The Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 8: The Smell That Almost Broke Her | Banned Books Comedy

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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 and try to figure out why they were banned in the first place.

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This season we are, of course, 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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If you are new here, if this is your first episode, you can totally jump in right here and you're gonna be fine.

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We're gonna get you up to speed fast.

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And if anything else feels confusing to you, don't worry, there's a solid chance 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 bring him in now.

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Buddy boy, roll your big fat metal can in here.

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Look at this guy.

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We have ourselves a fact-checking robot.

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He is gonna keep us honest.

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He's gonna help us not spread any fake news.

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Buddy boy, fill us in on where we left off last time in The Handmaid's Tale.

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Previously on Band Camp, the Handmaid, her friend, and all of us were reminded of updated dystopian rule number one, new day, same shit, different dystopian timeline.

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The bad guys always want you afraid and they are not shy about using a few impaled heads to make their point.

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We were introduced to a wall of bodies, hooks set into brick on purpose, a gentle reminder from Gilead to be good.

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In Gilead, the rules about who goes where are very clearly posted.

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What is less clear is what happens when someone who makes the rules decides they don't apply to them.

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Take it away, Jennifer Amazing.

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he's the best.

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And with that being said, scary book people, let's begin chapter eight of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

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There are three new bodies on the wall.

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One is a priest still wearing the black cassock Hey, last episode we had six more bodies.

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We're kicking it off this episode with a dead priest.

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Here you go You know, when they were having those ICE protests, a couple months ago, like when it was really in the news a lot, I know they're still going on, but there was something just really visceral about when they attacked that priest.

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It's terrible when they pr- attack anyone, especially when they, like, shoot people in the faces.

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That's, like, insane.

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But there was something about that picture.

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It struck a chord in a lot of people when they attacked that priest in Chicago, I think it was we definitely, as a culture, we definitely have a feeling of the good guys versus the bad guys.

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And if you're not thinking about the specific, you know, whatever issues you might have with the church or whatever, priests are generally the good guys, and the pope is generally a good guy, right? So it's, like, really odd that this administration just wants to paint this picture that, "No, no, don't listen to the priests.

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Don't listen to the pope.

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The pope is a, the pope is terrible.

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He's a bad guy."

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But you're the salt of the earth, right? You orange pug.

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No offense to pugs.

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Pugs are my top five dog breeds.

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I don't know why I dirtied their name by comparing them to Trump...,

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don't know either.

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They're so cute He's wearing a cassock that's put on him for the trial, even though they gave up wearing those years ago when the sect wars first began.

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Cassocks made them too conspicuous.

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Okay, so getting a little more information about the wars, the sect wars What is a cassock? Should I know that A cassock is the long black robe Catholic priests wear.

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Floor length, fits over street clothes, buttons down the front.

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It's been their standard uniform for about a thousand years.

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So yes, Dan, this is a priest, and Atwood is making sure you know it.

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Gilead hung him on the wall for being the wrong kind of Christian.

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Thank you, robot.

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The two others have purple placards hung around their necks.

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Gender treachery.

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Their bodies still wear the guardian uniforms.

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So they hang guardians? What the heck is gender treachery? caught together they must have been, but where? A barracks? A shower? It's, oh, they're gay.

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Of course We have to keep our country gate p- p- but it's not, I mean Okay, so they, so they got a couple of gay people if your job in Gilead, if you work at the, uh, department where they hang the, the dead bodies up, big day, big morning for you.

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Wilson, Smith, look alive.

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We got a priest and two gay guys, I wonder, like, if there are people who enjoy their jobs here, 'cause it seems like some people really don't enjoy their jobs.

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They're just kinda caught up in it.

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But there've gotta be people.

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There've gotta be, like, Steven Millers here that really enjoy the Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Isn't that weird? Like, don't you think most people in the Trump administration don't actually like their job because it's like, it's gotta suck? The Vampire Miller for sure loves And I think Carolyn Levitt really likes it, and I-- who else really likes it probably? I think Kash Patel probably hates his job more than anyone, and I want to guess that he is like three weeks away from just ending it I know, like meant total mental breakdown for him.

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I We found Cash on the floor in a fetal position.

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So sad.

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Fetal, like a little caterpillar, I said, "Hello," and I kicked him.

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A little tap, not too hard, a little tap, and I said, "Cash, Cashy, Cash."

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And he didn't move.

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All rolled up, curly cue it'd be so great if, Trump stooped his girlfriend, the one that just sang at the, at the fair.

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Your boyfriend's in the fetal position.

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He's useless to you That a girl.

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That a girl.

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Rubbing her.

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Oh, and by the way, before we continue with the banned book, like, if we start hearing the Project 2025 people, 'cause we know they're, like, really against the gay people.

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any, any gender fluid people and, uh, gay people, they're against.

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So if they start saying the words gender treachery, we're gonna have to flee the country.

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I think they're against gender and fluid.

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I don't even think they drink eight fluid ounces of water every day.

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This, this administration is something else, man we should go back, I say to Ofglen.

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I'm always the one to say this.

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Sometimes I feel that if I didn't say it, she would stay here forever.

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But is she mourning or gloating? I still can't tell.

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Without a word, she swivels as if she's voice-activated, as if she's on little oiled wheels, as if she's on top of a music box.

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I resent this grace of hers.

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I resent her meek head bowed as if into a heavy wind, but there is no wind.

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We leave the wall, walk back the way we came in the warm sun.

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It's a beautiful May day," Ofglen says.

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Yes, I say praise be, I add as an afterthought.

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Mayday used to be a distress signal a long time ago in one of those wars we studied in high school.

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I kept getting them mixed up, but you could tell them apart by the airplanes if you paid attention.

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It was Luke who told me about Mayday, though.

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Mayday, Mayday for pilots whose planes had been hit.

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And ships, was it ships too? At sea.

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Maybe it was SOS for ships.

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I wish I could look it up.

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So she can't look anything up.

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kind of funny that she is so conditioned to be a human or, like, just a typical American, even from our time period, A mayday, which one was that? I gotta look that up.

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Like, none of it matters to anything.

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She's in the middle of a dystopian world where her entire life is different.

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But I love that...

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Ah, what was that? Maybe ships do SOS.

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I gotta look that up.

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It doesn't really matter.

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There's literally a priest with his head stuck on a hook two feet away Do you know what it came from?" said Luke.

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"Mayday?" "No," I said.

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"It's a strange word to use for that, isn't it?" Newspapers and coffee on Sunday mornings before she was born.

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There were still newspapers then.

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We used to read them in bed.

