October 16, 2023 • 35 mins
"Harriet the Spy," chapter 12. Alison and Jody read, discuss, and dissect Louise Fitzhugh's 1964 kid lit nonvel about a child creeper and her vengeful classmates. The big news this week is the retaliation parade. Harriet's starting to get worried. There's dramatic readings, retro commercials, and TWO A+ Blume Head letters from Sawyer and Anne! lt's a (sometimes) Judy Blume book club. Join us (almost) every week!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:15):
Hi. I'm Joby and I'm Allison, and you're listening to the Blue Saloon.
It's a Judy bloom book club.Today. We are reading Harry at
the Spy by Louise Fitsu. Chaptertwelve, that's right, chapter twelve.
(00:35):
Yeah, we've been reading this onefor a while. We're at sixty five
percent. Are we going to bereading this into twenty twenty four? We
might? We might? Might,we might. I would like to hear
from the Bloomheads. Should we likeread faster? Or is this cadence?
(01:00):
Yeah? Is this Caden's I thoughtyou were gonna say, should we stop?
Should we just give it up?Just clearly? No? You know,
I have been thinking about this hasbeen enjoyable for me, like I've
I've had fun, I could.It's been a slog at times when Harriet's
especially terrible, which is what reallygot me thinking about the movie. And
(01:23):
so I think we should read aletter. Okay, okay, we have
a letter from Anne s. Thesubject line unpopular opinion. Oooh we love
those we love an unpopular opinion.Okay. I've been reading Harriet the Spy
(01:44):
for about half a century now,and I've never understood how the notebook was
a bad deep It was Harriet's privatethoughts, not to be shared with anyone.
She never said any of the thingsshe broke down aloud, nor did
she act out. It was notsupposed to be public. I understand why
her friends were hurt when they foundit, but it's like reading someone's private
diary and being upset about what yousee. Also, in the opening scene,
(02:08):
Sports says something like make him awriter like my father, not name
him after my father. His father'slast name is indeed broke, and then
be as a crime. Thanks forcovering this book. It's how I found
your podcast. Oh that's so neat. That's so good to hear. Thank
(02:28):
you so much Anne for writing inThank you Anne. Let's pick this letter
apart. Let's start with the firstparagraph. She has such a good point.
I don't think we've even talked aboutthe invasion. Oh it's it's obscene.
We call Harriet a brat, Weget annoyed by her. She is
a little bit of a so andso, but only because we are privy
(02:51):
to her internal thoughts. I don'tthink she like outwardly acts too bad.
The rest of the kids are justas assholy as she is, if not
more so because you don't you don'tsteal someone' That's what That's kind of the
thing I keep coming back to,Like Harriet, these are terrible things to
(03:16):
write down, But who doesn't thinkstuff like this, you know, who
doesn't have some kind of internal monologuethat's like a little bit rude. And
so if we wrote down all thethings we thought, it would be terrible.
I mean maybe I did. Maybethat's just personal, but I think
(03:39):
that I'm not the only one thatfeels that way. And so for Harriet
to have had her book read bypeople who shouldn't have had it in their
hands like it was a true invasion. Mm hmmm. However, back to
the movie, I read a reviewfrom the San Francisco Examiner and it had
a kind of amazing take about thenineteen ninety six movies starring Michelle Trachtenberg.
(04:04):
It said that Harriet in the movieis the kind of kid I'm not looking
forward to meeting as a grown up. And they also kind of speak to
how in the book they see Harrietas like this artiste, you know,
like she's she's a writer, andshe's she's had that taken from her.
(04:27):
But they feel that in the movieshe's really mean spirited. But I thought
that was interesting, And I wonderif that reviewer had read the book recently.
You think they were forgetting the artistdry? I think, Oh,
I think they were forgetting She's terrible. Oh yeah, I do. I
(04:50):
have a lot of Bloomheads who havetold us that this was one of their
favorite books as a kid have alsosaid they never really they I never realized
as a kid how terrible she was. Yeah, Like, what does that
mean though? Does that mean thatall kids are assholes? I don't know,
or just that we're more open mindedas kids, Like it feels we're
(05:14):
more able to kind of see ourselvesin her moments. Maybe I didn't.
I was ten years old when thismovie came out. I didn't look at
it with the critical eye that Iwould look at it now like as an
adult. And I just wonder,even the book if it feels that way,
like I wanna. I wish Icould experience it as a kid and
have had those feelings. But wecan't watch more Harriet content. There's a
(05:40):
twenty ten rendition Oh the cartoon,and there's a twenty twenty one animated series
with Beanie Feldstein Apple TV. Reallym hmm, there's two animated series and
they're not related. No, sowe have a nineteen ninety six, twenty
ten and twenty twenty one. Ithink we've got to definitely do our due
(06:02):
diligence. Yeah, I mean wecould be talking about Harriet until twenty twenty
five now. Yeah, I thinkit's gonna be the longest odds and ends
ever. So you had me thinkingabout Matilda. Oh I that's so funny.
I'm reading Matilda with Poe right now. Okay, So, on the
(06:23):
plane on the way back from Londona couple weeks ago, I watched Matilda
the Musical the New Way. Yes, you know how I feel. You
loved it. I loved it.I loved it so much. I was
texting people from the plane, like, you have to watch this seriously.
I've watched it so many times sincetoo. In the book, I haven't
read it since I was a kid, but I was a huge role doll
(06:45):
fan as a kid, and Ihave also heard people say that when they
go back and read it as agrown up, you should tell me if
this is true that uh she's alittle torp. Also, well, I
haven't noticed anything yet we're pretty farinto it. I feel like it's not
as campy as the film renditions havebeen. The book doesn't feel like I
(07:13):
feel like Harriet has tons of stylem hm, and you can kind of
feel it, and it Matilda itdoesn't feel as much that way. It's
interesting and maybe it's just me andmaybe I'm reading it late at night to
a six year old who's asking lotsof questions, but it's interesting how like
vibrant the film versions are and Idon't know why it's just easier to see
(07:36):
them. Yeah, yeah, Ihear what you're saying. Poe's always a
mom Mommy says the songs they're sogood. The musical is really wild,
and like the circus scenes and somuch of it just feels just so fun.
