#Emily Perl Kingsley

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #1390

Cookie Monster has a pet parrot named Patricia. In the 1980 printing of The Sesame Street Pet Show she is depicted as a scarlet macaw, but in the 1993 reissue she looks similar to a yellow headed Amazon.

Sources:

Kingsley, Emily Perl. The Sesame Street Pet Show. Golden Press, 1980.

Kingsley, Emily Perl. The Sesame Street Pet Show. Golden Press, 1993.

[muppetydyke]

Muppet Mainstage, November 29th, 2024

“Wavin’ Goodbye to You with My Heart” was written by Lee Pockriss and Emily Perl Kingsley for season 12 of Sesame Street (1981). The song was performed by Polly Darton (Fran Brill) talking about how she says goodbye to her dog (Brian Muehl).

[karenlacorte]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Bundle Of Vintage Sesame Street Books.

[erikatencer]

When my babe was born, I quickly heard of Emily Kingsley’s ‘Welcome to Holland’. It’s effect on me and assistance removing my metaphorical blinders was quite commendable. I hope it affects others like it helped me.”                                          1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Vintage Book - The Great Cookie Thief by Emily Perl Kingsley

Art by Michael J. Smollin

A Golden Shape Book (1977)

[eightmuppetynotes]

Muppet Song of the Day: "It's a Circle"

Music: Stephen Lawrence

Lyrics: Emily Perl Kingsley

[90smovies]

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKxH4fiA5-A

Because of course the Muppets are Jewish!  One does not realize until one is an adult just how sophisticated the Muppets’ humor is (and, by extension, Sesame Street).  The skits are pitched to appeal to really little kids, but the parodies are so good, so spot-on, that adults can recognize the humor and laugh along.  This is family entertainment in the truest sense of the word.

The song was written by Emily Perl Kingsley, a writer and disability activist who worked on Sesame Street for forty-five years.  She was responsible for getting characters with disabilities onto Sesame Street, a show that has been joyfully inclusive for decades, and has never been preachy about it.

[peggyellis]

welcome to holland.

I have accepted at this point that my posts are all going to be badly out of chronological order in terms of our trip.  We’re now skipping over Denver, Wyoming and Idaho and going straight to Washington. Oops?

Over a year ago, my friend Julia sent me a free audiobook, “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.”  In short, it’s a story written by a therapist who finds herself needing therapy after a breakup.  I downloaded the book but never got around to listening to it – I’ve never really been the audiobook type.  Obviously the Universe knew what it was doing – when I set out on this trip, I fired up my audible app and found the book sitting there ready to be listened to. Somewhere on that long miserable drive from Kansas to Denver, I started listening.

The author touches on a number of topics: relationships, grief, loss and change.  I have about 20 different posts I’ve started stemming from this one book, but the one that is freshest in my mind today is “Welcome to Holland.”  In the book, Lori (the author) is counseling a woman who learns she has terminal cancer. Lori explains that "Welcome to Holland" is a prominent essay, written in 1987 by American author and social activist Emily Perl Kingsley, about having a child with a disability. Yes, I stole that last bit from Wikipedia.  The idea is this: parenthood is like planning a trip to Italy.  You’ve always dreamed of going there; cruising the canals in Venice, eating pasta in Naples, being awed by the roof of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. You buy books on the best places to eat and tour, and spend hours learning basic Italian phrases.  You dream of your experience; the wonderful things you’ll see, the people you will meet, and falling in love over and over again with Italy.

You board your flight and fall fast asleep, and when you awake, you’ve just touched down.  You look out and see tulip fields and Dutch architecture, and your flight attendant welcomes you and your fellow passengers to Holland.  Wait…what?!? But I boarded a flight to Italy!, you exclaim.  I’ve made so many preparations!  But try as you might, no amount of begging, pleading or cajoling will get you to Italy. You’re in Holland, and Holland is where you must stay.

