From n.p.r. News and Washington and Giles Snyder North Korean leader Kim Jong un is warning the u.s. That he has a nuclear button on his desk and you wouldn't know it requires from they don't undo in. The United States will never be able to start a war against him a country its own of America is within range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button know he's always on my desk and this is reality not a threat to you she this here we should focus on mass producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles and I'm speaking in his customary New Year's Day address and her put it by the b.b.c. He went on to say that North Korea is a peace loving and responsible nuclear power and he offered an olive branch to rival South Korea suggesting the 2 sides hold talks to discuss the possibility of North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympic Games to be held next month I'm John Chiang South Korea says it welcomes the offer Meanwhile N.P.R.'s Rob Schmitz reports that South Korean authorities have seized a Panama flagged vessel suspected of illegally transferring oil to North Korea the seizure was the 2nd to be revealed by South Korea within the last few days as the United Nations steps up efforts to squeeze oil supplies to North Korea following its nuclear ballistic missile tests the seeds ship had the capacity to carry 5000 tons of oil and had a crew mostly from China and Myanmar last week South Korea said it seized a Hong Kong flayed vessel for transferring as much as 600 tons of oil to the north the u.s. Has proposed that the u.n. Security Council blacklist 10 ships for transporting banned items from North Korea China has partially blocked the u.s. Effort to do so China has also denied reports it has been illegally selling oil to North Korea after u.s. President Donald Trump said he was unhappy China had allowed or oil to reach the North rop Schmidt's n.p.r. News Shanghai President Trump is expected to travel to London in. Early 28 team to open the new u.s. Embassy there but N.P.R.'s Frank Langfitt reports from London that there are concerns about big protests Trump is expected to make a quick working visit to the British capital for a ribbon cutting ceremony badging crowds and protesters around the new embassy in Wandsworth south of the Thames could be challenging the president he's deeply unpopular in Cosmopolitan London because of his anti immigrant policies as well as Twitter spats with both u.k. Prime minister to resign May and London mayor city come on in November may joined a chorus of British politicians in criticizing Trump for each weeding anti Islamic videos circulated by Britain 1st an ultra nationalist group Trump responded by telling me to focus on Britain's problems with Muslim radicals owing Jones a columnist for the left leaning Guardian newspaper predicts Britain will greet Trump with quote our biggest ever carnival against hatred Frank Langfitt n.p.r. News London and you're listening to n.p.r. News. President Trump is again offering support for the anti-government protesters in Iran he posted a message on Twitter this morning saying they have been repressed for many years and are hungry for food and freedom the protests in Iran began Thursday and state television now says 10 people were killed in clashes last night yesterday President . Said Iranians have the right to criticize authorities but that he and others warned of a crackdown against lawbreakers 2017 a roller coaster year in parts of Africa the year featured the departure of some notable leaders who had dominated the political scene for decades N.P.R.'s Ofeibea costar to reports that the year began with turbulence and ended with the ouster of the world's oldest president $27000.00 kicked off with. Refusing to step down after losing the presidential election in December 26th seen Jameco until he was driven out of office last January after his repressive 22 year rule now after almost 40 years in power all rich Angolans who say it was. Bowed out as president in August and mounting his defense minister as well Laurence was his success at the ballot box November witnessed Well wind event in Zimbabwe culminating in Africa's veteran 93 year old President Robert Mugabe being toppled in a military takeover the dramatic end to his 37 year rule is perhaps a lesson to other leaders who overstay their welcome on stopped an n.p.r. News Des cab and I'm Joel Snyder n.p.r. News from Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the artist's foundation dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world learn more about Arcus and its partners at Arcus Foundation dot org and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is where we live. Will come from somewhere and you start talking with each other we find out more often than not there's a lot we have in common when you're a kid finding that connection means a lot whether it was with a friend at school or the kid next door or even when you sat down to watch television for more than 40 years Sesame Street connected kids to a world that felt comfortable and friendly and our next guest was part of what made that show so good. Played Maria for 44 years until her retirement from Sesame Street last year she's an author and has written children's books and a memoir becoming Maria love and chaos in the South Bronx Sonya joins us today from n.p.r. Studios in midtown Manhattan Sonya welcome to where we live well thank you it's nice to be here talking to you it's interesting to hear your voice after watching Sesame Street all those years ago do you feel that when you meet people that they feel like they know you they feel like they know me it's always my voice that it's a give away if in case they're not