(07:58):
And yeah, I guess I'm feelin that way about the book.
I was thinking that for me,when I was a kid, Annie was
like the movie that I was obsessedwith, like all the kids dancing and
doing gymnasticsuff the fire escapes. Ijust like wanted to be And Annie's so
bad. I wonder if Matilda isthe new Annie for a whole generation.
So totally I think. So there'snothing like repressed naughty kids dancing dancing better
(08:24):
than they should for their age.So something's off. I was like,
is this ai? Well, Matildawas supposed to be five and a half.
Wait, she's that young? Yeah? Well, I don't know how
when she's supposed to be the movie, I think she's supposed to be maybe
like seven, but she's definitely liketen. Yeah, she's so tiny in
(08:46):
the book. Oh she's so she'sso tiny. Back to Harriet. Back
to Harriet. Oh wait, no, we have another letter. Another letter.
Oh my god, Okay, letme get this one. This is
from Bloomhead Sawyer, a medium orlongtime bloomhead they have written before. Yay
(09:09):
they said hi again, bloom Saloon, Bloomhead Sawyer here reporting on my own
experiences with a Harriet esque note situation. These are very revealing of my age
as a child of the mid twothousands. But oh well, all names
other than mine are changed. Firststory, In second grade, a girl
named Maria moved to my school.She was from Brazil and didn't speak much
(09:33):
English. The teacher sat her nextto me and we were buddies. One
day at indoor recess, we wereplaying a drawing computer game fun, and
she kept writing the name of aboy in our class, Jake, with
a bunch of hearts around it.We started laughing about it, and I
wanted to make her laugh more soI took out a piece of paper and
wrote Maria Hart Jake on it.We laughed about that, and when recess
(09:58):
was over, he gave it toJake, who got mad and gave it
to the teacher. The teacher askedJake who wrote it. He pointed to
Maria, who pointed to me.The teacher read my note to the entire
class, said I wrote it,and made us sit in silence before we
left her music class, while everyoneglared angrily at me. Oh that's a
(10:20):
big deal for second grade. That'sreal. That's mortifying, no wonder,
It's like a core memory and theyremember it so well because these moments are
what kind of make you you are? Ah second story, no idea when
this was but my neighbor friend Lilywas the first kid on our street to
(10:41):
get a Wii. It was inthe playroom of her house, which was
a finished basement. Lily also hadan older brother, Derek, who would
torment all of us. One day, I was at Lily's with our other
neighbor friend, Emily. The threeof us went on Lily's Wei and messed
up Derek's little me avatar, andwe thought we were the funniest people ever.
(11:03):
We scambered upstairs to Lily's room,but after I started to get worried
I wouldn't see Derek's reaction to theme situation, and I would only hear
about it from Lily. I wantedto witness it, so I wrote a
note something to the effect of youshould play on the Wii, It's really
fun oh, and ran out ofLily's room and threw it down the stairs.
(11:24):
It landed right in the middle ofthe stairs, but I knew if
I tried to sneak down, Derekand his friends would catch me, so
I ran back up to Lily's room, where she and Emily were annoyed with
me about the note. Eventually theyconvinced me to take the note back.
Given that we hadn't heard any reactionfrom downstairs so the boys had seen it,
they sent me to get it alone. So after I closed the door
(11:46):
behind myself, I stood and listenedto what they were saying about me.
Once I was out of the room, Emily said, ugh, Sawyer acts
like they have to do everything.Lily said, I know right, it's
so annoying, and I wish they'dnever come her. And I walked down
the stairs and got the note andyelled Lily and Emily messed up your me
and then walked home with my nosein the air. The end. That's
(12:09):
such a great story. I feellike I could feel it. I feel
like that happened to me. Huh. I'm a little worried that I might
take this on as a false memorythat happened to me. So that's exciting,
really exciting. There's something about olderbrothers that's so scary friends, older
(12:30):
brothers. Oh oh yeah, likethey were so foreign to me. Same,
I mean, as an older sisterliving in your house. What no,
I couldn't. But well, thankyou, Sawyer. This was such
a good letter. Bloom Heads.Write us more letters about the notes you
wrote or the notes you received.Write us letters about what you think about
(12:54):
Harriet. Write us your unpopular opinion. We want to hear everything. Oh
oh, I have to get mypower cord all right. Chapter twelve,
(13:24):
We've got a crew. We've gotthe whole gang back together again. Really
We've got Harrit m Welsh, ourmain character whose perspective we are tapped into.
We've got her mother and father andher former nurse, Old Golly.
(13:45):
There's also a cook that is attheir house who makes food. There's a
ton of classmates who are all verymad at Harriet for what she's written in
her journal. There's her former bestfriends Sport and Jane, and then a
bunch of other classmates Rachel Hennessy,Carrie Andrews, Marion Hawthorne, Beth Ellen,
Pinky Whitehead, Laura Peters and theboy with the purple socks. He
(14:11):
had a name moment, but he'sgone back to the boy with the purple
socks. What was his name?Can't you remember? Peter? I think
it was Peter sounds right, PeterHatcher? Oh my god, was it
Peter Hatcher. There's some teachers,Miss Elson who's like the main teacher,
(14:31):
and Miss Harris who teaches math.And then a formerni berr of Harriet's named
Carter Wingfield. So the next morning, remember, Harriet's just spied her former
friends and classmates building more of theirlayer their spy catchers club. So the
(14:54):
next morning at school, Harriet arrives. She's writing furious her notebook. And
this is when Harriet just kind ofstarts writing and doesn't stop. She's just
kind of given in, you know, to this kind of writing demon that
she has, and she won't stop. She will not stop. She's like
(15:18):
writing her straight up memoirs, butshe's looking around her classroom at all the
different faces and making them think thatshe's writing about them, even though she's
writing about like her younger childhood.I love this tactic. It's a really
(15:39):
wild kind of intimidation move that she'sdoing. Harriet's remembering back to when the
good old days, when she livedat seventy seventh and fifth Streets. She
had to ride the school buss everyday, and she had a really,
really nasty next door neighbor named CarterWinfeld. He was three, she was
(16:02):
seven. He was disgusting. Heburped all the time, and he was
so girls looking, so nasty looking. She says, she would pinch him
when his mom wasn't looking. Ohmy god, he was three, three
and she was seven. It's likepo pinching like a little three year old
like that would be so terrible.It's a little bit psychotic. Old Golly
(16:26):
knew, but she did give areally hard time about it. Luckily,
Harriet looks up from her writing.She thinks more about these friends, these
classmates around her, and what OldGolly would have said if she knew about
this, what would she think?She really needs that Old Golly guidance in
(16:53):
this moment, But Harriet thinks she'llbe on her side because the people around
her are trying to control her,and well Golly would understand this and that
people that try to control you arebad people. She'd hate it all.
