Sunday evenings might be my favorite time of the week. While my roommates work or sleep, I usually curl up to watch a movie and spend my weekend's last waking hours in whatever imaginary world I have rented.
Last Sunday, I watched \Some Like It Hot,"" in which there's a great scene of Marilyn Monroe's character discussing her taste in men.
""I want mine to wear glasses,"" she says. ""Men who wear glasses are much more gentle and sweet and helpless.""
Sure, it's a little far-fetched to unwind in a fantasy world where I would be Marilyn Monroe's type and she wouldn't be dead and a Yankees fan-two qualities I unequivocally try to avoid in women. But people need to spend time in imaginary worlds. Perhaps the most important thing we learn as children is that our minds and spirits do not inhabit the same confines that our bodies do, and we learn to embrace good-hearted fiction as a pillar of our lives.
But right now, a great institution of this way of life is in danger. Last week, the Children's Television Workshop announced that ""Sesame Street"" is cutting back. Due to insufficient funding and competition from cable, the show plans to cut down to 26 episodes this season, down from my childhood, when the show aired more than 100 new episodes annually.
While today's children have different tastes, I can't sleep easily knowing that ""Sesame Street"" is in danger. Throughout my childhood, the show was an important fixture in my education and development. It taught me spelling and pattern recognition, and it taught me that whether you're bald, black and middle-aged or a giant, androgynous bird with no pants, we all share a bond of humanity and decency.
Even now, as I meander into adulthood, ""Sesame Street"" remains a figure in my life. Whenever counting, I imitate the Count. When I'm feeling down, I think of how Telly always felt the same way and find myself smiling. And when I'm feeling good, I often put on my best Grover voice and sing, ""We'll go riding on our horses where adventure can be found; save a dragon from a princess-or the other way around.""
Younger children may find other ways to cultivate their imaginations, but ""Sesame Street"" is part of our generational identity. It's part of who we are, and for many of us remains the gateway to our creative soul. If a generation of World War II veterans could preserve Pearl Harbor as a museum and the Baby Boomers could get a new liver for David Crosby, can't we preserve this key part of our lives? If we can't go to bat for Ernie and Mr. Snuffleupagus, then when will we act with the courage of our convictions? We should support the Children's Television Workshop and do whatever we can to protect ""Sesame Street.""
Make-believe shouldn't be lost with age, whether you sing into your hairbrush pretending you're Robert Plant or lie on your couch, visiting a world where Marilyn Monroe likes helpless, bespectacled guys. The ability to dream and love the imaginary is often the greatest way for our souls to breathe.
We'll never save dragons from princesses, but we might be able to save the street that taught so many of us how to imagine. And maybe we can save Sunday nights for another generation of lazy, daydreaming college students.
Amos can be reached at amosap@hotmail.com.
