Mister Rogers Wears His Sweater

Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was known to perhaps every single American for his children's TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. I was just a hair too old for it, but his opening song is printed in my brain forever. He would enter the set singing "It's a beutiful day in the neighborhood..." and he'd go to the closet and hang it on a hanger, then put it away singing "Won't you be my neighbor?"

This monument to Rogers stands along the Allegheny Riverfront in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, about forty miles from the small town where he was born. After a rainy summer day of agitating against sweatshop-made baseball apparel, our host gave a tour of the riverfront. When he spotted this statue he was thrilled to see Mr. Rogers wearing a sweater, and you can bet it was hand-made locally, and with love.

Fred Rogers is revered in children's Media as very few people are, for many good reasons. This photo-op with his statue turned all of us into little boys again.