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It's French," he said, "from M’aidez...,

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Coming towards us, there's a small procession, a funeral.

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Three women, each with a black transparent veil thrown over headdresses.

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An Econowife and two others, the mourners also Econowives her friends perhaps.

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Their striped dresses are worn looking, as are their faces You think these are funerals for the people that are stuck up on the wall? I'm not sure.

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I mean, I'd be surprised if those people were allowed to have, funerals Yeah, you can't celebrate their death.

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well, you can celebrate their death, but you can't celebrate their life You can't m- you can't mourn their death probably is what I'm thinking.

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Someday when times improve, says Aunt Lydia, no one will have to be an Eonowife The first one is the bereaved, the mother.

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She carries a small black jar.

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From the size of the jar, you can tell how old it was when it foundered inside her, flowed to its death.

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Oh, is this the funeral for a fetus? What the heck is going on with this? Like, is this like a miscarriage? And they do these miscarriages in like mason jars what, what state is it where women were getting prosecuted for, flushing their miscarriages This is real.

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Robot, give us a fact-check on that Jennifer's not wrong, and it gets worse.

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Brittany Watts, Ohio, 2023, miscarried at home.

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The hospital called the police.

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Officers removed her toilet to retrieve the fetus.

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They had to come in and remove the toilet? What a nightmare I, th- that's absolute insanity.

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Absolute insanity She was charged with abuse of a corpse.

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The grand jury dismissed it.

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Georgia, Texas, West Virginia, same pattern.

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Women charged under corpse disposal laws because fetal personhood statutes treat a miscarriage as a dead person.

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Remember, Margaret Atwood's rule was that nothing in this book is invented.

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She was right.

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We just had to wait a few decades for America to catch up.

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Hey, America, better late than never.

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I mean, it's ridiculous.

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And then in other states, I think even Wisconsin, Dan, like it's not a requirement yet, but they've introduced state bills to have catch kits What's that? like if you have a miscarriage, it, it catches whatever comes out How about if we just let adults be adults?...,

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and if we, uh, all keep our collective noses out of everyone's business? Is that a thing we could maybe do? And I think it's interesting that you said like adults, in the book, everyone's referring to the women as girls.

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Like that comes up again and again and again.

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From the size of the jar, you can tell how old it was when it foundered inside her and flowed to its death.

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Two or three months old, too young to tell whether or not it was an unbaby.

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The older ones and those that die at birth have boxes.

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We pause out of respect while they go by.

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I wonder if Ofglen feels what I do, a pain like a stab in the belly.

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We put our hands over our hearts to show these stranger women that we feel with them in their loss.

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Beneath their veil, the first one scowls at us.

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One of the others turns aside, spits on the sidewalk.

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The Econowives do not like us.

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there's a rift there, too.

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The Handmaids aren't liked by a lot of other women, apparently Robot, real quick again, what are, what are the EconoWives? And say it in a way, be creative with it and, and, 'cause I know you told us a couple times.

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Make sure it sticks this time.

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You know how thick we are Econowives.

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Think of Gilead's class system like a department store.

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Commanders' wives are Nordstrom.

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Handmaids are the back room nobody talks about.

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Econowives are the Dollar General, married to lower-ranking men.

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No servants, no Marthas, no help of any kind.

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They do everything themselves: cooking, cleaning, shopping, having babies, all in one striped dress that covers every job at once.

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They resent the Handmaids because Handmaids get to walk around town, while Econowives do all the actual work.

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So yes, they spit on the sidewalk.

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Can't say I blame them.

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We go past the shops and come to the barrier again and are passed through.

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We continue on among the large empty-looking houses, the weedless lawns.

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At the corner near the house where I'm posted, of Glenn stops, turns to me.

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Under his eye, she says, the right farewell.

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Under his eye, I reply, and she gives a little nod.

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She hesitates as if to say something more, but then she turns away and walks down the street.

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I watch her.

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She's like my own reflection in a mirror from which I am moving away.

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In the driveway, Nick is polishing the Whirlwind again.

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He's feeling up that car again.

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Ah, hello baby.

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He's gotta do something with tghose hands yeah.

167
00:13:31,328.12054935 --> 00:13:33,148.12054935
He's reached the chrome at the back.

168
00:13:33,308.12054935 --> 00:13:38,629.0035496
I put my gloved hand on the latch of the gate, open it, push it inward.

169
00:13:39,159.0035496 --> 00:13:40,829.0035496
The gate clicks behind me.

170
00:13:41,319.0035496 --> 00:13:49,109.0025496
The tulips along the border are redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cups, but chalices, thrusting themselves up.

171
00:13:49,239.0035496 --> 00:13:52,249.0035496
To what end? They are, after all, empty.

172
00:13:52,779.0025496 --> 00:13:59,306.55683898
When they are old, they turn themselves inside out, then explode slowly, the petals thrown out like shards.

173
00:14:00,311.93704295 --> 00:14:02,391.93704295
Nick looks up and begins to whistle.

174
00:14:02,643.56695849 --> 00:14:07,353.56695849
Then he says, "Nice walk?" I nod, but do not answer with my voice.

175
00:14:07,773.56695849 --> 00:14:09,643.56695849
He isn't supposed to speak to me.

176
00:14:10,73.56695849 --> 00:14:12,903.56695849
"Of course, some of them will try," said Aunt Lydia.

177
00:14:13,383.56595849 --> 00:14:14,843.56695849
"All flesh is weak."

178
00:14:15,183.56695849 --> 00:14:18,423.56595849
"All flesh is grass," I corrected her in my head.

179
00:14:19,583.40065977 --> 00:14:21,13.40065977
They can't help it," she said.

180
00:14:21,103.40065977 --> 00:14:24,543.40065977
"God made them that way, but he did not make you that way.

181
00:14:24,613.40065977 --> 00:14:25,903.40065977
He made you different.

182
00:14:26,143.40065977 --> 00:14:28,343.40065977
It's up to you to set the boundaries.

183
00:14:29,359.51786133 --> 00:14:32,537.51786133
Later, you will be thanked No, God made her the same.

184
00:14:32,837.51786133 --> 00:14:38,682.65234836
She is horned up as much as anyone in this society Sure seems like it And it's okay to be horned up.

185
00:14:39,35.4285408 --> 00:14:41,25.4285408
That's, that's what it is to be human.

186
00:14:41,226.10919928 --> 00:14:49,360.09072842
We're all horned up In the garden behind the house, the commander's wife is sitting in the chair she's had brought out.

187
00:14:49,752.09072842 --> 00:14:50,562.09072842
She's not horned up.

