february twenty-seventh will always be a sad anniversary now for me. i can't believe that fred rogers is no longer with us. it's amazing how sad this is for me. the last time i felt like this was when charles m. schulz passed. i hate losing childhood icons. i'm reminded too much of mortality...as much as near relations passing. i know it's the effect that television and the media has on us...an imprinting on our psyche, if you will, but i seriously feel that our deepest emotions, those rooted in our childhood, are for our generation (at the least) inevitably connected with television. i don't feel that is horribly superficial in any way. i mean, sincere feelings of any extremity have reasons for being as they are a part of our human condition, and their associations are just as true, no matter what they are ---they are not false. and to be tied to something that is simple and joyful is a wonderful thing i believe, and that's what makes for the best childhood memories. that is the connection for me. i mourn the loss of something simple, since nothing seems simple any more. i miss that.