sure and then they immediately start to cry. And I'm sure but in a good way I think that somehow I'm a catalyst and all of a sudden they're back on their mother's lap sort of they're whoever was taking care of them when they watch Sesame Street when they were children so you must have been given lots of hugs through the years lots of hugs lots of kisses as a matter of fact people meet me in the 1st thing they want to do is give me a hug it's been a year now since you announced your retirement 1st off why did you retire and what's life been like for you now well the short answer is a 44 years was long enough for me to wait for Oscar the Grouch to propose. No really I felt that I sort of had. Been on the show long enough and I wanted to do other things and I wanted to pursue a writing career and I started doing that while I was on Sesame Street while. Writing picture books and I thought that I want to devote more time to it plus there was less air time when we started the show it wasn't an hour show there were $160.00 shows a year now it's like $22.00 shows and as the Muppet cast got bigger and the human cast got bigger there was less time for each individual cast member so it wasn't like I was working all the time on the show so it was you know a nice little segue out I think into my writing career now do you miss it not at all actually I miss my friends but I must say that I don't miss the actual day to day or you know once a week appearances that I was participating in so you had a very high profile job again people would see you they felt they knew you I wanted to talk about your memoir you write about your childhood in the South Bronx something you described as being a very confusing time in your life for those of our listeners who haven't read your book tell us a little bit about you know the process behind deciding to write it and what you've focused on well I I was raised I'm Puerto Rican and I was raised in the fifty's in the South Bronx and my in a household that was ruled by domestic violence and I think that's the reason that the village wants me to come and speak to them because they are trying to help children that are probably in the very same situation that I was and and the connection to Sesame Street is that I watched a lot of television as a kid and I found comfort in the order of shows like Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best and All of those shows that you can watch on on t.v. Land today and I think I grew up to sort of be what I needed to see myself on television I always. Thought of my job as being Marie on Sesame Street as provide. Eating children within an hour of comfort or an hour of sanity and. I prevailed in that in that idea because many adults have come up to me and said. Things like my mother was gets a frantic and one hour of watching you gave me some relief more and another revealing statements like that and kids that lived very middle class white childhoods in the Midwest have said to me you were the only you were the 1st Latino that I ever met or that I ever knew and I think that I see their lives as well when you're watching Leave It to Beaver did you feel I mean obviously no character on that show looked like you did how did you did you ever feel like there was a connection. It's interesting to me that even though there was no one who looked like me or sounded like me on television and I and I felt invisible and I indeed used to wonder how I was going to contribute to this society that was absolutely blind to meaning and the plight of Puerto Rican is that at that time actually all Latins there were no people of color at all on television but I think the children are hopeful naturally hopeful and they they. They find ways of making sense of the world around them for example here's a silly example you know we are all at school told many stories about Santa Claus coming down the chimney and leaving presents now we're all living in a tenement right. So so nobody bothers to explain anything to us but I remember talking to my friends and deciding that Santa Claus magically broke the window Kamen left the presents any presents he forgot he would leave at your aunt's house and then he would magically close the window so I think that kids find ways in their fantasies of adjusting and seeing hope for themselves so you really did have quite an imagination that you're able to use later on yeah yeah I did and I think I think 50 children naturally do that fear earlier you you you can intervene I think the better off they will be Tell me about your childhood at home your father was an alcoholic you mentioned earlier there was domestic violence in your house what was that like for you growing up well it was very confusing a very chaotic we would. Run away my mother would pack us up and we'd run away and and then we find we couldn't make ends meet she worked as a seamstress and a factory so then we would move back in with my father and they would be a honeymoon period and then it would start all over again. So there was a lot of disruption a lot of school changes a school. You couldn't prepare for a test because you never knew if something was going to the. The evening was going to end up in of in a violent situation and the thing that was that's interesting true is that there was also a lot of joy and love and facts facts that component that. That children have trouble with because it's 2 things happening at the same time I loved Christmas because we would have a tradition of musicians coming over and playing their guitars and singing old. Those which are Puerto Rican that kind of Christmas carols and that was joyous and I. And we had fun my mother was very funny and and humorous at the same time so there were it