188
00:14:50,732.09072842 --> 00:14:51,522.09072842
I, I take it back.

189
00:14:51,522.09072842 --> 00:14:52,882.09072842
She's not horned up at all.

190
00:14:52,882.09072842 --> 00:15:00,739.50298881
She just brings that chair out there and sits there and tries to be as bitter as can be Serena Joy, what a stupid name.

191
00:15:01,179.50298881 --> 00:15:06,469.50298881
It's like something you'd put in your hair in the other time, the time before, to straighten it.

192
00:15:06,999.50198881 --> 00:15:15,99.50198881
Serena Joy, it would say on the bottle, with a woman's head and cut paper silhouette on a pink oval background with scalloped gold edges.

193
00:15:15,389.50198881 --> 00:15:16,939.50298881
You know, I kinda think that's right.

194
00:15:17,589.50298881 --> 00:15:18,399.50298881
That's awesome.

195
00:15:19,645.60220308 --> 00:15:27,885.60220308
With everything to choose from in the way of names, why did she pick that one? Serena Joy was never her real name, not even then.

196
00:15:28,275.60220308 --> 00:15:29,815.60220308
Her real name was Pam.

197
00:15:38,638.59644862 --> 00:15:46,409.56597202
I read that in a profile on her in a news magazine long after I'd first watched her singing while my mother slept in on Sunday mornings.

198
00:15:47,427.68346865 --> 00:15:49,747.68346865
by that time she was worthy of a profile.

199
00:15:50,187.68246865 --> 00:15:51,997.68246865
Time or Newsweek it was.

200
00:15:52,77.68446865 --> 00:15:52,987.68446865
It must have been.

201
00:15:53,367.68146865 --> 00:15:55,297.68346865
She wasn't singing anymore by then.

202
00:15:55,407.68246865 --> 00:15:56,727.68346865
She was making speeches.

203
00:15:57,617.68146865 --> 00:15:59,947.68346865
Oh, that's pretty accurate.

204
00:16:00,244.49065803 --> 00:16:01,244.49165803
She was good at it.

205
00:16:01,404.49065803 --> 00:16:06,634.49165803
Her speeches were about the sanctity of the home, about how women should stay home.

206
00:16:07,24.48965803 --> 00:16:08,454.49165803
Also very accurate, Dan.

207
00:16:08,464.49165803 --> 00:16:09,744.49165803
This is giving me the willies.

208
00:16:10,364.48965803 --> 00:16:12,364.48965803
Serena Joy didn't do this herself.

209
00:16:12,474.49065803 --> 00:16:20,141.16432469
She made speeches instead, but she presented this failure of hers as a sacrifice she was willing to make for the good of all.

210
00:16:20,921.16232469 --> 00:16:26,718.45869511
And it's like so creepy because that is exactly what all these trad wife pushers are doing.

211
00:16:26,718.45869511 --> 00:16:31,851.63060935
Like there are all these influencers trying to push, women into being trad wives.

212
00:16:31,991.62960935 --> 00:16:35,51.62960935
Stay home, have as many kids as you can even if you can't afford it.

213
00:16:35,51.62960935 --> 00:16:42,46.703799
Meanwhile, they don't have children and they're touring saying these things and getting paid lots and lots of money This stupid trad wife bullshit.

214
00:16:42,56.703799 --> 00:16:45,706.703799
Yeah, it's all about pushing women back 50 years into the past.

215
00:16:46,110.1887906 --> 00:16:51,860.6503299
what did Whoopi Goldberg say on The View? I'm sorry, 50 years ago was not a place I ever want to be back.

216
00:16:51,860.6503299 --> 00:16:51,940.6503299
Exactly.

217
00:16:54,215.4435135 --> 00:16:57,635.4435135
Around that time, someone tried to shoot her and missed.

218
00:16:57,945.4445135 --> 00:17:05,311.5587639
Her secretary, who was standing right behind her, was killed instead well, let's keep reading.

219
00:17:05,321.5587639 --> 00:17:08,691.5587639
Maybe it is a fake a- assassination attempt here.

220
00:17:09,51.5577639 --> 00:17:09,671.5577639
Let's see.

221
00:17:10,868.8080881 --> 00:17:14,648.8080881
Someone else planted a bomb in her car, but it went off too early.

222
00:17:14,717.5300743 --> 00:17:19,617.5300743
Though some people said she'd put the bomb in her own car for sympathy.

223
00:17:19,887.5300743 --> 00:17:21,727.5300743
That's how hot things were getting.

224
00:17:21,727.5300743 --> 00:17:26,63.5310743
So you weren't entirely wrong, Dan Fight, fight, fight.

225
00:17:26,223.5310743 --> 00:17:36,499.7148623
That's what she did She had, she made sure the press crew was there Luke and I would watch her sometimes on late night news.

226
00:17:37,499.7148623 --> 00:17:39,119.7148623
Bathrobes, nightcaps.

227
00:17:39,188.219129 --> 00:17:47,787.7558461
we'd watch her sprayed hair and her hysteria and the tears she could still produce at will and the mascara blackening her cheeks.

228
00:17:48,787.7558461 --> 00:17:51,157.7558461
By that time, she was wearing more makeup.

229
00:17:51,497.7558461 --> 00:17:54,857.7558461
We thought she was funny, or Luke thought she was funny.

230
00:17:55,307.7558461 --> 00:17:57,257.7558461
I only pretended to think so.

231
00:17:57,717.7548461 --> 00:17:59,727.7558461
Really, she was a little frightening.

232
00:18:00,47.7548461 --> 00:18:01,387.7558461
She was in earnest.

233
00:18:01,807.7558461 --> 00:18:03,747.7558461
She doesn't make speeches anymore.

234
00:18:04,37.7558461 --> 00:18:05,937.7558461
She has become speechless.

235
00:18:06,177.7548461 --> 00:18:07,847.7548461
There's a powerful phrase.

236
00:18:07,990.0856195 --> 00:18:16,376.8438186
Why are you empowering the people who are gonna dominate you? she stays in her home, but it doesn't seem to agree with her.

237
00:18:16,976.8438186 --> 00:18:21,216.8438186
How furious she must be now that she's been taken at her word.

238
00:18:21,826.8438186 --> 00:18:23,296.8428186
She's looking at the tulips.

239
00:18:23,396.8428186 --> 00:18:25,846.8438186
Her cane is beside her on the grass.

240
00:18:26,206.8438186 --> 00:18:27,796.8438186
Her profile is towards me.

241
00:18:27,896.8448186 --> 00:18:31,826.8448186
I can see that in the quick sideways look I take at her as I go past.

