"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com


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I'm still upset about Mr. Rogers. On my drive home a few days ago I heard an NPR report about him that hilighted two of his interviews. One was from 1984, after he'd already been working in children's television for 30 years, and one was conducted just a few months ago, before he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It was strange to hear so much backround about him and find out that he was a real person, with a wife and kids of his own. An ordained minister even. I got the weirdest feeling when the report switched over to the interview, and I heard his voice. I hadn't heard it since I was a kid, but I recognized it immediately, and lots of things about the show started coming back to me. He said he was sick in bed a lot as a child, so he made up characters and voices to entertain himself. And he said his mother used to knit him a sweater every Christmas, which is where all of the sweaters on the show came from. And the speedy delivery man, Mr. McFeely, was named after his grandfather! Not creepy at all. The cutest part of the interview was when he described a conversation he had years ago with a little boy who told him he was scared of being sucked down the drain in the bath tub. So Mr. Rogers did a whole show (and a song) about how "You could never go down the drain." He told the interviewer, "Adults might have found it silly, but I think there were kids across the country who breathed a sigh of relief." I think I was probably one of them.
posted by Bekah at 10:05 AM :: |