I don't know. I don't knowabout that. Do you really think so
(17:17):
the control thing? I mean,they're just trying to like they're trying to
regain some sense of what's the word. Maybe it is control. I don't
know. I do think in allof this Old Golly might have a voice
of the voice of reason at leastbe able to maybe help Harriet understand why
(17:41):
people might be upset with her.Oh, even if it was wrong to
have taken the book in the firstplace. This just makes me mad that
Old Golly was so caught out fromher life completely, Like there's something no
there's no letter, like no phonecall. I just I don't I don't
think it's right. I don't thinkit's right you either. They get an
(18:03):
assignment from Miss Elson. She blazespast it. She's right and she's right,
and she's writing. Miss Elson islike what the hell, Harriet?
Like, are you gonna pay anyattention at all? She's writing kind of
mean things. She writes that pinkyWhitehead is the most disgusting thing I ever
(18:23):
saw. What must his mother havethought the first time she looked at him?
She must have thrown up, likethat's pretty mean. It's very mean.
It's very mean. She goes tomath class with Miss Harris and she's
doing the same thing, and againMiss Harris is like Harriet, like,
(18:45):
what are you doing? Harriet?Well, but she's yelling at her because
Harriet's still in the class. Afterthe bell rang, she's like totally totally
in the zone's trying to go homehere, worry it. I think it's
time to go home. But maybeyou want to show me what you were
up to. She's kind of likereaching reaching for the book. Harry gets
(19:11):
up so fast she knocks her chairover and she just kind of like runs
out of the room, hugging hernotebook, running for life. The next
day, same shit. She justwrites all day, doesn't do her work,
doesn't do any of her things.Miss Elson speaks to her four times.
Miss Harris speaks with her three andat the end of the day she
(19:33):
just goes home. She has hercake and milk. She goes to the
park. She sits on a bench. She's like enjoying her time, having
a great time writing under the trees. This is all she cares about,
is this book. It's all shehas. It's her only friend talking to
(19:53):
her. Yeah, she's writing abouthow pigeons make give people can't, so
oh, where does that come from? But they're also pretty. I don't
know. I think might've been awild like nineteen sixties rumor or social report.
I'm googling right now as you talk. Definitely, please, thank you.
(20:15):
She again is writing about Pinky Whitehead. I would have locked Pinky in
the basement until his hair turned white, Like what, Yeah, I mean,
these maybe private thoughts, but they'rebut they're wild, they're wild.
(20:38):
She's thinking of all the things shelikes in the park. She's writing.
She's writing, she's writing, thinkingabout all of her former friends, former
classmates, just writing, writing,writing, But then as she's writing,
you know, really taking her time. She hears the tout of a toy
whistle. Okay, I have totell you that pigeons might cause lung cancer.
(21:04):
Oh my god. Really how they'redroppings and their feathers. They have
proteins which can cause inflammation of thelungs and take many years of exposure to
cause progressive lung fibrosis to the honeycombingstage. Now, this is just one
thing that I saw. I haven'tdone enough research too, so and I'm
(21:26):
not a doctor, but I'm gonnasnoopehoo. Yeah, I think we need
to look a little further into this. For the record, I love pigeons
me too. I always wanted apet pigeon. Yeah. They're so nice,
and they're treated so unfairly, andthey're so smart. Yeah, I
want to like give one a goodlife. Yeah, I'd love for you
to have a pet pigeon. Partof the fun of the worlds the Subway
(21:52):
Special. There's a good time feelingthere. The Subway Special to the world
fare. The trains are easy tocatch anywhere anytime the nine or day.
Just take fifteen cents hoop before andyou're on your way. Yes, part
(22:15):
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there. Your transit authority has fourhundred and thirty spanking you picture window cars
for the elevated ride to the World'sFair. Express trains start at Times Square
in Grand Central and you're safely atthe fair in less than twenty minutes.
Take it easy, take the subway. Yes, part of the Buns of
(22:37):
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(23:03):
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(23:47):
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(24:11):
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This is great, is the playa fine? It's Doctor Pepper. Time
(24:55):
back to the tot of the ofthe toy whistle. I like to think
it's a kazoo because I love kazoos. Well, it's good. When Harriet
looks up, she's like, whatthe fuck. It's a parade. It's
a parade of her classmates, ledby the boy with the purple socks.
(25:18):
He was actually not wearing purple socks. He's wearing green socks now, and
his purple socks are on the flagpolethat he's carrying. I mean, this
is their that's my favorite vision.I love the purple socks on the flagpole.
This is also very Adrian Mole,you know, the Rebellion of the
Red Sox. It's there's something aboutcolored socks. So these kids they have
(25:48):
drums. It's a whole formation.There's a sign. It's a really good
sign. I love the copywriting here. It says this parade is courtesy of
the SpyCatcher Club. And there's justalso something like I just pictured the Charlie
Brown kids doing something like this.I say, I imagine little rascals.
Oh, very like he Man WomanHaters Club, like no girls allowed,
(26:15):
marching around like somebody's got a littledrum. I love this as an act
of retaliation. So Harriet's like,oh my god, that's me. I'm
the spy. They're the SpyCatcher Club. I'm the enemy. I think she's
(26:36):
finally internalized this. Marion Hawthorne hasalerted everybody with her whistle and they start
marching over to Harriet and she doesn'tknow what to do. Allison, what
would you do? How could younot just be like what the hell?
