#8Remembering Someone Who Made Things

#8 in my Top Ten Blog Posts of 2008:

I went over to my father’s place to make marinara sauce Monday night. We had to measure stuff so it was good in a quantifiable way but not in an intuitive hummus way. It was then that I learned that my Great Uncle Bob had passed away Sunday night at the age of 81. Bob Cunniff was a writer for Sesame Street, The Dick Cavett Show, The Today Show, and others. He won an emmy for his Sesame Street writing. Pardon my youtube-ing here:

or who could forget one of his classics: C is for Cookie? (Watch the whole thing, you know you want to blast C is for Cookie in the workplace right now.)

In 2004, I met up with Uncle Bob in NYC and we walked around Greenwich Village sharing stories and noticing all the pigeons in Washington Square Park, not unlike the pigeons gracing Sesame Street. He interviewed many famous people for his other shows as well. Uncle Bob tells one story, “This man calls me up and says, ‘Mr. Cunniff, I just got back from Vietnam and I’d like to go on your show and protest the war.’ So I agreed and let John Kerry have his television debut.”

I don’t want to name-drop here but you only get one Uncle Bob. He interviewed Dr. King, made phone calls to Charlie Chaplin, was a pal of Barbara Walters and his daughter is the singer, Jill Cunniff of Luscious Jackson. Yup, he’s good peoples.

During my road trip across the country, I wrote long emails chronicling the journey. My dad fowarded them on to Uncle Bob to read. I am very proud to say an Emmy Award-winning Uncle liked my writing and thought it was “breezy.” I’ll take it. I don’t know what Uncle Bob would think of this blogging business though. Please have a cookie today in honor of Uncle Bob.