quite there yet you know because your people getting paid you became something that i have never before heard of which is a lactating cash can you tell that story to? these people i was howling when i read it. i mea the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., february 27, 2023,. to the senate under the provisions of rule 1 paragraph 3

of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tim kaine, a senator from the commonwealth of virginia to perform the duties of the chair. signed patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. bit about some of the creative pushback and difficult but was what was the what was can you talk about a couple of creative turning points you had where these people start to come together understand each other better understand you better. there's a point where started to actually gel.

it was a long time coming, too. there was a lot pushback, some people quit because they didn't get their miserable russian music or other reasons. so well that. yeah. mean that that case if you take the music for instance the woman was dead set against modern sounds you know she met with. one of my friends who had become a rock and roll star. later and, you know, she was scared to meet this. i mean, he wore leather pants. he had an earring. this was terrifying her from where she was from, having been educated in the moscow conservatory. but she came back from this meeting like a changed woman. they found commonality had children the same age and from that point on, you know, he explained to her that, you know, he could also write music for children and this, you know, guy ended up writing some of the best songs for the show and the

the the music director was able to change her attitudes and accept bringing in all kinds young music artists so that that you know did happen she didn't have to quit and and the the other another example of is for instance when we were discussing inclusive oh this is and you know this was at the three day curriculum seminar all the education experts and we showed a clip of a from the sesame street america show to give them an idea of, you know, how how tolerance can be addressed. and in this little in this, there's a little boy in a wheelchair. he's with a friend, and he's flying kite. and in the background there is this upbeat song you, know me and my chair. we go everywhere. and i'm watching the clip and smiling and video ends and i

look at the the group and they're just looking at this, you know, at me and the tv and they just say, how can you do that. it's so exploitative to show children in a wheelchair and then another woman. why would you why would normally ji normal children ever want to watch a tv show with nina simone and she's saying it like just innocently and i'm sitting listening to these, you know, enlightened educators and thinking to myself, maybe they're ready for sesame street. maybe this is just a really bad idea and, you know, this is kind of disheartening because i'd already been through you previous discussions how they didn't want our muppets and you know, there were all kinds of other challenges related to this besides the classical music and

and, you know, one woman says, you americans don't understand that our children will never have wheelchairs that our country, you know, is is falling apart, that health care system has collapsed. so we children who are trapped in their and if you have children who, have wheelchairs in the tv show, how will these children in their beds feel? they'll be sad. wow, that's intense. so intense. but then, you know, i mean it goes on from there because as debate continues about how to this because these these educators feel a sense of responsible bility, they're making a show in a, you know, for millions of children and they want to change the country. but they're not sure how.

and you know what one guy said? he said he was a physicist and he said, you know, you're you're tasking us with coming up with a tv show that can teach children and model for children values to help them thrive in a new open society. but we don't know what a new open society looks like. wow and could you speak to the racial inclusivity part because that was that i think was one of your triumphs actually. the you mean. well, the the various racial like they didn't want i can't remember there was ukrainians or they wanted you know, it was very because of all the different types of russians that they are and so racial and. yeah no no no that's that's a really good question. so, um, during this particular seminar, it was very difficult, because there was a, um, an

attack in budapest, which chechens were taking over a russian town. and it was one of the first attacks where you had post-soviet brothers fighting against each other, you know, and so there was enormous feeling of hostility towards the chechens, central asia, so, you know, our goal to create a tv show that would to all children the former soviet union and there over 123 nationality. so that's where in the former soviet union begin to do that and you know this was this this experience that went over several days while we were having discussion with the. took took enormous strength i'd say tolerance on the part of the

people in the in the in the workshop because they had to come over their feelings of incredible anger in order to think of the bigger issue of, you know, educating everybody. and they did. and they did. yeah, but i guess the tension muppet was out. you weren't going to make one of those. no chechen puppet. okay. i want to know, can you just come up with one example of, a moment you really felt you turned the was that what maybe what we were just discussing? or is there another one we haven't discussed where you suddenly, after i was in boulder. i would say, okay so just i mean, start just continuing. on this theme of inclusivity. so didn't really finish that story, but you know what ended up happening is that there was a woman in the back of the room who suddenly up and she said, you know, my name is ludmilla and i'm from, uh, chuvash, which is a small region in western

