Sesame Street introduces first homeless Muppet

I was just on Bing not too long ago and happened to stumble upon this:

'Now we don't have our own place to live': 'Sesame Street' introduces first homeless character

Lily, the hot pink puppet with red hair, is the first character to be homeless on "Sesame Street."

She was first introduced to the series in 2011 where she explained that her family was experiencing food insecurity -- they didn't have enough to eat.

In new online clips, the seven-year-old character explains that she is staying with friends on "Sesame Street" because her family has lost their home.

"Now we don't have our own place to live, and sometimes I wonder if we'll ever have our own home," Lily expressed to Elmo.

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street," is reintroducing Lily as the first homeless character on the show in order to provide hope for those children that are currently without a home of their own. The story line was created as a new initiative, and part of the Sesame Street in Communities program, to alleviate the stigma around homelessness.

In the videos, Lily is also shown to be supported by Elmo who tells her "we got this" and that her friends will always be there for her.

Sesame Street in Communities has also provided resources for parents and caregivers with free, bilingual resources and activities and suggestions that help mitigate the effects of homelessness in children. There are videos that show Lily being loved by her friends Elmo and Sofia and others that show other kids who don't have homes sharing what the idea of "home" means to them.

One in 20 children younger than 6 years old in the United States experienced homelessness, according to a 2017 release of a 2014-15 report by the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health & Human Services.

“We know children experiencing homelessness are often caught up in a devastating cycle of trauma—the lack of affordable housing, poverty, domestic violence, or other trauma that caused them to lose their home, the trauma of actually losing their home, and the daily trauma of the uncertainty and insecurity of being homeless,” said Sherrie Westin, President of Global Impact and Philanthropy at Sesame Workshop in a press release. “We want to help disrupt that cycle by comforting children, empowering them, and giving them hope for the future. We want them to know that they are not alone and home is more than a house or an apartment—home is wherever the love lives.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...treet-addresses-homelessness-lily/2287252002/

 

[Red Hood]

I'm pretty sure at least some members of Electric Mayhem are couch surfing.

 

[robobobo]

You can't have a home? Get a fucking roommate. A friend of mine was homeless, went from that to couch surfing at acquaintances houses, got a retail job relatively fast once he could shave and shower, then moved into an apartment with a couple other acquaintances. Rent and utilities is downright cheap if you're splitting it three ways. A lot of people I know were poor as fuck after they graduated with trash degrees and couldn't get any decent work with it, and universally they got by by finding some people who weren't psychos and living together. It's not glamour life, but it's a place to stay while you try to work up some kind of savings and find a better job.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

I belive local channels have to broadcast in a digital signal and those can be tuned in on by digital tuners sold at walmart

Yeah, all the broadcast stations are still broadcasting. Modern TVs have a digital tuner, if you have an old TV you need a digital - analog converter, but they are pretty cheap. Aside from that all you need is an antenna.

I still sometimes watch stuff on the antenna from time to time. The switch to digital was a total scam, though, it was just a way for cable companies to make broadcast TV less usable, as it reduces the range. Instead of a snowy image or an image with a weird shadow, you just get nothing. Instead of watching a football game that goes staticky now and then instead it freezes and you get weird sounds and video artifacts until it gets a new key frame or whatever.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

I'm pretty sure at least some members of Electric Mayhem are couch surfing.

Actually, didn't the 2011 Muppet movie show them "living" at the subway?

 

[_Clam_]

They should bring back the ill conceived HIV positive puppet they briefly introduced in the 80's.

they sadly cant, it was no longer just HIV

 

[CWCissey]

they sadly cant, it was no longer just HIV

Nah it was moved to South Africa wasn't it?

 

[Butta Face Lopez]

Never, downs got pretty rare since it can be discovered really early and people almost always opt for abortion. Never noticed how you see significantly fewer these days?

Bro every Downsie I’ve ever seen in my entire life could’ve been the same guy for all I know, no one’s gonna notice a decrease in their population

 

[MrLobe]

"Gosh Lily, Elmo is really sorry that your crackhead parents can't feed or house you! But Elmo wonders if it was really necessary to go poo poo on his porch. There public restroom one block away."

 

[One Man Bland]

Wait, is she homeless-homeless or does she live at a friend's house? I know a few people, from middle class or even well-to-do families, who had to take in their young nephew or else their son's best friend for a while. When I was growing up, we had family friends (mother/son) who fell on hard times and came to live with us for a bit. I mean it wasn't for a long time, it was about two weeks that turned into four. It was fine until they got over their brief period of economic stress and then we couldn't get the mom to leave our house* I don't understand why they're making this a long term muppet. Even if you're a little kid living apart from your family because your mom is going through rehab or whatever, wouldn't you want the story arc to end so you could go back?


*She finally left after my little brother concussed himself on the icy sidewalk. He was complaining that he couldn't see to her and she thought he was being overdramatic.

Skimming the article, it sounds like this is “staying with friends/relatives” style homelessness:

She was first introduced to the series in 2011 where she explained that her family was experiencing food insecurity -- they didn't have enough to eat.

In new online clips, the seven-year-old character explains that she is staying with friends on "Sesame Street" because her family has lost their home.

"Now we don't have our own place to live, and sometimes I wonder if we'll ever have our own home," Lily expressed to Elmo.

So in that regard the article is misleading as it seems Seasame Street’s intent is less “de-stigmatizing homelessness” and more just a moral about how times might seem difficult now, that doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way forever. Which I suppose kids so poor they only have public television might be able to relate too.

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

"Gosh Lily, Elmo is really sorry that your crackhead parents can't feed or house you! But Elmo wonders if it was really necessary to go poo poo on his porch. There public restroom one block away."

