May 8, 2012

No secret I prefer media that has a social enterprise tie-in or a deeper message than the vapid values of commercialism circulating in the mainstream, so was thrilled to see this Surfrider Foundation “protect the oceans” message wrapped in a girls empowerment, active how-to book for kids, called My Mommy Taught Me To Surf.

Amidst a blitz of glitz and appearance-based tripe showcasing girls instead of role modeling hands-on actions, smarts and ‘let’s do this’ attitude, it’s refreshing to see this new sequel from Taught Me2 Books place females in the role of wave mentor and tribal guide to a secret society of water rats like me,  bonded by their profound respect of nature’s power.

I wrote about their first edition, “My Daddy Taught Me To Surf” for Father’s Day awhile back, pointing to some of the other eco-conservation messages surrounding habitat and our planet to ‘teach our children well’ through media…

…But this new sequel is even more important to me for its girl empowerment self-esteem jolt when research is showing media tearing down rather than building up children’s worldview, and boxing in their opportunities with finite limitations and self-perceptions served up as identity norms. (See prior post on brain plasticity and Lego Friends neuroscience, and an upbeat outcome to the Lego/Spark change meeting when youth took the helm to have a corporate tete a tete sending a clear ‘don’t fence me in’ message for the greater good of all)

My Mommy Taught Me To Surf captured the lump in the throat excitement of a child trying something new, with the soothing, trusted family bonds of “I’m here” familiarity that some kids simply don’t have…It made me wistful and proactive thinking ‘Every child should have this experience of one-on-one learning, whether it’s through a peer, a camp counselor, a scout troop or a neighbor if they don’t have a parent that can step into this mentoring leadership role.’

With colorful mixed media illustrations by Shane Lasby and chill up the spine salute to mother nature’s gift of the ocean after the ride, writer Joseph Tomarchio says it well,

“My mommy says we must show our gratitude for our gift so we walk along the beach picking up trash left behind by those that do not know.

My mommy says that I am part of a clan now, a tribe of those that do know. Those that know the feeling, those that know the gift must cherish it and protect it, she says.”

Rather than preach and teach, he invites us into a special world of “those who know” adding coolness cache and exclusivity to an eco cause, camraderie of surfer spirit and accomplishment of doing rather than being.

It’s a Children and Nature Network style, Richard Louv type of antidotefor nature deficit disorder, actively engaging kids in a show and tell fun fest of ‘get out there and go’ challenge versus observing through a screen, a lens, an app, or clicktivism to experience and share. As many have said before, ‘we can’t protect what we don’t know’ and the further kids get away from tangible nature experiences in daily life (new study in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine shows nearly half of preschoolers are NOT even getting outside for daily play!)

All the more imperative to surf this “active vs passive” play point into the media mix to churn up some change and start to use media to bridge online to offline experiential child development too.

My mommy didn’t teach me how to surf (she was from Nebraska!) but she did teach me how to survive, thrive, and stay alive through life’s whitewater waves crashing, tumbling surf, and even face-pounding, sand-in-the-snout moments.

Best of all, she gave me the gift of resiliency teaching me how to get back in the line up and paddle right into the waves again, fearlessly.

What did your “mommy teach you?”

Leave a comment below or on Twitter or Facebook and we’ll do a drawing to send this book along to you in a freecycling pass through media moment, which is our policy here at Shaping Youth.

Think hard…what did you learn from mom? A skill, a character trait, a life lesson, a passion for a sport? Pass that heritage along and pay it forward.

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms and those who support them. Here’s to a smooth ride. Banzai!

Related Eco-Kids Msgs by Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth

TiltWorld.com Interview: Plant Trees, Play a Game

40 SY eco posts worth recycling

The Great Turtle Race

Inspiring Kids As Stewards of the Planet

Inspiring Kids With Green Media

Nature Rocks: Reconnecting Families with Planet Earth!

Nim’s Island: Shaping Youth Through Imagination & Adventure

Xeko/Elf Island: A Virtual World To Be Wild About

Xeko/Elf  Island GoodQuest to Help Polar Bears

If Kids Could Be Dolphins: The Power of Creative Play

Greentrepreneurs: Recycle Bank Shows Kids it Pays to Be Green

S.F. Oil Spill Prompts Altruism & Activism in Kids

Kids Bring Home the Message to Cool the Earth

Digital Activism: Kids Stump for Change (World Wildlife Fund)

When Art Meets Earth: Wyland’s Murals Inspire Kids to Care

Shaping Youth Joins Eco-Literacy Coalition: NCLI

More in Shaping Youth’s EcoKids/Environment Archives Here…

Related Reading for Mother’s Day Media on Shaping Youth

Last Minute Mother’s Day Digital Gifts

“Beth Jussel Wins Mother of the Year Award” (hey, m0m that’s quite a tat! Digital ditties from Mom’s Rising)

Shaping Youth: Lackus Appreciatis/Mom-A-Thon Card Giveaway

Shaping Youth: Act Out With Your Mom Find your authentic voice Improv Theater session led by ‘mother of the Rugrats’ Hollywood actress Melanie Chartoff and “act out with your mom” in positive ways

Shaping Youth: Mother’s Day Media Part One

Shaping Youth: Moms Who Inspire; Non-Moms Who Support

Shaping Youth: Moms Who Inspire; Non-Moms Who Support

Elsewhere on the web: Mother’s Day Media

Christy Turlington Asks Us to Skip Mother’s Day 2012, (more at EveryMotherCounts.org)

Honor a Woman: Global Women’s Leadership Network Mother’s Day with Meaning (more at GWLN-tribute.org)

Top Positive Portrayals Of Moms in Movies

Project Happiness: Mother’s Day Gifts From the Heart

Special Things Kids Can Do For Mom (From ‘Kids Turn Central’, a compilation of ideas, ‘herstory’ of the occasion, a place to post a tribute online and more)

Playing for Change: Songs Around the World DVD I wrote about here

Britt Bravo’s Mother’s Day Donation Ideas (8 great ones)

A Women’s Investment: Worldshapers (Inspiring FREE e-book coming soon from Aussie social media guru Jasmin Tragas featuring those of us struggling to make change in the world!  She’s looking for sponsors to keep it a freebie, so tell all your industry gal pals)

Marine Mammal Center: Adopt Delta & Dawn (mother and calf humpback whales who veered off-course and won the hearts of Ca.)

Sea Turtle Restoration Project:  Adopt A Nest For Mom!

Reason for Hope Book and also Jane Goodall Institute: Chimp Guardianship (mother–child bonds in chimpanzee society last throughout life–just as ours do)

Free Mother’s Day Poems For Non-Commercial Use (Better yet, write your own)

Moms Rising FREE e-card Viral Video: (Infant Aerial Stunt Team Onesie Jumping, to make a point with your Mom’s Day message)

BlogHer Mother’s Day- Best/Worst Media Moms (fun videos from sweetney to remind us that we’ve all got a ‘role’ in the media mix)

Homemade Mother’s Day Gifts/Kids Crafts

Moms Rising FREE e-card Viral Video; She’s A Newsmaker

“Beth Jussel Wins Mother of the Year Award” (hey, m0m that’s quite a tat!)

