Some of my favorite people are turning 40 this week.
Well, not all of them are really people. One is a big yellow bird and another is a blue shaggy thing that likes to eat cookies (we have that in common). And, there's that cute, funny frog that is a reporter sometimes, and the two guys with big red noses and spiky black hair. But there are real people too - Maria, Susan and her husband, Gordon, and Mr. Hooper, who ran the corner store. And, then there's that thing that lives in the garbage can, who really isn't all that friendly.

Yes, the Sesame Street gang turns 40 on Nov. 10. I loved logging onto Google this week and seeing Big Bird's legs as the l one day. On Thursday, Cookie Monster's eyes were hovering over the word Google with cookie crumbs scattered around, of course. And, Friday, Ernie and Bert's smiling faces were standing in for the o's in Google.

When I was a kid, just hearing the cheerful "Sunny days" theme song was enough to make me feel better on a bad day. And along the way, this cast of people and strange animals taught my generation the alphabet, math, a few Spanish words, lessons about getting along with others and diversity, which in small southern towns was virtually unheard of in the 1970s.

Kermit the Frog was my favorite Sesame Street character (and in fact makes my list of top three cartoon characters along with Snoopy and Lucy). Even back then I was intrigued when he would sign on as "Kermit the Frog from Sesame Street News" reporting from the scene of one of the three pigs' house getting blown down by the big bad wolf, or in another report as the wolf tried to break down the door and get Little Red Riding Hood. That wolf was one bad guy, and Kermit was there on the scene letting all of Sesame Street know what was happening. (In case any of you are wondering, there have been many real journalists who have influenced me over the years, and none of them had green skin and a crazy lady pig chasing after them.)

I also liked Ernie and Bert and all their escapades. When we were growing up my sister and I had a Sesame Street album, and one of my favorite tracks was Ernie taking his trusty-rusty telescope into the imaginary jungle around Sesame Street.

We also had one of those little people play sets that was Sesame Street, complete with Ernie and Bert's monogrammed beds, Big Bird and his nest, and even a little garbage can with Oscar the Grouch. My parents kept that play set and decades later I sat in the floor and played Sesame Street with my nieces.
Sesame Street has helped educate generations of children around the world, and it has always been one of the television programs at the forefront of helping us learn to deal with the changing times and our changing population.

Happy Birthday to the Sesame Street gang! Let's hope for 40 more years of sunny days.

editor@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101