![]() ![]() 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. "The teacher answered the question and a whole world opened up to me.Born in the early ’70s, I grew up watching Sesame Street. When she finally struck up the nerve, while being taught long division, she drew laughs when she said she thought she'd be sent to the principal's office, or that her probing would be put on her permanent record. She said she was 10 before she realized it was OK to ask a teacher a question. Manzano said, she was raised in an environment in which one never questioned an adult. She suggested that family values get in the way of succeeding in school.įor example, Ms. Manzano said she imagined that the Southbridge teachers have a complicated task with respect to implementing a turnaround plan, for several reasons, including the diversity among children from different cultures and fluctuating family structures. Manzano suggested, not all topics can be tested, such as parts of reading, "unless we want kids to just spout back information that we give them." "Not only that, children are expected to absorb the same information at the same exact moment as their peers," she said. Manzano said the use of computers "has turned us into a gateway society" that assesses, analyzes and tests children before they experience what she called the joys of thinking. "Not seeing myself reflected in society made me feel invisible," she said, referring to the character in Ralph Ellison’s book "The Invisible Man." But as Latinos "demanded representation," she and another character were developed, which had special meaning to her as a Puerto Rican who watched a lot of television but never saw anybody who looked like her or lived in a neighborhood like hers. Manzano said the first target audience for "Sesame Street" was African-American children. Manzano, who also talked about her memoir, "Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx," said it occurred to her that the Southbridge teachers, in the launch of the district's turnaround plan, were in a similar situation, "which is another chance to get things right and turn this school around and for that I certainly applaud you." Nearly half of Southbridge's student body is Hispanic. ![]() She said the reason she stayed was because every generation of kids gave her a new opportunity to do better by them, and get things right. The guest speaker asked rhetorically how she managed to stay on the long-lasting show in spite of its redundant theme of teaching kids the alphabet, counting to 20, and her correcting of characters Elmo, Big Bird and others. Manzano's talk at the high school auditorium touched on "Sesame Street" breaking ground by putting warm and friendly characters of color on TV during the late 1960s, her difficult upbringing in the South Bronx, and the role culture plays in learning. SOUTHBRIDGE - Sonia Manzano, the actress who played Maria on "Sesame Street" for 44 years, welcomed back teachers in the state-run school district this week with a wide-ranging and culturally relevant keynote address. ![]()
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