Russian kids call it Ulitsa Sezam, Bangladeshis Sisimpur, and in New Zealand Sesame Street programs include segments in Maori. Since being launched in 1969, Sesame Street has become one of the longest-running shows in US televison history, and by combining education with entertainment, has taught children in 120 countries their alphabets, arithmetic and the virtues of kindness and tolerance. The show has won 118 Emmy awards and never stopped pushing the envelope on what kids ought to know. This year, nonprofit producer Sesame Workshop added four segments dedicated to kids with a parent fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq. President and CEO Gary Knell focuses his energies on expanding Sesame Street’s global mission, and his desk in offices on the Upper West Side of New York shows an international bent. Note the binder for the Council on Foreign Relations, of which Knell is a member, and the worry beads.