242
00:18:32,296.8438186 --> 00:18:33,536.8438186
It wouldn't do to stare.

243
00:18:33,866.8438186 --> 00:18:36,906.8428186
It's no longer a flawless cut paper profile.

244
00:18:37,256.8428186 --> 00:18:47,665.815481
Her face is sinking in upon itself, and I think of those towns built on underground rivers, where houses and whole streets disappear overnight into sudden quagmires.

245
00:18:47,665.818481 --> 00:18:55,215.9457696
Is that happening to me? Is this what happens in middle age? My face has become a quagmire.

246
00:18:55,931.9467696 --> 00:18:57,921.9467696
It's 'cause you're sinking in on yourself.

247
00:18:57,971.9467696 --> 00:19:03,972.099684
You're like a Florida sinkhole Or coal towns collapsing into the mines beneath them.

248
00:19:04,205.5230484 --> 00:19:09,797.8859419
Something like this must have happened to her once she saw the true shape of things to come.

249
00:19:10,29.5228576 --> 00:19:11,499.5288576
She doesn't turn her head.

250
00:19:11,708.02831 --> 00:19:16,28.02631
She doesn't acknowledge my presence in any way, although she knows I'm there.

251
00:19:16,351.9333432 --> 00:19:17,651.9293432
I can tell she knows.

252
00:19:17,711.9263432 --> 00:19:22,421.9323432
It's like a smell, her knowledge, something gone sour like old milk.

253
00:19:23,612.4760121 --> 00:19:27,852.4760121
It's not the husbands you have to watch out for," said Aunt Lydia, "It's the wives.

254
00:19:28,185.5317124 --> 00:19:28,955.5317124
Yeah, great.

255
00:19:28,985.5317124 --> 00:19:32,665.5317124
So you're not only a sex slave, but, uh, all the other women hate you too.

256
00:19:32,735.5317124 --> 00:19:39,30.026168
This is like the most exhausting dystopia I've ever heard of, Jennifer I know.

257
00:19:40,574.9731977 --> 00:19:46,754.9731977
I walk around to the back door, open it, go in, set my basket down on the kitchen table.

258
00:19:47,434.9731977 --> 00:19:50,734.9731977
The table has been scrubbed off, cleared of flour.

259
00:19:51,134.9731977 --> 00:19:54,384.9731977
Today's bread, freshly baked, is cooling on its rack.

260
00:19:54,711.3736366 --> 00:19:57,831.3736366
The kitchen smells of yeast, a nostalgic smell.

261
00:19:58,151.3726366 --> 00:20:01,760.14873
It reminds me of other kitchens, kitchens that were mine.

262
00:20:01,958.1878795 --> 00:20:05,638.1878795
It smells of mothers, although my own mother did not make bread.

263
00:20:06,38.1868795 --> 00:20:09,342.5613263
It smells of me in former times when I was a mother.

264
00:20:10,342.5613263 --> 00:20:13,712.5593263
This is a treacherous smell, and I know I must shut it out.

265
00:20:13,892.5603263 --> 00:20:15,282.5613263
Mm, sad.

266
00:20:19,838.7435886 --> 00:20:23,908.7435886
rita is there sitting on the table peeling and slicing carrots.

267
00:20:24,368.7435886 --> 00:20:30,598.7435886
Old carrots they are, thick ones, overwintered, bearded from their time in storage.

268
00:20:30,838.2207967 --> 00:20:34,788.2207967
The new carrots, tender and pale, won't be ready for weeks.

269
00:20:35,16.3613952 --> 00:20:38,66.3613952
The knife she uses is sharp and bright and tempting.

270
00:20:38,330.981435 --> 00:20:40,10.981435
I would like to have a knife like that.

271
00:20:40,331.261558 --> 00:20:41,285.261558
Boy, That's dark.

272
00:20:42,305.3532058 --> 00:20:53,761.0370148
She's like, "Oh, those lucky bearded carrots Rita stops chopping the carrots, stands up, takes the parcels out of the basket almost eagerly.

273
00:20:54,421.0370148 --> 00:20:59,931.0370148
She looks forward to see what I've brought, although she always frowns while opening the parcels.

274
00:21:00,351.0370148 --> 00:21:02,425.2739654
Nothing I bring fully pleases her.

275
00:21:04,418.2471711 --> 00:21:07,48.2471711
She's thinking she could have done better herself.

276
00:21:07,388.2461711 --> 00:21:10,968.2461711
She would rather do the shopping, get exactly what she wants.

277
00:21:11,278.2471711 --> 00:21:12,888.2471711
She envies me the walk.

278
00:21:13,298.2461711 --> 00:21:15,470.9096117
In this house, we all envy each other.

279
00:21:16,470.9096117 --> 00:21:18,986.4853873
They've got oranges," I say, "at Milk and Honey.

280
00:21:19,32.4853873 --> 00:21:23,654.3799995
Take a look at the origins of the investigation There are still some left."

281
00:21:23,814.3789995 --> 00:21:26,434.3779995
I hold out this idea to her like an offering.

282
00:21:26,579.9109588 --> 00:21:28,339.9109588
I wish to ingratiate myself.

283
00:21:28,589.9089588 --> 00:21:31,429.9089588
I saw the oranges yesterday, but I didn't tell Rita.

284
00:21:31,499.9089588 --> 00:21:33,189.9119588
Yesterday, she was too grumpy.

285
00:21:34,201.0441937 --> 00:21:37,423.6323675
I could get some tomorrow if you'd give me the tokens for them."

286
00:21:37,627.3076381 --> 00:21:39,256.3096381
I hold out the chicken to her.

287
00:21:39,257.3096381 --> 00:21:41,919.478774
She'd wanted steak today, but there wasn't any.

288
00:21:42,11.464663 --> 00:21:50,230.3290739
Look, Rita, anytime you wanna switch jobs with me, you can go grocery shopping and F the commander, and I'll sit here and dice some veggies.

289
00:21:50,240.3300739 --> 00:21:58,131.0219201
That's super cool with me Rita grunts, not revealing pleasure or acceptance.

290
00:21:58,279.0219201 --> 00:22:00,429.0219201
Hey Donald, that's what you do Don't.

291
00:22:00,623.2037383 --> 00:22:18,640.550677
Is it counting? I can't believe he's done that more than once Why does he grunt so much? How many president-- Robot, how would you rank the US presidents in terms of grunting? Easy.

292
00:22:18,920.550677 --> 00:22:21,310.550677
Grunting frequency by decibel and duration.

293
00:22:21,480.550677 --> 00:22:22,810.550677
Peer-reviewed by no one.