Would you would you run? Wouldyou hide? Would you freeze? Wild
(27:00):
you pretend freeze and just look upand just be kind of like what what
what? I would like to thinkthat I could just like sit there and
pretend they're not there. I thinkthat's the coolest thing to do, but
I probably run away. I don'tthink I could hide the face I'd be
making. I'd be making a face. You'd be making a face. They're
(27:25):
coming kind of slowly, so shehas time to think. She wants to
play it cool so they don't getthe satisfaction of a reaction from her.
But then she's like, well,if she plays it too cool and does
nothing, they'll know that she's tryingtoo hard to be cool, and that
a backfire too. I think she'soverthinking it. So she just sits and
(27:45):
waits, and they come closer andcloser so slowly, like excruciatingly menacingly.
There's nothing like a slow parade comingtowards you. No, I can't imagine
anything worse. Snow. And thenthere's another sign. This one's even better
than the first. Uh. Theboy with the purple socks is carrying a
(28:10):
placard that says, ask to betold about the legend of the purple socks.
He's the best character in this book. Yeah, I know, he's
charging ten cents. Yeah, whynot. I mean, if you've got
a tale like that. And rightas they pass Harriet, they all turn
in unison and stick out their tongues. They've practiced this. Wow, the
(28:30):
choreography, it's just top notch.It's like a flash mob. Really is.
They finally passed her, and shewrites in her notebook about how she
didn't make the boy with the purplesocks take off his socks. It was
his decision. He's acting like amartyr. She's getting a little defensive here,
(28:52):
but she decides it's time to go. She's got to get out of
there before they come back. Whenshe's home, she decided she's not ever
going to go to the park again. Screw that park. It's not even
a big deal anyway. The parkis just full of idiots and having parades.
She can just stay in her roomand ride on her bed. So
fuck that club and the parade.They walked in on exactly, and there's
(29:18):
a knock. It's mother, notmother, Harriet. I've got to talk
to you. I've just come backfrom your school. Mis Selson called me
up this afternoon and said that Ihad better come over and have a talk
about you. There's nothing to beafraid of. She just wanted to talk
about your schoolwork. She says thatfor the last week you haven't done any
(29:41):
at all. What about it?I haven't anything to say. What do
you mean, did you do yourwork or not? No? I don't
think so. I can't remember,Harriet, these are very unsatisfac three answers.
(30:02):
Is something bothering you? No?She pulls the chair up, and
I want to imagine she pulls itup like backwards, like h she straddles
it. Yeah, exactly. Let'slet's real talk. What have you got
there? What you know perfectly?Well? What is that the same notebook?
No? A different one? Youknow what I mean? Harriet?
(30:26):
Are you still writing down mean thingsabout people? No, I'm writing my
memoirs. Both Miss Elson and MissHarris say that you do nothing whatever anymore,
but write in that notebook. Isthat right? Yes? They say,
I must take it away from youor you'll never learn anything. I'm
(30:48):
learning plenty. What are you learningeverything about? Everybody? History, geography,
French science? All bad? You'reeven doing badly in English and we
know you can't add and subtract.Ooh, she's in sixth grade, she
(31:10):
should know that. Yeah, I'mafraid that you're only going to be able
to play with this notebook after school, but not during school hours. I'm
not playing. Who says I'm playing? I'm working. Look, dear,
at the moment, you're in school. So your work is school. Just
like your father works at the office, you work at school. School work
(31:36):
is your work. What do youdo? A lot of unseen, unappreciated
things. That's not the point.At the moment. Your work is going
to school and learning, and you'renot doing that. Now, you can
have the notebook as soon as youcome home from school. I'll give it
to the cook and you can haveit just as soon as you come in.
(32:00):
I have to stop there. Whatdoes mom do? Because she doesn't
take care of Harriet. She's gota cook, she's got a cleaner,
she's got a nanny. Or shedid she does work? Does she work?
She probably some charity work. Ohyeah, yeah, yeah, she's
maybe she's on a board. She'sgiven back. Okay, yeah, she
(32:21):
says yes, Now that's definite.I'll throw a tantrum, so throw But
I'm not going to stand here andwatch you now in the morning, I
don't want to see you leaving here. With a notebook, Nor are you
to arrive at school with one.Miss Elson is going to check. Harriet
(32:42):
stuffs her face in her pillow.Honey, is something bothering you? No?
How does she? She takes awaythe only thing Harriet loves, and
she wonders if anything is bothered thering her wrong? What? What?
Earth? Oh my god? Thesepeople. I do remember very clearly being
(33:07):
told that school is my job.I've never heard of that something. I
think it's actually it would have beenreally good for me to hear that.
How so, but you were alwaysgood in school. Yeah, I was
good in school. But I thinkbeen a better worker in my life than
I was a student. And ifI had considered school work, maybe I
(33:31):
would have. I don't know,totally, no, the same. I
mean, I think my mom wasastounded once I left college and started working
that like I actually thrived in theworkplace. It was like a really good
employee. Like I think maybe youand I are the same that way,
Like we really take our work seriously, yeah, like give it our all.
(33:53):
But they're I mean, for me, I think it's because of the
peer pressure. I think so,yeah, when I'm doing something for someone
else, I really I could neverlet anyone sit down, right, But
when it's just for myself, Yeah, I'm gonna go with smoke weed.
(34:15):
That's so funny. We're people pleasers. Huh yeah I think we are.
Yeah yeah, okay, yeah yeah, here we are. Here we are.
That's the end of chapter twelve.Yeah, bloomheads. Let us know.
Do we need to start picking upthe pace here? I mean it's
hard because some of the chapters arereally long, some of them are really
(34:36):
short. We could zip through ifwe need to, but if you're enjoying
it, let's not you know.Yeah, I'm all for like, but
we went. But we're people pleasers, I know, look at us.
Tell us what you want us todo. You can just you know,
(34:58):
tell me what you want and I'lldo that. And we hope you like
us and just like us. Andwhat do you want? On that note?