Weirdest Animal Mothering Tricks (LiveScience)

]]> http://www.shapingyouth.org/?feed=rss2&p=18691 1 http://www.shapingyouth.org/?p=18612 http://www.shapingyouth.org/?p=18612#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 01:39:24 +0000 amy http://www.shapingyouth.org/?p=18612 April 30, 2012 Today marks our annual ritual of Screen Free Week (formerly known as ‘Turn off the TV week’) so before we “go dark” and unplug to demonstrate healthy media management for those of us who are extremely involved in the digital sphere, I’d like to share an interview with gaming guru Nicole Lazzaro of XEODesign to reinforce the positive use of screens in ‘gaming for good’ to induce real world change.

“Get ‘em outside,” is undeniably our clarion call for more outdoor, unstructured play time, especially with new preschool studies in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showing over half of preschoolers 3-5 are NOT being taken outside daily…But this special interview with Nicole Lazzaro is a perfect example of why it’s imperative to view all screen time as an issue of lifestyle balance, dismissing any ‘vilification’ of media technology in simplistic either/or thinking to tap into the best of ALL worlds by figuring out what even MAKES something fun.

Recently named one of Forbes top 10 women in gaming, (and FastCompany most influential, and Gamasutra Top 20  and Fora.tv best of gamification etc.) Nicole Lazzaro is also founder and passionista behind newly launched Tilt World the eco-fun climate change game that’s a featured kids game on Apple’s iTunes this week. Little Flip the tadpole is showing families across the globe how to rbbbbbtt some informal learning into the education mix, leap into gaming fun, and maybe tongue zap a few of those ‘Angry Bird’ gamers towards more substantive content with a real world twist.

As the designer of the iPhone’s first accelerometer game, Nicole has pioneered possibility for over two decades with her well-known “4 Keys to Fun research”  guiding hundreds of thousands of game developers worldwide to improve millions of player experiences.

Her research involved watching and gauging emotion on player’s faces, understanding the core four engagement practices that comprise “fun” as they translated into:

1.) the challenge of “Hard Fun”

2.) the novelty of “Easy Fun”

3.) friendship from “People Fun”

4.) meaningfulness through “Serious Fun”

If you ask Nicole how these “4 Keys of Fun”(great slideshare.net series) apply to classic outdoor play vs screens, she might slam dunk a basketball analogy to explain how “fun” plays out on the court…There’s the way it engages players with the novelty of bouncing a ball, the challenge of getting it into a hoop, the connection of playing with friends, and the value from a good work out.

Long before our current screen-focused era of points, badges, and gamification, Nicole’s company XEODesign was exploring the fun of games to improve the quality of lives. (Two of my own favorites in the ‘serious games/hard fun’ category are allies in health, with HopeLab’s ReMission and Playnormous’ Escape from Diab both which I’ve written about previously in the Power of Play health series (Pt 1 and Pt2 here) 

She explained how just eight years ago games were mostly focused on “Hard Fun” in the glow of light from a console in a basement stereotype that many mistakenly STILL view as the detached screen scene.

In actuality, it’s morphed into an entirely different opportunity, from exercise and education to using game mechanics to impart “easy fun and people fun” with leaders like Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft’s Kinect, and industry giants like Zynga’s Farmville…and she believes the industry is currently undergoing the next transition into “Serious Fun.”

“Companies around the world are scrambling to figure out how to add Serious Fun to business replacing social media (People Fun) as the next marketing frontier. Educators are scrambling to add games to curriculum,” Lazzaro explains.

Here’s her slideshare presention channel about the 4 Keys to Fun to add context to this interview about where we’ve been and where we’re going in terms of the vast potential to unearth some new ways of thinking to bridge on and off screen with games and play. (a great example is my Shaping Youth interview with 11 year old Rylan on the experiential STEM program, “Vanished” from MIT/Smithsonian that engages kids with real life scientists amidst a platform of storytelling, collaborative play, and eco education–very cool use of all four keys to fun!)

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Last month you spoke about “Winning Behavior-Change, Game Design & Engagement” with a record-breaking 22,500 attendees at the Game Developers Conference (I’d love to see how we can “drive behavior change” away from the number one killer of teens, texting while driving in cars!) and in June you’re on a panel at the 2012 Gamification Summit that could get lively, given your cautionary cues on the trend-tracking of gaming/gambling…So:

Tell us about what’s new and noteworthy, what parents should be watching for in behavioral pros and cons…What’s coming across the transom in this growth category-Give us a heads up!

Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign: The emerging trend that concerns me the most is the current enthusiasm many have for casino gaming as the next big opportunity. There will be a push this year to legalize online gambling here in the United States. This poses a real risk for people who could become addicted and adversely affected financially.

As a designer, I also feel it is a thin form of engagement. Legalized online gambling could have a chilling effect on the creativity in games. If games offer the promise of paying the player to play (winning a jackpot) then less time will be spent on creating ways to make the experience fun. And making things fun is what my two companies XEODesign and XEOPlay are all about. I share a lot of research to the public to inspire the development of new types of games that go beyond stimulus response and reward tables. In the end Skinner boxes and slot machines are not that fun.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Removing gambling from the mix, on a macro level, where do you feel Corporate Social Responsibility ends and commercialism and brand-washing begin? Is there a way pro- social or education-driven games can ethically align with brands without exploitively commodifying the gaming experience or end user?

Nicole Lazarro, XEODesign: It’s a magical time to be making games. Games are the medium of the 21st century and just like any other communication medium they can be used to help people improve their lives or they can be used in other ways. Having multiple voices and an open market is important here. Also important is designing player experiences that evoke a wide range of emotional responses and not just addictive reward mechanics.

My interest is all about creating experiences that empower players to change the world.

According to M2 research there are over 350M mobile game players and will be 600M in 2014. This represents $5.4 Million in revenue that will double in three years. That’s a lot of people, time and money that could fuel solving the world’s problems.

Our family of game players is ready and waiting for the right kind of game. Play’s potential to change ourselves and our world is just in its infancy. The opportunity comes from what I call Serious Fun. By getting enough people engaged in Serious Fun we actually solve problems through direct action in the real world with a game.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: You’ve called this “play sourcing” could you explain what that means? I’ve heard of crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding but play-sourcing is a new one!

(visual at left as featured in iTunes)

Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign: Playsourcing is when play is used as the source of human motivation to change the player, their friends, and the real world.

For example… our newest proof of concept, Tilt World.com, is a game that launched on Earth Day. It’s on the front page of iTunes right now and we’re really excited about it because it’s raising awareness about eco climate games but it’s also a fun, beautiful game that unlocks human potential through play…

In Tilt World, players control Flip, a determined tadpole, who is on a mission to replant an entire forest that is being deforested by a toxic green Blight. Players tilt together and dedicate their points to WeForest who, once the goal is reached, will plant up to 1 million trees in Madagascar.

