everything important i learned from sesame street.

yes, reading and counting and other life skills, but also an appreciation of music and animation, and a deep love for silliness. the "milk song" gave my six-year-old self my first taste of melancholy, though i'll never be able to explain why. diversity and getting along. linda was the first "handicapped" (as was the term at the time) person i ever saw. being smart is a good thing. dealing with loss.

and then there's kermit the frog.

one of my earliest memories is an image of kermit that my mother had cut out of someplace and scotch-taped to the inside of my crib. today i've got kermit in my soul. from his "breaking news" reporter sketches i absorbed an exasperated yet ultimately hopeful world view, a sense of humor that hoped for the best and took the worst with a crumpled face but with dignity intact. i was a lonely kid, and like many lonely kids i found solace, instruction, and a sense of belonging in fictional worlds that i read about or watched on tv. sesame street was home.

until elmo took over. but that's another story.

happy 50th, sesame street.

i made a nostalgia playlist with some of their greatest hits of my generation: