Today I posted my second multimedia project for stltoday.com. It’s a trivia quiz about Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
The show has always had a special resonance for me. Long after I had stopped watching it, bits of it remained strongly in my memory.
Before we were married, I once sang Fred Rogers’ song “You are my friend” for Yoli:
You are my friend, you are special.
You are my friend, you’re special to me.
You are the only one like you.
Like you, my friend, I like you. …
When Jadzia reached TV-watching age, we decided that Mr. Rogers was one TV program that would be okay for her to watch. Now the girls love to see him. (Jadzia scored 14/16 on my quiz)
The only problem is that his show appears only once a week on KETC and most other PBS stations. The unfortunate reality is that his show will probably never be shown daily again, despite all the good reasons it should be. It is certainly superior to 99% of what passes for kids’ programming.
In any event, Mister Rogers blessed me growing up, and now he is impacting my daughters. They have become especially big fans of his operas. Every night as I tuck her in bed Ludi asks me to sing “Hildegarde,” which is a song from the end of the “Windstorm in Bubbleland” opera.
I’m thankful that Mister Rogers gave his all and made a show of such enduring worth.
P.S. – If you also loved Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, please share this link to my quiz with friends, family, whoever!
Terrific quiz, Josh. I was stumped on two-but proud of all those days we watched Mr. Rogers together when you were little. Good times!
I still sing the “You can do it” song to wayward employees that whine: “You can do it, every little bit, You’ve got to do it, do it , do it, do it, cause when you’tr through, you’ll know you did it , cause you did it, you did it, you did it!”