Pretty Stupid

Honest words, raw essays, and unbothered storytelling. It’s pretty stupid.
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Hosted by the creator of The Bird and the Baby Substack, this show leans away from the polished, industry song-and-dance to explore the grit, the strange beauty, and the absolute absurdity of living. Shot through a 1990s alternative lens and dripping with Southern Gothic atmosphere, each episode serves as a companion to the upcoming third-person memoir, The Sovereign Seed. Expect raw essays, honest words, and brushstroke mercy. New tracks and new reads drop when they drop. Subscribe to the show, or don't—either way, it's cool. Find the writing, the music, and the community at substack.com. www.stephanieharrisonauthor.com

Episodes

  1. 17h ago

    Reading: Mother White's Store is Closed

    In the premiere episode of Pretty Stupid, we dig into the dirt of Monroe County, Missouri, to watch the small agrarian kingdoms of “Little Dixie” crumble. Reading straight from Dispatch No. 3 of The Bird and the Baby, this essay unpeels the skin of a hyper-utilitarian rural culture where local creeks were treated as dead-livestock drainage ditches and family lines were enforced like corporate feudal empires. From a broken concrete bridge guarded by a dead badger to a sweltering farmhouse bedroom where a teenager sneaks a cassette tape of Toto’s Africa, we explore what happens when the transactional machine tries to grind down the human soul. It is a story about generational scars, the literal drowning of local history to build a sanitized tourist lake, and the quiet, defiant act of striking a single match inside a pitch-black cave. Stick around until the very end of the episode for the world premiere of the companion track, “Over the Backtop”—a hollow, scraping, grunge-acoustic song written in the raw spirit of Nirvana’s 1993 MTV Unplugged performance. In this episode, we talk about: * The Leeches of Granville: Playing in sacred spaces ruined by adult utility. * The Mind of Metal and Wheels: Tolkien’s warning tracking straight through small-town bankruptcies. * The Tuesday Girls: Turpentine, oil paint, and volatile farm country matriarchs. * Disposable Appliances: When human beings stop having financial utility to narcissists. * The Exit Code: Refusing to let the world’s rigged gears turn inside your soul. Subscribe to the show, or don’t—either way, it’s cool. Find the original writing, the community, and the music archive at: stephanieharrisonauthor.com 🎸Listen to "Over the Backtop" on Bandcamp: https://thebirdandthebaby.bandcamp.com/ 👕 Grab the Official 'Pretty Stupid' Merch on Printify: https://the-bird-and-the-baby.printify.me/ Get full access to The Bird and the Baby at www.stephanieharrisonauthor.com/subscribe

    Reading: Mother White's Store is Closed

  2. 6d ago

    Introducing: Pretty Stupid

    Welcome to the trailer for Pretty Stupid. This podcast is the audio companion to my Substack, The Bird and the Baby, and the deep soil behind my upcoming Southern Gothic memoir, The Sovereign Seed. I’m not doing the standard song-and-dance here. No Begging for five-star reviews or algorithmic favors. If you vibe with honest words and a little brushstoke mercy, click play above. Subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app, or follow along directly right here on Substack. Either way… it’s cool. See you around! Get full access to The Bird and the Baby at www.stephanieharrisonauthor.com/subscribe

    Introducing: Pretty Stupid
  • 2 Episodes

About

Hosted by the creator of The Bird and the Baby Substack, this show leans away from the polished, industry song-and-dance to explore the grit, the strange beauty, and the absolute absurdity of living. Shot through a 1990s alternative lens and dripping with Southern Gothic atmosphere, each episode serves as a companion to the upcoming third-person memoir, The Sovereign Seed. Expect raw essays, honest words, and brushstroke mercy. New tracks and new reads drop when they drop. Subscribe to the show, or don't—either way, it's cool. Find the writing, the music, and the community at substack.com. www.stephanieharrisonauthor.com

Information

  • Creator
    Honest words, raw essays, and unbothered storytelling. It’s pretty stupid.
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Stephanie Harrison
  • Show Website
    Pretty Stupid