See you next week. We loveyou, oh my god, we
do. I hope to hear fromyou. Please us at email dot com. Bye.
Hi. I'm Joby and I'm Allison, and you're listening to the Blue Saloon.
It's a Judy bloom book club.Today. We are reading Harry at
the Spy by Louise Fitsu. Chaptertwelve, that's right, chapter twelve.
(00:35):
Yeah, we've been reading this onefor a while. We're at sixty five
percent. Are we going to bereading this into twenty twenty four? We
might? We might? Might,we might. I would like to hear
from the Bloomheads. Should we likeread faster? Or is this cadence?
(01:00):
Yeah? Is this Caden's I thoughtyou were gonna say, should we stop?
Should we just give it up?Just clearly? No? You know,
I have been thinking about this hasbeen enjoyable for me, like I've
I've had fun, I could.It's been a slog at times when Harriet's
especially terrible, which is what reallygot me thinking about the movie. And
(01:23):
so I think we should read aletter. Okay, okay, we have
a letter from Anne s. Thesubject line unpopular opinion. Oooh we love
those we love an unpopular opinion.Okay. I've been reading Harriet the Spy
(01:44):
for about half a century now,and I've never understood how the notebook was
a bad deep It was Harriet's privatethoughts, not to be shared with anyone.
She never said any of the thingsshe broke down aloud, nor did
she act out. It was notsupposed to be public. I understand why
her friends were hurt when they foundit, but it's like reading someone's private
diary and being upset about what yousee. Also, in the opening scene,
(02:08):
Sports says something like make him awriter like my father, not name
him after my father. His father'slast name is indeed broke, and then
be as a crime. Thanks forcovering this book. It's how I found
your podcast. Oh that's so neat. That's so good to hear. Thank
(02:28):
you so much Anne for writing inThank you Anne. Let's pick this letter
apart. Let's start with the firstparagraph. She has such a good point.
I don't think we've even talked aboutthe invasion. Oh it's it's obscene.
We call Harriet a brat, Weget annoyed by her. She is
a little bit of a so andso, but only because we are privy
(02:51):
to her internal thoughts. I don'tthink she like outwardly acts too bad.
The rest of the kids are justas assholy as she is, if not
more so because you don't you don'tsteal someone' That's what That's kind of the
thing I keep coming back to,Like Harriet, these are terrible things to
(03:16):
write down, But who doesn't thinkstuff like this, you know, who
doesn't have some kind of internal monologuethat's like a little bit rude. And
so if we wrote down all thethings we thought, it would be terrible.
I mean maybe I did. Maybethat's just personal, but I think
(03:39):
that I'm not the only one thatfeels that way. And so for Harriet
to have had her book read bypeople who shouldn't have had it in their
hands like it was a true invasion. Mm hmmm. However, back to
the movie, I read a reviewfrom the San Francisco Examiner and it had
a kind of amazing take about thenineteen ninety six movies starring Michelle Trachtenberg.
(04:04):
It said that Harriet in the movieis the kind of kid I'm not looking
forward to meeting as a grown up. And they also kind of speak to
how in the book they see Harrietas like this artiste, you know,
like she's she's a writer, andshe's she's had that taken from her.
(04:27):
But they feel that in the movieshe's really mean spirited. But I thought
that was interesting, And I wonderif that reviewer had read the book recently.
You think they were forgetting the artistdry? I think, Oh,
I think they were forgetting She's terrible. Oh yeah, I do. I
(04:50):
have a lot of Bloomheads who havetold us that this was one of their
favorite books as a kid have alsosaid they never really they I never realized
as a kid how terrible she was. Yeah, Like, what does that
mean though? Does that mean thatall kids are assholes? I don't know,
or just that we're more open mindedas kids, Like it feels we're
(05:14):
more able to kind of see ourselvesin her moments. Maybe I didn't.
I was ten years old when thismovie came out. I didn't look at
it with the critical eye that Iwould look at it now like as an
adult. And I just wonder,even the book if it feels that way,
like I wanna. I wish Icould experience it as a kid and
have had those feelings. But wecan't watch more Harriet content. There's a
(05:40):
twenty ten rendition Oh the cartoon,and there's a twenty twenty one animated series
with Beanie Feldstein Apple TV. Reallym hmm, there's two animated series and
they're not related. No, sowe have a nineteen ninety six, twenty
ten and twenty twenty one. Ithink we've got to definitely do our due
(06:02):
diligence. Yeah, I mean wecould be talking about Harriet until twenty twenty
five now. Yeah, I thinkit's gonna be the longest odds and ends
ever. So you had me thinkingabout Matilda. Oh I that's so funny.
I'm reading Matilda with Poe right now. Okay, So, on the
(06:23):
plane on the way back from Londona couple weeks ago, I watched Matilda
the Musical the New Way. Yes, you know how I feel. You
loved it. I loved it.I loved it so much. I was
texting people from the plane, like, you have to watch this seriously.
I've watched it so many times sincetoo. In the book, I haven't
read it since I was a kid, but I was a huge role doll
(06:45):
fan as a kid, and Ihave also heard people say that when they
go back and read it as agrown up, you should tell me if
this is true that uh she's alittle torp. Also, well, I
haven't noticed anything yet we're pretty farinto it. I feel like it's not
as campy as the film renditions havebeen. The book doesn't feel like I
(07:13):
feel like Harriet has tons of stylem hm, and you can kind of
feel it, and it Matilda itdoesn't feel as much that way. It's
interesting and maybe it's just me andmaybe I'm reading it late at night to
a six year old who's asking lotsof questions, but it's interesting how like
vibrant the film versions are and Idon't know why it's just easier to see
(07:36):
them. Yeah, yeah, Ihear what you're saying. Poe's always a
mom Mommy says the songs they're sogood. The musical is really wild,
and like the circus scenes and somuch of it just feels just so fun.
(07:58):
And yeah, I guess I'm feelin that way about the book.
I was thinking that for me,when I was a kid, Annie was
like the movie that I was obsessedwith, like all the kids dancing and
doing gymnasticsuff the fire escapes. Ijust like wanted to be And Annie's so
bad. I wonder if Matilda isthe new Annie for a whole generation.
