Judy is Always Right
In the 5th or 6th grade, I remember being in science class. One of the other kids said something and a hilarious response popped in my head. I wanted to say it. I should say it, I thought. It will be greeted with silence, I thought. And as I thought and thought, a boy in the class said his own version of my joke and people roared. I lost the laugh. This boy, with less finesse and worse timing, got my fucking laugh. This moment changed me, it wasn’t an aha moment, cause Aha Oprah didn’t exist yet. No, I clearly remember thinking this is my Judy Blume moment. I was having my turning point in Judy Blume’s never published book, Deena Gets the Last Laugh.
After this JB moment, I did begin using my humor and it became a defining characteristic. It was how I made friends and gained confidence.
Judy, of course, knows that life is never simple enough to just have one turning point though. Her characters suffered and learned and celebrated and then they rinsed and repeated.
My Judy Blume-esque Deena is a slow learner. Years later she would take an improv class and think of something and whisper it to someone on the back line and he would go out and do it in class and he would get the laugh.
I have finally learned this lesson. I will get my laugh now, but Judy isn’t a one lesson per character type lady, so I continue to learn and learn and learn some more.
Who knew twenty-five years later Judy would write a sequel, Happy Shock-iversary, Deena. In this mildly anticipated follow-up, we learn Deena has continued the thread of comedy in her life and has also added a child, and for good measure, shock therapy and some pretty little pills. The book opens on February 15, 2013, a year after Deena started her ECT treatments as she reflects on what this last year has meant.
Critics praise the book for “handling tough subjects” but also think “Deena, the main character is a little self-absorbed.” and ask “Geez Judy, is Deena ever gonna grow-up for real?”
But Judy knows neither life nor her characters are ever that clear cut.
And as it always seems, Judy is right.
