Time for Sugartime

This nonsense really steams me. To be honest, I don't even like to read about it; it just makes me frustrated at the stupidity of the leaders in this country in which I live and pay taxes and vote and raise my child. I know it's just a TV show, but still.

Lots of other people have been covering the Great Buster Sugartime Controversy in their blogs, with more eloquence than I can muster. All I can say is: Go read their posts, and then, if you're inclined, write scathing e-mails to PBS and the Department of Education.

My own contribution to this brouhaha? The suggestion that you also shoot a quick e-mail to your local PBS station, as soon as possible. Write and tell them that you value diversity of all kinds in the programming your children or your community's children watch, and urge them to air the "Sugartime!" episode of "Postcards from Buster." I know that the Seattle PBS station is reviewing phone and e-mail messages before deciding whether they will air the episode.

Here's the e-mail I sent to our local station, KCTS, earlier today. It's far from the most eloquent thing I've ever written, but I pounded it out in 10 minutes, rather than doing what I usually do, which is to think I should write something perfect and then write nothing. I challenge everyone to do better than I did--or just to do what I did and write something quick and unpolished--and post your effort in comments below after you send it.

I urge KCTS to fulfil its mission of providing relevant and educational programming by airing the upcoming "Sugartime!" episode of "Postcards from Buster," despite Margaret Spellings' statements in the press and the capitulation of national PBS.

As a Jewish lesbian parent, I want my daughter's television viewing to help expand her world, not narrow it; I want her to learn about many different ways of living in the world, not just ours. Thousands of other Seattle-area parents--whether gay or straight, Jewish, Christian or Muslim--want the same for their children.

As the only public television station in the Seattle area, KCTS has an obligation to all families, not just the Christian right wing. Please fulfil that obligation by airing "Sugartime."

Now, go! Write!