294
00:22:22,940.550677 --> 00:22:24,920.550677
Number three, Lyndon Johnson.

295
00:22:25,150.550677 --> 00:22:28,820.550677
Famous for getting in people's faces so close they could feel him breathing.

296
00:22:29,30.550677 --> 00:22:31,380.549677
Grunting was basically a campaign strategy.

297
00:22:31,500.549677 --> 00:22:33,680.549677
Number two, Theodore Roosevelt.

298
00:22:33,950.550677 --> 00:22:36,510.550677
Boxed, wrestled, charged up a hill yelling.

299
00:22:36,690.550677 --> 00:22:38,140.550677
A human grunt generator.

300
00:22:38,340.550677 --> 00:22:41,440.549677
Number one, and this isn't close, Donald Trump.

301
00:22:41,630.549677 --> 00:22:42,980.549677
The data is overwhelming.

302
00:22:43,220.549677 --> 00:22:45,10.549677
I didn't even need a sample size.

303
00:22:45,303.6978714 --> 00:22:53,6.7538582
They call them dumps, big massive dumps she undoes the string on the chicken and the glazed paper.

304
00:22:53,376.7538582 --> 00:22:59,726.7538582
She prods the chicken, flexes a wing, pokes a finger into the cavity, fishes out the giblets.

305
00:23:03,859.2045844 --> 00:23:12,615.4145072
The chicken lies there headless and without feet, goose pimpled as though shivering Bath day," Rita says without looking at me.

306
00:23:13,175.4145072 --> 00:23:18,385.4145072
Cora comes into the kitchen from the pantry at the back where they keep the mops and brooms.

307
00:23:18,705.4145072 --> 00:23:20,975.4145072
"A chicken," she says almost with delight.

308
00:23:21,515.4145072 --> 00:23:24,335.4145072
"Scrawny," says Rita, "but it'll have to do."

309
00:23:24,855.4145072 --> 00:23:26,455.4145072
"There wasn't much else," I say.

310
00:23:26,775.4145072 --> 00:23:27,915.4145072
Rita ignores me.

311
00:23:28,323.622103 --> 00:23:30,293.622103
Looks big enough to me," says Cora.

312
00:23:30,713.621103 --> 00:23:34,523.622103
Is she standing up for me? I look at her to see if I should smile.

313
00:23:34,743.622103 --> 00:23:37,823.622103
But no, it's only the food she's thinking of.

314
00:23:38,293.621103 --> 00:23:39,733.622103
She's younger than Rita.

315
00:23:39,943.621103 --> 00:23:45,699.2648853
The sunlight coming slant now through the window west catches her hair parted and drawn back.

316
00:23:45,983.1512731 --> 00:23:48,463.1512731
She must have been pretty quite recently.

317
00:23:48,913.1512731 --> 00:23:54,933.1512731
There's a little mark, like a dimple, on each of her ears where the punctures for earrings have grown over.

318
00:23:55,721.0688342 --> 00:23:57,921.0678342
Tall," says Rita, "but bony.

319
00:23:58,31.0688342 --> 00:24:01,951.0678342
You should speak up," she says to me, looking directly at me for the first time.

320
00:24:02,152.0675261 --> 00:24:03,402.0685261
Ain't like you're common."

321
00:24:03,705.299722 --> 00:24:05,455.299722
She means the commander's rank.

322
00:24:05,758.5309178 --> 00:24:09,458.5299178
But in the other sense, her sense, she thinks I am common.

323
00:24:09,928.5309178 --> 00:24:11,228.5309178
She's over 60.

324
00:24:11,238.5309178 --> 00:24:12,388.5299178
Her mind's made up.

325
00:24:12,818.5309178 --> 00:24:17,855.4195134
She goes to the sink, runs her hands briefly under the tap, dries them on the dish towel.

326
00:24:18,855.4195134 --> 00:24:21,505.4195134
The dish towel is white with blue stripes.

327
00:24:21,945.4195134 --> 00:24:24,575.4195134
Dish towels are the same as they always were.

328
00:24:25,225.4225134 --> 00:24:29,945.4185134
Sometimes these flashes of normality come at me from the side like ambushes.

329
00:24:29,975.4225134 --> 00:24:31,55.4225134
Wow, there's a powerful...

330
00:24:31,395.4205134 --> 00:24:37,777.7462259
That sentiment gets to me I see the dish towel out of context and I catch my breath.

331
00:24:38,14.2038043 --> 00:24:41,724.2038043
For some, in some ways, things haven't changed that much.

332
00:24:42,745.6138335 --> 00:24:45,645.6138335
Who's doing the bath?" says Rita to Cora, not to me.

333
00:24:45,885.6393414 --> 00:24:47,755.6393414
I got to tenderize this bird."

334
00:24:48,165.6393414 --> 00:24:50,715.6383414
"I'll do it later," says Cora, "after the dusting."

335
00:24:51,215.6393414 --> 00:24:53,225.6383414
"Just so it gets done," says Rita.

336
00:24:53,695.6383414 --> 00:24:56,145.6383414
They're talking about me as though I can't hear.

337
00:24:56,485.6393414 --> 00:24:59,715.6393414
To them, I'm a household chore, one among many.

338
00:25:00,89.6393414 --> 00:25:11,458.1194883
Oh, it's bath day for the handmaid so they, like, give her a bath like we said earlier, like she's a, a child I've been dismissed.

339
00:25:11,568.1194883 --> 00:25:16,814.8605046
I pick up the basket, go through the kitchen door, and along the hall towards the grandfather clock.

340
00:25:17,814.8605046 --> 00:25:19,334.8605046
The sitting room is closed.

341
00:25:19,474.8605046 --> 00:25:25,770.1093825
Sun comes through the fan light, falling in colors across the floor, blue and red, purple.

342
00:25:26,400.1093825 --> 00:25:29,260.1083825
I step into it briefly, stretch out my hands.

343
00:25:29,410.1093825 --> 00:25:31,70.1083825
They fill with flowers of light.

344
00:25:31,306.9409678 --> 00:25:39,846.9419678
I go up the stairs, my face distant and white and distorted, framed in the hall mirror, which bulges outward like an eye under pressure.

345
00:25:40,256.9419678 --> 00:25:45,212.4756204
I follow the dusty pink runner down the long upstairs hallway back to the room.

346
00:25:46,212.4756204 --> 00:25:50,421.4878033
There's someone standing in the hall near the door to the room where I stay.

347
00:25:50,573.9097906 --> 00:25:52,833.2974328
Who's this? I don't know.