So totally I think. So there'snothing like repressed naughty kids dancing dancing better
(08:24):
than they should for their age.So something's off. I was like,
is this ai? Well, Matildawas supposed to be five and a half.
Wait, she's that young? Yeah? Well, I don't know how
when she's supposed to be the movie, I think she's supposed to be maybe
like seven, but she's definitely liketen. Yeah, she's so tiny in
(08:46):
the book. Oh she's so she'sso tiny. Back to Harriet. Back
to Harriet. Oh wait, no, we have another letter. Another letter.
Oh my god, Okay, letme get this one. This is
from Bloomhead Sawyer, a medium orlongtime bloomhead they have written before. Yay
(09:09):
they said hi again, bloom Saloon, Bloomhead Sawyer here reporting on my own
experiences with a Harriet esque note situation. These are very revealing of my age
as a child of the mid twothousands. But oh well, all names
other than mine are changed. Firststory, In second grade, a girl
named Maria moved to my school.She was from Brazil and didn't speak much
(09:33):
English. The teacher sat her nextto me and we were buddies. One
day at indoor recess, we wereplaying a drawing computer game fun, and
she kept writing the name of aboy in our class, Jake, with
a bunch of hearts around it.We started laughing about it, and I
wanted to make her laugh more soI took out a piece of paper and
wrote Maria Hart Jake on it.We laughed about that, and when recess
(09:58):
was over, he gave it toJake, who got mad and gave it
to the teacher. The teacher askedJake who wrote it. He pointed to
Maria, who pointed to me.The teacher read my note to the entire
class, said I wrote it,and made us sit in silence before we
left her music class, while everyoneglared angrily at me. Oh that's a
(10:20):
big deal for second grade. That'sreal. That's mortifying, no wonder,
It's like a core memory and theyremember it so well because these moments are
what kind of make you you are? Ah second story, no idea when
this was but my neighbor friend Lilywas the first kid on our street to
(10:41):
get a Wii. It was inthe playroom of her house, which was
a finished basement. Lily also hadan older brother, Derek, who would
torment all of us. One day, I was at Lily's with our other
neighbor friend, Emily. The threeof us went on Lily's Wei and messed
up Derek's little me avatar, andwe thought we were the funniest people ever.
(11:03):
We scambered upstairs to Lily's room,but after I started to get worried
I wouldn't see Derek's reaction to theme situation, and I would only hear
about it from Lily. I wantedto witness it, so I wrote a
note something to the effect of youshould play on the Wii, It's really
fun oh, and ran out ofLily's room and threw it down the stairs.
(11:24):
It landed right in the middle ofthe stairs, but I knew if
I tried to sneak down, Derekand his friends would catch me, so
I ran back up to Lily's room, where she and Emily were annoyed with
me about the note. Eventually theyconvinced me to take the note back.
Given that we hadn't heard any reactionfrom downstairs so the boys had seen it,
they sent me to get it alone. So after I closed the door
(11:46):
behind myself, I stood and listenedto what they were saying about me.
Once I was out of the room, Emily said, ugh, Sawyer acts
like they have to do everything.Lily said, I know right, it's
so annoying, and I wish they'dnever come her. And I walked down
the stairs and got the note andyelled Lily and Emily messed up your me
and then walked home with my nosein the air. The end. That's
(12:09):
such a great story. I feellike I could feel it. I feel
like that happened to me. Huh. I'm a little worried that I might
take this on as a false memorythat happened to me. So that's exciting,
really exciting. There's something about olderbrothers that's so scary friends, older
(12:30):
brothers. Oh oh yeah, likethey were so foreign to me. Same,
I mean, as an older sisterliving in your house. What no,
I couldn't. But well, thankyou, Sawyer. This was such
a good letter. Bloom Heads.Write us more letters about the notes you
wrote or the notes you received.Write us letters about what you think about
(12:54):
Harriet. Write us your unpopular opinion. We want to hear everything. Oh
oh, I have to get mypower cord all right. Chapter twelve,
(13:24):
We've got a crew. We've gotthe whole gang back together again. Really
We've got Harrit m Welsh, ourmain character whose perspective we are tapped into.
We've got her mother and father andher former nurse, Old Golly.
(13:45):
There's also a cook that is attheir house who makes food. There's a
ton of classmates who are all verymad at Harriet for what she's written in
her journal. There's her former bestfriends Sport and Jane, and then a
bunch of other classmates Rachel Hennessy,Carrie Andrews, Marion Hawthorne, Beth Ellen,
Pinky Whitehead, Laura Peters and theboy with the purple socks. He
(14:11):
had a name moment, but he'sgone back to the boy with the purple
socks. What was his name?Can't you remember? Peter? I think
it was Peter sounds right, PeterHatcher? Oh my god, was it
Peter Hatcher. There's some teachers,Miss Elson who's like the main teacher,
(14:31):
and Miss Harris who teaches math.And then a formerni berr of Harriet's named
Carter Wingfield. So the next morning, remember, Harriet's just spied her former
friends and classmates building more of theirlayer their spy catchers club. So the
(14:54):
next morning at school, Harriet arrives. She's writing furious her notebook. And
this is when Harriet just kind ofstarts writing and doesn't stop. She's just
kind of given in, you know, to this kind of writing demon that
she has, and she won't stop. She will not stop. She's like
(15:18):
writing her straight up memoirs, butshe's looking around her classroom at all the
different faces and making them think thatshe's writing about them, even though she's
writing about like her younger childhood.I love this tactic. It's a really
(15:39):
wild kind of intimidation move that she'sdoing. Harriet's remembering back to when the
good old days, when she livedat seventy seventh and fifth Streets. She
had to ride the school buss everyday, and she had a really,
really nasty next door neighbor named CarterWinfeld. He was three, she was
(16:02):
seven. He was disgusting. Heburped all the time, and he was
so girls looking, so nasty looking. She says, she would pinch him
when his mom wasn't looking. Ohmy god, he was three, three
and she was seven. It's likepo pinching like a little three year old
like that would be so terrible.It's a little bit psychotic. Old Golly
(16:26):
knew, but she did give areally hard time about it. Luckily,
Harriet looks up from her writing.She thinks more about these friends, these
classmates around her, and what OldGolly would have said if she knew about
this, what would she think?She really needs that Old Golly guidance in
(16:53):
this moment, But Harriet thinks she'llbe on her side because the people around
her are trying to control her,and well Golly would understand this and that
people that try to control you arebad people. She'd hate it all.