See, Lori explains, “Welcome to Holland” isn’t just about parenthood; it’s about life.  We all make plans and visions of what our lives will look like.  We will be married.  We will have a great job.  We’ll be parents to beautiful and healthy children.  We’ll travel the world.  Inevitably, no matter how hard we try, one day we board a plane to Italy and wake up in Holland.  We spend so much time preparing and planning for our lives to look one way, but sooner or later, no matter how hard we try, we all end up with our metaphorical planes touching down in Holland.

It is in Holland that we are all faced with a choice.  We can spend our time missing Italy, trying desperately to get back there, and dreaming of our trip that we originally planned.  We can gnash our teeth and cry and wail at the fact that this stupid plane was supposed to go to Italy, and instead we’re stuck in this dumb place that is anything but Italy.  Or – we can take a look around us and start to experience the beauty of Holland.  It doesn’t have Michelangelo or the Vatican or pasta, but Holland has tulip fields, the Hague, legal marijuana and the best Brazillian steakhouses inside or outside of Brazil.  (Take the last one or two from personal experience). Holland has beautiful architecture, bikable cities and a great airport.  When life lands us unexpectedly in Holland, we are given the choice – nay, the opportunity – to fall in love with Holland, even if it’s not the reality we expected.

Sounds nice, huh? Well, my first reaction was to scoff and say something to the effect of “yeah, sure, whatever lady.”  Holland sounds nice when we’re talking about an unexpected move or a job loss, not when we’re talking about terminal cancer or a divorce or a disabled child.  Did this woman really expect me to be like “oh man, I am just SO HAPPY that the man I wanted to marry broke up with me two days after I lost my job and now I am homeless, jobless and single with no prospects on any of these 3, Holland is SO GREAT”?!?!  No thanks.

I hated Holland all through Kansas, most of Colorado, parts of Wyoming and DEFINITELY in Idaho.  Holland was the pit in my stomach when I thought about returning home.  Holland was the familiar text ding, only to find it was someone else.  Holland was grief and loss.  If you’d asked me to paint a picture of Holland, it would probably look a lot like Newark, the city I am convinced is the worst place on earth. Grey, smoggy, dirty and sad, I wanted nothing to do with Holland.  I wanted to go back to Italy.

When I showed up to our home outside Seattle on Saturday night, I had cried the entire way through Oregon, decided to throw my phone into the Pacific Ocean when I reached Seattle, and vowed to hate Holland for time and all eternity.  In what had become a theme on this trip, our host Renee took one look at my red swollen face, and immediately knew just what to say. She’d ended up at this farm in an unexpected turn of events when a divorce left her lost and homeless.  In the 50+ acres of cattle, vegetables, horses and lakes, she’d found beauty even in the unexpected.  I looked around, and the sprinkler mist created a rainbow in the weeping willows.  The lake glistened in the setting sun, and the open fields stretched on for miles. Even Luna made a friend in Shadow, the friendly German Shepherd, and they romped in the front yard for hours. Our home was a little in-ground greenhouse that had been converted to a studio, and the hanging lanterns and wide windows made it cozy.  Holland suddenly didn’t look so bad.

Scenes from the farm

It was there that I decided I wasn’t ready to go home, that I was going to open myself up to more adventures, and that it was okay to be not okay.  That night was the eve of the infamous chicken alfredo, and Luna and I took a long walk into the cattle pasture while I contemplated my new life. Holland suddenly wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t what I expected, and I missed Italy, but Holland started to show its beauty there in Yakima, Washington. I would need to learn a new language, and maybe buy some new tour books, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad here. Welcome to Holland.  I’m here to stay.

Our home in “Holland”

Wisdom from the universe and our little greenhouse

[seepunkrun]

Yes, that's the Count from Sesame Street, but what we didn't know about him is that he f*cks. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on here in this, a video on YouTube, and I needed to, so I did some poking around. I mean, I knew what was going on, but I needed technical information. Here's what I found: The original video and song were in episode 507, which first aired April 3, 1973. "The Song of the Count" was written by Emily Perl Kingsley and Jeffrey A. Moss and performed by Jerry Nelson, the voice of Count Von Count. It’s a real thing. Thirty years later, Neil Cicierega transformed it to create this censored version. He not only added bleeps but took the extra time to add the F and CK noises. Which, as he says, makes all the difference, and it does. It's a bleeping work of art.

