1996 Wishbone Stickers (via: eBay)

Reading advice for writers on how and how not to write Jewish characters, and looking back on my '90s childhood, I think there were at least two shows that had pretty good representation.

First of all, Rugrats.

Yes, Tommy Pickles' family is interfaith, and they celebrate Christmas and Easter. But it never comes across as just an excuse to make Tommy "goyische in all but name." His Jewish grandparents are prominent, funny, likable supporting characters. The original show had a Passover special and a Hanukkah special, and more recently, the CGI reboot had a Purim special. Nor, if I remember correctly, does the family practice any Christianity apart from the holidays. Instead of being Christians with just a few token Jewish trappings, this interfaith family is basically Jewish except that they celebrate Christmas and Easter in secular ways. And apparently (though I've only read about it), the sequel series All Grown Up has the 11-year-old Tommy explicitly identify as Jewish, not half-Jewish... as he should, since his mother is the Jewish parent.

Also, coming from an interfaith family myself, I loved the fact that Tommy was "like me." And I love the mere fact that, even within an interfaith context, the show has the protagonist himself be Jewish rather than a supporting character. Especially because the supporting cast includes Chuckie Finster, a red-haired, glasses-wearing, nebbishy, neurotic boy – yet he's not Jewish, while protagonist Tommy, who has none of those traits, is.

Then there was The Puzzle Place, a PBS puppet show that revolved around six friends of different ethnicities, which included a Jewish girl, Jody. I think it did pretty well where she was concerned.

The show's holiday special pointedly averted the "Jewish character celebrates Christmas with their friends because it's fun" trope. Besides teaching her friends about Hanukkah, Jody also made it clear that she didn't celebrate Christmas and didn't want to, and she resisted her Norwegian-American friend Ben's attempts to "help her" join in the Christmas festivities. Another episode, revolving around different kinds of bread in different cultures, took place at Passover and had Jody unable to eat the fry bread that Apache boy Skye brought for everyone to try. A lesser show might have had her break down and have some in the end, but she didn't, she just agreed to try some the next time he brought it. She also explained Passover to the other kids, gave them all matzo to taste, and even sang the hamotzi before they ate it. In another episode, where the theme was "growing up," she told her friends about b'nai mitzvah, and in another, which was about dealing with death, her dad talked about sitting shiva. Yet her Jewishness didn't define her either; other episodes where she was the protagonist dealt with universal issues, like facing a bully or coming to terms with her parents' divorce.

These are things you don't see in every kids' show.

Sophie Lawton at MMFA:

Project 2025 and the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation have a plan for a future Republican administration to defund “woke” public media institutions, including PBS and NPR. Last year, Project 2025, a comprehensive transition plan organized by the Heritage Foundation, released a nearly 900-page policy book titled Mandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promise. The book outlines a radical set of policy proposals that would dismantle the civil service, outlaw abortion, and roll back civil rights. (The effort is backed by over 100 conservative partner organizations and has tied itself to former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.) One chapter, written by Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez, lays out a plan for how a Republican administration might defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which uses taxpayer dollars to help fund public media institutions like PBS and NPR. In his chapter on public broadcasting, Gonzalez claimed “all Republican presidents have recognized that public funding of domestic broadcasts is a mistake” and “the next conservative President must” defund public media “and do it despite opposition from congressional members of his own party if necessary.”

Public broadcasting outlets like NPR and PBS are on the radical right-wing Project 2025's list to defund and eliminate.

They are just like me forreal

Please reblog for a bigger sample size!

“Let’s all go to Dragon Land!” 🐉

First piece for 2024, Dragon Tales!

Made in Sai/Csp (8 hours)

I challenged myself to draw all of the line art with the crayon tool in Sai. It was a bit tough, especially when it came to selecting a small portion of random pieces with the magic wand tool…I made it work though.

I was 10 when this show aired in 99…and now I’m 34 and I still watch it for the nostalgia. My first drawing of this was made in 2016, so I redrew it 8 years later.

I LOOOOOOOVE it!

BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY trailer A documentary about LeVar Burton's Reading Rainbow

ROUND 1: MARTHA (martha speaks) VS MARIO (brothers)

because I sound like an absolute lunatic when I talk about the shows I watched as a kid and have no gauge for what normal children watched (because we didn't have cable and I wasn't allowed to watch most adult shows until I was 13)

MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE (2020-)

S4E2: Six Feet Under

I love you PBS I love you NPR I love you public libraries I love you wikipedia I love you project gutenberg I love you librivox I love you libby I love you hoopla I love you openlibrary I love you internet archive I love you resources that make information free and accessible to the public

Great shy, pink & yellow characters think alike....

PBS Kids Arthur Aardvark Plush Stuffed Animal

She loves squirrel documentaries

Preschool Pups 2022

They’re finished! 🥹

These guys made reading, learning, and just plain growing up, fun! :)

Made in Sai/ CSP (8 hours)

Yes, I know there are a lot more pups that I could have made in this. However, I only drew the pups that had the most impact to me. <~ 🔑word

The very first version