I was the approximate age demographic when Sesame Street debuted in 1969. But I wasn't the target audience. Sesame Street was created to assist children--particularly from low-income families--with basic letter recognition and other cognitive skills before they entered kindergarten. Over the intervening 40 plus years, Sesame Street has modified its initial mission statement to introduce the concepts of tolerance, social diversity, conflict resolution and handled some really big picture ideas like the death of a loved one, coming back after natural disasters, marriages, births, adoptions and even September 11th.

This year, the good people of the Sesame Workshop have decided that they need to address another issue affecting Americans: food insecurity.

The iconic kids show is set to unveil a new impoverished puppet named Lily, whose family faces an ongoing struggle with hunger issues. Lily will be revealed in a one-hour Sesame Street primetime special, Growing Hope Against Hunger, which is being sponsored by Walmart. The special will star country singer Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams Paisley, as well as the Sesame Street Muppets.

“Food insecurity is a growing and difficult issue for adults to discuss, much less children,” said the Paisleys in a statement. “We are honored that Sesame Street, with its long history of tackling difficult issues with sensitivity, caring and warmth asked us to be a part of this important project.” The special will share the stories of real-life families to raise awareness of hunger issues in the United States, as well as strategies that have helped these families find food. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 17 million American children — nearly 1 in 4 — have limited or uncertain access to affordable and nutritious food.

Let me repeat this: ONE IN FOUR CHILDREN are hungry. This is not some third-world, banana republic nation. This is not some resource- and agriculturally-poor country dependent upon foreign aid. This is the wealthiest nation in the world. This is unacceptable.

Poor nutrition has been linked to a vast array of health and cognitive issues, which can then be linked to a host of societal ills, the circle of poverty, neglect, crime and punishment continuing generation after generation.

The wealthiest country in the world.

Unacceptable.

If you want to help, FeedingAmerica.org has ideas on what you can do.

(h/t RawStory)

Okay, stay with me ...remember that wonderful show, Sesame Street, that taught little preschool boys and girls their numbers, letters, that it's good to take turns and share and that it's just not easy being green? Well, don't look now, but that sweet little show--responsible for guiding millions of children worldwide into pre-reading and preparing for kindergarten over the last 40 years--is actually an evil propaganda tool. That's right, Elmo, Big Bird and their pals are leading our impressionable children into a dangerous world where gay boys are prom queens and conservatives can't get work in Hollywood (don't tell that to Bruce Willis, Tom Selleck, Sylvester Stallone, Kelsey Grammer, et al...they're all struggling so hard) and from there, it's just a small step into authoritarian, totalitarian government of evil liberals.

No, seriously.

At least, that's what the corrupt former Ohio Secretary of State and the beauty queen tells us. And really, who would know better than them?

From LoneStarProject1 on YouTube. Open thread below.

Via Raw Story, something that proves more than ever that wingnuts are nothing but a bunch of WATBs. Now one is complaining that two years ago, Oscar the Grouch made a crack about "Pox News":

Forget Tinky-Winky, or whatever his name was. Meet Oscar the Grouch.

A conservative blogger at Andrew Breitbart's "Big Hollywood" website -- the onetime right-hand man for conservative maven Matt Drudge -- is now targeting Sesame Street for its "unfair" portrayal of Fox News as "trashy news show."

Evidently, Oscar the Grouch's "GNN" is not trashy enough. (Oscar, the furry green puppet, if you remember, lives in a trash can.)

During a Sesame Street segment, Oscar finds himself interviewing a puppet celebrity. A crabby viewer calls in to rebuke him after one of his subjects begins kissing him.

“I am changing the channel," the viewer crows. "From now on I am watching ‘Pox’ News. Now there is a trashy news show.” Story continues below...

Breitbart's "Stage Right" blogger will have none of it -- even though the episode was originally broadcast two years ago and only recently re-aired.

"If Mom and Dad watch cable news, it’s better than 50/50 they watch 'POX News,'" the blogger pens. "So what gives? PBS — a network partially funded with my tax dollars — has the right to tell my kids that their parents watch “trashy” news?

"The message is clear," the blogger continues. "I can’t even sit my kids in front of 'Sesame Street' without having to worry about the Left attempting to undermine my authority. And don’t tell me, 'If you don’t like it change the channel.' There are no channels left! It’s everywhere. Just last week I had Obama’s service and volunteerism promoted on every single major network, including Disney and Nickelodeon."

Yeah, no channels left, and certainly no conservatives. No "Morning Joe," no Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan, David Frum... oh, never mind. What's the use?

I was just off the target audience when Sesame Street premiered 36 years ago, but because of younger siblings, baby-sitting through my teens and now my own kids, I've watched Sesame Street evolve over its entire lifetime, as it changed with our society and dealt with new issues that children faced, like the death of elders in their lives and the devastation by natural disasters.

PBS's brilliant series Independent Lens is offering a program entitled "The World According to Sesame Street." While post-Boomers can wax nostalgic on the show of their childhood, I am more taken by the translations of Sesame Street to other countries:

In Bangladesh, the main Muppet character is a female, to let little girls in this very traditional country know that that they can have the same opportunities as boys.

In Kosovo, despite the need for the name in both Albanian and Serbian, learning to appreciate each other's cultures and find commonality is the main focus of this war-torn area.

In South Africa, the main Muppet character is a five year old HIV-positive female, reflecting the more than five million infected South Africans and hundreds of thousands of orphaned children due to the disease.

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