I don't know. I don't knowabout that. Do you really think so
(17:17):
the control thing? I mean,they're just trying to like they're trying to
regain some sense of what's the word. Maybe it is control. I don't
know. I do think in allof this Old Golly might have a voice
of the voice of reason at leastbe able to maybe help Harriet understand why
(17:41):
people might be upset with her.Oh, even if it was wrong to
have taken the book in the firstplace. This just makes me mad that
Old Golly was so caught out fromher life completely, Like there's something no
there's no letter, like no phonecall. I just I don't I don't
think it's right. I don't thinkit's right you either. They get an
(18:03):
assignment from Miss Elson. She blazespast it. She's right and she's right,
and she's writing. Miss Elson islike what the hell, Harriet?
Like, are you gonna pay anyattention at all? She's writing kind of
mean things. She writes that pinkyWhitehead is the most disgusting thing I ever
(18:23):
saw. What must his mother havethought the first time she looked at him?
She must have thrown up, likethat's pretty mean. It's very mean.
It's very mean. She goes tomath class with Miss Harris and she's
doing the same thing, and againMiss Harris is like Harriet, like,
(18:45):
what are you doing? Harriet?Well, but she's yelling at her because
Harriet's still in the class. Afterthe bell rang, she's like totally totally
in the zone's trying to go homehere, worry it. I think it's
time to go home. But maybeyou want to show me what you were
up to. She's kind of likereaching reaching for the book. Harry gets
(19:11):
up so fast she knocks her chairover and she just kind of like runs
out of the room, hugging hernotebook, running for life. The next
day, same shit. She justwrites all day, doesn't do her work,
doesn't do any of her things.Miss Elson speaks to her four times.
Miss Harris speaks with her three andat the end of the day she
(19:33):
just goes home. She has hercake and milk. She goes to the
park. She sits on a bench. She's like enjoying her time, having
a great time writing under the trees. This is all she cares about,
is this book. It's all shehas. It's her only friend talking to
(19:53):
her. Yeah, she's writing abouthow pigeons make give people can't, so
oh, where does that come from? But they're also pretty. I don't
know. I think might've been awild like nineteen sixties rumor or social report.
I'm googling right now as you talk. Definitely, please, thank you.
(20:15):
She again is writing about Pinky Whitehead. I would have locked Pinky in
the basement until his hair turned white, Like what, Yeah, I mean,
these maybe private thoughts, but they'rebut they're wild, they're wild.
(20:38):
She's thinking of all the things shelikes in the park. She's writing.
She's writing, she's writing, thinkingabout all of her former friends, former
classmates, just writing, writing,writing, But then as she's writing,
you know, really taking her time. She hears the tout of a toy
whistle. Okay, I have totell you that pigeons might cause lung cancer.
(21:04):
Oh my god. Really how they'redroppings and their feathers. They have
proteins which can cause inflammation of thelungs and take many years of exposure to
cause progressive lung fibrosis to the honeycombingstage. Now, this is just one
thing that I saw. I haven'tdone enough research too, so and I'm
(21:26):
not a doctor, but I'm gonnasnoopehoo. Yeah, I think we need
to look a little further into this. For the record, I love pigeons
me too. I always wanted apet pigeon. Yeah. They're so nice,
and they're treated so unfairly, andthey're so smart. Yeah, I
want to like give one a goodlife. Yeah, I'd love for you
to have a pet pigeon. Partof the fun of the worlds the Subway
(21:52):
Special. There's a good time feelingthere. The Subway Special to the world
fare. The trains are easy tocatch anywhere anytime the nine or day.
Just take fifteen cents hoop before andyou're on your way. Yes, part
(22:15):
of the Bun of the World's Thereis the subway special. I take you
there. Your transit authority has fourhundred and thirty spanking you picture window cars
for the elevated ride to the World'sFair. Express trains start at Times Square
in Grand Central and you're safely atthe fair in less than twenty minutes.
Take it easy, take the subway. Yes, part of the Buns of
(22:37):
the world There is the subway special. I take you there. In the
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(23:47):
place to go to the on instrumentto Conward Johnson's join the dogs who note
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next up. Johnson's next up.Good time to begin with Dr Pepper.
(24:11):
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This is great, is the playa fine? It's Doctor Pepper. Time
(24:55):
back to the tot of the ofthe toy whistle. I like to think
it's a kazoo because I love kazoos. Well, it's good. When Harriet
looks up, she's like, whatthe fuck. It's a parade. It's
a parade of her classmates, ledby the boy with the purple socks.
(25:18):
He was actually not wearing purple socks. He's wearing green socks now, and
his purple socks are on the flagpolethat he's carrying. I mean, this
is their that's my favorite vision.I love the purple socks on the flagpole.
This is also very Adrian Mole,you know, the Rebellion of the
Red Sox. It's there's something aboutcolored socks. So these kids they have
(25:48):
drums. It's a whole formation.There's a sign. It's a really good
sign. I love the copywriting here. It says this parade is courtesy of
the SpyCatcher Club. And there's justalso something like I just pictured the Charlie
Brown kids doing something like this.I say, I imagine little rascals.
Oh, very like he Man WomanHaters Club, like no girls allowed,
(26:15):
marching around like somebody's got a littledrum. I love this as an act
of retaliation. So Harriet's like,oh my god, that's me. I'm
the spy. They're the SpyCatcher Club. I'm the enemy. I think she's
(26:36):
finally internalized this. Marion Hawthorne hasalerted everybody with her whistle and they start
marching over to Harriet and she doesn'tknow what to do. Allison, what
would you do? How could younot just be like what the hell?
