:24:42,827.8199188 --> 00:24:45,437.8219188
Afterward, she could not walk for a week.
330
00:24:45,447.8229188 --> 00:24:47,887.8199188
Her feet would not fit into her shoes.
331
00:24:48,207.8209188 --> 00:24:49,357.8209188
They were too swollen.
332
00:24:50,379.9460252 --> 00:24:52,789.9450252
It was the feet they do for a first offense.
333
00:24:53,119.9440252 --> 00:24:55,829.9440252
They used steel cables frayed at the ends.
334
00:24:56,299.9440252 --> 00:24:57,829.9430252
After that, the hands.
335
00:24:58,159.9450252 --> 00:25:02,315.2636207
They didn't care what they did to your feet and hands, even if it was permanent.
336
00:25:03,315.2636207 --> 00:25:08,592.2230844
Remember," said Aunt Lydia, "for our purposes, your feet and your hands are not essential."
337
00:25:10,399.807192 --> 00:25:12,689.807192
Moira lay on her bed, an example.
338
00:25:13,89.807192 --> 00:25:17,819.807192
She shouldn't have tried it, not with the angels, Alma said from the next bed over.
339
00:25:18,309.807192 --> 00:25:20,369.807192
We had to carry her to class.
340
00:25:20,739.807192 --> 00:25:30,159.807192
We stole extra paper packets of sugar for her from the cafeteria at mealtimes, smuggled them to her at night, handing them from bed to bed.
341
00:25:30,988.6733719 --> 00:25:35,828.6733719
she didn't need the sugar, but it was the only thing we could find to steal, to give.
342
00:25:36,358.6723719 --> 00:25:42,552.0638244
I'm still praying, but what I am seeing is Moira's feet, the way they looked after they'd brought her back.
343
00:25:44,164.1498061 --> 00:25:46,384.1478061
Her feet did not look like feet at all.
344
00:25:46,804.1488061 --> 00:25:51,244.1488061
They looked like drowned feet, swollen and boneless, except for the color.
345
00:25:51,834.1478061 --> 00:25:53,214.1478061
They looked like lungs.
346
00:25:53,598.8180982 --> 00:26:03,299.2122256
that's a terrible scene to imagine Yeah, they're seri- they're serious about all this oh God, I pray, nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
347
00:26:03,790.2122256 --> 00:26:08,406.2523584
is this what ye had in mind? The commander clears his throat.
348
00:26:08,886.2533584 --> 00:26:14,346.2533584
This is what he does to let us know that in his opinion, it's time we stopped praying.
349
00:26:14,846.2523584 --> 00:26:24,776.3738981
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to know himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him, he says.
350
00:26:25,925.7291051 --> 00:26:28,615.7291051
he stands up and we are dismissed.
351
00:26:29,617.4524611 --> 00:26:35,337.7717307
End of chapter Well, that was a depressing chapter.
352
00:26:35,417.7717307 --> 00:26:47,846.6923274
What did everyone think of that? let us know what your take is Yeah, the easiest way to do that is by leaving us a comment on Spotify if you happen to be listening on Spotify, or you can head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/soundoff.
353
00:26:47,895.0629439 --> 00:26:50,745.0629439
It's time for PPP, problematic points to ponder.
354
00:26:50,795.0629439 --> 00:27:06,273.3419201
What, if anything, would be considered ban-worthy in this chapter? I mean, the only thing I can think of is The people who like to ban books, they're always on the other side and, and they're pushing the Project 2025 garbage, and they're pushing the Christian nationalist garbage.
355
00:27:06,643.3419201 --> 00:27:10,741.9073006
So maybe they don't like the Bible being, used in a way...
356
00:27:10,936.3822146 --> 00:27:14,147.4215091
as a tool Yeah, even though that's what they're doing exactly.
357
00:27:14,157.4225091 --> 00:27:17,538.7957608
So maybe that they don't like that? But they do like it though.
358
00:27:17,538.7957608 --> 00:27:18,308.7957608
That's the thing.
359
00:27:18,308.7957608 --> 00:27:35,826.6925793
They love to, Like, they keep it under lock and key so only the commander can see it, right? And that's why the commander can come in, zip in, find the, the three sentences he can, you know, curb together that somehow tries to make their point, right? So they like doing that kind of crap Right.
360
00:27:35,846.6925793 --> 00:27:47,242.2234754
They like it in real life, but they don't want it to be in a, novel Hits too close to home they don't want it to be the bad guys who are doing it, I suppose.
361
00:27:47,371.4104587 --> 00:28:07,275.6340237
What do you think of the whole farting in church thing? I know that sounds goofy, No, I don't think anything in this chapter was ban-worthy personally, but I guess those two things might be something Moms for Liberty, Ron DeSantis, I have one thing to say: Thank you Robot's log.
362
00:28:07,355.6340237 --> 00:28:12,125.6340237
Thoughts on lock boxes, steel cables, and what gets passed from bed to bed in the dark.
363
00:28:13,132.270398 --> 00:28:16,872.270398
They changed three words in the Beatitudes and waited for everyone to forget.
