Caroll Spinney

On December 8th, I was heading to my first break at my retail job when I logged into Facebook and saw the news that Caroll Spinney, the Muppeteer behind beloved Sesame Street characters Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch, had passed away. I was saddened by his passing for many reasons, and I would like to expand on a few of those in this tribute. I go back a long way with Caroll Spinney’s work on Sesame Street. How far back? My parents recorded it regularly for me, and one of the episodes they recorded was the one where Big Bird finally proved to everyone on Sesame Street that his friend Snuffleupagus was real. When I grew older, I discovered why Sesame Workshop (then known as Children’s Television Workshop) made this change, the reason being they wanted kids to know that they would be believed if they told about being abused or mistreated. Looking back on this, I loved Caroll Spinney’s acting as Big Bird, happy at last for his