Why TV matters

When I was four and five years old, I spent some time watching television. It was the 1970s, and the only thing that bothered parents about television in the 1970s was our tendency to sit too close to it. I don't remember my parents every saying anything negative about television.

Some of my favorite shows were on PBS. That has remained true throughout my life, by the way.

Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers were my first television shows when I was young. I loved them so much, that I would almost cry every time they ended. They were mine, ya know? My brother and I watched TV with our parents, but for me, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers were the two that were just mine.

Last night I watched a documentary, "I Am Big Bird." In all my years I had never thought about who was in the Big Bird costume, or how it worked. The movie was great, and Caroll Spinney, who is Big Bird, is such a sweet man.

Many of the Sesame Street puppeteers were interviewed for the movie, and one of the statements that struck me was how the show has changed over the years. New characters have been introduced, and Big Bird has not been on the show as much. The writers began writing more for Elmo. The show started to become targeted at 2 and 3 year olds instead of 4 and 5 year olds.

Suddenly, I realized why I don't like Elmo that much. He's OK, but I never understood the craze for Elmo. Remember when people were fighting over the talking Elmo one Black Friday years back?
The reason I don't like him very much is because he talks to babies. And babies aren't going to remember Elmo when they get older. Their parents will tell them how much they enjoyed Elmo, and they aren't going to care.

I already see that happening with my youngest, who his 13. He doesn't remember a lot of the things he loved when he was 2 or 3 years old. I remind him, and he shrugs and says, "Really? I don't remember that."

A lot of good memories for me start from about age 4. I don't remember much before that.
Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, The Count, all of those muppets were like friends to me at that age. I learned so much from them. I learned about the people in my neighborhood. Remember that song? "Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?" I also learned about being polite, how to count, and read and spell, and speak Spanish. I am sure Elmo is a beloved puppet, but I think those of us who grew up with Big Bird, Ernie and Bert, Cookie Monster--the one who actually ate cookies! and all of the rest of that original Sesame Street cast of puppets and people, have some of the best memories of childhood.

Well, Happy New Year

Life moves pretty fast.  It's almost the end of January, and I'm still trying to catch up with what happened in 2015.

I always send out an end-of-the-year State of the Union letter at Christmas. And for the past several years we've mailed out a Christmas card with our family photo on it. This year was no exception.



Christmas was peaceful, and drama-free for the first time in a while. Chuck, Sean and I enjoyed going to choose a tree from a local tree lot. It was really my favorite tree so far, I believe. We had a chill Christmas morning with my brother, and everyone got only a couple of gifts each. After a little bit of breakfast, I took Sean to celebrate with his dad.

But, on with the New Year!

Since January 1, we've had a lot house showings. Here is a post with a link to photos of the house, in case you are looking to move to the Pacific Northwest.

I've abandoned the idea of New Year's resolutions. Making a New Year's resolution isn't my thing anyway, but this year I've had a bit of a shift in my attitude. I suddenly slipped out of my former apologetic skin. I am who I am, and I'm not going to "work" on myself. Screw that shit. I'm just fine the way I am. If I exercise, sign up for a Yoga class, go on a diet, start drinking protein smoothies, do a cleanse, begin to hike more, drink more water, read more literature, go to a play, take vitamins, eat kale, or keep track of how many steps I take in a day, it's going to be because I came up with the idea, and I want to do it-- Not because I've been guilted into doing it, or because someone else thinks it's a good idea. And if I want to drink Coke, wine, whiskey, rum, or start smoking cigarettes and eating sugar, I'm going to do that.

That's how I'm starting off this new year. I'm doing what I damn well please, along with all the stuff I have to do on a daily basis.

Here's to 2016! It's looking bright to me!