North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 09/26/1995

It's Tuesday September 26 the 9th. Mr. Rogers is in our neighborhood in North Carolina. Good evening everyone I'm Marina mature I thank you for joining us for this Tuesday edition of North Carolina now. We've got a very special program tonight it's been a very exciting day here at U.N. CTV and we want to share it with you. We're spending this week focusing on efforts to help preschool children get the most out of educational television. And we got a big boost today with a visit from one of PBS his

favorite people Mr. Rogers of Mr. Rogers neighborhood stopped by our studios today to help promote the Mr. Rogers neighborhood child care partnership in North Carolina. We all greeted him wearing our Carnegie and sweaters. Now Mr. Rogers is still recovering from a leg injury but that didn't stop him he met with staff and spoke at a luncheon for child care providers educators and state officials where he explained how his childcare partnership works. And joining me now on our North Carolina now set is Fred Rogers Mister Rogers thank you so much for being here it's an honor to meet you. Oh thanks for welcoming us. You're very welcome here to our set any time now. Mr. Rogers neighborhood is one of the longest running PBS programs. To what do you owe its longevity. I suppose just being yourself you know I think that that's what people like the most in relationship with somebody is just somebody who can offer their their honest self in this life.

Don't you see that in your own relationships with people I mean people don't want some kind of veneer that that wears out very quickly. They'd rather be person to person with somebody real. And I think children children can spot a phony a mile away. And I must say that you are a very genuine man and meeting you in person you are exactly the same sitting here speaking to me as you are on your television show. People often say to my wife she really like. She said what you see is what you get. You know children's programming has gotten very high tech very flashy high production values you look at a program like Sesame Street it's just bam in your face. Your show has maintained a consistency of being very low key very calm but yet it works for you. Why do you think in this world of

changing children's programming your show has maintained its stability. I think that's an excellent question and I'm not sure that I have the full answer. But one thing comes to me and that is that we are so in tune with the developmental needs of the preschool child that for instance I one time poured water into an aquarium and it took me over a minute to do it and I didn't have to speak one word. Because I knew that the children who were watching were so concerned about their own body fluid its that as they watched the water rising in the aquarium they were wondering is it

going to overflow. Well it's because we are concerned with the developmental tasks of the preschool child and one of the tasks is can I contain my body fluids inside without their overflowing in other words can I be potty trained. And so to know this is for is for us to know the major themes that we misuse in the program. I mean going away and coming back is a major theme in childhood. Little children wonder when somebody goes away if that person is gone forever. Like when mom and dad go to work. Exactly. And so when they we deal with separation and return quite a bit. So what I'm saying is that you don't have to be very very fancy when you're dealing with things that are so close to the child's inner needs and

inner drama because each person brings his or her inner drama to the television set. And it's what's on the set that is going to either interest or not. And if it's not something I mean for instance a child could care less. Early on about learning cognitive things the cognitive symbols. So if you're going to superimpose cognitive symbols like the alphabet and numbers on to a child then it's got to be very flashy and all kinds of maneuvering you know up at child can be taken very easily when it's something that he or she is dealing with on the inside. For instance one time we had a fire in the neighborhood of Make-Believe. And I know or I knew that we had to

deal with. Water before we dealt with the fire. Because that's the the psychological basis. The process you understand exactly what you know you're touching on all these topics that your show covers and to me I think it will These are awfully sophisticated topics for young children to grasp and understand. But you deal with them in such a way that it's very easy for them to understand. And that's the justification or there or the reasoning why I present it in a simple fashion and they will be able to absorb it. You know I try to remember what it was like to be a child. And that's probably been one of the greatest helps to me and to be able to be in touch with people who are working with children all the time. They're the ones who can give us the most ideas. I mean 25 years ago it would have never thought that we would have.

