6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009
TELEVISION
Brought to you by the letters
BY ABIGAIL BOLIN abolin@kansan.com
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street from Jayhawk Boulevard? Celebrating its 40th birthday, the show that is still considered one of the most influential children's programs on television actually has several ties to the University. In honor of the milestone, Sesame Street will be brought to you today by the letters K and U.
IS FOR PUPPET
Aloysius Snuffleupagus, the wooly-mammoth-type muppet more commonly known as Mr. Snuffleupagus or Snuffy, made a lasting impression on Spencer Lott, Lawrence senior.
In 2006 Lott was invited to join the muppets and their masters on Sesame Street to participate in a weeklong puppeteer-training workshop in New York. Only 50 puppeteers from the U.S. and Canada were invited. During his week at Sesame Street, Lott recognized the things he needed to improve on as a performer, like auditioning and improvisation.
"I always loved Snuffleupagus," Lott said. "I was impressed by the sheer size of him and how he was manipulated when I was a child, and he is just as exciting in person."
"I had to miss the first full week of classes," Lott said. "Some of my professors were excited for me and some of them were convinced that I was a nut. One professor even wanted some official Sesame stationery to justify my absence — I got a signed postcard from Big Bird."
Lott said he wants to become a professional puppeteer, but until then, he is majoring in theatre and
performing puppet shows on campus. Lott said he was first drawn to puppets after watching Sesame Street "way too much" as a kid.
"I started out enjoying it just like every other preschooler, but as I grew older, I became intrigued with the puppets themselves," Lott said. "I was fascinated by it. I looked for sewing seams to see how they had been made. I looked for arm rods and even the top of puppeteers heads."
Lott said the KU theatre department has provided him with an excellent opportunity to develop the skills he needs to reach his dream. Along with designing and building puppets, Lott said the faculty and staff of the theatre department have helped connect him with potential contacts and resources.
A IS FOR ALUMNA
Her background in child psychology from the University has allowed Truglio to better understand how to help children grow. "Sesame Street provides a fun, inviting context that helps nurture preschool children's social development in areas like cooperation and diversity." Truglio said.
The Sesame Workshop is a nonprofit educational organization that develops effective ways to reach children, parents and educators.
Rosemarie Truglio received her Ph.D. in developmental and child psychology from the University in 1990. Truglio is in her 12th year at Sesame Workshop and is currently the vice president of education and research.
Originally known as Children's Television Workshop, it began 38 years ago and identified the need to help children from low-income families become better prepared
for school. Its goal was to use television as a tool to help children learn, and Sesame Street was the product.
Truglio is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which Sesame Street is based, which is the teaching of more than one subject. She also conducted research to better facilitate the production of Sesame Street, by enhancing both the entertaining and educational components of the program. Truglio also develops and reviews the content of Sesame Street.
"Sesame Street is an ongoing experiment," Truglio said. "We always trying to harness the power of television to prepare children not only for school but for life's lessons."
In 2001 Truglio co-edited "G is for Growing: 30 Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street," which shows the significant role Sesame Street plays in the education and socialization of children. Her research, along with the foundation provided by the University's child psychology program, is what Truglia said helped her develop the Sesame Street message for children.
S IS FOR SHARING
"Everyone grew up watching Sesame Street," Ali Terkel, Broken Arrow, Okla., senior, said. "If not, they should have. It was good, wholesome fun."
Terkel is one of millions of children who tuned in to watch Sesame Street on a regular basis and represents a generation of viewers that began watching the program when it was two decades into existence.
Terkel said she remembered dancing to the songs in her living room and specifically an episode featuring the field trip to
IS FOR FUN FACTS
The understudy for Big Bird is Matt Vogel, the cousin of 2007 KU graduate Kelly Vogel.
Mandy Patinkin, former KU theatre student, played the evil villain in "Elmo in Grouchland."
Paul Rudd, former KU student, appeared in an earth suit on the Sesame Street DVD "Being Green: Elmo Goes Green to Help the Earth."
— Abaqail Bolin
the Crayola factory to see how crayons were made. Some of the important lessons Terkel said she remembered learning from the show were how things were made along with learning how to share and count.
"It is great to know that a show that made such an impact on my life is still running." Terkel said. "I don't know if it's possible but if Sesame Street stops running I will be sure to teach my kids the same values I learned from the show"
Kalani Makanui, Eugene, Ore., graduate student in child psychology, said Sesame Street helped foster enjoyment in learning and engaged children in a way that promoted intellectual growth.
"Children are becoming increasingly media-savvy and continue to be influenced to some extent by what they watch on tele vision," Makanui said. "Sesame Street, if I interpreted its inten correctly, existed both to transmi knowledge as well as to impart values of unity and social cohesion."
Makanui said he believed what
he has learned while studying child psychology at the University connects with the message of Sesame Street.
priority," Makanui said. "The garden of humanity depends on the blossoming of new generations of creative and educated minds"
"The education and well-being of our nation's children are a top
Edited by Sarah Kelly
LEGAL
Colorado to tax medical marijuana
BY STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated Press
DENVER — Colorado is gearing up to officially tax and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, a move lawmakers say amounts to legal recognition of a growing industry.
The state Attorney General John Suthers concluded in an opinion issued Monday that medical marijuana is considered personal property that can be taxed and shouldn't be treated like prescription drugs, which are tax exempt.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joe Warner with the Denver paper Westword examines marijana at Lotus Medical in Denver on Oct. 19. The Denver alternative newspaper recently posted an ad for what some consider the sweetest job in journalism — a reviewer of the state's marijana dispensation.
The move would make Colorado the latest provincial government to tax marijuana for medical use, after voters in California adopted a similar program when the use was legalized in 1996. Cities such as Denver and Oakland, Calif., also plan to levy municipal taxes on local cannabis dispensaries.
Colorado Sen. Chris Romei,
D-Denver, said he plans to introduce legislation in January that would require dispensaries to buy licenses, as well as pay the
state's 2.9 percent sales tax. He estimates the state could collect up to $15 million a year on the sales, and communities could collect
Revenue department spokesman Mark Couch said the state
an additional $45 million a year through city and county taxes.
has no official estimate but added that California collected $11.4 million on sales of $142 million in 2006.
CRIME
BY JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Seven years after she was abducted at knifepoint, Elizabeth Smart finally has an apology and a guilty plea — from one of her kidnappers.
"I am so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family." Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, said Tuesday. "It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me."
The appeal came minutes after Barzee pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in U.S. District Court.
She also said she was "humbled as I realize how much Elizabeth Smart has been victimized and the role that I played in it."
Smart, now 22 and preparing to serve a mission in Paris for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, was not in court to
hear the apology. But her father, Ed Smart, said outside court that forgiveness was possible.
"Absolutely," he said. "We all make mistakes in life ... and if we can't forgive each other, heaven help us."
During the hearing, he said he hoped Barzee realized what she did was "absolutely wrong and absolutely horrible."
Smart was 14 when she was taken from the bedroom of her Salt Lake City home, sparking a search that riveted the nation. Nine months later, in March 2003, Barzee and her now-eranged husband Brian David Mitchell were arrested after they were spotted walking on a suburban street with Smart.
Elizabeth Smart has said that within hours of the abduction, Mitchell took her as a polygamous wife then raped her. Smart said Barzee washed the teen's feet and dressed her in robes before the ceremony.
KU
OFFICE OF
STUDY ABROAD
The University of Kansas