was very much sort of like Frank McCourt's book Angela's Ashes where you're laughing out loud at the most terrible stories. And it's something that people kids have to reconcile this is where we live I'm losing all potential I'm talking with Sonia Manzano She's a longtime Sesame Street actress and author she retired from the show last year and she wrote a memoir becoming Maria love and chaos in South Bronx She's joining us today from n.p.r. Studios in midtown Manhattan and almost called you Maria Sonia you mentioned that you know looking back when as a child you know there was lots of joy and love that you remember even though there were to Malta as times as well when you decided to write a memoir and you were thinking back to your childhood were there were there moments that you had blocked out that you were recalling you know what happened between your parents and things that you witnessed Well I have to struggle with it gave me the opportunity just struggle with conflicting feelings and one of them was that my parents would talk about the horrible poverty that they had escaped Puerto Rico in the forty's and then. Vair talking about them about it would make the next style good for the island when they get there and start seeing something which is it was it a good place or a bad place and they would also talk about. People who were so poor they would have if they had a wound they would keep reinfecting their wound so they would continue to be on the dole so they could support fair families and they would laugh at that and I was I would hear them and say that's not funny why are you laughing and I realize now that they laughed in direct proportion to their misery there but it was it was instances like that that I have to sort of come to the very conclusion that I just related to you that people who were raised in these harsh environments often are harsh themselves. So later on you I read that you went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh Tell me about the path from the South Bronx to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania I know it was really it's like going to Planet x. Or something it was a right was really quite provincial never been out of the Bronx and I was you know I met all students from all over the. The country and I want to say that this was 1968 I guess that they're going to Carnegie Mellon University society was on my side it was the civil rights movement President Johnson was going to create the Great Society. They wanted to diversify universities they wanted to give people like me opportunities it's the exact opposite of America now it was then it was a kind place America was kind I deal istic and hopeful and now it's you know the exact opposite so I really feel for young people. Who are trying to to find their way in such an unsympathetic harsh society that we live in now and as you intimated Yes it was very I had to really come to grips with the being in Pittsburgh so I when I found the nearest ghetto I went to Homewood. I know what you are oh do you know when I was and I went to school at Duquesne University thought oh you know Pittsburgh Well well there you go well the well I went to Homewood ends and you know and I said wait a minute how could this be ghetto people live in houses and they have barbecues. As opposed to tenement buildings so. That's where I would I went to find some comfort there is that that's an indication about how far and the whole experience was for me did you feel you mention it was it's a different time and nothing's the 8 you felt like you were welcomed at CMU in the student body you know that you were there you didn't face a type of discrimination there no not at all and I think it was because everybody was was an artist and. You know acting was what we were all trying to be x. Our Lat and so I certainly didn't feel any discrimination or. Or anything like that I certainly had a lot of trouble. Because I it with the school work with the academic part of it because my early education in this South Bronx was so inferior I was like an a student in the South Bronx and the c. Student. Every place else that thought I could be so smart in the Bronx and sews stupid in Manhattan but. That was the only trouble I had was academically socially I was very much accepted. I'm speaking with Sonia Manzano she was on Sesame Street for 44 years as Maria Her memoir is called Becoming Maria love and chaos in the South Bronx when we come back from the break we're going to hear more about how she got started on Sesame Street and what she thinks her legacy is today this is where as I. See. God's good enough for me to a 6. Foot. Great question has a great question and it's a great question well that's another great question that's that's a great question I think that's a great question that is a great question Rick great question on fresh air you'll hear unexpected questions and unexpected answers. Today at noon and tonight at 10. On the next On Being stories and poems about meaning and mystery you must know. The way the soap dish enable see it. Or it. Grants you freedom on being joined selected short I'm Krista Tippett Please join us. Monday nights at 7 o'clock support comes from our members and from graduate liberal studies at Wesley and university resolved to advance your career this year options include courses in writing art science literature and more information session January 9th learn more Wesley and dot edu slash masters and from eastern Connecticut State University the state's only public liberal arts college and undergraduate residential campus where students prepare for successful careers as engage citizens Eastern c.t. Dot edu Good morning you're listening to rebroadcast of where we left. This