well, since the conversation kinda started to veer in the direction i was getting at, i.e. talkin' bout the neighborhoods and shits, i'm just gonna have to repost my sadly ignored little factoid:

Artificial insemination, surrogacy, adoption, parthenogenesis. For that matter, I'm sure there are as many gay women as gay men who suppressed their own sexuality in order to survive emotionally, and grew up pretending (even to themselves) to be straight. A lot of those people have children.

After all, those are the people the Religious Righteous trot out and say, "See? Sexual orientation is a choice!"There was in fact considerable controversy of that nature during the planning of the show. Many people believed that it would confuse children and retard their development to mix fantasy with reality. I've made the same remark about religion and nobody listens to me either.So were many of our parents. I would have gladly traded mine for Grover and Snuffalupagus, but Sesame Street was still nine years away when I finally escaped to go to college.I grew up (although that's debatable) with "I Love Lucy," Groucho Marx, "Oh Susanna," Milton Berle, "Ethel and Albert," "December Bride"... Heck, for a while we lived in a godforsaken little shithole in Arizona that didn't have TV yet and we got by with radio sitcoms. Henry Aldritch, Beulah, the Great Gildersleeve, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly... My wife and I still warn each other, "Be careful, you're about to open Fibber McGee's closet!"It just made my whole week to see someone say that on my board. I love this place. Thanks!

My son had a imaginary friend named Jack. I think that's why he loved Snuffy so much. He thought Snuffy was the friend that no one else could see as well.

I used to have a invisible friend but he kept telling me to do bad things and the doctors took him away...

Like my uncle Freddy! Except Uncle Freddy gave me candy and made me promise not to tell anybody.

~String

There is a factory in Eastern Wisconsin which that the Tickle Me Elmo toys. In case you didn’t know, the toy laughs when you tickle it under the arms. Well, Lena is hired at The Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00 AM.

The next day at 8:45 AM there is a knock at the Personnel Manager’s door. The Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee. He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule.

The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself, so the two men march down to the factory floor. When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo’s all over the factory floor and they’re really beginning to pile up. At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains of Tickle Me Elmo’s.

She has a roll of plush red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles. The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo’s legs.

The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena. “I’m sorry,” he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, “but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday…”

“Your job was to give Elmo two test tickles.”

Snarf snarf.

That would have been a Molest Me Elmo!

~String

kriiist.

At least now I know why it's looked like Sesame Street has hijacked Firefox this week...


arrrg.

Kami is a character on South African Sesame Street. She has AIDS. I wonder how many African children with AIDS have TVs

Wow. Probably not a lot. But, on some level, it's not just for them. It's harsh, but there isn't a whole lot else that will be done for those kids. A lack of money and a simple lack of science will certainly guarantee an early death for them. It's about creating awareness in those who are HIV negative and, hopefully, keeping it that way.

~String

My favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpoaXVr8ABs

Sorry, that was a lame joke..

Perhaps that was the reason to make the neighborhood look more like a fantasy world.

lol True though.

This issue, in a non-AIDS context, was brought up in the commentaries about the program's 20th anniversary in 1989. It was noted that in the Third World many villages had a battery- or generator-powered TV set in a common area and children congregated there to watch Sesame Street.

Blessedly, the borders of the Third World have receded over the past twenty years, whether measured by the increase in per-capita GDP or some other dimension. (When Sesame Street debuted, the Third World included China in all but name; that's a gigantic quantum improvement right there.) Still, there are places without power lines, and their children still watch Sesame Street on communal TVs.

The producers take great pains to provide customized content acceptable in each target culture (unless it would compromise their principles such as hiding the female characters in ninja costumes) to make sure the leaders of those villages don't pull the plug on them.It was also a wise-ass response. Remember: "There's no such thing as a stupid question, but geeze there sure are a lot of smart answers."

Also remember that not all of our members live in countries that are as progressive as the U.S.--much less Canada--and might have cause to wonder how gay couples end up with children in their households. We're all here to teach.

A comment that I didn't think of in such a cheerful thread, especially since almost all the gay people I've known personally were men, is that gay women get raped about as randomly as straight women and that occasionally results in childbirth.I was 54 when both my parents were finally dead--unloved and unmourned by anyone. There was never a day in all those years when I wouldn't have gladly traded them for Oscar and the Cookie Monster. Even though one thing we always had plenty of was cookies.