A brief follow-up to yesterday's blog re: PBS 'pulling' an episode of the Arthur cartoon "Postcards From Buster" from it's schedule :
Tried to explain to The Banana just why her beloved PBS (she's even a 'Kids Club' member!) would not want to air an episode which shows kids who have 2 moms - like she has! - on it. Her well-put reply?
"That's mean!"
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
I apologize for not keeping up with The Blog, but sometimes I just don't want to read the newspapers or think about things, ya know? Of course, then along comes a train ride with my buds Bryan and Jon and they couldn't believe I hadn't heard the latest (ok: first! she only just started her job on Monday!) from our new Secretary of Leaving-No-Child-Behind, Margaret Spellings (I wonder if she's related to the Hollywood Spellings?) . . .
. . . she denounced PBS for spending public money ("Ready to Learn" grant funds) on a 'cartoon with lesbian characters', saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles! Heck, the show hasn't even aired yet!
The cartoon in question is the Arthur-spinoff Postcards from Buster and the episode, which was scheduled to air on Feb 2nd, is called "Sugartime". In it, there's these 3 kids see (!), and they live in Vermont (!) and Buster visits them ('cuz that's what he does) to learn about maple sugar (!) and, gosh, the kids have moms, you know (!), but they're in the background like most moms are on these kiddie shows, but there are 2 of them! And, apparently, if this airs, the world as we know it will end.
The thing is, the program was created in order to "build awareness and appreciation of" differences! And PBS, as we all know, prides itself on actually "educating" us mindless television viewers (as opposed to merely entertaining us after a long, hard day of work - like those wacky Queer Eye guys do).
So, anyway, PBS has folded to the pressure of the Great and Mighty Oz -- oops, I mean -- Spellings . . . and it will not distribute the episode to its 349 affiliates around the country.
On the local front, the Boston station that produces the program, the wonderful WGBH (which will always have a soft spot in my heart for creating "Zoom" back in the 70s) is going ahead and airing the episode on March 23rd and it's making the episode available to other affiliates, should individual stations choose to air it.
This means we have to spend our precious time urging our local PBS affiliates to do the right thing and not cave in to The Christian Right and The Republican Agenda / Mandate and air the episode and not make a big fuss over it, yadda yadda yadda.
Just when I was finally getting some reading-for-pleasure done on my train ride!
. . . she denounced PBS for spending public money ("Ready to Learn" grant funds) on a 'cartoon with lesbian characters', saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles! Heck, the show hasn't even aired yet!
The cartoon in question is the Arthur-spinoff Postcards from Buster and the episode, which was scheduled to air on Feb 2nd, is called "Sugartime". In it, there's these 3 kids see (!), and they live in Vermont (!) and Buster visits them ('cuz that's what he does) to learn about maple sugar (!) and, gosh, the kids have moms, you know (!), but they're in the background like most moms are on these kiddie shows, but there are 2 of them! And, apparently, if this airs, the world as we know it will end.
The thing is, the program was created in order to "build awareness and appreciation of" differences! And PBS, as we all know, prides itself on actually "educating" us mindless television viewers (as opposed to merely entertaining us after a long, hard day of work - like those wacky Queer Eye guys do).
So, anyway, PBS has folded to the pressure of the Great and Mighty Oz -- oops, I mean -- Spellings . . . and it will not distribute the episode to its 349 affiliates around the country.
On the local front, the Boston station that produces the program, the wonderful WGBH (which will always have a soft spot in my heart for creating "Zoom" back in the 70s) is going ahead and airing the episode on March 23rd and it's making the episode available to other affiliates, should individual stations choose to air it.
This means we have to spend our precious time urging our local PBS affiliates to do the right thing and not cave in to The Christian Right and The Republican Agenda / Mandate and air the episode and not make a big fuss over it, yadda yadda yadda.
Just when I was finally getting some reading-for-pleasure done on my train ride!
Monday, January 17, 2005
Fly, Eagles, Fly. . . on the road to Vic-tor-y!
Howdy sports fans! It was a good weekend for us here in PA. Steelers. Iggles. Boo-ya!
However, those of you who follow sports superstitions closely will understand how I felt when The Banana dropped our Donovan McNabb bobblehead doll - and his right arm broke off!
Gotta get out the super glue before next weekend. . .
Howdy sports fans! It was a good weekend for us here in PA. Steelers. Iggles. Boo-ya!
However, those of you who follow sports superstitions closely will understand how I felt when The Banana dropped our Donovan McNabb bobblehead doll - and his right arm broke off!
Gotta get out the super glue before next weekend. . .
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Susan Sontag died over the holidays. While I was not that familiar with her work, I certainly had heard of her. The Gal has one of her books, "AIDS and it's Metaphors" which is kind of interesting in its own way.
I am, however, completely amazed and astounded that I, gossip-monger and popular culture lover that I am, did not know that she [according to some, select, obits] "is survived by" Annie Leibovitz. You know. The famous photographer. Another woman. And they had a young child.
Wouldn't know it from the so-called Liberal Media, though. While some did list Ms. Annie as her "longtime companion" and referred to a book they worked on together ("Women" in 1999), most of them focused on her heterosexual marriage which produced a son - and which she ended almost 40 years ago through divorce!
Go figure. Just another way to make us lesbians invisible!
I am, however, completely amazed and astounded that I, gossip-monger and popular culture lover that I am, did not know that she [according to some, select, obits] "is survived by" Annie Leibovitz. You know. The famous photographer. Another woman. And they had a young child.
Wouldn't know it from the so-called Liberal Media, though. While some did list Ms. Annie as her "longtime companion" and referred to a book they worked on together ("Women" in 1999), most of them focused on her heterosexual marriage which produced a son - and which she ended almost 40 years ago through divorce!
Go figure. Just another way to make us lesbians invisible!
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