"Elmo is a brother"

I did not know that the puppeteer who created Elmo is a Black dude. I think this is important and it's clear from the article that Kevin "Elmo" Clash does too. I don't know exactly what it means but it must mean something.

Child of the 70's that I am, I can't think of Sesame Street as anything but a purely white hat operation . . . Operated solely by leftover white hippies . . . Word to Jim Henson. Educational TV with no commercials and a few Puerto Ricans . . . They had me at hello.

This reminds me that I need to make a more serious effort to be a little more creative around this place. Sure, smart ass comments are wonderful but there is so much more room to make a mockery of some of the news that comes out of this town.

And yet somehow I still envy people who use their creativity to educate and entertain so many children left at home with only TV as a baby sitter. I was one of those kids and I considered everyone on Sesame Street a part of my family.

Then I go on to think that it's just another TV show. And I remember that stuffy limey bastard Nick Haines who works for the same "company" and thinks he's better than me with every breath sucked into his chrome dome. And then I think of all the publicly funded white guilt liberalism promoted by PBS . . . I look back on Sesame Street, think of one of Dave Chappelle's bits and realize that The Count was a pimp, "Snuffy" was a smack addict and the Cookie Monster was most likely on Meth. Additionally, from my own vantage point I always hoped Maria was a bit of a whore but that's only because I was a bit raunchy even as a toddler.

If there is a point to this post (there isn't), it's that I'm now beginning to realize how much things have changed in this world since the time I was a Sesame Street watching kid. The make believe characters on Sesame Street are Black guys now and not just hippies, some characters have HIV . . . I've always thought that part of growing up is to learn that almost everything you were taught as a child was a lie and then look back and idealize those lies . . . In much the same way that former lovers always seem somewhat enticing until you realize that they were control freaks with huge vaginas and expensive tastes.

Back to the Future folks . . . Where all of your disappointments lie.