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BY SUSAN MCMILLAN

ou’ve probably read about Buster Baxter,

PBS’s animated afternoon bunny. The lit-
tle fellow was busted by the feds in late
January. The new Department of Education
Secretary, Margaret Spellings, took issue with
Buster’s visit to Vermont. During the episode
“Sugartimel,” Buster hangs out with the chil-
dren of lesbians while he’s learning about sug-
aring and dairy farming.

If you missed the firestorm flaring
about this_ harmless hare, Postcards From
Buster is an afternoon children’s program, nes-
tled in between Arthur, an eight—year-old aard-
vark, and Zoom, an interactive show challeng-
ing kids to turn off the tv and do stuff. Buster
travels with his airline-pilot father whose job is
tolfly a rock band all over the continent on a
concert tour. He stays in touch with, friends
through video postcards from all the cool
places he visits. Except for the animated rabbit,
the show is live footage of Buster’s travels.

Upon hearing that the PBS bunny

_ interactswith lesbians during his visit to “
_:’Ver‘rln,p‘nt, Secretary Spellings announced,
‘ “Manyparents would not want their young

children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in
the episode.” In a letter to PBS, Spellings
denounced the spending of public money on a_ -'
show with lesbians, and asked that the tax dol- '
lars spent on the episode be returned to the
government. Spellings raised the issue of the
Senate’s control over the appropriations for the
literacy grant which partially funds Buster.

PBS subsequently cancelled distribution of the
episode to its 349 stations. Pat Mitchell,
President of PBS, has since announced that

she will resign when her contract expires in
2006; a PBS vice president claimed the deci-
sion is not related to Buster.

WGBH-Boston, producer of the
Postcards series, quickly made the episode
available to" all public television stations. In a
press release", WGBH regretted that PBS
would not air the show and added, “We con-
sider it the responsibility of public television
to give children and parents the resources they
need to understand the world they inhabit —
without excluding any segment of our socie-
ty.” To date. 46 stations plan to air the episode.

Where does that leave the two .
Vermont families who opened their homes and

  inside miss

this issue's contents

I hearts to Buster’s camera? The initial pride at

their part in this little comer of public televi-
sion turned to anger and disbelief for the Pike-
Pieper and Harris-D’Ambrosia families. The
episode has blossomed into an opportunity to
teach a once-in-a-lifetime lesson, and the fam-
ilies have chosen to turn away from the hatred
demonstrated in Spellings’s words.
r K‘aren‘Pike, her partner Gillian

Pieper, and their kids Emma (1 1), James (1 1),

v

and David (10), live and make maple sugar in
Hinesburg. Life-long PBS fans, the family was
really excited to be in the show because Buster
represents much of what Pike believes. This
bunny’s grand purpose, according to
PBSkids.org, is to encourage 6-8, year olds “to
sample the colorful details that make other
cultures so distinctive.” Pike and Gillian want
their kids to appreciate the world in all its
variety and to not be afraid of something

 pp.’l3—
.6_  pg _  _  

     

Above. Bust-er says goodbye to winter
and hello to spring with the girls’ families
at their annual Ch=ris.tm.a-5 Tree bonfire.

because it’s differeztr. The kids — including
Lilly, the daughter of dairy farmers Tracy
Harris and Gina D’Ambrosia — had a blast
sharing their lives and families, working near-
ly 40 hours in three intense days of filming.
And then they were verbally

attacked by a representative of their own gov-
ernment as Spellings rebuked the show. Pike
reflects that, in our

lives, we “get only a ’ C0nt'd 0" P- 

V News, Features 1-3, 6-8
V Guest Editorial 4
V Letters, Wifl’S End 5
V Views 10-12
V Home .13-16

;‘  &.Leisure 17-21