Sesame Street

There have been plenty of ups and downs around the world (wide web) this week.  Here's just a taste of the things we've been keeping up on:

So many links, so much free time this weekend.

• Australian badass and WWII heroine Nancy Wake passed away on Sunday. The Pursuit of Harpyness shares her amazing life story. Seriously, how cool was this lady? 
• Talk About Equality discusses the firestorm around a new petition to marry Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street. Still no word on how the two themselves feel about it.
• Bitch contributor s.e. smith explores the particulars of the "Strong, Female Character." What do you think that entails?
• Gender Across Borders presents "A Gendered Look at Water Policy." Definitely a great, eye-opening read.
• At Model Minority Renina discusses the film Pariah and what it means to make a "Black film" in the Obama era.
• The F-Word wants your inspiring feminist or organization nominees for the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize; Gender Across Borders is looking for writers for a new series on stigma, shame, and sexuality; and Bitch Flicks is looking for critical pieces on Mad Men. Get out there and write, everyone!
• Indian Country Today reports a growing number of aboriginal groups are dropping out of the BC Missing Women Commission. 
• nist.tv shares Eve Ensler's TED talk on the developing connection between her self and her body. Check it out.

Please share your own favorite links from this week. We want to know what's been on your radar!

As Sesame Street turns 40, the media is brimming with think pieces about the groundbreaking show. From its educational impact to its unprecedented portrayal of racially diverse urban life, the show changed the face of not just children's TV, but the medium of television in general.

There's a lot to talk about when we talk about Sesame Street, and people are doing just that. Time magazine postulated that Barack Obama is the first "Sesame Street president," writing that "The Obama presidency is a wholly American fusion of optimism, enterprise and earnestness — rather like the far-fetched proposal of 40 years ago to create a TV show that would prove that educational television need not be an oxymoron." (The show's creator, Joan Ganz Cooney, is happy to support this theory, saying "I like to think that we had something to do with Obama's election). Newsweek pondered Sesame Street's global reach, reporting that among the world's Sesame-friendly regions are Kosovo and the Palestinian territories; the South African SS features an HIV-positive character. And New York magazine revealed that 75-year-old Carroll Spinney, who has played Big Bird for all 40 seasons, spends his days with one arm raised above his head, manipulating the puppet's eyes and beak and not even once grumbling that he could be playing shuffleboard on a Carnival cruise ship.

And then there are the videos -- like "Women Can Be," a hilarious feminist ode to the world of beyond-nurses-and-ballerinas careers that I was reminded of this morning, courtesy of my friend Tina. (Rita Moreno, voicing the surgeon, is especially awesome.)