Shelby Bennett's Art Blog / #cbp

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Today, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has shut down after the government took away its funding.

There's a famous clip of Mr. Rogers melting the heart of a congressman after Nixon ordered CPB funding be halved.

He spoke of how important this sort of public TV is. He described how on his show, he gives an "expression of care" to let children know feelings are "mentionable". From his ability to speak compassionately about this, PBS got its full funding.

Ten years ago, we would have laughed at the idea that people are calling the Cookie Monster "woke propaganda" on Xitter. Shows like these have somehow been swept up in the culture war and have played a role in the cut funding.

I don't know what the future of PBS will be. All I do know is that every day, I see parents come to our bookstore to read out loud to their children. I'm so glad they're showing up for their kids.

We have new quality shows for kids on YouTube like Miss Rachel. I'm glad kids have folks like her showing up for them.

I'm so sorry our country isn't showing up for you anymore.

I know I just work for a corporate book store, but every time I host story time, it is my "expression of care". I hope these books shine like a light to them.

A lot of public media will be destroyed by this. Public TV and radio are vital for rural areas in our country, and without them, anyone living there will have a difficult time finding out about important news in their area.

One thing you can do is find your local PBS station and click “donate” at the top of the page. https://www.pbs.org/stations/

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