![]() ![]() But it’s wonderful to give them a tool, to show them that you can feel two things at the same time, and it’s okay. They want a right answer and a wrong answer. I said, “What? There’s actually a word for this?”-which means other people feel it. I was very happy when I learned the word ambivalence. You talk about growing up in your household, splintered as it was by alcoholi sm and physical violence, and struggling to understand, as a child, how you could see that and also admire your father? MFY: I recently read your memoir, Becoming Maria, and I feel like what you’re hitting on in your book is the reconciliation of extremes and dichotomies. We’ve got this feminist moment, this historic moment- and then we’ve got, Let’s build a wall. MFY: Speaking of that, as we are talking now, Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee for president, and we have Trump on the other side. Very lucky to be raised in that era of opening-as opposed to the closing that seems to exist now. All that was very wonderful, creative thinking and opening up new worlds. I remember this whole concept of kids learning at different stages, having three age groups in one class and they would help each other. SM: I remember Montessori from when I was a kid, way before Sesame Street. Throughout the years, I have described my childhood as being in the center of a movement. When I think back about Sesame Street, I can’t really separate it from my childhood, from my Montessori experience. All of it delivering a message that the world may look one way, in our day-to-day experiences, but there were all these adults reaching out and talking to us and trying to give us new messages that kids hadn’t had before. I had my Montessori experience, I had Sesame Street, we had Free to Be…You and Me, and it was very much, all of it, simpatico. I went to a public Montessori school from age 3 through eighth grade. Divorced family, not very much money around, and I would watch the show and think, That street, that’s our life. The bad feeling that you’re feeling-it’s people your age who were mostly affected by the show. ![]() I read it and thought, I’m part of that generation. MFY: And there was a recent piece in the New Yorker, by Sarah Larson, in which she suggested that she and other members of her generation feel that as Sesame Street changes to appeal to today’s children, it is losing its heart and getting away from what made it so special in the first place. But now I’ve seen that, because of all the public outcry, they’re going to have some new negotiations. MOLLY FORAN YURCHAK: I don’t know if you saw the news last week, with Bob McGrath. We discussed a range of issues-children, learning, politics, entertainment- as well as her transition to a writing life, through her several children’s books and her lyrical and captivating memoir of her Nuyorican Bronx childhood, Becoming Maria. Sonia was as warm, frank, thoughtful, and intriguing as I could have hoped, and it was a distinct pleasure to get to know the real person behind the icon of my childhood. I ultimately decided to take the assignment, because I knew I’d never forgive myself if I passed it up-and I’m so glad I did. And, the week before I interviewed Sonia, news broke that three longtime cast members, Bob McGrath (“Bob”), Emilio Delgado (“Luis”), and Roscoe Orman (“Gordon”), had been cut from the show. Additionally, the formerly hour-long episodes now run only 30 minutes. After 46 years on public television, its new episodes are now broadcast on HBO and made available on public television 9 months after their first airdate. Recently, Sesame Street has gone through some changes. ![]() When the editors of Montessori Life asked if I would interview Sonia Manzano, who, for 44 years (1971–2015), played the role of Maria, I actually didn’t even say yes right away, because I thought, I don’t know if I can talk to her. Born in the early ’70s, I grew up watching Sesame Street. ![]()
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