is where we live I'm loosing all the thing I'm talking with Sonia Manzano a long time actress on Sesame Street she was Maria for 44 years she's an author of children's books and a memoir becoming Maria love and chaos in the South Bronx she joins us today from n.p.r. Studios in midtown Manhattan let's take a listen back to some moments from Sonia's time on such mystery. Tour with. A. Little bit of it was pointed out to you. On a story I was hope you're satisfied here at the start that stuff about Santa and tiny chimneys anyone fed Big Bird so much he's gone. I didn't really do anything like that I was only. Teasing him telling him that Santa is not going to bring anybody any presents because he can't get ballot find a chimney Well you. Will come back he's part of me we are here today to celebrate marriage. The answer to bowl. Like me major in. My hands over. My head with the embodiment of the anyone. Or any. That's Maria on Sesame Street played by Sonia Manzano I'm speaking with her today from the studios of n.p.r. And Midtown Manhattan when you listen back to those clips Sonia I mean is it hard for you to not sit there and smile this is why I'm grinning ear to ear you kidding it's so I'm glad you played the song all it was the 1st. Lyric that I wrote when I became a writer for Sesame Street and it's a takeoff of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and the great movie topcat And as I said I watched a lot of television as a child and I was absolutely obsessed with Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers movies and so I grew up and Sesame Street gave me an opportunity to make believe I was in that world I think that's interesting and also the Christmas special where I'm yelling at Oscar the Grouch actually has a segment where children are asked How do they think Santa Claus visits them and. Urban environment which is exactly the fantasies that I used to fool around with when I was a kid so you know I was it was a great fit. Now when you were at CMU that's when you 1st saw Sesame Street I did I walked into the student union and there was on the television a very young very ball James Earl Jones reciting the alphabet and that wonderful would be deliberate manner of. Be an. And I thought I was watching the show the top lip reading it was so amazing and so compelling and then there was a wand of the which animation which it was I think it was signed by Gracie slick of the Jefferson Airplane and then they cut to the street and that's that's what mailed it for me when I saw Susan Gordon as I said there were no black people on television in 1969 in there and certainly not joyous warm friendly ones talking to me from environments that looked very much like many of the places I had been raised and that was the connection seen that street yeah it was seeing that that street the construction doors. The tenement doors the fire hydrant I said What's my fire hydrant doing on television I'm I know that place. You know they were sort of all the icons of Puerto Rican is that reminded me of West Side Story the fire escape in West Side Story and. But that movie was also another work of art that really made a huge impression on me. You know like the set of Sesame Street the set of West Side Story where where banal things that were in your life were exalted to be beautiful works of art I think Sesame Street did that with the inner city. Set So how did you get on Sesame Street Tell us about that process I think the most important things happen even when you're not paying attention I was doing I was in Godspell and which is a Broadway hit. After it was off Broadway and the bad came from we did that at school at Carnegie Mellon University and Sesame Street was one of my 1st additions they wanted to. Expand the cast because Latinos on the west coast demanded that there be Latino role models as there were role models for the African-American children in Susan and Gordon so I just you know went into. An audition with John Stone a mentor and creator of the show and this was at a time when one person could make a creative decision. So and those of people who are listening who are in show or in any business I think it takes the committing to do anything everything anything these days but I just meant yes like consultant or you know. As as you know it slows up the process quite a bit but he was a visionary and obviously because he cast me right away and I didn't see anyone else and I I did a sorting song where they were to write answers and I was impressed by that. And because already I'm thinking oh wow this is really you know they're not telling kids it's this or this is what you should know or this is the right way they were immediately by presenting a problem to be solved that had to write answers depending on your point of view. Gave those show the show grab a task I think and profundity and then I had to tell a scary story and I had a lot of those. I was in there I was successful Now you said earlier that you also wrote for Sesame Street and I was listening back to an interview that you did for w. N.y.c. Which I just loved as you were interviewing the other Sonia from the South Bronx the pre-court justice. Yes what the my Or yeah yeah that was really thrilling I'm such an admirer of hers and you were talking to her in this interview about how growing up you never thought about how you could become a writer and then you know fast forward you got on to Sesame Street and then your role change I mean you were also you in front of the camera but you had so much of a role in how the show was shaped in the in the dialogue between the characters and the kids watching at home yeah that was exciting I was able to actually write 1st I guess what the my you