I live in Silver Spring, MD. I went to the University of Maryland, College Park for both undergraduate and graduate studies, and thus experienced lots of Muppet goodness . I went to a 1996 UMD Muppet exhibit where I first saw The Frog Prince. I then attended the dedication of the Jim Henson & Kermit Statue at the Stamp Student Union in 2003, where I truthfully told Jane Henson that Jim’s passing affected me more than that of any non-family member. I grieved for several weeks after that awful day in Spring 1990.

On a happier note, I loved the Muppet Show and Sesame Street since my youngest childhood. I especially remember with fondness “The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years”, which my family would play again and again, and “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street,” even though I am an Orthodox Jew-Its deep compassion, humor, and love transcend religious differences, IMHO.

The Muppets also provided some primal spookiness, as I was terrified of Mt. Snuffleupagus in Hawaii, the YipYip Martians[now a proud member of the Yahoo YipYip group], and the Gene Kelly Episode with Pigs in Space coming to the “End of The Universe!” [What can I say, I was 4.]

I wanted to inform you that I attended a 2006 conversation at Maryland with Jane Henson and other people from the days of Sam & Friends on Jim’s 70th birthday, and chatted with her again [it was the afternoon before Rosh Hashanah, and I had to get home before sunset-I would not do just any event with such time pressure!]

UMD has many Henson clips and shows digitized, but they can only be viewed on campus; See

http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/henson/

Again, thanks for this wonderful podcast!

Sincerely, Ariel Segal [Male; got some smart remarks when the Little Mermaid came out.]

P.S. Much of my family went to University of Michigan, but I still admire you even though you probably are a Buckeye fan >:)