Post by LostLily on Apr 4, 2021 21:57:45 GMT
I'm putting these together because they appeared in the same time block. This happened in the 2000s. I remember these shorts aired after Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman, which from what I remember usually ended the "good" PBS programming, but it also could have potentially aired when I was home sick from school, I don't remember. These shorts may have been adapted from children's story books, but that may have been just the vibe I got from them. The first one was probably called "Christopher." It was about a young black boy who hated his name because of how common it was. How he was annoyed because there were three other Christophers in the class, which made it confusing whenever the teacher called on him. So, he started changing his name, and with it his identity. The only one I remember was when he adopted the persona of a basketball player he admired with the number 5 on his jersey, which he just referred to as Number 5. He went to school dressed for this new Number 5 persona, bouncing basketballs all over the classroom, which resulted in the teacher shouting "Christopher!!!" In that accusatory tone you use when kids are in trouble.
The other short I don't remember the name of, but it's far more interesting. It was told from the perspective of a young girl from a family of refugees who had escaped to the US from either Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan (given the time period, I think it was Afghanistan, but don't quote be on that) due to the war. She hardly had any grasp of English when she started school, she didn't even know how to ask to go to the bathroom, so whenever she had to go she would just leave without telling anyone. She also didn't have any friends because she couldn't speak English. It then cut to about a month or two later, where an entertainer had been invited to the classroom to put on a puppet show. He may have been dressed as a jester or harlequin, but I'm not sure. She still had zero grasp of English, so the puppet show didn't interest her. She then got up to go to the bathroom, but when she opened the door, she was face to face with a skeleton (it was actually a Halloween decoration, but she didn't know that). This triggered a PTSD flashback, which she was only able to articulate as "I thought of the war." She screams, getting the attention of the teacher, and she ends up crying in the teacher's lap. In her panic, she forgot why she had gotten up, and realized in horror that she had accidentally peed on her teacher. She got sent home crying. It then cuts to a year later, where her grasp of English is much better and she's able to understand and enjoy Halloween with friends. The story ends with "And I never peed on anybody again!"
Does anybody remember these shorts, or can confirm whether or not these are story books? I've had these shorts on my mind for ages, but I just don't know where to start searching.
The other short I don't remember the name of, but it's far more interesting. It was told from the perspective of a young girl from a family of refugees who had escaped to the US from either Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan (given the time period, I think it was Afghanistan, but don't quote be on that) due to the war. She hardly had any grasp of English when she started school, she didn't even know how to ask to go to the bathroom, so whenever she had to go she would just leave without telling anyone. She also didn't have any friends because she couldn't speak English. It then cut to about a month or two later, where an entertainer had been invited to the classroom to put on a puppet show. He may have been dressed as a jester or harlequin, but I'm not sure. She still had zero grasp of English, so the puppet show didn't interest her. She then got up to go to the bathroom, but when she opened the door, she was face to face with a skeleton (it was actually a Halloween decoration, but she didn't know that). This triggered a PTSD flashback, which she was only able to articulate as "I thought of the war." She screams, getting the attention of the teacher, and she ends up crying in the teacher's lap. In her panic, she forgot why she had gotten up, and realized in horror that she had accidentally peed on her teacher. She got sent home crying. It then cuts to a year later, where her grasp of English is much better and she's able to understand and enjoy Halloween with friends. The story ends with "And I never peed on anybody again!"
Does anybody remember these shorts, or can confirm whether or not these are story books? I've had these shorts on my mind for ages, but I just don't know where to start searching.
