Flames Go Out

I think it is immeasurably sad that so many artists, so many of the most talented people the world is blessed with die early because of recklessness, or take their own lives. Hunter S. Thompson wasn't young when he shot himself yesterday, but he wasn't old enough yet either. I, of course, have no idea of the circumstances of his personal life, but it makes me sad that the world has lost another great and talented person.

In other news, have you all heard about the PBS/Buster the Bunny controversy? If not, go to this awesome video blog and check out the video about it. Basically, the government is censoring a cuddly cartoon bunny because in one show he visited a family in Vermont with two moms. I am so incensed by this blatant homophobia and censorship. I wrote a letter to Margaret Spelling...it is posted on Ryanne's blog and below:

Dear Ms. Spelling,

I am a 26-year-old heterosexual woman who grew up watching shows on PBS. Public Television helped shape my view of the world and I intend to let my children (when I have children) watch the educational programming on PBS.

I saw several portions of the Buster show where Buster meets a family in Vermont that is headed by two women and I thought it was WONDERFUL. That is exactly the kind of programming I hope my children get to see. Because, while, I don't choose to have a family like theirs, I certainly want my children to understand that some people do. I hope to raise open-minded and well-informed children so that they will not grow up to hate or fear what they do not understand.

How can children in America remain well-informed and tolerant if people in the government, like yourself, begin to censor media based on individual likes and dislikes? Regardless of whether or not the current administration agrees with homosexuality, the reality is that there are more than 250,000 children in the United States today who are growing up in households with same-sex partners as parents. Should our society ostracize those children and their families because they are different? Since when has our country been about punishing difference?

We thrive because of our diversity and same-sex couples are a part of that diversity. Certainly you can't think that those 250,000 children of same-sex couples all deserve to be marginalized? You can't shove reality in the closet and only present the types of families that you personally approve of in children's television and literature. Our job as adults in this world is to show children what is out there and let them make up their own minds. Pulling funding for a show like Buster is a tragedy -- not for the show's creators, or for PBS, but for the nation's children and for the beautiful complexity and diversity that for so long, Americans have been proud of.

Sincerely