It’s a way of using the fun of games to improve the quality of our lives. What we are really talking about is the playsourcing movement, to give players an experience of hope that would empower them to new ways to solve old problems and do it in a way where they could see progress from space using Google Earth, and satellite images directly.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Sounds like a game parents might WANT their kids to play to ‘level up’ from flinging pigs and Angry Birds to layer in meaning vs addictive play. Along those lines, what do you think of partnerships that merge popular gaming platforms like Angry Birds with cause-marketing/prosocial platforms like MTV’s A Thin Line in their new anti-bullying Angry Birds/Thin Line partnership?Do you feel this is ideal to scale if done well or too much/alteration of game play?

Do you have any ‘next steps’ or ideation for embedding good causes with game play that would be a natural fit? (like maybe a Farmville w/organics/nutrition, Words w/Friends as relationship aggression intervention of how words can harm, etc)

Why do you think TiltWorld will have a chance to engage and inspire change when kids virtual worlds that tried this did not? e.g. Dizzywood planting seeds online to make a difference offline, or Elf Island/Xeko partnering with amazing animal/eco causes that went big with traction and then ran out of funding support, forced to taper off…

(NEWSFLASH! Breaking!! As of tonight it looks like Xeko.com may be resurrecting and partnering Gaming for Good with Oomba?? Just received this notice Fingers crossed, as I loved their creativity, positivity and purpose)

Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign: I think that due to the time commitment involved, there can really only be one or two massive virtual worlds (e.g. Club Penguin etc) that “everyone” is playing. Most virtual worlds require longer play sessions to get the most out of them. On the other hand everyone can find 30 seconds to a few minutes to play a mobile game. The short play session helps make mobile games go viral and reach more players.

We absolutely believe in the potential for Tilt World to reach a large audience. I just returned from the Digital Kids Conference and the issue on top of all App developers was discoverability. Getting the App in front of a large number of players is extremely hard. A major brand can hit the top 10 on name recognition alone, but won’t stay there if the game play is not fun.

It’s important to remember that there is no such thing as an “Educational Game.” All games teach. That’s the Serious Fun aspect of play. The challenge for games that improve players is simply designing game play that’s fun. Most games that focus on “education” forget that player experiences are fun. A game that is fun, short, and enriching will take off like wildfire on mobile.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth:What was your thought process in designing TiltWorld, and how does the game actually work in the “Play a game and plant trees!” message? Marketing wise, how will it stand out in the sea of kids apps and digital offerings?

Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign:

For starters, tomorrow, May 1, 2012, we’re having a “Friends of @TiltWorld On Twitter FREE DOWNLOAD from 12-3pm PDT so tell everyone you know!

But yes you’re right, it IS hard to break through with worthy content…so it’s important that sites like yours are pointing to it, as we have to SEE it before we can discover and explore fully.

I was thinking of these possibilities one day when suddenly it occurred to me. Why not build a game where player’s points planted trees? Imagine if all those points had a purpose, a direct impact on the real world…

It happened as I was playing with Google Earth trying to find a certain temple in Egypt when I pulled back and saw this little island off the coast of Africa. Zooming in, the topsoil erosion was so bad that it appears to be bleeding into the Indian Ocean. Try this yourself and you’ll see deforestation is real.

We didn’t want just “awareness” though…I wanted people to take action. Somehow or other we’ve cut down 600 billion trees. To put this into perspective each of us has 150 trees, 100 of them are gone, there are only 50 left. The only way I could think to give people hope and inspire them to new creative solutions is have players plant virtual seeds and the result would be real world trees… And do this in such a way that you could see progress from space.

Gamification is about awareness. Playsourcing motivates action. (puts ambitions into action)

Replacing these trees to reverse climate change is a challenge larger than any government can take on. Buying that many trees would break the World Bank. It would take an army of millions to take on this reforestation challenge. The only way to get that kind of planting is to make it voluntary and make it fun.

Again, it’s important to use the tools and technology as a “show and tell” …Madagascar is bleeding. And players can help seal the wound.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Could Tilt World and Flip the frog have a home in schools? Is this a missed bioscience opportunity for education? A possibility for after-school programs, online to offline outdoor play/nature discovery?

Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign: Absolutely. It just takes a commitment by designers to do so. We also need a way to make it easier to discover these gems by schools. Major brands can help by hiring small indie studios to make games that have meaning. In my experience a small teams are more likely innovate than large teams.

Tilt World is a perfect addition to any science curriculum. That’s why we offer through Apple an educational discount. A lot of thought went into designing each area of Shady Glen that Flip rescues. Each scene focuses on a different stage of reforestation such as using mushrooms to detoxify the soil and then planting grasses to hold the soil in place. The game can be a spring board of discussions about the environment. Kids will play games anyway. Tilt World is a game that parents can feel good about because of the values it contains.

Tilt World makes it easy for students to experience ecological recovery of a desolate wasteland. By making it fun rather than preachy we spark interest and spark players imaginations. In the final phases of the game our Eco-Hero Flip designs and builds eco-mechanica (a machine that improves the environment instead of outputting waste); which we hope will inspire young inventors to create their own solutions to environmental issues.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Thanks for your time Nicole, it’s exciting to see how we can use ‘screens’ in fresh new ways to renew and replenish the outdoors, protect the planet, and get outside and PLAY to discover REAL frogs like Flip…

Great job on launch week, and readers, snag that app for free tomorrow with her ‘Friends and Family’ offer 12-3pm Pacific time, May 1st! I’ll ‘tweet it out’ before going dark for Screen Free Week.  See you all next week!

Readers, for related kids sites and great educational programs like Cool The Earth.org (wow, I could envision a great partnership/pilot program with TiltWorld) and for more fun ways to impart environmental education, here’s a 40 link roundup of Earth and Eco interactive fun worth “recycling” to your friends.

Tilt World Trailer (warning, an auto start clip, so adjust volume if you’re at work or in class!)

Putting Emotion Into Play: Gaming/Thoughts From XEODesign

Why We Play Games: 4 Keys to More Emotion (download pdf)

What Makes a Game Fun (video of Nicole Lazzaro on BigThink)

New 4 Keys to Fun Poster Here
XEO GAME Plan to Save the World
XEO GAME Plan Example
XEO Chasing Wonder Map

Related Reading on Shaping Youth/STEM Specific

Vanished EduGame: MIT Goes “Back to the Future” with a STEM hit (11y.o Rylan reports)

Power of Play Series Pt1: Play WORKS!

Power of Play Series Pt2: AHA & Nintendo Teams for Innovation to Get Kids Moving

Power of Play Pt3: Active Video Games in Schools?

Starting from Scratch: Making STEM Easy, Kid-Friendly & Fun

Wise Women & Alice 3.0: Geek Chic For Girls (pt.1)

BrainCake: Teen Girls Talk Tech & Worldchanging (pt.2)

DigiGirlz: Teen Girls Build Community Online & Off (pt.3)

Shaping Youth Sponsors She’s Geeky: WIT & Wisdom Flourish

Project Raceway: ShopGirls Build STEM Eco-Marathon Car

She’s Geeky: Techno Leaders Converge

She’s Geeky:Vlogging with Ryanne Hodson at She’s Geeky

Media Moms, Engineers, Purple Tornadoes At She’s Geeky

She’s Geeky and Proud of It  (My first Shaping Youth geekery)

Misguided Media: Space station takes a backseat to Britney?