know when she. Came on on the show and I think maybe I would have been a writer earlier if it had been presented to me as an option to me writing as a kid with something like intellectuals did and certainly not somebody like me and. It was when does she sing or the producer of the show at that time actually said to me why don't you try writing some of these shows I was always. Being I had questions about the Hispanic content of the show and I would say you should do this and you should do this and then she finally said Why don't you try writing some of this stuff yourself and that was remarkable once again that was a time when people with vision of were allowed to proceed and and she she kind of threw it back in my lap and that's how I started writing so many kids are just not exposed to the possibilities so they go for the obvious they want to be beyond say oh they want to be Le Bron James you know what's right in front of them they don't see that the somebody has to write for them somebody is behind the scenes and they gave me that opportunity. You obviously had spent a long time and that's that's the mystery any favorite moments from the show. I think I have to think it was when Stevie Wonder came on and did superstition the great song of the seventy's and he his whole band came on and the whole studio was rocking out to that song and everybody was on the same page white people black people young people old people little kids older kids parents it was just a. A wonderful idealistic moment and I remember that well I'm not I was most proud to be part of the show when we did Goodbye Mr Hooper mine will lead died the actor who played Mr Hooper and we had to explain is his absence that was a wonderful moment Tony Bennett. Was wonderful because. He was famous when I was born and Lena Horne Lena Horne I walk and she sing it's not easy being green with Kermit the Frog. And thinking she's saying about what I think she's singing about and I wasn't a writer then so I wasn't in the machinations I wasn't aware of that kind of working on several levels and of course she was singing about race and if you saw that that was in your life of that was something you thought about that's what you saw in that song that was a real high moment for me I think you mentioned when you were a kid and talking about when you lived in a tenement thinking about how Santa Claus would come into your home when there was no you know chimney going into your fireplace going right into your apartment and then how that kind of worked into the show as part of that skit for the Christmas special but what about some other personal experiences from growing up that you then wrote into the show where you thought you know like the kids well I I I remember when I was a kid and we'd hang out on this group and in the summer my mother would always make us go upstairs at a certain time and I had a cousin who was allowed to stay out later with her family while I was convinced this was a kid I was convinced that the minute I left they really started to have a lot of fun. So one day. I prevailed and my mother said all right you can stay out outside with them a little longer and I did and they didn't do anything that was fun. They just went up stairs a few minutes later so I was able I wrote that. I decided to write that for Big Bird when Susan and Gordon tell him to go to bed and he doesn't want to no matter what they tell him he's any he has an imagination that the circus comes to town as soon as he goes to bed it was an imagination piece that sounds familiar yet the circus does in his imagination the circus comes to town but they let him stay up and all they do is watch the news that's. So Big Bird says oh I thought I'd rather go to sleep and maybe I'll dream something more fun than is so that was a moment that I that I put my life in but I always even when I wrote for Ernie and Bert I remember we had a goal where children should know that the parents have many roles that your mother could also be. Well managed in those days your mother could be a policewoman but your let's say your father could also be the police man who could also be a teacher and so I wrote a bit like that. Where it were Grover has a party for he thinks several people and that's just the one person who has many roles and I remember that I made them Puerto Rican characters for errors. Politician then there was the grandmother iconic characters that could be made into Muppets you know since you retired I think around the same time there was news that Sesame Street was going to be carried on h.b.o. That decision I know and in previous interviews you think you've said that you're happy that the show was still on it still being broadcast and not put on shelf and ended but do you wonder about the reach is this show still reaching the kids that you wanted to see when you were on well that. I was just a shocked as everybody else I had left the show and it was I think that they have a lot of. When it was just on p.b.s. But I think Sesame Street has a lot of competition there's so many shows out there and the kids are watching the shows so many different ways. I think I think it's I think that their audience is broader now than the specific underserved kid that they used to serve when I started on the show but also besides that connection I mean and you know this very well but just the research that was done on how Sesame Street really paved the way for children's television and and changed the I guess the belief that kids you know their attention couldn't be grabbed for you know an hour Sesame Street help change that and it showed that the kids are actually learning something when they're watching Yeah yeah it was the 1st show to you know to make