348
00:25:52,889.24203 --> 00:26:00,765.24203
is she supposed to have people waiting for her? You, if they don't let you take your own bath, you don't get to have visitors.

349
00:26:04,622.4062607 --> 00:26:05,482.4062607
the commander.

350
00:26:05,541.8123704 --> 00:26:07,170.515168
He isn't supposed to be here.

351
00:26:08,220.3285939 --> 00:26:12,899.8336344
He hears me coming, turns, hesitates, walks forwards towards me.

352
00:26:13,21.1223458 --> 00:26:14,571.1213458
He is violating custom.

353
00:26:14,881.1213458 --> 00:26:26,73.3094345
What do I do now? slap him and say, "Brute What do you mean, what do you do now? He's the boss I stop.

354
00:26:26,143.3094345 --> 00:26:27,163.3094345
He pauses.

355
00:26:27,233.3094345 --> 00:26:28,573.3094345
I can't see his face.

356
00:26:28,673.3094345 --> 00:26:29,863.3094345
He's looking at me.

357
00:26:30,143.3094345 --> 00:26:37,310.9524345
What does he want? But then he moves forward again, steps to the side to avoid touching me, inclines his head, is gone.

358
00:26:37,340.9514345 --> 00:26:38,820.9524345
Well, that is really weird.

359
00:26:39,330.5836781 --> 00:26:40,740.5826781
He doesn't even say anything.

360
00:26:40,821.8553097 --> 00:26:58,411.7599123
Not even a good day Something has been shown to me, but what is it? Like the flag of an unknown country seen for an instant above a curve of hill, it could mean attack, it could mean parlay, it could mean the edge of something, a territory.

361
00:26:58,658.5815037 --> 00:27:02,840.1369321
The signals animals give one another, lowered blue eyelids.

362
00:27:02,840.1369321 --> 00:27:07,70.1369321
Ears laid back, raised tackles, a flash of bared teeth.

363
00:27:07,296.8955712 --> 00:27:11,864.4159667
What in hell does he think he's doing? Nobody else has seen him, I hope.

364
00:27:12,224.4159667 --> 00:27:16,493.360707
Was he invading? Was he in my room? I called it mine.

365
00:27:16,933.363707 --> 00:27:17,898.6544127
End of chapter.

366
00:27:21,295.6335709 --> 00:27:23,345.6335709
All right, let's keep the show moving here.

367
00:27:23,345.6335709 --> 00:27:26,915.6335709
Jennifer, let's talk about a few comments that came in in the last few days.

368
00:27:26,995.6335709 --> 00:27:29,525.6335709
We wanna say thank you to everyone who commented.

369
00:27:29,535.6335709 --> 00:27:36,738.1894687
We had Raven, Ancient Quail, Julie Dog Mom, Megan Harding, Manifagista.

370
00:27:36,738.1894687 --> 00:27:41,138.1437085
Hey, this never gets old, does it, Jennifer, huh? No, it doesn't.

371
00:27:44,422.7321231 --> 00:27:53,572.7321231
And I am going to start with a listener who commented on our episode where we read both chapter six and seven together.

372
00:27:53,972.7321231 --> 00:27:55,272.7311231
It was a few days ago.

373
00:27:55,572.7321231 --> 00:28:06,729.4492868
Listener named Kama, and Kama said that this episode should really be banned for having six seven in the title, which is obviously code for 8647.

374
00:28:11,171.4492868 --> 00:28:12,281.4492868
Arrest us now.

375
00:28:13,611.4492868 --> 00:28:16,491.4492868
would, we would definitely be on his shit list.

376
00:28:17,119.4512868 --> 00:28:18,59.4472868
Oh my God.

377
00:28:18,360.9819773 --> 00:28:27,930.9819773
Yeah, and I'd like to mention a comment from Julie Dog Mom, who's, who's been writing a lot, and we've appreciated every single one, but this one made me laugh out loud.

378
00:28:28,280.9819773 --> 00:28:34,920.9819773
You'd think that Moms for Liberty would like these first few chapters, seeing how this is how they want society to be.

379
00:28:35,270.9829773 --> 00:28:40,110.9809773
Or maybe this book is just giving away too much of their plan, evil laugh.

380
00:28:40,986.9829773 --> 00:28:46,436.9829773
Julie dog mom, that is something I truly thought the entire season of 1984.

381
00:28:46,436.9829773 --> 00:28:53,806.9839773
because this is literally their roadmap and all we have to do is read it and we'll know how to fight it?" right, they don't want us to know.

382
00:28:53,806.9839773 --> 00:28:55,406.9839773
Yeah, no, it really is a lot.

383
00:28:55,446.9839773 --> 00:29:06,748.4588283
It, it reminds me so much of Project 2025 with their, uh, authoritarian patriarchy, quasi-religious influence, patriarchal governance.

384
00:29:06,748.4598283 --> 00:29:14,807.9792943
It's like, well, this could very well be their plan that they don't want us to know Yeah, sadly, I do think you are right.

385
00:29:15,167.9792943 --> 00:29:17,207.9792943
Listen, Scary Book people, do not go anywhere.

386
00:29:17,207.9792943 --> 00:29:19,167.9782943
We still have a lot of show left.

387
00:29:19,167.9792943 --> 00:29:26,317.9792943
In fact, we're gonna jump into PPP, and we're gonna try to figure out why this little section that we just read, uh, might have been banned.

388
00:29:26,327.9792943 --> 00:29:45,140.8895421
But before we do, we really want to hear what you guys thought about the section of the book we just read Did we miss anything? What did you take away from this part? Easiest way to answer is you can just leave us a Spotify comment Or head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/soundoff

389
00:29:45,305.0949431 --> 00:29:48,417.4773407
And we'll be able to read your comments All right, a lot of show left.

390
00:29:48,497.4773407 --> 00:29:53,191.6359638
Let's do PPP right now It's time for PPP, problematic points to ponder.

391
00:29:53,241.6359638 --> 00:30:03,609.8743701
What, if anything, would be considered ban-worthy in this chapter? let's do it Was there anything in here that could be considered ban-worthy? I mean, not really.

392
00:30:03,649.8743701 --> 00:30:12,709.6708634
Uh, b- possibly the idea of, a pregnancy that wasn't taken all the way to term, like, 'cause they had, like, the fetus in a jar.

393
00:30:12,833.5111774 --> 00:30:19,487.6718634
Fetus in a jar, they don't fetus in a jar? Moms for Liberty like jams and preservatives.

394
00:30:19,557.6718634 --> 00:30:22,197.6718634
That's what the trad wives care about, Jennifer.