Kids Online UNconference: Kaliya Hamlin, Joi Podgorny

Shaping Youth Interviews Girl Mogul Founder/Geek Chic

Related Games For Good/Eco Kids/ Shaping Youth

40 SY eco posts worth recycling

The Great Turtle Race

Inspiring Kids As Stewards of the Planet

Inspiring Kids With Green Media

Nature Rocks: Reconnecting Families with Planet Earth!

Nim’s Island: Shaping Youth Through Imagination & Adventure

Xeko/Elf Island: A Virtual World To Be Wild About

Xeko/Elf  Island GoodQuest to Help Polar Bears

If Kids Could Be Dolphins: The Power of Creative Play

Greentrepreneurs: Recycle Bank Shows Kids it Pays to Be Green

S.F. Oil Spill Prompts Altruism & Activism in Kids

Kids Bring Home the Message to Cool the Earth

Digital Activism: Kids Stump for Change (World Wildlife Fund)

When Art Meets Earth: Wyland’s Murals Inspire Kids to Care

Shaping Youth Joins Eco-Literacy Coalition: NCLI

More in Shaping Youth’s EcoKids/Environment Archives Here…

Inspire Kids With Green Media: Kid-Vid & Games Galore

Nim’s Island: Shaping Youth Through Imagination & Adventure

Kids Plant Virtually Trees to Benefit Real Trees in Dizzywood

Seeding Virtual Worlds: Kids Going Green in Dizzywood

When Green Gets Jaded: Marketing Hope to Kids

How to Turn People Green

Planting Earthseeds Via The Magic School Bus: Eco-Media For Kids

April 26, 2012

“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck”…

It doesn’t take much inductive reasoning to see Miss Travel is afoul.

That said, using critical thinking skills to see why this new ‘dating site’ offering ‘free travel for attractive people’ (ahem, cough, prosti-travel) doesn’t pass the sniff test is a useful mini-lesson.

Miss Travel is a teachable moment on multiple levels of what’s wrong with our culture, using a “profit at all costs” credo that’s wreaked havoc on public health, body image, human sexuality, and kids physical and socio-emotional well-being translated into “the hottie factor” fouling up the works for both girls AND boys.

But to give you an idea of how my own brain processed the jaw-dropping ‘yougawdabekiddinme’ moment that self-objectification is being brazenly commodified, sold under the hook of celebrity-style/whisk away in a flight of fantasy…my thought pattern went something like this:

1.)    “Wait, this is from The Onion, right? No one would be this cheesy” (media literacy self-chatter: note who’s telling the story, whose interests are served, what makes the ad (un)believable, what’s left out of the message?)

2.)    “This smacks of human trafficking is it even legal?” (delve into sites for disclaimers, hold harmless clauses, legalese/terms of service )

3.)    “Maybe they’re outrage baiting as a startup marketing ploy to seed viral word of mouth” (use media with mindfulness, be aware of secondary agendas, motivations, how they are  used)

4.)     “Is this another slick hipster with a ‘sproinged’ moral compass marketing ‘lifestyle’ portrayal without seeing any harm?” (deep dive into target market/research on psychographics, socioeconomics of any product/service—it further escalates levels of concern if young/vulnerable demographics are in the manipulation mix)

5.)     “Who’s behind the message? Is it a one-off wild hair or a brand extension stemming from somewhere else?” (recon core founders/CEO, history, sponsors, prior precedent, social media feeds–Miss Travel’s Twitter, Facebook etc. for example)

6.)    My last ditch attempt at denial hoping it was just a media misfire fell along the lines of, “Hmn…maybe it’s a beta test for traction? A PR test to show and tell…gee, who might gain fiscally from buzz brewing?” (unearth the money trail: follow the pitch/profit /persuasion/partners, do a tonality check, what’s their own valuation?)

I may sound profoundly hopeful to some and media-jaded to others, either way, the applied science of critical consumption (aka “crap detection 101”) spins nicely into a teachable moment.

As much as I’d like to shrug off this ‘hotties fly free’ media/marketing foolishness thinking no one will take a site like this seriously, I realize we’re now in a culture where tweens 8-12 post “Am I Ugly?” videos of themselves for internet evaluation in a desperate plea for self-worth…

Pragmatically, with the economy, it concerns me that some young person could see this site with naivete as viable. (or conversely, cynically sellout in ‘if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em self-commodification mode)

I even harken back to my own youth, particularly in the lean college years trying to find ways to get flights home to Hawaii from the mainland…I remember reading ads for ‘free flights for couriers’ marketed like spy novels and ‘free flights for timeshare leads’ if you’d agree to sit through sales pitches galore and my parents rolling their eyes with ‘no free lunch’ life lessons layered onto me like a dagwood sandwich.

Further, you don’t have to even be ‘in the market for freebies’ to be damaged by it. We keep expressing to kids what we value in our culture by perpetuating this damaging “appearance=worth” concept and the ‘hottie for hire’ arm candy isn’t helping when we add a “Pretty Woman” escort dynamic into the media mix. As it is, the singular message of “Facebook camera-ready” photo ops and self-worth tied to body beauty has already taken a massive toll on teen self-esteem.

Assessing any offer like this is a skill set everyone should have in their toolchest of life though…

Critical thinking skills need imparted early and often so by the time youth strike out solo they can smell a slithery snake-oil scenario a continent away.

Whether we’re sounding sirens on sites like Miss Travel that toss caution to the wind in a sellout swap of bod for goods objectification, or discerning credibility of information on the internet (great video on five literacies by academic superstar Howard Rheingold)  imparting self-assessment/inquiry as a life skill is a universal win.

Here are a few starter questions to put you through the paces, using the conceptual framework model (Chris Worsnop/Media Awareness) always circling back to the question, “how do I know?” and 20 questions using media messages as fodder (the entire Media Literacy Clearinghouse education site has a wealth of resources on every topic and niche to peel the onion on media messaging and self-inform)

Now on to the finite deconstruction of the Miss Travel site itself, with a special youth analysis about the damaging sexualization and objectification taking flight, written by Spark Summit colleague and contributor Bailey Shoemaker Richards who could easily be the ‘target market’ that Miss Travel is ‘going for’ herself.

Miss Travel is a Misstep:

A Look Through The Myopic Lens Of Power

by Bailey Shoemaker Richards

MissTravel.com is a new website that is making its way through the news – everyone from Yahoo to Jezebel has taken a look at the escort service that says escorts are not allowed.

Brandon Wade, the CEO of Miss Travel (as well as the Sugar Daddy & Sugar Baby Blog, see Seeking Arrangement.com video, among others), may deny that the website is an escort service until he’s blue in the face, but that’s what it is, even by the most generous definition.

The basic premise is that if you’re a young and attractive woman (or possibly man – the website is a bit conflicted on that score, saying it’s 100% for attractive women in some spots, and offering travel to men in others), you can travel for free, thanks to the help of generous men and women who will offer to pay for your entire trip in exchange for company.