I'm guessing the message they'll try to spin on kids is "Gee Lily, sorry your old man lost his job cause his boss found it easier and more cost effective to hire a bunch of coolies on the other side of the world to do the same thing he did for ten bucks a day and pocket the rest for himself so the lesson to take away kids is Capitalism turns muppets homeless". And for the lesson that the Puerto Rican muppet with the dad in jail the lesson would have been "law enforcement will fuck you over by lying to get a plea bargain but you'll still get thrown under the bus so don't trust em".

 

[Marvin]

Yeah, all the broadcast stations are still broadcasting. Modern TVs have a digital tuner, if you have an old TV you need a digital - analog converter, but they are pretty cheap. Aside from that all you need is an antenna.

I still sometimes watch stuff on the antenna from time to time. The switch to digital was a total scam, though, it was just a way for cable companies to make broadcast TV less usable, as it reduces the range. Instead of a snowy image or an image with a weird shadow, you just get nothing. Instead of watching a football game that goes staticky now and then instead it freezes and you get weird sounds and video artifacts until it gets a new key frame or whatever.

The analog-to-digital switch added support for a lot more dense data transmission. So higher audio/video quality. But yeah, the digital dropoff is a bitch.

A good outdoor antenna can really boost the signal though. Like 100+ mile range. They're pretty cheap, you can get one for less than $40 on amazon.

 

[RodgerDodger]

I can’t wait until next year when they introduce the Refugee Ebola Muppet... and 9/10’s of the cast dies with blood pouring out their ass.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

The analog-to-digital switch added support for a lot more dense data transmission. So higher audio/video quality. But yeah, the digital dropoff is a bitch.

A good outdoor antenna can really boost the signal though. Like 100+ mile range. They're pretty cheap, you can get one for less than $40 on amazon.

Theoretically that's true, you got multiple channels for each station, like 7.1, 7.2, etc. But cable companies purposely didn't carry any of those extra channels, so nothing meaningful was put on them, so they are irrelevant. That is true that it allowed a quality increase though, I imagine analog wasn't workable for higher resolutions.

It might be a bit of a tinfoil hat theory, but it really seems like cable companies were into this because it helped them, in the regions where people got a borderline quality signal, they had to either get expensive new antennas or just get cable.

 

[Marvin]

Theoretically that's true, you got multiple channels for each station, like 7.1, 7.2, etc. But cable companies purposely didn't carry any of those extra channels, so nothing meaningful was put on them, so they are irrelevant. That is true that it allowed a quality increase though, I imagine analog wasn't workable for higher resolutions.

It might be a bit of a tinfoil hat theory, but it really seems like cable companies were into this because it helped them, in the regions where people got a borderline quality signal, they had to either get expensive new antennas or just get cable.

A bump in infrastructure for technology is necessary every so often. The tinfoil part might be that this bump wasn't necessary right this minute, but I do think it would've been necessary within a couple of decades.

Though antennas are really cheap devices. They're pretty much just magnifying glasses for a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

 

[AnOminous]

I'm surprised it isn't a troon Muppet considering most troons already look like rejected ideas for Muppets, and actually are muppets irl.

 

[Zaryiu]

Oh I thought she would start her first episode legit homeless and ends up living with friends by the end of it but I guess a chance to push propaganda was too strong, I miss when Muppets wasn't about pushing an agenda or at least something relatively sane

 

[Bunny Tracks]

In all honesty, I think this is a good idea. Kind of reminds me of when American Girl released a homeless doll. Being homeless doesn't automatically make you a drug addict or a bad person. Sometimes people just land on hard times. So long as they don't get too crazy with it, I don't have an issue with this.

 

[Bunny Tracks]

Why include representation for homeless people even though they probably have no way of actually watching your show?

I don't think the goal is to have homeless representation, but rather just to teach kids about homelessness.

 

[Microlab]

In all honesty, I think this is a good idea. Kind of reminds me of when American Girl released a homeless doll. Being homeless doesn't automatically make you a drug addict or a bad person. Sometimes people just land on hard times. So long as they don't get too crazy with it, I don't have an issue with this.

Another good thing to note is that, even if a child's parents are coke-addicted maniacs who drove themselves to homelessness, this isn't the child's fault. As far as it looks Sesame Street isn't planning on going to detail in the character's family history or what made them homeless. Just that they're homeless.
Additionally, having an example of a child suffering in a homeless situation in a public-access children's series is an amazing idea. Sesame Street and PBS are the kinds of stations that are going to be put on at homeless shelters and food banks. If this were some two-bit Disney show, it would be worthless, but the fact is the only children who watch public access television now are severely poor or in bad areas. This is how it's been for the last 15+ years.
Socially speaking, when you're a very young child facing a traumatic situation, life doesn't feel real, and it disconnects a child from other people at a very key point in their development. It can be important to represent hardships young children may suffer because of this. Giving an example in a consumable, easy to access format like television to a child in a bad situation could be the thread that keeps them grounded to society as a whole. Otherwise, they're even more likely to grow up as antisocial gangbangers, because their disconnection from social normalcy started even younger than most.
It's about trying to help break that stride towards disenfranchisement and keeping young children connected to something, not about idealizing the homeless or whatever. If they show her parents as a couple saints who fell at the hand of big meanie institutional racism, or show a homeless camp as Disneyland or some shit, that's worth getting pissy over.
But as it is, this is objectively a good idea.

anyway i've always wanted to live in oscar's trashcan

 

[CWCissey]

Sesame Street and PBS are the kinds of stations that are going to be put on at homeless shelters and food banks.

Isn't Sesame Street on HBO now?