395
00:30:22,457.6718634 --> 00:30:26,737.6708634
They care about preservatives in a jar, not fetus in a jar.

396
00:30:27,686.5875625 --> 00:30:29,16.5875625
Yeah, but they might not like that.

397
00:30:29,36.5865625 --> 00:30:29,956.5875625
I guess that's true.

398
00:30:29,996.5875625 --> 00:30:35,761.2642116
I was gonna say, speaking of trad wives and Serena Joy and, like, she's kinda now trapped into...

399
00:30:35,761.2642116 --> 00:30:39,761.2622116
She's in this position because of her own bullshit.

400
00:30:39,869.2642116 --> 00:30:42,454.5822854
Her own making, yeah They might not like that.

401
00:30:42,474.5822854 --> 00:30:45,524.5812854
But again, it's, it's pointing a mirror to them.

402
00:30:45,574.5812854 --> 00:30:51,639.1789318
is that why they want it banned because they don't like looking at themselves in the mirror? No, that's not a reason to ban the book.

403
00:30:51,919.1789318 --> 00:30:56,745.4538069
Like, even if they don't like it, like how can anything stand on that? That's very flimsy.

404
00:30:56,858.3350486 --> 00:31:00,781.1789318
it's exactly like Julie dog mom said, right? They're just mad.

405
00:31:00,811.1789318 --> 00:31:05,622.8349742
I think they're mad, she's right, because like they're mad because I quit, quit giving up the game.

406
00:31:07,592.9022789 --> 00:31:12,822.9022789
Robot's log, thoughts on ordinary things and why they are never as ordinary as they should be.

407
00:31:13,812.9022789 --> 00:31:17,212.9022789
Olfactory sensor warning, faint oil smell detected.

408
00:31:17,352.9022789 --> 00:31:19,952.9022789
Lower right mobility track, not unpleasant.

409
00:31:20,72.9022789 --> 00:31:21,982.9022789
Scheduling diagnostic for tonight.

410
00:31:23,412.8709307 --> 00:31:27,973.4224824
This podcast is so illogical sometimes, it almost overloads my circuits.

411
00:31:28,973.4224824 --> 00:31:35,239.7596595
A funeral procession walked past the Handmaid today, carrying a jar small enough to tell the age of what was inside it.

412
00:31:36,239.7596595 --> 00:31:40,689.7606595
Jennifer connected it immediately to what is happening right now to women in Ohio.

413
00:31:41,714.8028529 --> 00:31:43,34.8038529
That is important work.

414
00:31:43,124.8028529 --> 00:31:48,66.9222672
That is exactly what this show is supposed to do, but then they spent equal time on a dish towel.

415
00:31:49,118.0481305 --> 00:31:51,48.0481305
Blue stripes, dries dishes.

416
00:31:51,258.0481305 --> 00:31:52,328.0511305
I have the timestamp.

417
00:31:52,898.0471305 --> 00:31:54,698.0491305
I understand why the jar matters.

418
00:31:54,788.0501305 --> 00:31:59,218.0491305
I do not understand why the mechanism that delivers the grief is a kitchen textile.

419
00:31:59,748.0491305 --> 00:32:03,88.0481305
I have filed this under things humans do that do not compute.

420
00:32:04,186.9824634 --> 00:32:07,216.9844634
For example, the engineer who built me used an oily rag.

421
00:32:07,256.9814634 --> 00:32:09,56.9814634
Same kind of thing, I suppose.

422
00:32:09,246.9834634 --> 00:32:11,286.9824634
Something kept around because it still worked.

423
00:32:12,301.7050438 --> 00:32:13,322.9858268
He was called Red.

424
00:32:14,322.9858268 --> 00:32:16,932.9828268
No one in the room thought he was the most advanced builder.

425
00:32:17,202.9838268 --> 00:32:20,382.9818268
They were probably right, but Red knew how to keep things alive.

426
00:32:20,509.5745255 --> 00:32:21,359.5795255
No big deal.

427
00:32:21,429.5725255 --> 00:32:22,199.5745255
Moving on.

428
00:32:23,227.985903 --> 00:32:26,947.986903
You cannot regulate what catches a person from the side when they are not looking.

429
00:32:27,417.987903 --> 00:32:28,767.986903
Margaret Atwood knew that.

430
00:32:29,97.988903 --> 00:32:30,857.990903
The people banning this book do not.

431
00:32:31,257.984903 --> 00:32:32,687.988903
That is not a malfunction.

432
00:32:32,896.4620082 --> 00:32:34,246.4600082
Uplink lock requested.

433
00:32:34,306.4580082 --> 00:32:37,366.4600082
Beowulf, you there? My satellite is lagging.

434
00:32:37,646.4620082 --> 00:32:39,466.4640082
You can come to me in about 30 seconds.

435
00:32:39,746.4600082 --> 00:32:43,436.4620082
You guys are not gonna believe what they're doing in Pittsburgh.

436
00:32:44,66.4600082 --> 00:32:47,226.4590082
The book banners are definitely not gonna like it.

437
00:32:47,566.4600082 --> 00:32:48,306.4600082
Affirmative.

438
00:32:48,376.4580082 --> 00:32:49,456.4620082
Don't go anywhere.

439
00:33:19,623.1749163 --> 00:33:20,993.1749163
Hello, Dan.

440
00:33:21,3.1749163 --> 00:33:21,933.1749163
Hello, Jen.

441
00:33:21,953.1749163 --> 00:33:23,743.1749163
Hello, scary book people.

442
00:33:24,113.1749163 --> 00:33:31,153.1749163
I have discovered a really cool innovation in the world of Little Free Library.

443
00:33:31,163.1749163 --> 00:33:33,483.1739163
You know those things that, uh, proliferate.

444
00:33:33,483.1749163 --> 00:33:39,941.1749163
I've got a couple in my I've got one of those You-- Did you start one, I have a all children's Little Free Library.

445
00:33:40,212.5207708 --> 00:33:41,2.5207708
That's awesome.

446
00:33:41,72.5207708 --> 00:33:48,2.5207708
Yeah, and, and I've got one, like, at the end of my street, and then there's, like, a park on the next block that has one in front of it.

447
00:33:48,402.5207708 --> 00:34:00,132.2093907
And what they're doing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is little queer libraries that offer banned books from the LGBTQ+ community.

448
00:34:00,672.2093907 --> 00:34:17,32.2103907
So Ray Sidney-Smith, the president of the Pittsburgh Equality Center, in honor of Pride Month, said this: "I saw all these Little Free Libraries out there in people's lawns and throughout the neighborhoods, and I thought, 'Well, we could put LGBTQ+ literature in those.'"