That’s the catch, because there is always a catch. Nothing is free.

“Attractive” women who sign up under that category are matched to “Generous” travelers who want a companion and are willing to pay for it.

After the trip is over, the “Generous” members get to award points to the women they traveled with (no mention of how points are assigned), and “Attractive” travelers who rack up enough points may someday earn a paid trip of their own.

There’s also no mention of whether or not the “Attractive” travelers are able to rate their companions – accountability only goes one way in this transaction, and all the power is in the hands of those who have the money.

I have nothing against escort services in and of themselves. People will do what they need to in order to make money, or to find a career they enjoy. That’s fine and dandy.

What angers me about this website is how blithely it pretends to be a dating website, how emphatically it denies that this type of paid companionship is an escort service, and the nasty messages the business model reinforces about women’s bodies and what dating is.

By pretending to be a dating website, Miss Travel makes it clear that the role of women in any relationship is to be beautiful and available, and the role of men is to have control over the finances, the destination, and whether or not women continue to have worth after the relationship is over.

Miss Travel is based on a deep-set form of sexism that says that women’s only value comes in their ability to be attractive, posits relationships as existing only as transactions around that attractiveness, and counts on women’s internalized misogyny to survive. Only young women deemed attractive enough by an outside arbiter (women who sign up for the site must have their pictures approved) are able to participate in this business. Women’s only worth, in Wade’s world, is their ability to be young and pretty enough to be worth a fee from rich men.

The slick-looking website features photo after photo of thin, mostly white young women with usernames like “SexyandSassy,” and “SugarMistress.”

Among the obvious stock photos of swimsuit models, there are real young women waiting to be selected by a random man to travel to another part of the world on his dime, where they will be expected to keep him company and earn those “Attractive” points.

These young women have absorbed and internalized the message that the only way for them to get anywhere is utilize their physical appearance and youth to do so.

Looking through the website made me a bit nauseous. The blatant commoditization of women’s bodies is usually done in terms of advertising, not under a pretense of ‘helping’ attractive young women and generous travelers meet up for “mutually beneficial relationships.” Most dating websites at least emphasize finding a compatible personality match, not a match based on one party’s wealth and the other party’s ability to be eye candy.

The imbalance of power in these arrangements is truly frightening.

Women are signing up to travel with someone they’ve never met, to be at that person’s side and under their financial control, in another part of the world.

The element of coercion hovering just off-screen might as well be surrounded by flashing red lights and under a big yellow warning sign.

I can think of few more vulnerable situations to be in, and while the website recommends exercising caution before agreeing to travel with a stranger, that reads more like liability boilerplate than any commitment on the part of the website to make sure “Attractive” travelers are going to be safe.

Miss Travel and Wade’s other brainchildren use women’s sexuality as a bargaining chip – but only if those women are young and attractive.

While Miss Travel posits itself as a dating website, in reality it is completely reliant on women’s willingness to allow their bodies to become more valuable than their talents and intelligence. The normalization of self-objectification in this type of business relationship reinforces very ugly ideas about what it means to be a woman.

Young women who come across this website are told yet again that worth comes from an ability to conform to arbitrary standards of attractiveness, and a willingness to capitalize on that youth and beauty. Women’s worth lasts only as long as men are willing to spend money on them, and that worth is divorced from any notions of compatibility with the spender. There is no negotiation or mutual respect in this type of relationship: women’s bodies are all they have to work with.

Advertising already makes it clear to girls and women that bodies are commodities, that worth comes from conforming to an unattainable beauty standard, and that what women do with their education, experience and talents is a distant second to whether or not men find them attractive. Miss Travel takes this message to its logical conclusion, allowing only the chosen “Attractive” users to benefit – or put themselves at risk.

The disingenuous nature of Miss Travel (at least Wade’s other companies have the decency to be transparent about what type of relationship they’re creating), combined with the reinforcement of the idea that women’s role is to catch the attention of a wealthy man, combined further with the risky nature of the proposition of traveling with strangers, adds up to a dangerous mix of misogyny and coercion. Buyer – and traveler – beware.

As you may recall, Shaping Youth proudly participated in the initial convening of the Spark Summit.com planning sessions and launch of the now successful movement to SPARK change (Sexualization. Protest. Action. Resistance. Knowledge.)

We’re proud to support their contributors and youth team in crossposts, platform access and mentorship in any way possible, in an ongoing content partnership.

Bailey Shoemaker Richards, 22, is a recent graduate of Ohio University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, a feminist activist, and a member of the SPARKteam.

She spends her free time writing, reading, playing video games and watching Doctor Who. Bailey is passionate about grassroots activism, media critique and giving a voice to young women. Follow Bailey at SPARK and on Twitter 

Review: What IS Sexualization? APA Explains…

“There are several components to sexualization, and these set it apart from healthy sexuality.

Sexualization occurs when:

• a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
• a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
• a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
• sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.

All four conditions need not be present; any one is an indication of sexualization. The fourth condition (the inappropriate imposition of sexuality) is especially relevant to children. Anyone (girls, boys, men, women) can be sexualized. But when children are imbued with adult sexuality, it is often imposed upon them rather than chosen by them. Self-motivated sexual exploration, on the other hand, is not sexualization by our definition, nor is age-appropriate exposure to information about sexuality.”

Visual Credits: Stop/safety flashing lights: wholesale-car-electronics.net

Miss Travel “Around the Web” (press coverage from their site)

- Good Morning America: New Dating Website Links the Rich and Pretty

- NBC:  Traveling solo? New site wants beautiful people to fly for free

- Global Post: Misstravel.com wants to help the beautiful travel for free

- CNN: Misstravel.com CEO Brandon Wade on concept of pairing ‘attractive’ women with ‘generous’ men

- Fox News: Website matches attractive women with rich travel companions

- Fodors: Introducing the Hot Wandering World of MissTravel.com

- Gawker: Have Beauty, Will Travel: Website Matches Attractive Women With “Generous” Travel Companions

- HuffPo: MissTravel: New Online Dating Site Pairs Beautiful Women With Wealthy Men For Travel

- Jezebel: The Dating Website Where Rich People Take Pretty People on Fancy Vacations, Which Is 100% Definitely Not Prostitutey at All

- Int’l Biz Times: MissTravel.com, Where Beautiful People Travel Free

On a Positive Note…Shaping Youth’s Positive Picks: All Things Girl

Dear Media, Please Change Your Channel of Influence (TEE party)

Positive Picks/Media & Marketing: Pigtail Pals, Redfining Girly

Backtalking Billboards: The Kite Sisters Take Back Beauty/Respect

Girl Caught! New Moon Girls Slams Sexualization!

Steamed About Sexualization? Healthy Media for Youth Act: Pt1

Healthy Youth Media Act: Can Change Be Legislated? Pt2

Teen Girls: Ready for a Rebel Yell to Spark Change?

