With all the Sesame Street hubbub as of late it seems people (like me) have been watching a TON of old Sesame Street videos.  And with all that watching someone over at boingboing came across a great clip of Grover discussing what marriage is.  What makes the clip stand out is that nowhere in the clip do Grover and the young boy he’s talking with define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman.  Instead they talk about people loving, hugging, kissing and helping each other.

It is poignant and intelligent and very Sesame Street.   And most importantly it gets to the heart of what marriage is--a special relationship you have with another person, not an institution defined by gender.

In celebration of Sesame Street’s 40th Birthday the gang got their own corner in New York City! Now the corner of 64th and Broadway reads 123 Sesame Street and 11/10 is officially Sesame Street Day.

This makes me happy for so many reasons but the main one is that Sesame Street’s new corner is right by my favorite movie theater in New York City, The Walter Reade.  This means every time I go see a movie there (they have an awesome Italian Neo-Realist series happening now) that I’ll be able to pass by a piece of my favorite television show of all time.

If you live in New York City check it out when you can and if be sure to catch up on our latest Sesame Street posts:

40 Years of Sesame Street: Happy Birthday!
Honoring Sesame Street at the Daytime Emmy Awards
Top Ten Sesame Street Special Guests
The View Discusses Cookie Monsters New Healthy Eating PSA
Michelle Obama Plants A Garden On Sesame Street (Video)
Mad Men + Sesame Street = Wonderful

*photo by Kelly Samardak (Creative Commons)

With all the Sesame Street excitment yesterday I decided to see what the creative folks on Etsy had done with Sesame Street for my Etsy Pick of the Day. By far the coolest thing I found was also the most environmentally friendly.  This Handmade Life’s REpurposed Upcycled Sesame Street Golden Book Blank Journals are not only a great reusing of old books but they feature my favorite friend’s from Sesame Street! Read the rest of this entry >>

This summer I did a series called 40 Years of Sesame Street in anticipation of the upcoming 40th anniversary of what is probably my favorite TV show of all time, Sesame Street.  Well I am excited to announce the day is finally here at that it is today that Jim Henson’s wonderful brainchild turns 40!

To celebrate I’m going to re-post all the entries from my summer series (admittedly I only made it through about 20 days, not 40–but 20 days of SS is still a lot) that show how Sesame Street handles many of the issues we here at TakePart deal with and then I’m going to post a few special videos that will always be near and dear to my heart–my favorites and some birthday themed ones! Read the rest of this entry >>

In continuing with my 40 days of Sesame Street, wherein I post awesome Sesame Street videos that showcase the issues we care about at TakePart (and which has been on a tiny hiatus) I celebrate today’s big anniversary and look at Sesame Street’s take on the moon and on space.

Sesame Street always did a great job of getting kids excited about space and exploring. In fact my favorite Sesame Street song is featured below - it stars Ernie and I have a feeling you know what it is.  Also below is a clip that features Buzz Aldrin himself!

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In continuing with my 40 days of Sesame Street, wherein I post awesome Sesame Street videos that showcase the issues we care about at TakePart I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the awesome 4th of July posts here on TakePart and how our good friends at Sesame Street handled The American Revolution.

The answer is, of course, incredibly well. Below Grover and the gang all help kids to understand exactly why America is America.

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In continuing with my 40 days of Sesame Street, wherein I post awesome Sesame Street videos that showcase the issues we care about at TakePart, I’m going to take inspiration from a recent post we put up called Save Our Teachers and look at the times Sesame Street went to school.

Of course every Sesame Street skit is about education but the times they actually taught kids about what school is and the way school works are some of my favorite. I was able to find quite a few of those skits and post them below. Read the rest of this entry >>

In continuing with my 40 days of Sesame Street, wherein I post awesome Sesame Street videos that showcase the issues we care about at TakePart, I take a cue from our great illustrator Drawn to Distraction and explore how they explored the little creatures we know as flies.

Was President Obama right to swat that fly the other day? I don’t know, but I do know that flies are a great way to learn to count and make me laugh when they are in soup.  If you watch the videos below I think you’ll be inclined to agree with me.

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In continuing with my 40 days of Sesame Street, wherein I post awesome Sesame Street videos that showcase the issues we care about at TakePart, I’m going to take inspiration from our featured non-profit and look at cooperation and collaboration!

While people are always collaboration and cooperating on Sesame Street, they also made quite a few direct points about the importance of working together with others to achieve a common goal.  The first video below is one of my all time favorites that you can’t help but sing along to.

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In continuing with my 40 days of Sesame Street, wherein I post awesome Sesame Street videos that showcase the issues we care about at TakePart, I’m going to look at something we talk about all the time - recycling and making less trash.

Now, more than ever it is important that kids grow up with recycling as a part of their everyday life.

Thankfully Sesame Street is doing what they can with the videos below. Read the rest of this entry >>