Million Puppet March supports social media

The Million Puppet March, held Nov. 3rd in Washington D.C., was not as big as it was originally advertisd to be. A much smaller crowd joined to bring in a march and rally which ended at the US Capital Building. Beginning at 10 a.m. supporters gathered in Lincoln Park. All of this organization began from a college student, Micheal Bellavia, who organized this event in response to Mitt Romney's remarks inthe first Presidental Debate. I attended and brought my 5 year old son Zane along to join in on our first march.

The crowd had a great attitude of concern towrd protecting the rights of public media. The march took onto city streets, even down side walks. District of Columbia Police stood by to close intersections with lights and sirens going. It was hard to hear over the Skelliton band which palyed drums and saxophone melodies. Their sign read " The finest Skellitons from the national Closet." In the middle of the march stood the Mother Earth puppet, being rolled down the street by a few people. A collection Seaseme Street charachters, Jim Hensen's Puppets, a few other creative sources were present. I just wore my favorite PBS shirt which shows the original cast of Seaseme Street.

One of the biggest focal points had to be the larger than life Lincoln character made of paper machea, and held up by polls. On the back of him read the lines: " Educate to Empower". Gaining attention for our four fathers was a great idea. It gave the inspiration of hope onto a crowd of mostly over 30 protestors who held the spirit in place to put the consideration into children's broadcasting. This even did bring out children of all ages as well. Most supporters recognized the role of 40 year old media company's popular characters. There was a life sized Big Bird, Super Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Animal and more.

At the end of the march, protestors rounded the corner of Capital Hill to met up on the lawn of the United States Capital building. The rallying went on for another few hours. Creative sketch plays gave a swing at the Saturday Night Live skit, which also commented on Romney's budget plans to cut PBS funding. Encouraging the aim of politics just wasn't the full idea of this event though. It was like a homage memorialism to the ideas which have led our main stream meida into an internet generation. While The Simpson, South Park and Sponge Bob have all been on the air from various amounts of time between 10 and 20 years, the beginning of children's TV was PBS. The ending words from the podium on the lawn were to continue to build "Social Media".

I think that it was a good idea to march for. I must say, I am the biggest FOX TV fan, but predominently I was a PBS fan. I love animation, and I love reading. This is what I told independant media live streaming on the web in my interview today. Students form North Western University who were on scen asked why did I come, and what does it mean to me. I answered that Seaseme Street began early to advertise that the role of Public Broadcast Television is to give children " A Love for reading". And that is what it has done foe me. I wore my : “I Love My Library" button today. And I talked about it. The National Endowment on HUmanities in association with the Library of Congress held their National Book Festival on the Washington Mall earlier this year in September. When I attened I received a great amount of freebies. My very favorite one is ths button. If you would to do more, please vist the petition website where I written my own message and sent it ahead to our President Barrack Obama. Keep the Social Media alive. Help PBS!

http://www.petition2congress.com/8025/million-puppet-march/?m=3720605