Produced a whole week of neighborhood programs about divorce. But now it's so widespread that if a child isn't directly influenced by had to Borse probably will be indirectly in that child's childcare or friends exactly neighbors. And so we try to know what it is that children are dealing with and to respond to that in as creative way as we know. And of course we're working with that with the childcare partnership and that's why we're here in North Carolina to launch that and that is for childcare providers to use the neighborhood in a very active way rather than having children just sit down and watch a television program. Here they're able to. To do all sorts of things with it

because they have what's called the plan and playbook in the child care centers. And there's a page for every program that we've ever done with the songs and the activities and the recipes and everything so that a child care provider can turn off the program when it's finished and extend the neighborhood in very creative ways and of course each child care provider is his or her own creative creative person. And so that makes our neighborhood all the better because we have so many people throughout the country now who are saying now we've seen the program let's make something more out of it. Right so it's basically a study plan that goes along with your program. OK. And we want to get the name of the it's Mr. Rogers Neighborhood childcare partnership right in North Carolina and that's part of the reason why you came here to you and see television today another reason of course is to do this interview. But I understand that it's been very

successful. Your child care program. Oh yes. Aisha White is the director of the program for family communications which is our little company and she tells me that it's now on 75 different television stations throughout the country. And so there are. Countless child care centers that would be connected with those different ones and of course yours here will have many centers going out from your station to use it in their child care. Wonderful Mr. Rogers I could talk to you all evening but unfortunately I'm going to have to wrap it up but I want to thank you for all the work that you have done for public television and children in general and we really appreciate your being here tonight. Thank you Maria. Thank good to be with you I wish you well and I'll that you do. And I appreciate that sir. Thank you very much. And another of PBS award winning children's show Sesame Street has been making its way into homes for over 25 years.

Characters such as Big Bird Elmo Burton Ernie and the rest of the Muppet gang have been helping preschool youngsters find their way to Sesame Street through song dance and other activities. So it comes as no surprise that Sesame Street is a big part of you and see TVs tuning into Tots program which is designed to train parents and caregivers how to spark learning in preschoolers in part two of his five part series on tuning into tots Michel Louis takes a look at the Sesame Street preschool education program. Do you think this is the street preschool education program remains one of the preferred curriculums of the UN CTV sponsored tuning into a taut series. Since 1991 over fifteen hundred child care professionals have participated in the Sesame Street program Sandra Lawson owner and operator of young hearts home

childcare in Durham has been using the Sesame Street program or pep as it's known at her home childcare since February. But she has known about the program for quite a while. Well actually I started with the Sesame Street pet program at the former elementary school that I worked with. I taught there for 11 years and I enjoyed the program. And when I decided to leave the school system and come home and start my own home daycare I called and asked that the information be forwarded to me here. So back to continue the program because I really enjoy it. Lawson says one of the things that attracted her to Sesame Street Pep is the way the curriculum is designed. The program is outlined. Whereas you can follow along with the program unless you know what show is coming on what the show is going to be about what letter numeral they're going to be talking about and what concepts as far as Officer colors or sharing or teasing or you know that sort of thing and then you just take it from there and develop it on your own age level of

children that you have. She also feels that Sesame Street resents ingenious ways of creating a fantastic learning experience out of a simple activity. Oh it was Sesame Street I mean they they can sing a song about anything they can make an activity out of walking up and down the street and you know seeing the sunshine or they enjoy dissing in the movement and the dancing basically and the characters I like to have some of the characters around some of the stuffed animals and they enjoy that. We do a lot of storytelling. Lawson's youngsters range in age of six to 18 months. One would think that at that age children could learn much from Sesame Street or any other television program. But Lawson says that's not so. They're learning but they don't know they're learning best of fun thing about the best the best part about because they enjoy the characters and the songs in the rhymes and the singing so that when they participate they're actually learning. They're learning through play. And

that's the most important thing for them at this young stage of their development. They're learning through play. Play is very important in that and this age group Lawson says caregivers and parents need to realize the importance of playing has and enhancing learning skills. They're exploring and that's all a part of the learning process also. So being forced to sit still as you say Sit still has in you let back straight up. I think that's maybe a thing of the past with this age level in this stage of development because they're always interacting and picking up on something new and that's very important for them. If you would like more information on the Sesame Street preschool education program or the tuning into tall it's curriculum place send a self-addressed stamped envelope to North Carolina now P.O. Box fourteen nine hundred RTP NC 2 7 7 0 9. Or call our viewer comment line at 9 1 9 5