Would you would you run? Wouldyou hide? Would you freeze? Wild
(27:00):
you pretend freeze and just look upand just be kind of like what what
what? I would like to thinkthat I could just like sit there and
pretend they're not there. I thinkthat's the coolest thing to do, but
I probably run away. I don'tthink I could hide the face I'd be
making. I'd be making a face. You'd be making a face. They're
(27:25):
coming kind of slowly, so shehas time to think. She wants to
play it cool so they don't getthe satisfaction of a reaction from her.
But then she's like, well,if she plays it too cool and does
nothing, they'll know that she's tryingtoo hard to be cool, and that
a backfire too. I think she'soverthinking it. So she just sits and
(27:45):
waits, and they come closer andcloser so slowly, like excruciatingly menacingly.
There's nothing like a slow parade comingtowards you. No, I can't imagine
anything worse. Snow. And thenthere's another sign. This one's even better
than the first. Uh. Theboy with the purple socks is carrying a
(28:10):
placard that says, ask to betold about the legend of the purple socks.
He's the best character in this book. Yeah, I know, he's
charging ten cents. Yeah, whynot. I mean, if you've got
a tale like that. And rightas they pass Harriet, they all turn
in unison and stick out their tongues. They've practiced this. Wow, the
(28:30):
choreography, it's just top notch.It's like a flash mob. Really is.
They finally passed her, and shewrites in her notebook about how she
didn't make the boy with the purplesocks take off his socks. It was
his decision. He's acting like amartyr. She's getting a little defensive here,
(28:52):
but she decides it's time to go. She's got to get out of
there before they come back. Whenshe's home, she decided she's not ever
going to go to the park again. Screw that park. It's not even
a big deal anyway. The parkis just full of idiots and having parades.
She can just stay in her roomand ride on her bed. So
fuck that club and the parade.They walked in on exactly, and there's
(29:18):
a knock. It's mother, notmother, Harriet. I've got to talk
to you. I've just come backfrom your school. Mis Selson called me
up this afternoon and said that Ihad better come over and have a talk
about you. There's nothing to beafraid of. She just wanted to talk
about your schoolwork. She says thatfor the last week you haven't done any
(29:41):
at all. What about it?I haven't anything to say. What do
you mean, did you do yourwork or not? No? I don't
think so. I can't remember,Harriet, these are very unsatisfac three answers.
(30:02):
Is something bothering you? No?She pulls the chair up, and
I want to imagine she pulls itup like backwards, like h she straddles
it. Yeah, exactly. Let'slet's real talk. What have you got
there? What you know perfectly?Well? What is that the same notebook?
No? A different one? Youknow what I mean? Harriet?
(30:26):
Are you still writing down mean thingsabout people? No, I'm writing my
memoirs. Both Miss Elson and MissHarris say that you do nothing whatever anymore,
but write in that notebook. Isthat right? Yes? They say,
I must take it away from youor you'll never learn anything. I'm
(30:48):
learning plenty. What are you learningeverything about? Everybody? History, geography,
French science? All bad? You'reeven doing badly in English and we
know you can't add and subtract.Ooh, she's in sixth grade, she
(31:10):
should know that. Yeah, I'mafraid that you're only going to be able
to play with this notebook after school, but not during school hours. I'm
not playing. Who says I'm playing? I'm working. Look, dear,
at the moment, you're in school. So your work is school. Just
like your father works at the office, you work at school. School work
(31:36):
is your work. What do youdo? A lot of unseen, unappreciated
things. That's not the point.At the moment. Your work is going
to school and learning, and you'renot doing that. Now, you can
have the notebook as soon as youcome home from school. I'll give it
to the cook and you can haveit just as soon as you come in.
(32:00):
I have to stop there. Whatdoes mom do? Because she doesn't
take care of Harriet. She's gota cook, she's got a cleaner,
she's got a nanny. Or shedid she does work? Does she work?
She probably some charity work. Ohyeah, yeah, yeah, she's
maybe she's on a board. She'sgiven back. Okay, yeah, she
(32:21):
says yes, Now that's definite.I'll throw a tantrum, so throw But
I'm not going to stand here andwatch you now in the morning, I
don't want to see you leaving here. With a notebook, Nor are you
to arrive at school with one.Miss Elson is going to check. Harriet
(32:42):
stuffs her face in her pillow.Honey, is something bothering you? No?
How does she? She takes awaythe only thing Harriet loves, and
she wonders if anything is bothered thering her wrong? What? What?
Earth? Oh my god? Thesepeople. I do remember very clearly being
(33:07):
told that school is my job.I've never heard of that something. I
think it's actually it would have beenreally good for me to hear that.
How so, but you were alwaysgood in school. Yeah, I was
good in school. But I thinkbeen a better worker in my life than
I was a student. And ifI had considered school work, maybe I
(33:31):
would have. I don't know,totally, no, the same. I
mean, I think my mom wasastounded once I left college and started working
that like I actually thrived in theworkplace. It was like a really good
employee. Like I think maybe youand I are the same that way,
Like we really take our work seriously, yeah, like give it our all.
(33:53):
But they're I mean, for me, I think it's because of the
peer pressure. I think so,yeah, when I'm doing something for someone
else, I really I could neverlet anyone sit down, right, But
when it's just for myself, Yeah, I'm gonna go with smoke weed.
(34:15):
That's so funny. We're people pleasers. Huh yeah I think we are.
Yeah yeah, okay, yeah yeah, here we are. Here we are.
That's the end of chapter twelve.Yeah, bloomheads. Let us know.
Do we need to start picking upthe pace here? I mean it's
hard because some of the chapters arereally long, some of them are really
(34:36):
short. We could zip through ifwe need to, but if you're enjoying
it, let's not you know.Yeah, I'm all for like, but
we went. But we're people pleasers, I know, look at us.
Tell us what you want us todo. You can just you know,
(34:58):
tell me what you want and I'lldo that. And we hope you like
us and just like us. Andwhat do you want? On that note?
See you next week. We loveyou, oh my god, we
do. I hope to hear fromyou. Please us at email dot com. Bye.
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