Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

Sesame Street has hit the big FOUR O. Yup Big Bird, Bert and Ernie and the gang that was PRE-ELMO is 40 years old.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Sesame Street. And Mr. Rodgers, but he is a whole other topic of wonderfulness. Having a bad day at work? Feeling sad, blue or frustrated? Turn on PBS or You Tube and Sunny Days are here and you are On Your Way to Sesame Street. There, things can be sad, but you always know why and know that things will get better. You can be a happy and learn to be a good friend. On that magical street I learned Spanish thanks to Maria and Luis, and that was the only Spanish that stuck because I barely passed it in school... I learned sign laguage thanks to Linda. I learned that our friends could be hispanic, black, white, feathered, or use a honking nose to talk. Sesame Street had a profound affect on my life. Sesame Street, Mr. Rodgers and my parents are the three things that shaped my life and made me the person I am today.

I know in this day and age there are parents who frown on TV and I can get that. I myself, hate watching then news. Too much violence, too much sadness. But Sesame Street is an exception. It IS the place where you can come and play and everything is A OK! While there have been changes: Elmo who I do love as much as Ernie, Maria and Luis' daughter is an adult now (I SO remember them getting married on TV), Mr. Hooper is gone (Big Bird and I had trouble with the first exposure to death) and yes some of the voices sound funny. Big Bird now sounds too high, too young. Ernie, Bert, Cookie and Kermit sound like they have colds, Oscar seems just too damn happy to be a grouch and the theme song has changed from this folkey, children's song to a hip-hop version that makes my skin crawl. But underneath of it all IS the Sesame Street that I remeber; the ladybug picnic, the pinball counting, the crocodile and his seven sons, Bert and Ernie singing about pigeons, bottlecaps, living on the moon and taking a bubble bath, seeing how crayons were made, when everyone thought that Big Bird had schizophrenia and thought Snuffy was imaginary, when Super Grover ruled the roost and, "munuh ma nuh doot do di doo",  "La la la la la" were lyrics in songs. Sesame Street just comes across differently now, to reach a new generation of pre-schoolers that can already log on post to Facebook, but they underlying theme is clear, be a good friend. Be a good neighbor and that we are all different. And that is more than ok. It was with a sense of pride that I would show my students, at the end of each day, 10 minutes of Sesame Street (circa 1979-1985). Many times kids that wouldn't speak to me, would whisper "la la lala" and thoes with echolalia would imitate Grover and Madeline Khan in "Be My Echo" in a very appropriate way. At the end of the day, just remeber that no matter how old or young you are, you can always find your way to Sesame Street.