us all understand the kids are picking up information much earlier than they than anybody thought and I'll say this when I travel around I mean teachers have come up to me and said. That kid starts school now they don't know the alphabet why don't they know the alphabet. And I'm surprised or they'll say the kids can't you know kids are having so much trouble reading and. I'm just I'm flabbergasted because I thought we had already been through that we taught the alphabet we taught the sounds. Actually we had a little song that said you take a b. That's a book. You put it all together and that spells big That's b. You know and the kids would sing and they'd learn the. Phonetic it was phonetic reading and. All these adults always came up to me and say 2 things I was raised on you and you taught me to read so I'm really surprised that so many kids are having trouble with reading today what do you think of children's television today am you lots of cartoons lotsa busy action happening all the time I mean I think that we've become data obsessed because of computers and it's like if you can't. Test something if you can't quantify it people don't think it's important therefore a lot of the children shows are so curriculum driven that there's no fun in them there's no space for a child to sort of. Go into his imagination for example they used to be a film on Sesame Street was a gorilla in a cage and the song was somebody Kamen play somebody come and play today and and that was it you know the gorilla would stare around and then you'd hear this song in the background you know how do you test that what are you teaching you can't do that you can you can test Lena Horne singing it what are you going to ask the kids what they. Gathered from that. Segment like that because it's it's profound and it's many many many many things so unfortunately what I think about the kid shows is if they can't test it they don't put it on me put it up on me air and so children are missing the opportunity to sort of think thing for themselves and put $2.00 and $2.00 together. I'm speaking with Sonia Manzano long time Sesame Street actress she's joining us from n.p.r. Studios in midtown Manhattan she's written a book a memoir becoming Maria love and chaos in the South Bronx and and Sunny I want to turn back to that memoir it's not easy reading obviously lots of very private moments. From your life growing up from and it's interesting I'm curious again about you know why you wanted to delve into that after being a very public figure for so long. Oh. Why did I do it I don't know why I did it I was inspired by. Angela's Ashes quite a bit. And because it was funny and tragic at the same time and I have always loved that combination I was turned on to Charlie Chaplin also at my college and he did that very well it was humorous but also of full of pathos and. I wanted to see if I could do the same and I wanted to you know. I wanted to face it I didn't want to be scared of my past anymore and I think writing it down gives you the opportunity to reflect and. And look at it from a different perspective and be in control of it. Are I wrote what I wanted to. It's been out for you know some time what has been the reaction from people have coverage they have you know read your book I know you said them people see you they see you as the character on Sesame Street and they say thank you you brought comfort to me even if I was dealing with a tough time as a child so now if you right now about your life as a child what it will kind of reaction if you will obviously even more so. People who had difficult childhoods same I was in the same exact situation I mean some people that are lived that are. You know Scottish people might live in Scotland have said to me I was in the exact same situation so it's funny how universal. Domestic violence is or people living in tough times. Many people live in tough times and I think when one person . Who has. Who's well known says look this happened to me people are happy to say oh well I'm not alone other people feel the same way and the other thing that surprises me is that so many adults. Have also said. I have been shocked that a child would be in this situation and I think to say what are you tonight Eve They're still in this situation many children are in this situation of of stress and chaos. And I'm surprised that more people don't know that or a surprise that that people wonder that how did you end up in the career that you have and you're so successful when you when you had this to mulch with childhood where you say to them I I think I have the I don't know it could be luck I I always. Tell educators that kids you're born with their own skill sets they're not just empty vessels that you inform and you pour information into them and then you test them on it they come with their own set of skills and I think I just was born with a certain set of. Skills that include the capacity to see the obvious. And. You know if I see that something was not working I I'm I'm quick to change and find another way I saw my mother try to make something happen that was simply not going to happen and I knew she wasn't going to live happily ever after by the time I was 8 I didn't know why she kept pursuing a goal that was not it was clear to me was impossible. What happened with your parents' relationship. Well I in the book I. I I I was so afraid for her physical well being that I finally and I think I convinced her of them to separate and and here's the thing when I had to write it I was a strange from my father I went back to connect with him. To feet to talk I always talked with my mother we were very we were close but I have to go back to my father to see and he said Oh your mother