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March 31, 2004
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AN OLD FRIEND
I'm 35. I'm much closer to my next birthday than my last, but I am still 35, which means that I am the same age as a true icon. I self-identify with quite a few icons, call myself a child of many things or eras; I am a child of the 80s, a member of the original MTV generation, a Gen Xer, and most recently I entered that delightful demographic of the 35-54 year olds... you know us, the ones who aren't hip anymore and who no longer are the prime influence on culture, but who have entered their peak earning years and have the most disposable income to spend. (The idea that I am right now in my prime earning years is enough to make me freakin' bawl my underpaid eyes out and go into a full-on "if this is all there is, then I have failed and I don't get a do-over" panic attack, but I digress... that's the subject of a whole other blog someday.)
But there is one icon that I probably should identify with more than any other... one generation that I truly am a member of. In 1969, a radically different children's television show aired its first episode on PBS - and the Sesame Street generation was born. I am of that generation... and Sesame Street begins its 35th season this coming Sunday evening.
I was 16 months old when Sesame Street's first program came on the air -- just about the time I began watching TV, I guess -- and my first television memories are solely of that show. Kermit as the on-the-spot news reporter... Oscar the Grouch (who is still my role model, even today!)... Count Count ("five, FIVE bicycles! Ah-ah-ah-ha-ah-ha-ah-ha!"), those old countdown vignettes ("Nine! Nine! Nine! Let's sing a song of Nine! How many is Nine?")... Grover yelling "Heyyyy Everybudyyyyyyyyyyy!"... and of course Big Bird. Not to mention that well into my thirties, the only Spanish words I knew were those I learned on Sesame Street (Abierto. Cerrado. Hoo, Hoo... Peligro! And don't forget the ever-popular counting to ten!)
In its day, Sesame Street was Barney, the Teletubbies, and Blues Clues all wrapped into one to pre-schoolers everywhere; but unlike more recent faddish kids shows, Sesame Street never talked down to its audience. And Sesame Street was started with the purer intentions of educating kids instead of just making money off their parents. (However, I'll be the first to admit that the Children's Television Workshop took full advantage of the popularity of their invention. I don't think anyone ever associated with the show's production ever died of poverty.)
I haven't had any kids yet -- my oh-so-stellar track record in relationships and ever-so-questionable judgement in women have kind of seen to that -- so I haven't watched Sesame Street in at least 25 years, maybe longer. I'm almost afraid to; nothing is ever the same, for one... and everything I've ever seen of Elmo makes me think that I'd want to just freakin' throttle that little thing within about 2 minutes. But no matter how much it has changed, or how marketing-driven it might be now, I will always have very fond memories of what it was... and a world of respect for what it represented and what inspired it: a belief that children are not just easily amused props to be entertained, but intelligent little people who are smarter than we ever gave them credit for, who could "get" educational TV, and who deserved to be treated with respect instead of being patronized.
Happy birthday, old friend.