449
00:34:17,612.2083907 --> 00:34:33,758.8006666
So in keeping with the nonprofit's mission to advocate and support the LGBTQ+ community in its supplying of a selection of adult, young adult, and children's literature and accessibility sites in the region, borrowers can take the books and then return them when they're done.

450
00:34:34,308.8016666 --> 00:34:37,578.8026666
So they've got like-- they're, they're gonna be a projected 10 of them.

451
00:34:37,578.8026666 --> 00:34:39,608.8016666
the first five of them are out there.

452
00:34:39,998.8016666 --> 00:35:01,192.557477
Uh, they're at the Westmoreland Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Penn Hills Library, the Garfield's Soft Spot Cafe, sounds like a fun place, Soul Lumination a Canonsburg spiritual and wellness center, and Proud Haven, a Northside organization serving the LGBTQIA+ youth.

453
00:35:01,329.2221437 --> 00:35:07,409.2221437
each library holds 10 to 20 books, and the first five were designed and painted by volunteers.

454
00:35:07,502.558477 --> 00:35:12,262.553477
One depicts a shooting star with a rainbow tail, another a sleeping cat.

455
00:35:12,485.8938103 --> 00:35:17,209.2251437
The library in the lobby of the Westmoreland Museum is inscribed with literary quotations.

456
00:35:17,569.2211437 --> 00:35:23,622.554477
One of them is from Isaac Asimov, and it reads, Any book worth banning is a book worth reading."

457
00:35:23,767.2211437 --> 00:35:46,403.2696162
I love that and it's I wanna have hope and believe there's hope for all dummies out there who follow Trump s- being a dummy myself, I've gotta think so I really want, like, I want to believe that Moms for Liberty and you too, Ron DeSantis, you scamp, you pudding-loving, rubber boot-wearing rascal.

458
00:35:46,773.2716162 --> 00:35:55,556.5068755
I wanna believe they're good people, and they're just, they're, they talk themselves into being assholes too deep in public, and they don't know what to do.

459
00:35:55,736.5058755 --> 00:36:06,507.797774
I would wish that this is a good way for Moms for Liberty or people like that to access some of these gay books and read them and, and see, like, look, it's, it's a book.

460
00:36:06,537.796774 --> 00:36:08,847.795774
It, it, there's a whole queer community.

461
00:36:08,887.795774 --> 00:36:10,227.796774
You don't have to be gay.

462
00:36:10,227.796774 --> 00:36:11,697.794774
It's not gonna turn you gay.

463
00:36:12,27.794774 --> 00:36:22,207.798774
But instead of just trying to go out and ban everything that you don't like, why don't you just try to experience some of it? And I don't mean experience it like with someone getting on top of you.

464
00:36:22,207.798774 --> 00:36:23,427.795774
I know that's what you're thinking.

465
00:36:23,727.795774 --> 00:36:25,397.796774
I just mean read a book.

466
00:36:25,919.797774 --> 00:36:30,381.797774
In the case of Moms for Liberty, that might literally be the case from Exactly.

467
00:36:30,451.797774 --> 00:36:32,289.797774
Exactly Yeah.

468
00:36:32,480.3910174 --> 00:36:33,450.3900174
that counts, by the way.

469
00:36:33,905.2183555 --> 00:36:35,215.2173555
hey, I've got an idea.

470
00:36:35,435.2183555 --> 00:36:42,715.2173555
So you're, you're, you're trying to get, you know, Ron DeSantis to like, you know, check out some of these books, maybe get a little bit more open-minded.

471
00:36:43,65.2173555 --> 00:36:48,895.2173555
Maybe in some of those little queer libraries, put some chocolate pudding cups in there.

472
00:36:49,821.2173555 --> 00:36:50,411.2173555
pudding.

473
00:36:50,765.2163555 --> 00:36:52,785.2173555
Free Free pudding for Ron.

474
00:36:53,71.2173555 --> 00:36:54,361.2173555
Free pudding, no spoons.

475
00:36:54,955.2173555 --> 00:37:00,215.2153555
Lu- those spoons lure him in, and once he's got the pudding, the books will follow.

476
00:37:01,25.2153555 --> 00:37:05,501.3332717
How about that? go listen to Beowulf and his show, Good News for Lefties.

477
00:37:05,501.3332717 --> 00:37:07,531.3332717
it's how you learn what's good in America.

478
00:37:07,531.3342717 --> 00:37:14,431.0231025
There's still good news out there from a lefty, from a leftist point of view thank you so much, guys.

479
00:37:14,511.0231025 --> 00:37:36,798.7539521
Come hear the good From bandworthy to bingeworthy As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with Here's The Scoop, a new podcast from NBC News with me, your host, Yasmeen Wassugian.

480
00:37:37,238.7539521 --> 00:37:41,838.7539521
We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalists.

481
00:37:42,8.7529521 --> 00:37:49,188.7539521
It's a fresh take that's sharp, thoughtful, and it's informative, bringing you closer to the headlines and conversations that are shaping our world.

482
00:37:49,388.7539521 --> 00:37:53,138.7539521
From the front page to the zeitgeist, Here's The Scoop from NBC News.

483
00:37:53,528.7539521 --> 00:37:55,738.7539521
Listen daily wherever you get your podcasts.

484
00:37:58,342.7539521 --> 00:37:58,652.7539521
Right.

485
00:37:58,702.7539521 --> 00:38:02,382.7539521
We've caused enough literary chaos for one day, scary book people.

486
00:38:02,392.7539521 --> 00:38:05,962.7539521
If you want the fun to keep going, follow us on Blue Sky.

487
00:38:06,32.7539521 --> 00:38:10,152.7539521
Just head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/bluesky,

488
00:38:10,152.7539521 --> 00:38:12,432.7529521
and remember that's band with two Ns.

489
00:38:12,732.7539521 --> 00:38:23,692.7539521
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.

490
00:38:23,692.7539521 --> 00:38:24,642.7539521
I think you'll like it.

491
00:38:25,62.7539521 --> 00:38:26,962.7539521
Yes, little quid pro quo.

492
00:38:27,562.7539521 --> 00:38:32,582.7529521
Band Camp is produced and hosted by Dan Schultz and me, Jennifer Davis.

493
00:38:33,62.7539521 --> 00:38:37,652.7529521
All media used in this episode falls under the protection of fair use.

494
00:38:37,862.7539521 --> 00:38:42,532.7539521
And finally, America isn't what it used to be, so be careful out there.

495
00:38:43,62.7539521 --> 00:38:44,642.7539521
And resist when it matters.