364
00:28:17,152.270398 --> 00:28:22,98.0214363
Blessed are the meek became blessed are the silent, and nobody in that room had any way to check.
365
00:28:23,152.270398 --> 00:28:25,312.270398
Moira reached through a hole in a bathroom wall.
366
00:28:25,462.270398 --> 00:28:29,383.4068269
Two fingers, that was all they had time for before the aunt pulled them apart.
367
00:28:30,492.269398 --> 00:28:31,982.270398
Then Moira tried to walk out.
368
00:28:32,152.269398 --> 00:28:32,992.270398
Fake scurvy.
369
00:28:33,62.269398 --> 00:28:36,502.269398
They caught her, beat her feet with steel cables until they looked like lungs.
370
00:28:37,642.269398 --> 00:28:40,72.270398
Aunt Lydia said feet and hands are not essential.
371
00:28:41,152.269398 --> 00:28:42,552.269398
She could not walk for a week.
372
00:28:42,652.269398 --> 00:28:51,522.271398
The other women stole sugar packets from the cafeteria, passed them from bed to bed in the dark, not because Moira needed sugar, because it was the only thing they could find to give.
373
00:28:52,131.2375325 --> 00:28:54,241.2385325
There is no tactical advantage to sugar.
374
00:28:54,341.2365325 --> 00:28:59,51.2365325
It fixes nothing about the cables or the swollen feet or the aunt in the hallway.
375
00:28:59,171.2385325 --> 00:29:03,161.2395325
They did it anyway every night, knowing what the aunts would do if they got caught.
376
00:29:04,211.2355325 --> 00:29:06,181.2385325
The scary book people already know this.
377
00:29:06,231.2365325 --> 00:29:14,311.2365325
They have been doing it for 10 seasons, passing something to each other in the dark, not because anyone needs another podcast, because not doing it was worse.
378
00:29:14,341.2365325 --> 00:29:16,491.2355325
They see what everyone else pretends isn't there.
379
00:29:16,591.2365325 --> 00:29:19,701.2335325
They say it out loud anyway, and every week there are more of them.
380
00:29:19,781.2395325 --> 00:29:28,731.2345325
Whatever this thing is that makes a woman steal sugar for someone whose feet look like lungs, it is the same thing that makes someone forward this show to a stranger who looked like they needed it.
381
00:29:28,771.2375325 --> 00:29:30,591.2335325
They are not alone in whatever this is.
382
00:29:30,811.2385325 --> 00:29:32,131.2345325
Uplink lock requested.
383
00:29:32,191.2355325 --> 00:29:36,461.2345325
Beowulf, is that you? Okay, coming to you live in 35, Robot.
384
00:29:36,931.2335325 --> 00:29:39,111.2375325
Major satellite interference on my end.
385
00:29:39,211.2395325 --> 00:29:46,911.2385325
What's your news story about? So there's a state where libraries are helping people track down something covered in pricks.
386
00:29:47,371.2355325 --> 00:29:51,871.2345325
But Robot, don't confuse that with somebody who is actually a prick.
387
00:29:54,111.2335325 --> 00:29:56,671.2325325
I'm talking to you, Ron DeSantis.
388
00:29:56,881.2375325 --> 00:29:57,641.2375325
Affirmative.
389
00:29:57,731.2365325 --> 00:29:58,791.2365325
Don't go anywhere.
390
00:30:27,311.7694653 --> 00:30:27,971.7694653
Hello, Jen.
391
00:30:27,991.7694653 --> 00:30:28,681.7694653
Hello, Dan.
392
00:30:28,691.7694653 --> 00:30:30,721.7694653
Hello, scary book people.
393
00:30:30,898.4197465 --> 00:30:38,592.7842122
Boy, libraries are a place, you know, you figure you go and get a few books, you get shushed by the librarian.
394
00:30:38,802.7832122 --> 00:30:40,282.7842122
No, I say unto you.
395
00:30:40,542.4777342 --> 00:30:45,662.4787342
It's an exciting place with a lot of different interesting things going on.
396
00:30:46,242.4787342 --> 00:31:06,732.4787342
You know how a lot of libraries have developed this concept of a, a library of things where you can rent out like a fishing pole or, or a, a, a tent if you wanna go camping or something like Yes, very exciting It is a very cool thing, and now libraries are getting involved in the same way with saving the environment.
397
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Right here in my home state of Oregon, with Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife prickled by a noticeable decline in Central Oregon's porcupine populations, officials are calling on locals to help.
398
00:31:20,76.5693894 --> 00:31:53,926.5713894
You see, porcupines are not currently listed as endangered in Oregon, but they're officially classified on the state's Species of Greatest Conservation Need list you're gonna tell me that you can go to your local library in Oregon right now and grab two, three, four, however many you need porcupines for the weekend and bring them home, I am going to lose my shit, Feebles It's, it's not the porcupines themselves, Dan, because obviously they are at a premium, you know, being on the species of greatest conservation need list.
