An Alan Muraoka Appreciation Post

This is an Alan Muraoka appreciation post. (Which to clarify, is not to say I do not appreciate THIS GUY. I do. Not the same guy.) But if you're friends with the former on Facebook you'll maybe know that he received his fourth (?) Emmy Award in the mail recently. And while this on its own is an enormous flex, my wife and I were discussing the broader implications and I just wanted to commit something to writing because... writer's gonna write.

But by the time Alan took over as the proprietor of Hooper's Store on Sesame Street, his predecessor (an equally generous human named David Smyrl) had been in that role for eight years. It's a good and healthy run. In the moment, when we found out Alan won the slot, a lot of us thought "Good for him! A steady gig!" Not realizing he'd occupy that space for the next twenty-six years, or that his "steady gig" would actually be low-key revolutionary. But that's exactly what it is, and I don’t think enough people acknowledge that, so hello! Welcome.

Alan with fellow famous Asians James Seol, Ann Harada and Francis Jue. No wait.

For the last twenty six years, Alan has been a face on TV. You know there's a rather common notion among our community that we had to wait literally twenty years between All American Girl and Fresh Off the Boat to see an Asian face on prime time TV. And yes, that's both horrific and celebratory, but it's tempered with the truth that Alan was there the entire time, representing to the MOST IMPORTANT demographic. And now, those kids are having kids and are watching him right along side my own kid.

And I don't mind telling you, you have not lived until you've taken your kid to the Lunar New Year celebration at the Met and Alan says to your kid from the stage "Hi Haven! Keep dancing!" and your kid runs back to you and says "HE SAID MY NAME!!" (Like, yeah Haven, you've met him before… Doesn't matter. HE SAID MY NAME. ON A STAGE.) If you don't speak toddler, I'll translate: He sees me. Others see him. Therefore, others see me.

Alan with famous Muppets Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Cookie Monster. No wait hold up.

There's something cosmically humbling about this. See, I've spent twenty five years of my life writing stories for people who look like me because when I was coming up, the air was so thin in that rarified space only two or three very “classic” stories were allowed to breathe. And I daresay, they weren't written for us or by us. We could only be three things and we all knew we were so much more. I didn't do badly. I could've done better. And between you and me, I’m kind of killing it right now with my new project. But when you think about the impact of a single face on TV... it's cosmically humbling.

Add to that, the fact that these multiple Emmy (and Producer's Guild and NAACP Image) Awards encompass his work not only on-camera but off, as a director? Come on. Let's talk about this. In 2020 when the world was burning, my wife and I were raising a newborn. Everyone was confined to quarters, kids needed to be entertained and a FLEET of courageous arts educators and kids TV makers started making stuff from their homes. Alan was no exception. Our then-sitting President (who actually disbanded the national pandemic response team in 2018) was openly calling COVID-19 the “China Virus” and by extension pointing an accusatory orange finger at all Asians everywhere. Then a few months in, George Floyd was murdered, Griffin Matthews was calling out Institutional Racism at large, and we all found ourselves trapped indoors with nothing to do but reckon with our own complicity. For many, that manifested as public protest. For some it went the other way. For me it meant carrying a baseball bat with me on the subway during grocery runs after being attacked by a really weaksauce crazy guy who “just has a lot of feelings about China, sorry.” (SMDH.)

What did Alan do? He co-directed a special episode of Sesame Street called The Power of We, which put emphasis on cooperation, and community and how diversity in our world can be a strength. In short, it was a guidebook for young eyes when all their role models were letting them down.

I mean, was I surprised by this? Not at all. My personal Alan story involves asking him to sign a headshot for a friend’s two daughters back in the early 2000s, with a request from their mom that he write something to sway them from hitting each other. His solution to this was to just ask the question. “You don’t hit your sister, do you? That can’t be true!” And while I can’t speak for him, it seems to me his guiding philosophy is centered around this idea: Ask the question. Make no assumption. You’ll be happy to know that sister one is now in her second year of law school and sister two studies Elementary Education. They do not hit each other anymore. They are lovely humans making a difference.

So here he is, on my feed this morning, quietly celebrating in a private post (and if he’s reading this, wondering if I’ll get to the part where throughout all of it he also balances a career as a Broadway stalwart, a top-tier baker, and a mentor) but really low-key changing the world. And that’s it. That’s the post. Congratulations, Alan. You’ve come a long way, and we’re all super grateful for your leadership, your mentorship, your kindness, your patience.

If you’re seeing this, and you know him, I’d love to hear your Alan story. Comment wherever comments are enabled. Which is not here. Because I’m like, never here. Cheers.