It was the news, but in a way that was accessible to kids and teens and made things going on in the adult world relevant to us. It tackled poverty, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism, terrorism, education, climate change, politics, and a host of other issues. But it never felt... preachy or like it was trying to sway me as a viewer. Linda Ellerbee always had a way of passing on the information in a considerate way that made it clear and understandable. Sure some of the topics were naturally loaded, but as kids we didn't have all those preset ideas on things. Information was just information and what they presented didn't have a heavy hand behind it. I wish more news was like that for adults now, it also probably helped it was only on once a week too.
I’m looking for a specific episode of this show that I saw as a kid which had a big impact on me, but I can’t remember the episode name or which season.
In the episode, she narrates a short video of a kid going about their daily activities but she does it twice using the same video with very different contexts (one it says how they had a great day, the other says they were angry and had an awful day). It shows how easily the media can manipulate people.
Linda Ellerbee was a newspaper columnist. I recently found an old article she wrote that moved me enough to keep a copy. I can't find it online so I typed it out here.
I think about how old I am while dressing to go to a Grateful Dead concert with my son, The Deadhead. I wonder what my son thinks about, dressing to go to the concert with his mother, The Deadhead. And so it goes.
But does it really? Does this beat really go on?
Sure, I still like rock 'n' roll, but a concert is just so loud, too loud, perhaps for me anymore. Is this his music now, not mine? I'm tired, and if I thought I could get out of going tonight, I might. A long bath, a good book, an early bedtime. Never happen. I have promised.
Anyway, I don't want to be thought old by my son, who is 20, and thinks me old enough.
Now the tribe is gathered. The audience is my age, my son's age and many ages in between, but I don't feel a part of it. I see a young woman wearing a long, paisely-printed Indian skirt I swear I used to own and who knows? Maybe I did. Watching her, I am lonesome for me.
Balloons bounce everywhere, settling on people's heads, only to be batted back into play, a game of slow-motion volleyball, as if this were a sporting event, which maybe it is. One hits me and I swat it away, annoyed at a balloon.
The stage seems small, dwarfed by the equipment necessary to make the sound that is supposed to transport us to some other place, some cosmic point from which we will hear and see things differently and sigh one more time: Far out.
The Grateful Dead are onstage, tuning up, and with no warning they begin to play. I like this band, but they don't move me this night, even though Jerry Garcia remembers all the words to the songs for once. (A member of the band once said to me: "Jerry knows most of the words to most of our songs. Luckily our songs don't have many words.") The guys are together tonight. Josh says their music is "fresh." It's a word that has different meanings for the two of us.
Everyone is standing now and will remain standing for the entire time, never mind the perfectly good seats beneath us. By the end of the third song, my feet hurt. Did they used to? Josh standing next to me, doesn't look the least bit sore-footed.
Oh, how I hate getting old.
Older.
"No worries," said my daughter, recently. "Remember, no rock 'n' roller had died of old age yet. Drugs, airplane and car crashes, and the occasional bullet to the brain, yes, but not old
I still stayed up and watched threes company every night tho...
Does anyone know where I can find past episodes of Nick News with Linda Ellerbee online?
I honestly didn't know it still came on haha. Tonight they're talking about the return to segregated schools and the inequalities that black schools have. It's really informative so far
An old IGN forum I used to visit attracted her attention and she answered many of our questions. Thread here: http://boards.ign.com/teh_vestibule/b5296/196053173/p1
I feel like that was a missed opportunity, though. It's a small community with mostly younger users. I would love to have her come on reddit to do a little Q and A.
