It's Nothing to Worry About! Almost All Big Yellow Birds Get the Birdy Pox!
My Bella is home on summer break between ESY and her new school year. I turned on Sesame Street on HBO - and clicked CLASSIC - so that she could watch the fun, musical, kind, educational Sesame Street that I remember from when her sisters watched in the 1990s. One of the episodes available caught my eye - "Big Bird Catches the Birdy Pox."
Below is a clip from Season 27, back in 1995-96 in which Big Birdy gets "the Birdy Pox." The doctor uses a soothing, compassionate voice to tell him, "It's nothing to worry about. Almost all big yellow birds get the Birdy Pox!" Imagine that. Before the marketing vaccine machine took over, chicken pox was common childhood disease whose prescription was exactly what the doctor told Big Bird: Rest in your nest.
Today, kids unvaccinated for the chicken pox have been EXPELLED from school in both New York and California. This has happened in a mere 25 years. Chicken pox is a scourge that brings scorn and shame to mothers and kids alike. Rest in your nest is now "No school, you fool." The sunny day is now sad.
My American charm and good looks of course!
Posted by: Kim | August 14, 2019 at 09:11 AM
I grew up dealing with autism back in the ‘70’s when no one else even knew what the word meant. My now adult youngest brother is autistic and mildly intellectually disabled. He will need lifelong care and supervision from my widowed elderly mother, my middle brother and me. He is minimally verbal and will never be an independent, taxpaying, contributing citizen .... oh, but as long as he never got the measles, right? (Eye roll.)
By the way, I remember all three of us getting the chicken pox when I was in kindergarten. Was it fun? No. But I’d STAND IN LINE for the measles (which my husband had no problem “surviving”), or chicken pox, etc, several times over, rather than have autism just ONCE. My 4 recovering kids agree. My brother cannot agree because... well we don’t know if he would agree, since he’d never be able to answer such a question because AUTISM. Neuro diversity my ass...
Posted by: Marianna | August 14, 2019 at 09:07 AM
Posted by: Managing Editor | August 14, 2019 at 07:35 AM
Well there must be smthg I like about AoA because I keep on coming back !
Posted by: Hans Litten | August 14, 2019 at 08:44 AM
Oh Hans how you love to complain. No weighting - the Birdy Pox story illustrates that the NY and CA laws are not about health. Feel free to make a large donation and I’ll hire an assistant editor who pleases you. 100k Euro would do nicely? By the way, have you ever donated my daily reading friend?
Posted by: Managing Editor | August 14, 2019 at 07:35 AM
The weighting AoA gives to articles has been a cause for concern for me for about 7 years now.
This is the "lead" story ? is it ? Sesame Street ? Who is making this decision ?
The lead story should clearly be the NY legal challenge !
Posted by: Hans Litten | August 14, 2019 at 06:53 AM