C is for CookieWhen I was home caring for Charlie, before I went back to work, my mother would come over to help. One day, my husband sent me a link to a news story about Cookie Monster. Sesame Street had introduced a new muppet to encourage children to eat fruit and vegetables. This new muppet sang a song to the Cookie Monster called "A Cookie is a Sometimes Food".
This greatly upset Marlene.
"The PC police!," she said angrily. "They got to Sesame Street! Now they'll retire Cookie Monster." She was quiet for a moment. "Cookie Monster was part of your childhood, Kim. Now it's over."
(Dear reader, please note there was nothing in the article about discontinuing Cookie Monster.)
A week later, my mother brought over a package of Pampers Bibsters. Bibsters are disposable bibs, that happen to be quite expensive. I felt uncomfortable using them because they create an unnecessary waste. I told my mom this and she rolled her eyes at me. Maybe I was becoming too PC, too. I told her to keep them at her house.
"Do you know why I bought these?", she asked.
"Because you are pure consumer? Really, I don't know, Mom."
"Open the box. Look who's on the bib! It's Cookie Monster."
"Yeah, so?" I asked her.
"These will be collector items some day, since they are killing off Cookie."
I didn't even want to go there with her. I think she envisions Cookie Monster dying of some gluttonous condition, maybe overeating or a heart attack. I don't think Children's Television Workshop would do that.
Since then, Marlene has bought Charlie a Cookie Monster t-shirt. She reminded me that, this shirt would too be a collector's item.
According to Marlene, it's the end of Sesame Street as we know it.
