I was in Texas when I saw on twitter that Judy Blume was going to be speaking in LA at a Library Foundation of Los Angeles event, promoting her new book In the Unlikely Event. I bought two tickets immediately, knowing it would be not even a little bit hard to find someone to go. (Judy Blume, if for some bizarre reason you're unfamiliar, is the author of seminal books on adolescence, including Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret, Blubber, Deenie, Iggie's House, Then Again, Maybe I Won't, and also the younger books like Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing, Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great, Superfudge, and then of course the teenage tales like Tiger Eyes. I read every single one of these. More than once.)
My friend Jennifer leapt at the chance. She still has a box of her old Judy Blume books, unable to part with those friends and stories.
When we got downtown, we were both nervous and giddy. I'm in the middle of a blindingly busy week, so I forced myself not to think about the emotion of meeting the person who shaped my childhood. It's too much to take on sometimes. I'm trying to learn to carry things lightly.
Plus, you know, as an adult there's always that nagging worry that a person you admire will be less than once they're standing before you. It's why twitter can be dangerous. People can misstep. It's why the phrase "Shut Up and Sing" can be so cringe-worthy and truthful. I once stood up and walked out of a author's reading - someone whose written words I loved very much - because she began railing on the Bush administration. She was (and is) primarily a religious writer. So. We bring all that to the table when we meet someone of great influence. We hold a pocket open to shove the inevitable disappointment.
But friends, I am giddy to report to you that Judy Blume so thoroughly defied all of that, I have walked away from the encounter with her as a bigger fan than I was before. She was smart and witty and made inappropriate jokes, she was dressed beautifully and thoughtful in her answers. I bought the tickets as a little girl fan, but I left the event with an adult girl crush.
Above all, she didn't seem to take it all so seriously. Living in LA, I've met a fair amount of artists. Pioneers in their field, innovators and major influencers. And while I wouldn't say they all take themselves super seriously, there is usually a heaviness to them, or at least to their work. Judy Blume, though I'm only judging from an hour-long interview, didn't seem to bear this burden. She is, of course, well aware of her profound impact on generations of pre-teens. She doesn't side-step this. (And in fact, during the Q&A period there was a "no gush" rule. People at the microphone were told to ask a question only. I wonder if this instructive came from aloudLA or from Ms. Blume herself?) But she also seemed humble about it, making her contribution more about the bravery of writing on the subject of periods and masturbation and bullying, than about the characters who were vessels for these stories, these literary figures we've all held so close to our hearts.
I live tweeted the event, here are some of the highlights from the night, as twitter moves fast and I know many of you aren't even active on that platform:
After the interview, the line to have Judy Blume sign her new book numbered in the hundreds, and Jennifer and I were at the very end. A woman in line in front of us said she comes to a lot of these events, and she's never seen such a long line for the signing after. Blume's PR people ran it like a machine. We were told what page she would sign, to have it open and ready, that she wouldn't do personalizations. Someone took your phone when it was your turn and snapped several photos for you while Judy Blume was signing. Still, each fan got a few seconds with the author, and she made eye contact and smiled even as the last of us trickled through.
I was shaking, but I took those few seconds to tell Judy Blume that Sally J. Friedman was the hero of my childhood. I also told her that when I was young, I wrote her a fan letter and she wrote back, and how much that meant to me. I chose those two things to say carefully. Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself is not one of the most popular of her books, but it was easily my favorite and I read it over and over. As Sally is Judy Blume's most autobiographical work, I just wanted her to know that I understood Sally, even though I was so far away from being a Jewish child in New Jersey in the 50's. I also thought that telling her about the letter might encourage all the work that she has done outside of writing the books. Living with an artist, being in LA, I fully understand the silent side work that no one ever sees of communicating with fans and living up to a certain status.
I didn't tell Judy Blume that to this day I use the name "Sally" when I'm at Starbucks or Jamba Juice or anyplace they require a random name. I didn't tell Judy Blume that she's the reason I became a writer. I figure she gets plenty of the "you changed my life" sentiments.
And she should.