Tips From the Trenches: Re-Imagining Youth Activism

Shaping Youth Joins New Moon Girls As Affiliate Partner

Empowering Girls Instead of Consuming Them

Baiting Outrage: Using Hooks With Media Mindfulness

Sexualization Summit to Spark Change!

Spark Ignites a Summit of Powerhouses, Geena Davis & More

The Girl Revolution: Empowering Girls Vs. Consuming Them

New Moon Girl Media Community Online

Girls Prescription for Self-Worth: Respect Rx

Commodification of Kids: The Backlash Has Begun

Preteen Tips/How to Say it To Girls

America the Beautiful: See it. Support it.

Childhood Matters Radio Show: Raising Strong, Healthy Girls Today

 All Things Girl Week on Shaping Youth

Veteran’s Day: Women in the Military: MyVetwork

Interview with Girl Mogul Founder Andrea Stein

New Moon Girl Media

S.Y.’s Body Image Expert Dr. Robyn Silverman On Dove Forum

Global Women’s Leadership Network/Young Leaders Worldwide

GWLN Delegate Carrie Ellett on Girls For a Change

Motrin Mamas & Twitter Tirades; Marcom Blunders Redux

Twilight Teens, GirlChild Press, +Read Kiddo, Read!

Fem 2.0: Feminine Feminism

GLTR Girls: Girls Learn to Ride (wakeboards etc)

Doctor Jenn Pajama Parties, Neuroscience

What’s On Tweens’ Minds: Meet Denise Restauri of AllyKatzz

Girls Prescription for Self-Worth: Respect Rx

The Girl Effect: A World Changing Media Message

Smart Girls at the Party.TV: SNL’s Amy Poehler

Media Musts to Wrap Up All Things Girl Week Part One

Seven Sensational Blogs About Girls: All Things Girl Week Part Two, Finale!

Sexualization and Commodification Need Turned To R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Public Health: The DV Grammys, Sexualization-Too Short of a Memory

Lego Friends: Please Build on Possibility, Brain Plasticity

Miss Representation Sparks Change, As A Film, As A Movement

Storytelling Via Stickers: Girl Caught Aims to Dial Down Disrespect

Girl Caught! New Moon Girls Slams Sexualization!

Vogue Cadeaux: Children ARE Gifts, Not To Be Bought or Sold

Bottom Feeders Like American Apparel Need Whacked in The Assets

Vamp Tramp Toys: A Monster Problem (Mattel)

Body Blitz: APA Shows Harm of Early Sexualization

Toxic Messaging: K-Mart/Alloy Episodic Back to School

Girls Are Not Candies, Tweens Are Not Teens, Thongs Are Not Undies

Raising Girls Amidst Meat Marketing: Carl’s Jr, Burger King Raunch

Taking Aim at Target: Think That V is a Coinkydink?

When It’s Not Hip to Be Square, Sexist Spongebob & Burger Shots

Sexed Up M&Ms Sell Fashionably Decadent Premium Sleaze

Mama’s Got A Brand New Bag…Er…Face. Nose. Belly.

Body Image: Tips for Teens (Both Genders!) To Survive the Media Morass

What Sells: Infants As Fashion Statements & Joke Props?

So Sexy So Soon, Shaping Youth Talks to Jean Kilbourne

Beyonce’s Dereon Divas: PopTarts and Sesame Streetwalkers?

Sexist Undies: Slimy Santa Innuendo Gets the Heave Ho-Ho-Ho!

Bratz Movie Seeps Bratitude Into Kid Culture

Where My Dogs At? A Misogynistic Misfire-MTV2

Pussycat Dolls Vamp for Lame TV-the ‘F’ Word is Feminist? Hardly.

Celeb Pop Culture and Media’s Tipping Point of Toxicity

Hollywood Walk of Lame—Victoria’s Secret Models ‘Earn’ Star? For WHAT?

Mommy, Why Are Her Legs Spread Like That?

Shaping Youth Is In the L.A. Times (Miley Mess

Kids Are A Captive Audience With Ambient Advertising

Race, Gender, Sexism: Pop Culture Cues & Kids (3-part series)

Shaping Youth Through Ambient Advertising

Manga Makeovers And Other Body Image Cartoon Capers

Facelifts for Kiddie Characters?

Gender, Race & Sexism: Shaping Youth Through Pop Culture Cues

Girls As Boy Toys Takes an Even More Toxic Turn

Packaging Boyhood Authors/Interview: What ABOUT the Boys?

Packaging Boyhood: Corporate Pirates Raid Boys’ Souls

Turning Boys Into Monsters: Energy Drink Leaves A Foul Taste (Again!)

Buffed Boy, Body Image and Tween Scene ‘Hottie’ Factor

Media Literacy Resources for Empowering Girls

(Besides Shaping Youth, SparkSummit.com, Dr.Robyn Silverman, AdProofing, PigtailPals.com,  So Sexy So Soon, Respect Rx and the Respect Institute, Rachel Simmons.com, Rosalind Wiseman.com, The Girl Revolution, TrueChild, & other youth advocate blogs, see the list of resources on our sidebar e.g. aligned orgs like: About-Face, Daughters.com, Packaging Girlhood, Hardy Girls, Healthy Women etc.

Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth: Recos & Must Reads

So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes (Packaging Boyhood, S.Y. Board Advisers)
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown

Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality Jane Brown et al (Eds)

APA Task Force on the Early Sexualization of Children (full 72pp pdf)

Girls Shape the Future: Study/Girls Inc: Early Predictors of Girls’ Adolescent Sexual Activity (summary: 8 pp pdf)

Resource List from So Sexy So Soon

CCFC Fact Sheet on Sexualizing Childhood

CCFC Two-Page pdf of stats & resources on sexualization

KFF.org “Sex on TV4″ Program for the study of media & health

Wellesley Centers for Women: Commentary on So Sexy So Soon

April 18, 2012

Whether it’s the brand new launch of TiltWorld’s app (fun little Flip the frog on an eco-mission to make real world change in climate chaos) or Richard Louv’s Children and Nature Network (C&NN awarded $100K Disney grant!) or Disney Nature’s NEW film Chimpanzee tugging on heartstrings with REAL LIFE orphan Oscar the chimpanzee, (opens Fri, Apr. 20)…I see media as a “distribution channel” to get kids engaged, informed, ramped and amped with eco-literacy to be stewards of our planet.

I was fortunate to be at the 2009 U.S. red carpet premiere of Earth (report from our “tween team” attending DisneyNature’s Earth) which went on to yield an impressive $108 million (the first of four in their nature series) though as I wrote in this piece “When Art Meets Earth: Wyland Ocean Murals Inspire Kids to Care the film itself is one of MANY media launch points to create an environment of connection and concern in real life so kids can carry forth and help sustain this ol’ blue marble of a planet.

Chimpanzee has already prompted visceral ‘awwws’ in my household and ‘gotta support’ weekend opening plan changes as well…Though Disney Nature’s donation of “20cents per ticket, one week only, April 20-26″ seems like chump change for chimps, I’m not about to let an opportunity go by to support Jane Goodall’s amazing work. (hope it’s such a huge hit that megabucks Disney extends the donation longer in a more sustainable way!)