which extends from the volga to siberia. and our town was as a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals during the era. so we had highest rate of deformity deformities of children. so as she's talking the group and they're still trying to debate this issue, inclusivity and she says, i with these children every day i play with them. i laugh with them and they yearn to play with normal children. she's the word normal. and she was heard by the others. they heard they i watched her speaking and then she she with them. why can't you write scenarios for these children that show them as human and, valuable to the society and the guys who had spoken earlier who said, you know, oh, it's you know, you can't show children in

wheelchairs and they're all sitting there, you know, shifting in their seats uncomfortably. and then i look around the room and i see that a couple of people are crying and, you know, this is this is your for them. and you have american that are sitting in that meeting with them as well. were you crying too? i was crying, too. and i was trying to hide it, you know, because i'm the. who's supposed to be in charge starting now. yeah. and it was really, you know, an incredible moment because i didn't need to say anything. the americans just sat there and this they said it to each other. they said it to each. and they saw you know it was like she was like an angel, you know, descending into the room, into the chaos. yeah. and then everybody, you know, came to this conclusion that together that they had to do this they had a sense of their response ability. i want to know something that doesn't have to do with an angel

coming down, although it does. like, that's what it was. why were you able in the end to succeed i mean, this seemed like an insurmountable the more you read this book and you know, it's got of freakish humor in it. and it's very but i would have packed and gone home we to eat why were you able to succeed i think that that they could have sent 99 other people and they would have washed out was it your love of the culture was it your respect for the creative process. tell me why you in the end you were able succeed because did succeed the show did get made it did become a huge hit from the day it first aired and it was on air for years even after she left we all know the end of the story but i'm very interested in what you think you were able to pull out of yourself that that made with the assassinations the

have the ak 47 in the office and these tremendous clashes of of these creative egos. i just why do you think you succeeded i think it was very much about the people that i was working with and seeing the sacrifices that they were willing to make and incredible hope after under communism for so many years that, you know, the that it was possible that this country, this vast country could change was, you know, incredibly seductive and the ambition that sesame street, you know as a nonprofit, the risk that the company was willing to take it was phenomenal. i mean most companies would have walked out at that point and these people that you cared about and respected them.

i did love them. yeah. and you know, and also people were dying. i mean there are people that were you know, you work with them every day and suddenly you they're just murdered and. this didn't you know, i didn't even talk about. the third person who was also murdered, that was the third broadcaster. and know the the you know, the two weeks before i had given him a tickle me elmo doll and he had a picture of his eight year old daughter on the on his table. and we talked about and he was this kind of buffeted guy who, like, hugged me, which is when he first met me, which is kind of unusual, you know, you usually have a little more distance with russians and and this guy, you know, was also murdered. and no no explanation to day i can show you. i mean, there's a picture him in the book, but, you know, when you're in that environment and then you go home, you know, i go back home to my fiancee, who

then became my husband and, you know, and you're in in america and it's it's, you know, peaceful by comparison and and stable and has had 200 years of democracy. so you go back and you had out to dinner with friends and they're talking about, you know, pasta and real estate and you and then you go back to moscow now and you're in this intense environment where, you know, there's the possibility of creating totally different future and to give you children something that can help them, you move into a more open society. so, i mean, part of that for me was a gift and it was nothing like making documents and it overcame the fear it overcame the fear. i mean, i definitely was afraid i wouldn't say overcame fear. there were many times when i afraid and i just you know, i

had excellent team. i had very close partner. leonid is a guy who from moscow. and you did have a very close friend who had your back. yeah, right. and i was working with, you know, i have to stop you because that was my last question. why did you succeed? and we will now negate the possibility of anyone else asking you a question. so i it's that time where we have to turn it over to the rebel. how did the office resolve and what were challenges to making that happen and revisiting the studio in 2020? what were most meaningful compares scenes and reflections for you? that's a pretty long question. so i'll try and i've got a couple more, so do what you can. yeah. so the, the office takeover was not resolved. we lost everything and we had start from scratch again and all

scriptwriters were working in their apartments for a, i guess about another two and a half months and there were no cell phones so we couldn't call anybody, we couldn't have any meetings because. nobody would know where to go. and finally we we would set up these we would we would set the meeting for the next meeting, each meeting. and then people would show up at somebody's apartment and. we would be discussing scripts or whatever we had to do and far as going back to moscow in in 2020, i was absolute stunned to discover that the studio studio number 13, where we had never been renovated in all that time, like the equipment was new, but walls were the same. and when i asked the woman so when i went into the studio, into the tv