4 9 7 8 0 8 in part 3 of his tuning into tot series. Mitchell takes a look at the puzzle place a preschool program that focuses on diversity and conflict resolution. Coming up we'll head to the now kitchen but first let's turn to Mitchell Lewis at the news desk where he has the latest on today's events. Thanks Zoraida. Good evening everyone. The school Capitol construction study commission met today for the first time to discuss strategies for school development. The group of

state lawmakers plan to discuss several options including a bond issue and increase in the state's sales tax and the long debated never approved state lottery option. Construction needs are estimated at more than 5 billion dollars a donation to charity is beginning to look more like a corporate takeover. The health insurance giant BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina plans to donate $700000 to the caring program for children a charity that buys insurance for poor children. But in return the company wants control of the charity's board of directors including being able to block competitors from serving on the board. Board members will vote on whether to accept the Blue Cross offer. A photocopy or some chalk and a few colored pencils could be enough to send to Davidson County woman to jail. The two were using the creative tools to make money counterfeit money. Federal officials say the women were prepping dozens of fake $100 bills in their home. They did it by making copies of real bills gluing the copies together then tracing over them with chalk and colored

pencils. Authorities discovered the bills through two local stores. So far no charges have been filed. It's official Nancy Mallette has formally applied to the citadel. MILLETTE hopes to be the first woman to graduate from the all male military college in South Carolina. Mallette is already a cadet at Oak Ridge military academy in Greensboro a coed prep school. But Citadel officials are keeping her application on hold. They're waiting to see whether a court will rule that a Women's Leadership Program at another college is an acceptable alternative to admitting women to the citadel. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union wants to put an end to alcohol sales at Carolina Panthers football games and Clint's in South Carolina. If the team doesn't agree to go dry the group plans to call for a boycott of flags star restaurants the company that used to be chaired by Panthers owner Jerry Richardson Blackstar owns Hardee's Denny's and Quincy franchises. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. Temperatures will remain pleasant with highs ranging from 70 degrees in the Boone area to the low

80s around Wilmington. The rain has cleared up for now and made way for mostly sunny skies statewide and business new cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds is running another ad explaining its position on teen smoking. The ad appeared in newspapers across the country today and is the latest in a series of attempts by the tobacco maker to defend its product. And the ad Reynolds says government regulation is not the answer to keeping teens from lighting up. Meanwhile a new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that banning or restricting smoking in the workplace dramatically reduces health risks. Food Lion is about to get bigger in Wake Forest the Solsbury based grocer plans to open the first of four large format stores there on Wednesday. The stores will be 30 percent larger than the chain standard stores food lion says it will open three more of the larger stores in Virginia late this year. Food Lion currently operates more than 1000 supermarkets in 14 states. The stock market finished lower today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down four point thirty

three to close at forty seven sixty five point sixty and decliners lead gainers by 11 to 10. About three hundred sixty two million shares traded hands the Standard and Poor's 500 index was off fractionally and the Nasdaq composite index lost about six points. And now for some stocks of North Carolina interest me. You heard of New England clam chowder and a Manhattan Clam Chowder What about