I loved her I still love her. And what went on between us has nothing to do had nothing to do with you so which brings me to another point adults think that because you're little and you're not being kicked or you're you're being fed you're not reacting or taking in your environment. It was something I shared with the justice of my daughter as well because when she was diagnosed with diabetes she says and at that time it was a death sentence she said you know the adults would talk about it like I wasn't in the room and wasn't understanding what their fear is were and I thought it was interesting that my father just kind of was completely surprised that any of this has of had affected us the children all of this violence so so that's one thing and then also my siblings when I described. When they read the book and they remember the same incidences differently or with different emotional impact sometimes it was like we had different parents so when people say gee I want to write my memoir all my siblings angry I'll say no they'll coldly experience the world you lived in differently than you. So life is made up of the memories we remember and how we remember them not the events I would say I'm speaking with Sonia months Ana Maria on Sesame Street for 44 years she's an author of children's book and a memoir that we've been talking about becoming Maria love and chaos in the South Bronx she joins us today from n.p.r. Studios in midtown Manhattan Amaranth take a short break here back in just a little bit this is where we were. Like I'm not sure. Green of. Could make your. Prime. Minister. And all things considered we work hard to make sure our coverage is truly national I'm standing at Steel City Nebraska population 6. Are more conservative than in California Connecticut they're taking Obamacare to the people why Alaska has a budget problem stopped by any gas stations outside Glacier National Park in northwest Montana black the tribe go with a story is happening to take you Beyond the Headlines listen every afternoon. This afternoon at 4. I'm standing next to a pile of nearly 600 c. Jews by next week a problem free fall in love about 7 We'll put them on a show called All Songs Considered I'm Bob Boilen listen I fall in love with music all over again. It's All Songs Considered from n.p.r. Music. Saturday night at 8. Sometimes on ask me you know there are contestants are wrong is correct. Other times they're so wrong they're right. The list straight I courts to illustrate it is funny is how many. Join me over here Eisenberg on N.P.R.'s hour of puzzles word games and trivia. Sunday at noon Good morning listening to rebroadcast of where we live. This is where we live I'm losing all but then chill and where we live looking for your questions we want to hear from you here's a topic we're going to dive into in an upcoming show what if you always wanted to know about how your town government works we want to know what you're curious about you could enter your question at our website w npr dot org Just look for Ask w.n. P.r. And we'll be in touch with you if we find an answer to your question and today we're talking with a beloved t.v. Character from our childhood Maria from Sesame Street she's actually Sonia Manzano she played Maria for 44 years and she retired last year and Sonia I mentioned again that you know it's been a year since you've retired and what is your focus now. Well I have several books in the works with the Scholastic. Publishing House that published. My memoir and I continue to to give talks and speeches wherever I can. And I will continue to devote myself to helping the young. Wherever I can as as I said you don't have to give them all the answers actually we don't have all the answers so we could give it to them if we wanted to but I think that if you just point the kid in the right direction you know they'll take it the rest of the way so I hope to do more of them and I mentioned you've also written some children's book tell me about those books oh I wrote my 1st book was. No dogs allowed and that was based on a They're all little memoir it's as I said I was inspired to write memoirs and I the picture book was no dogs allowed in based on a true story we used to go to a lake Welch as a child when this is the fun fun parts of my childhood and we never just went as a family it was a caravan and we would go for the whole day and we would take Tarzan my mother would make rice and beans and roast pork and and. It was a whole. We were like gypsies 5 cards we'd always get lost nobody could speak English and one day somebody who went with us had a dog and after all of this preparation we believe it dawned we got to Lake Welsh and no dogs were allowed Well the truth of it was the people had to return and we were all very sad about that so I wrote a picture book. But it has a happy ending in the picture book and I have all of the funny. Iconic Puerto Rican characters and the grocery store owner who brings a deli with him a deli counter my cousin Carmen who actually did just to bring her hair curlers to the beach so she could set are here on curlers and look beautiful one week hit the block at the end of the day so I was able to resurrect a lot of those characters and then I wrote a box full of kittens which is also based on a true story I remember I had to stay with an aunt who was 9 months pregnant and she didn't have a phone and my mother said stay with her in case anything happens you'll come running to get me well in my fantasy something did happen and I saved the day and I thought I'll get a parade. I'll be a big hero itself and in reality nothing happened but I thought I'd write a picture book where. Something does happen and the little girl does get to