 

As an avid JGI Roots and Shoots kids club member and Jane Goodall Institute fan, I’ve long heralded her as one of my all time favorite “Sheroes”  as you can see by this tribute, Inspiring Kids As Stewards of the Planet.

If Dr. Goodall says DisneyNature “got it right” depicting the intimate family dynamics of the chimpanzees over three years of amazing footage, then I’ll forego some of my cringe-worthy Disney commercialism observations like the naming of the rival chimp tribe leader as ‘Scar’ (conjuring Lion King emotional baggage and mixing up fantasy with reality in stereotyped splendor) and instead take her lead in graciousness and gratitude. (Hollywood Reporter review resonates with me on that “Scar” media analysis note as discordant)

We’ve seen how embedding eco-messaging in films like Hoot, Ice Age, Over the Hedge and such helps by ‘Shaping Youth Through Nature’ to “turn kids green” fast, (whether it’s sustainable is a different conversation, here’s one teen’s view on “Using Eco as an Equalizer” among green teens) so I’m hoping Chimpanzee ratchets that emotion up a notch in ‘reality TV mode’ since there’s nothing quite like truth “IRL” (in real life) to paint with poignant brushstrokes of drama, perseverance, hope and spirit when it comes to storytelling.

Even if they ‘Disney it up’ (and early reviews have applauded authenticity–Dr. Goodall is the leader of the pack there!) there’s no discounting the plight of an endangered jungle orphan in real life, and I have high hopes kids will SEE the interconnectedness of the sentient beings, witness their struggles and collaborative efforts for survival and heed the preciousness of chimpanzee altruism raising the bar on our OWN ethical and moral place in humanity.

I for one will be in line this opening weekend with teens in tow, to ensure the money is donated to Jane Goodall’s Institute for the protection of chimpanzees, as their population in the wild has markedly decreased from one million in 1960 to merely one fifth of that figure…can’t wait to see it!

Meanwhile…

“Dad Chat” founder and colleague Bruce Sallan has been lucky enough to swing tickets already (hey, he lives in L.A.) so here’s his Dad’s Point of View (below) with media insight through a gender lens that frames the positive depiction of MALES in the film. (about time guys got some props/kudos!)

Join Bruce in his weekly Dad Chat on Twitter from 6-7pm PST. This week he’ll be co-hosting with Carrie Wilkerson on the topic, “Can You Balance It All?”  (If you’re goin’ ape with workload, you might want to catch this one) Enjoy his wit and wisdom, below, and be sure to catch the eco links and resources after the videos for ways to see, save and support Chimpanzees.

Great Video Via GOOD Environment Jane Goodall Institute Videographer Chats About Inspiration

Chimpanzee: An Ironic Father-Son Story #IRL

(In Real Life) 

April 12, 2012

Much like the freebie candlelight yoga practice I stumbled upon last evening, it’s a welcome surprise to experience the calm, centered, simplicity tuning into one’s internal compass and tuning out the digital hum.

It enables you to reset your own priorities, right your course and (re)create your pathways away from the ‘always on’ deluge of distractions and interruptions.

We all know children need to stretch their developing bodies as much if not more than their emerging minds, so this screen free respite is a strong reminder to explore alternative forms of play, outdoor romping, tactile chalk art, indoor forts, yoga, tumbles and imagination soup all swirling into a pretend pot, as I wrote in this interview with Susan Linn about The Case for Make Believe and this one on defending pretending and the value of unstructured play.

Screen Free.org has it’s own resource-packed site, and while some approach the week as if it were like unclamping the IV digital drip weaning slowly with reticence like withdrawal from an addictive substance, I tend to free-fall into the zealous ‘yank the dang plug out of the socket and go dark, woohoo!’ gleeful camp of participation.

Want to join in the fun with your own group, or family, or challenge a grade by grade gadget-be-gone, “all screens off” week throughout the entire school? Here’s a free CCFC ‘how to’ kit.

Now, just pick some activities to highlight, plunk them on the Screen Free Week map of events and announce your intention to get the word out.

Our own kick-off event is May Day!

Shaping Youth and Reach and Teach are teaming to host eco-games, read alouds, crafts, and night time outdoor ‘glow-tag’ fun…(We even have a free book giveaway at the end here, see the video below)

We chose May Day as a double entendre ‘call to action’ because this new study showing nearly half of pre-schoolers are not playing outside is a clarion call to Rich Louv’s “The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the end of Nature Deficit Disorder.” (he’s just posted a FREE ‘field guide’ to get us all hiking down that path together)

I’m not shouting “May Day” in alarmist style, but rather invoking an alert for healthy media balance (here’s CCFC’s pdf fact sheet on kids and screen time).

For those of us who are fully immersed in media literacy and digital doings, we ESPECIALLY need the unplugged respite and peacefulness of being AWAY from pings and bleeps and chimes tugging at the hem of everyday living like a petulant child.

Screen Free Week may seem like a challenge when wee ones are using smartphones as play toys, parents are doing the ‘pass back’ in the car seats and tablets and apps offer copious quantities of creative engagement just a swish and tap away. But that’s all the more reason for a ‘digital cleanse’ to reconnect to the very base level core job as parents to introduce new elements and encourage self-guided creativity.

Reach and Teach is a fabulous learning hub to do just that.

Their focus on peace and social justice means their entire collection is hand-selected with fair trade, painstakingly sourced items and topics that raise the emotional ‘EQ’ as well as IQ of humanity.

From understanding the earth and our relationship to its health, to gender equality and diversity in a wide range of childrens’ books their new San Mateo hub is a perfect community meeting spot to bring together Screen Free Week as well as our newly announced resurgence of our parent education monthly film fests, with the first screening for the spring taking place May 15, 2012, CCFC’s Consuming Kids along with Shaping Youth’s activities and media literacy Q&A.

I’ll be doing a follow up post “5 Reasons, 5 Studies” to give point by point details on “why to try” Screen Free Week (again, up to you how you want to participate, but here are some FABULOUS ideas of what others are doing to get you started)

I’ve noticed a dearth of ‘free thinking’ ideation and the need for ‘help’ and ‘starters’ to get the ball rolling in terms of how to make NON-screen media and outdoor time equally alluring when our cultural currency is cool media…so CCFC is smart to use social media to SHARE ideas so they can be replicated nationwide and mapped and pinned to get folks thinking about face time, buildables, creative arts and face to face open-ended play time.

Even products that were once specifically ‘free form’ like Lego, long lauded as open-ended building blocks of the future has gone ‘pre-fab’ with its assembly kits, licensed themes and now of course, the controversial Lego Friends’ gender bias dumbing down female figurines into appearance-driven slices of topicality instead of STEM suitable build your owns with colorful blocks guiding toward ANY interest and opportunity. Why not approach the possibilities and plausibility of neuroscience and brain plasticity for BOTH genders in positive, free form play? Let’s do it.

Come play with us in the neighborhood, (we’re also converting the grassy local fenced in dog park into an evening game of glow-bracelet tag which should be a hoot) …

Get moving with some kids parks and recreation meetups…and share arts, crafts, and book club storytime with us on May 1^st at Reach and Teach, in San Mateo, (map here).