Carolina corn chowder. Don now introduces us to a low fat version. One of the first things I ever learned to cook when I was 15 years old was soup. I love soup and why do I love soup. Grandmother Mauer was the premier soup maybe our maker and my family it was wonderful stuff. So I've love super for years and years and years now when I came North Carolina I discovered corn chowder here. Absolutely wonderful soup. Big problem for me though. Too high and fat with whipping cream and butter and all the things that go into it. So I created what I call my Carolina corn chowder that is very very low in fat but it's loaded with flavor. If you want to try to make this home keep watching because this is what this takes. If you're going to eat a five quart pan put that over medium high heat into the pan you're going to add two teaspoons of olive oil extra virgin olive oil the most flavored olive oil you can put in there. Then I put in one cup. These are finely chopped with Delia onions. Now if you can't get to Delia onions maybe some any kind of sweet onion will do just great. OK and you want to let those sauté until they're software that talking about probably five minutes

until those get nice and soft but you don't want to brown. OK now today you're going to add two garlic cloves that you've mince very very fine that you can see these are very very small and tiny little pieces. OK add that to the pan. Stir they had around and you want to let those saute probably for about another minute again you just want to let them soften down you don't want to get them Brown this is starting to smell great Already we only have two ingredients in here. The next thing that you're going to need once that garlic is softened is two cups of beef added chicken broth and I've skimmed the fat off the top of this so there's absolutely no fat in this chicken broth and that's your point. You don't want to let that come up to a simmer but while that's coming up to a simmer you're going to add the following things to this. You're going to add one and a half cups of fresh corn. And this is ultra sweet corn is a wonderful sweet corn grown right here in North Carolina. This is tremendous You really want to have cups that's about a year and a half of corn cut off the cut off that year. Then you're going to need eight ounces of okra and this is fresh okra that I've trimmed and you want to cut this into pieces

about a quarter inch thick. OK add those into your pot. OK let's stir this up a little bit so they start to get mixed in and they actually get to start to cook. OK then you're going to add two tomatoes now I've peeled and seeded and diced these you want these in sort of pieces small pieces so they fit in a soup spoon. Add those into your soup. And you don't want to let this simmer altogether for about five minutes until it really begins to cook so the okra starts to get soft and the corn gets cooked and it's made a start to cook down. All right now this is how we're going to thicken this let me show you how to do this this is great. Normally you might put whipping cream or butter mixed with a little flour here to thicken is what I've got here in the cup is one cup of non fat skim milk. And today I'm going to add one tablespoon of corn starch or arrowroot whatever and withstand all together. Let's combine thoroughly. OK now add this back into your soup pot again. And this

will give us a cool wonderful creamy look but it will end up thickening this up because that cornstarch will just do a beautiful beautiful job of this now. How are we going to season is because seizing this is really the most important part to give us a tremendous flavor. What I'm going to do is put in one quarter teaspoon of salt. I'm going to need one quarter teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Just wonderful aroma coming off of this. I've got one teaspoon of fresh chapped Basler leaves in an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne into the pot. Now when this comes up to a simmer you can start to see this is starting to thicken up beautifully and all the aroma is absolutely tremendous. We're ready to serve a little of this and give this a try. You got a nice bowl here ready for service in the fall. This is beautiful you can see how thick and rich this is getting already. Gotta give this a taste. This is

absolute. Oh you know what. I've got a little bit of hot pepper here this is some how opinion Peppers don't forget to use rubber gloves. Put a little bit of that on the top. It's thick it's rich the corn is wonderfully sweet. He's got a great bites too. If you want to make this at home all you can do is send a self-addressed stamped envelope to recipes. North Carolina Mau P.O. Box 1 4 9 0 0 0 2 7 7 0 9. That's it for tonight's show I'd like to once again thank Mr. Rogers for stopping by our neighborhood it was such a treat I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Tomorrow Michel Louis will bring us part three of his special series on educational television. And we will visit a winery near Winston-Salem in the town of Lewisville. But before we close the Carolinas Blood Service region projects a shortfall of about thirteen hundred points for this month's blood collection needs. There have also been collections

of low throughout the southeast which is also putting a strain on the availability of blood your blood donations are desperately needed so please call the Carolinas Blood Service region at 1 800 GIVE LIFE to find out how you can give the gift of life. Please join us tomorrow night for another edition of North Carolina now. Until then have a good evening.