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #969

Emily Perl Kingsley, a former writer for Sesame Street, created the character Polly Darton who is a parody of Dolly Parton.

Source:

Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street. Louise Gikow. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. 2009. Page 277.

[muppetydyke]

Muppet Mainstage, April 14th, 2024

“Big Bird’s Rock and Roll Song” was written by Christopher Cerf and Emily Perl Kingsley for season 23 of Sesame Street (1992). Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) performs the song about how you cannot eat a rock and are better off eating a roll. He has two backup singers, but their performers are unknown.

[karenlacorte]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Sesame Street A Baby Sister For Herry.

[ronovanwrites]

Taking delight in Holland

Taking delight in Holland https://wp.me/p4yArH-1Mz #inthenow #delight #intention #2022

A new year, a new perspective, an appreciation for the present. The past in done, the future is what you construct in the present.  This poem/story by Emily Perl Kingsley comes from her expectations which were vastly different than the reality which she found herself – parenting a child with a disability. It speaks of a loss felt yet to remain living in the past could not be the best way…

[glenn7517]

The Sesame Street Library, Volume One, 1978, Part Three ... The Sesame Street Library, Volume One, 1978, Part Three, Featuring the letters A and B and the number 1, with #Big Bird on the Cover. the stories in this section of part thre are: (The Sesame Street ABC Storybook) (Michael Frith), Ernie and #Bert Present... Shape #Pictures, (First published: Big Bird's Busy Book) (Mel Crawford), A Happy-Sad-Happy-Sad-Happy Story with Bob, Herry and the kids, 2-page spread: Herry as a policeman, Big Bird as a Mail Carrier, #Oscar's Worst Day(Michael Frith), The Princess and the Pea - Bert as the king, #Ernie as the queen, #Prairie #Dawn as the princess, (First published: The Sesame Street 1977 Calendar) (Michael Smoll , 2-page spread: Ernie draws Bert (Mel Crawford), #Crafts For All Seasons - #Grover, #Oscar, #Betty Lou and #Snuffy, (First published: Big Bird's Busy Book) (Caroll Spinney) Bookend: #Ernie and Bert. (First published: The Perils of Penelope) (Michael Frith), (First published: Big Bird's Busy Book) (Michael Frith)  ... (First published: Muppets in My Neighborhood) (Harry McNaught... The #Sesame #Street #Library Volume 1 featuring the letters A and B and the number 1 Written by: Michael Frith, Jerry Juhl, Emily Perl Kingsley, Sharon Lerner, Nina B. Link, Albert G. Miller, Jeff Moss, Norman Stiles, Jon Stone, Daniel Wilcox ...Illustrators: Mel Crawford, Michael Frith, Joe Mathieu, Harry McNaught, Kelly Oechsli, Michael J. Smollin, Caroll Spinney, photos by Charles Rowan, Published 1978: Publisher #Funk & Wagnalls Series: The #Sesame #Street #Library, #Teaching #Book, #Learning Book, #Preschool Fun, Jim #Henson, #Muppets ... #Childhood Memories

[zosielikescake]

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...... When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

So, earlier this year, my two youngest sisters were diagnosed with Stargardt Macular Dystrophy. Essentially, over the coming months and years, they will gradually lose their central vision, and whilst keeping their peripheral vision, will become severely sight impaired. As I'm sure you can imagine, it's a difficult time for both them and all of us as a family. And then my wonderful mother makes a post, featuring a quote from this great piece of work by Emily Perl Kingsley. "It's just a different place." And how true that is. Not just in this situation, but in so much that our family has gone through. None of us are truly where we expected to be, but here we are. In a different place. That's all.