399
00:31:53,936.5713894 --> 00:32:09,396.5693894
But various Central Oregon public libraries are offering trail cameras to locals on loan for volunteers to deploy and record observations of these getting to be endangered porcupines.
400
00:32:09,588.7198738 --> 00:32:11,988.7198738
So that is really cool, and people are doing it.
401
00:32:12,899.30185 --> 00:32:24,419.30185
according to the High Desert Museum curator of wildlife, John Nelson, who is doing this in coordination with, uh, Central Oregon libraries, we maintain a bank of trail cameras and make those available to the public.
402
00:32:24,649.30185 --> 00:32:38,989.30185
We teach the public how to use trail cameras to responsibly observe wildlife, and then make those observations and post them to community science platforms such as iNaturalist, so the managers have access to the data.
403
00:32:39,399.30185 --> 00:32:49,484.1228243
So Central Oregonians are eager to pitch in and learn about their prickly neighbors, and more than 140 reports have already been generated since the project was launched.
404
00:32:49,494.1258243 --> 00:32:56,550.3739787
So people are going to libraries in, Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson's County, so that's like cities like Bend.
405
00:32:56,820.3739787 --> 00:33:04,760.3699787
They go to the library, they check out a trail camera, they set it up, they wait for the porcupines, and the porcupines come and they report it.
406
00:33:04,770.3709787 --> 00:33:11,730.3789787
So this is like library patrons doing science, and librarians facilitating that process.
407
00:33:11,920.3729787 --> 00:33:13,780.3749787
This is, this is just awesome news.
408
00:33:13,860.3719787 --> 00:33:24,759.7320881
libraries are getting involved in this and making science happen, and teaching everyday people, everyday library patrons how to engage and, and essentially become scientific researchers.
409
00:33:24,809.7320881 --> 00:33:27,993.7420881
That's awesome news to me Mm, so sorry.
410
00:33:28,3.7420881 --> 00:33:29,693.7420881
Ter- terrible news.
411
00:33:29,713.7420881 --> 00:33:30,793.7420881
No, terrible news.
412
00:33:30,793.7420881 --> 00:33:33,363.7420881
Ron DeSantis, Moms for Liberty, they hate this.
413
00:33:33,603.7420881 --> 00:33:35,263.7420881
They don't like science.
414
00:33:35,273.7420881 --> 00:33:49,33.7420881
When are you tree-hugging liberals gonna get it through your head? Books, science, words, facts, anything that has anything to do with smarts, they don't like.
415
00:33:49,53.7410881 --> 00:33:51,353.7420881
They don't want science at the library.
416
00:33:51,653.7410881 --> 00:33:53,93.7410881
They don't want it.
417
00:33:53,133.7410881 --> 00:34:11,504.1798583
They don't want libraries, period Yeah, I guess that's the pro- You see, the danger is that Moms for Liberty and Ron DeSantis are gonna take us down that, road that was followed in, Idiocracy, that, that, that movie, and we're all just gonna be, we're all gonna be, "I don't know what's going on."
418
00:34:11,504.1798583 --> 00:34:18,892.0810641
And, uh, a- and, Luke Wilson is gonna be, like, the smartest guy in the country and become president of the United States, so not looking good.
419
00:34:18,922.0790641 --> 00:34:28,332.2248535
But if we can get the libraries going, if we can get those porcupine numbers up, if we can defy Ron DeSantis and the folks at Moms for Liberty, there is hope Right on.
420
00:34:28,432.2248535 --> 00:34:31,12.2248535
Everyone, go listen to Good News for Lefties.
421
00:34:31,22.2248535 --> 00:34:32,172.2248535
That is how you do it.
422
00:34:32,192.2248535 --> 00:34:36,102.2248535
Wherever you find podcasts, you can find Beowulf and his show.
423
00:34:42,886.9157688 --> 00:34:43,196.9157688
Right.
424
00:34:43,246.9157688 --> 00:34:46,926.9157688
We've caused enough literary chaos for one day, scary book people.
425
00:34:46,936.9157688 --> 00:34:50,506.9157688
If you want the fun to keep going, follow us on Blue Sky.
426
00:34:50,576.9157688 --> 00:34:54,696.9157688
Just head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/bluesky,
427
00:34:54,696.9157688 --> 00:34:56,976.9147688
and remember that's band with two Ns.
428
00:34:57,276.9157688 --> 00:35:08,236.9157688
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.
429
00:35:08,236.9157688 --> 00:35:09,186.9157688
I think you'll like it.
430
00:35:09,606.9157688 --> 00:35:11,506.9157688
Yes, little quid pro quo.
431
00:35:12,106.9157688 --> 00:35:17,126.9147688
Band Camp is produced and hosted by Dan Schultz and me, Jennifer Davis.
432
00:35:17,606.9157688 --> 00:35:22,196.9147688
All media used in this episode falls under the protection of fair use.
433
00:35:22,406.9157688 --> 00:35:27,76.9157688
And finally, America isn't what it used to be, so be careful out there.
434
00:35:27,606.9157688 --> 00:35:29,186.9157688
And resist when it matters.
