Hi friends,
I'm tired and I have a sore throat and my house is messy, but I have some spare time today and I want to write SOMEthing at least.
Last month we went on a family trip to the beach, trying to fit in some ocean time before vacation high season ramps up. We've been staying in the same rented apartment the past several times we've gone, and it's become very much a home-away-from-home. It's such an unexpected joy to create that kind of comfort for myself and my family--to genuinely look forward simply to being in that space, let alone all the other nice things we get to do while we're in it--and such a gift to hear my oldest child become old enough to not only remember the place and the things we've done there on past visits, but also to talk fondly about our most recent trip for weeks afterward.
One of the many little treats we get to enjoy while we're on this kind of vacation is that Husband and I can watch more movies together once the kids go to bed than we would during a normal week. One of the movies we watched on this last trip was the absolutely lovely and inspiring documentary "Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street" (2021), which tells the history of the development and early days of Sesame Street.
We were especially well-positioned to appreciate this movie because we've been watching the original Sesame Street episodes with our children for the past several months. The combination of the lofi '70s muted palette film quality, the era-consistent outfits and styling, the shoestring budget non-flashy animation and effects, and the child-friendly portrayal of a sweet, gentle, and silly New York City neighborhood lends these early-days episodes a very cosy, pleasant, and safe feeling, and thankfully our kids have been enjoying them along with us.
"Street Gang" tells the story of the surprisingly ambitious and purposefully revolutionary founding ideas of Sesame Street, whose goal from its inception was to empower children by providing them free, racially inclusive, accessible televised education to children. It also profiles several of the major contributors to the project of Sesame Street, including visionary producer Joan Ganz Cooney, dedicated director Jon Stone, beloved on-screen actors Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado, Roscoe Orman, Will Lee, and Bob McGrath, and behind-the-scenes geniuses like songwriter Joe Raposo and, of course, Jim Henson.
This is such an engaging, informative, and at times perhaps surprisingly poignant film. I highly recommend it! I gave it a 5.
{Heart}