save the day or she thinks So that was another picture book based on and then the 3rd one miracle at 133rd Street had to do with a Christmas a Christmas story that. Everybody's in strife in the neighborhood but the aroma of a Christmas roast pork makes everybody get into the Christmas spirit so even in your writing for children you're thinking about ways books that will appeal to all children from many different backgrounds yes yes yes you can't you can't. Cram. A book down a kid's throat because it's going to be good for them or because you want them to accept diversity in their lives you have to give them a nice good juicy story that they can relate to that a lot of people feel and. And if I could add we're always concerned about making kids be nice to each other. But we can't just tell them to do that I think the way to do that is to make put them in write stories that makes puts them in the other guy shoes so that they get a sense about how another person lives you know you mentioned earlier you know we were talking about just back when you were going to college at CMU the world was your friend back then and now we're looking at today in 2016 lot of people talking about how divided our nation has become and issues of equality and opportunity are now front and center what are your thoughts on where we are going I'm flabbergasted I can't you know we were going to close the education gap at Sesame Street and we were going to eradicate racism. We we really had the those high ideals and I think this this recent presidential election has absolutely turned everything upside down. Things were said during this campaign that would have gotten me sent to the principal's office my mother would have that the man every ideal of. That I was raised in that I was raised with I remember doing the Pledge of Allegiance and feeling my heart swell with pride and patriotism thinking this was the best country with the most compassionate people. Even as I felt my parents were being marginalized and taken and exploited even as I felt the teachers this Dane for me because I was brown and poor I still felt patriotic and like this was the best I I am I cannot believe that we have given license to such bigotry maybe it was hidden there all the time but now. It's like it's out in the open and it's Ok to do that and it's Ok to. Make fun of people and it's Ok to exclude people and it's it's unbelievable to me. Somebody put on my Facebook page I guess. I guess the politicians didn't watch the cooperation bits on Sesame Street but it did make me laugh we used to sort of talk about cooperation a lot now cooperation and compromise is seen as an act of weakness compassion used to be a good trait Now it's seen as a as a sign of weakness as well I I am very scared for us. Makes me want to start watching the reruns of Sesame Street on p.b.s. . Yeah maybe those some of those lessons will will. Come through stronger obviously. I mean I think the whole world is kind of surprised at the. Americans and what we stand for it has. Is being turned around and said in such as strange way before we go Sonia I want to talk about your legacy we know that Sesame Street changed the landscape for for children's television and for ways to teach or our children many different things and when you look back what do you what do you see here like a c s I think. Being one of the 1st little Latins on television at a time when we were completely invisible to America and. You know I think we have to be even more prominent in the media. I want to thank Sonia months on it she was Maria on Sesame Street for 44 years retired last year and author of children's books a memoir called becoming Maria in the South Bronx so nice to speak with you thank you so much thank you very much Lucy a show is produced by Lydia Brown and Jeff Tyson our technical producer is Caio. N.P.R.'s consecutive producer is Katie to. Continue this conversation on our website w. Npr dot org slash. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. This is w. When p.r. Connecticut's public media source for news and ideas w when p.r. And w. One p.r. H.d. One Meriton at 90.5 w p k t w p k t h d one Norwich at 89 point one w w f m Stamford at 88.5 w.r.i. Southampton at 91.3 and w. When p.r. Dot org. Does time exist we created so that we can measure something is the universe expanding time as well as expanding space if you're interested in those questions you still have the little pill somebody gave you in 1978 take it in the enjoy the next column back and. Today one. Support comes from wisdom House retreat in conference center literal and copper beach Institute for mindfulness. This week on This American Life. The most famous comedian in France rich. Selling out stadiums decides to chuck it all try to become a comedian in America in English I mean starting at the bottom again and for the 1st time in years bombing just what I think that are not funny in English this week . And I. Good morning happy New Year it's 10 o'clock on Point is next major funding for on point is provided by Geico offering auto insurance coverage for cars trucks or S.U.V.s and providing 247 customer service more information on auto insurance at Geico dot com or 180947 auto. From w b u r Boston n.p.r. I'm Jane place and this is on point astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson famously says the universe is under no obligation to make sense to you but that doesn't mean he'll stop trying to explain what we know and don't about the galaxies around us from contemplating the cosmos to stressing the importance of scientific fact Tyson has made a career decoding the mysteries of time and space next in an archive edition of On 14th Neil de Grasse Tyson brings the universe.