The View From Sari's World

If you are my age (45) or so then you were lucky enough to watch Sesame Street the early years. I have fond memories of Kermit and the gang teaching me about letters, words and relationships. Now 40 years later it seems the early years of the show are being viewed as evil propaganda, promoting smoking, over eating and civil disobedience. The early years are now available on DVD with a label that says “for adults only”. Are they serious? What is going on?

Last Thursday National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation aired a segment about Sesame Street’s anniversary by bringing in columnist Dale Hrabi of The Week to talk about his article Top 10 Sesame Street Controversies. I don’t know about you but the only controversy I ever heard connected to Sesame Street was the ugly stupid rumor that Bert and Ernie are gay. As a child who grew up watching a lot of television I made the connection between Bert and Ernie and Felix and Oscar from the Odd Couple. Both shows depicted two polar opposites as best friends living together. I never thought it weird that two male puppets would live together. What I saw was that it was okay to be friends with people who thought and acted different from me. I do make a connection between when the idea was first mentioned and the decade it came from. In the early 80’s Aids brought homosexuality out of the closet and into our news cycle. As more and more uptight people were forced to confront their worst fears (there are gays in America!) the more outrages their accusations became. Sesame Street took a hit as Bert and Ernie’s “lifestyle” was questioned by those who wanted to push homosexual issues back in the closet. 20 some years later there are still hints by critics that these two friends are subversely teaching our children it is okay to be gay.

Remember back in grade school when we had to line up for everything? Going into class, going to recess, going back to class from recess and going to and from the cafeteria. The first three years of school seemed to be an endless line to somewhere. There was always that one person who hated to be the last in line; that person was constantly racing to be first, trying to shove his way into the middle of the line and whining when he failed. Sesame Street tackled this subject when Grover learned from a hippie how to stand in line and not complain about being last. Did you know actually this was a way for the producers of Sesame Street to teach pre-schoolers the art of civil disobedience? Neither did I! I wish I did, because as we all know there is no powerful a voice than 6 year olds when they line up and start protesting! My friends and I could have protests the awful cafeteria food or the fact that we had to stand in line all the time. What wasted years!

Cookie Monster’s pipe was taken away in the 80’s as it seems he was not only over eating but also smoking! Yes that bubble blowing fiend was teaching us that smoking was cool; I tend to think it was all the adults including doctors who taught us that. When I was a child I knew Cookie Monster was imitating Alistair Cooke, the host of Masterpiece Theater, how did I know this? Because Cookie Monster hosted Monsterpiece Theater! I never thought Cookie was smoking; even as a child I understood the difference between smoke and bubbles. What Cookie monster did teach me was that Masterpiece Theater was a great program (okay I learned that later, but I did know about the show from Cookie).

I do not understand why adults have to find fault in children’s programming. Sesame Street is not the only show to have controversy attached to it. Barney had a lot of angry parents lash out at his show and the merchandising that went along with it. The Teletubbies were outed by Jerry Farwell who thought Tinky Winky was homosexual (what is it with these people and gay puppets?) because he carried a purse. I bet the children who watched this show never batted an eye at Tinky’s choice of bling.

I could bemoan the fact that my favorite childhood show is mired in controversy but I am not. I am going to purchase a copy of the early Sesame Street years, get out some cookies and a bubble blower and watch the show as it was meant to be watched; with child like glee and wonderment. I hope, dear reader you do the same.

I am asking you to share with us a podcast you love, preferably book related, but not necessarily so. Give us the link, of course, and share with us details about that podcast and why you enjoy it so much. If you have a couple or three favorites, share them all!

I blogged about podcasts a couple of months ago, but since they are the topic of choice this week, I will gladly write about my love for them again. For the past six months podcasts have kept me sane, entertained me, educated me and have added substantially to my TBR pile.

Since switching jobs six months ago, I have found myself desperately trying to adjust to “cubieville”. For those of you lucky enough to not know what this means let me fill you in. Cubieville is the type of large office that is broken up into cubicles. Workers have “walls” but no real privacy. This does not stop people from behaving as if they had complete privacy. Just as cell phone users hold private conversations in very public places, cubieville works tend to forget other people can hear every noise he/she makes. I have grown people around me who consistently sniff, cough, hack, and snort like they are back in grade school. I have co-workers who not only talk loudly on the phone, but give out very personal information while on the phone. Hint, to male cubieville workers, it is probably not a good idea to talk sweet nothings to your mistress, all the women in your office will treat you like the dog you are! But I digress; I am not used to such a noisy atmosphere. My IPod is a blessing as it has stopped me from standing up and screaming when the unnecessary noise becomes deafening.

I started downloading podcasts because I missed National Public Radio, I could have just as easily listened to music. Talk of The Nation and Science Friday are two of my favorite podcasts. Next I moved to How Stuff Works and their two most popular podcasts; Stuff you should know, and Stuff mom never told you. These are educational but highly entertaining. Ask the Naked Scientist, Scientific America and other science podcasts have me scribbling down notes and adding titles to my TBR pile, but if I had to pick just one Podcast about books to share it would be NPR’s Book Tour. Sadly it looks like it is no longer being produced (I would love to start a letter writing campaign to bring it back) but still, it should not be missed. Here authors read from their own works then take questions from a live audience. I would have never ever considered reading G. Xavier Robillard’s satirical book Captain Freedom: A Superhero’s Quest for Truth, Justice, and the Celebrity He So Richly Deserves had I not heard this podcast. I did not remember downloading this episode but within two minutes of listening to Robillard’s story I was hooked; I came home and shared this gem with my son who quickly went out and found the book.

Podcasts are a blessing to me and keep me informed and updated on science and politics. They make me laugh and make me think. I am not sure I would get thru a work day without them. Now I am off to clean the house while listening to Ask the Naked Scientist. I look forward to reading my fellow geek’s podcast picks.