As soon as the elevator doors opened, we were 3 years old
again! All of us—Mom, Dad, Reid, Allie and cousin Tucker—are over 18, but not
too old to jockey for the line leader position. There was so much to take in: the
mural of Big Bird on the wall, a bright oversized number “4” sculpture, a furry
fuchsia service bell, and the high definition photograph of Grover with a flock
of real preschoolers.
We maneuvered to take turns standing on Big Bird's
footprints in the carpet of the Sesame Workshop lobby. Every time, it triggered
a "Welcome" song from the familiar cast. Count, Rosita, Elmo, and
Cookie all sang to us from gold-framed flat screens in a friendly montage on
the wall. This was thrilling!
Reid, 20 and on the spectrum, had an appointment to interview Joey Mazzarino, Sesame
Street’s head writer and puppeteer of Murray Monster, for
his Talk Time with Reid Moriarty
podcast. The two of them–or three, rather—hit it off instantly. The rest of us
thoroughly enjoyed the show! And you can too by clicking
here.
Interviewing
a Muppet
Reid’s eyes were peeled as Murray came out of a duffel
bag and Joey put him on his arm. This was a new eye contact challenge; Reid was
unsure where to look or to whom he was listening.
Murray, the enthusiastic, slightly impulsive, furry,
orange puppet who usually roves the five boroughs meeting new people, has a lot
in common with Reid. Both of them love the limelight, want to meet Miss
Piggy, and frequently exclaim, “That’s awesome!!”
With nary a hiccup, Joey fielded Reid’s novel questions
as spontaneously as they were delivered. It was easy to see how Joey had won
the Emmy precariously balanced on his desk. A masterful voice talent with a
fountain of fresh material spewing forth, he was equally adept at relating to
Reid, without a minute of special training. If there were Emmy awards bestowed
for kindness, transposing grammar on the fly, filling in voids of social nicety
with grace, making erroneous comments meaningful, and explaining BIG concepts in
simple terms, he would need more shelves to display them all.
Clearly, this man would excel at Floortime! He could follow
a child’s lead anywhere, eagerly, energetically, creatively, engaging their
mind the whole way. I am glad he’s the one writing sketches for Abby and the
rest of the cast to foster inclusion and autism awareness. He embodies the
Sesame Workshop Initiative to “See Amazing in All Children.”
Taking
Adult Vocation Beyond the (Pizza) Box
Talk
Time with Reid Moriarty is a series of 5-7 minute podcasts with
people Reid finds interesting, and you might too! An innate emcee, Reid’s
talk-show-host style is direct, comedic and strikes a chord of human interest.
His dad and I conceived of the idea on a dinner date. Reid
was graduating from high school about to begin folding pizza boxes at the local
transition program. We knew our creative kid with a passion to perform, would
need something more. I suggested finding a mentor at a local radio station who
might give Reid old PSA’s to recite. My husband, Jim, an advertising executive,
blew the idea out of the water by suggesting the market appeal of a radio show similar
to Car Talk or Anderson Cooper 360. “It could be great content if Reid interviewed
real people and we captured the dialogue with all its misfires. We could throw
them up on Soundcloud.”
What did we have to lose? Reid practiced with a few
neighbors and the lifeguard at our pool then, we asked Mr. Greg Harris, CEO of the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in Cleveland. His immediately willing reply to our
cold call was a great encouragement to continue inviting prominent guests all
with the filter of Reid’s motivation to meet them and some mutual interest, be
it Mexican food or music.
You may wonder why this is news. Reid has a musician Facebook page, his own website and is about to release Purple Party, his first full-length CD of original songs. But this was different.
Had all the Talk Time interviews about songwriting – with Steve Denyes and Babbie Mason and Angela herself – affirmed and anchored in him what she had been developing all these years? Perhaps.