To celebrate the merge of ‘old school media’ and new school wonders, we’re asking you to leave a comment about what YOU plan to do for Screen Free Week to be auto-entered into our  giveaway of the charming, inspiring award-winning book “Press Here” by Herve Tullet.

You’ve all seen the presumption/viral video of a baby swiping her finger across the print magazine in an ‘ipad’ motion right? (developmentally tactile play, probably, but hey, who knows) And I love the hilarious Good Night iPad digital ditty riffing on Good Night Moon below…

Well, this one’s a keeper (and a great baby shower gift reminder to READ/cuddle not just hand over the iPhone with a voice recording) Press Here by Herve Tullet connects the dots (literally) with colorful amplification of ‘how things work’ using imagination and the printed page. They multiply ‘like magic’ to bridge the two worlds of digital depiction and pretend play in a brilliantly simple concept that the author executes beautifully.

Here’s the book trailer (digital marketing in itself, and the behind the scenes peek at the evolution of a book trailer too!)

See? There’s a screen free week idea right there…a puppet show enacting scenes from any book we might encounter at Reach and Teach or a storyboard explaining through art how a book comes to life. The options are endless and the choices are yours.

Join us to unplug, and reconnect.

See you at Reach and Teach for snacks and screen free celebration on May Day!

Screen Free Week – April 30th – May 6, 2012 from Media Education Foundation on Vimeo.

A Few Related Posts on Shaping Youth About Play

If Kids Could Be Dolphins: The Power of Creative Play

Seeding Green With Richard Louv

Media Savvy Kids and Nature Deficit Disorder

The Nature of Tweens: Wired Worlds & Outdoor Ed

Shaping Youth Through Nature, Media Unplugged

Can Somethin’ Be Done About All This Consumption?

Power of Play Series: Innovations in Getting Active Pt1

Power of Play: Tag-Teaming Innovation to Get Kids Moving Pt2

Power of Play Series: Active Video Games in Schools Pt3

Shaping Youth Related Reading On Media Management

Media Management: Addiction Vs. Agency Pt 1

Media Management: The Context of Control Pt2

Media, Medicos & Critical Thinking: Addiction vs Agency Pt3

Media Slave, Reshaping Habits For More Summer Fun

Amy Jussel On Kids Media Mgmt & Childhood Matters Radio

Geolocation: Facebook Places Is It Only ME? Disabling for Privacy

Shaping Youth’s SCREEN FREE WEEK Ideas

Spring Break Sanctuary: Ideas to Celebrate Screen Free Week

Spring Break Sanctuary: Away From Digital Drama (Screen Free Teens/Catalina)

Lessons From Youth On Screen Free Week

Nature Rocks! Reconnecting Families

Digital Detox: Checking Out For SY Founders Week

Shaping Youth: NCLI: Get ‘Em Outside!

Shaping Youth Joins Eco-Literacy Coalition: NCLI

Shaping Youth: The Great Turtle Race

Planting Earthseeds Via The Magic School Bus: Eco-Media For Kids

40 Eco-Tips for Earth Day and Mindful Media Mgmt. Worth “Recycling” To Friends

Media Overload: Behavioral Reverb

Your Brain On Computers–The Unplugged Challenge (NYTimes)

Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime (NYTimes)

Outdoors And Out of Reach: Studying the Brain (NYTimes)

More in the NYT Series/This is your Brain on Computers

Are Digital Devices Making Us Less Creative? (SpinSucks)

Unplug Your Kids Blog (by “Mom Unplugged”)

For Teens Today,  Online Ties As Strong As Family (CNET)

Facebook To Reach Saturation Soon? (Social Media Today)

How Important Is It to Unplug? (SpinSucks)

This is Your Brain on Farmville (Consumerist)

The Dangers of Digital Detoxing (The Daily Beast)

New York Times – An App That Reminds You to Unplug

Boston Globe – Unplug and Reboot

San Jose Mercury News – Religion on your iPhone?

San Francisco Chronicle, Leah Garchik – Tuning Out

CBS Radio, San Francisco – Nonprofit Calls for A Day Away From Technology

Psychology Today – Fasting, Gorging or a Balanced Digital Diet?

CBS Evening News-  Kate Couric’s Notebook:  Unplug

USA Today-  Rediscovering the Sabbath on National Day of Unplugging

Wall Street Journal – Experts Recommend Tech Detoxes

American Data Diet/Info Overload:

Consuming Appx 34GB per day & Counting (Mashable)

Overcoming Information Overload? (VentureBeat)

How Info Overloaded ARE You? (Take Beth Kanter’s Quiz) See Yourself?

Tips For Handling Info Overload/Coping:  Too Much Content! (GigaOm)

Information Overload Research Group (IORG) (amazing resource)

Information Overload Day (yes, it has its own day too! who knew?)

Also from IORG:

• Xerox Corporation’s Information Overload site – insights, resources and articles.
• Interruptions.net – A compilation of over 200 articles related to Interruptions and Distractions
• Challenge Information Overload – a blog dedicated to the subject

March 29, 2012

Shaping Youth is proud to be a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) sponsor again this year, and this event exemplifies how to literally drive STEM careers into the spotlight by making learning FUN. “I learned that given a chunk of metal, the tools and the time, I can create an accurately and beautifully made car with rounded edges, holes in specific places and specific sizes…and the result was a  complete and running car, which turned out well…470 miles per gallon!”  —Shante, Granite Falls High School Junior

Now that’s some hands-on math! If you’re a parent like me grappling with moans of “Aw, c’mon, mom…When will I ever use math?” here are a few tips to whip out for cool career path storytelling to answer that question.

From animation and special effects as math goes to the movies, to pop culture favorites like fashion design, CSI style forensics and code-breaking cryptanalysis like a scene from a spy film, I can’t help but reiterate STEM studies need to be ‘relevant’ for kids inclined more toward the arts and humanities. How does a painter use math? What about a cook or a book author?

It takes a stellar educator to engage kids spectacularly using real life examples for math immersion…and it’s a rarity when one succeeds triple-fold, like Michael Werner, the Granite Falls High School shop teacher who puts his hands into hands-on programs to teach the pragmatics of building math skills.

Hailing from Washington state, the all-girl teens team of eco-racecar builders competing in Shell’s EcoMarathon this weekend (plus their co-ed Urban Autos team) are championed by the dedicated efforts of teacher Michael Werner who has made it his full-time mission (and beyond!) to amp and ramp enthusiasm for STEM by literally putting kids in the driver’s seat, in a car they had to design and build themselves.

I wish we could ‘replicate’ Michael Werner’s enthusiasm to split off and ‘go viral’ by osmosis, like a media science lab that revs up youth with relevant examples of how STEM fields are put to use.

The team has garnered prestigious accolades from the Aspen Ideas Festival as the students showcased their working car and as you can see by this recent press coverage from their local news teams, these students have set their sights on winning yet again. Shaping Youth is an ongoing sponsor  of “The Shop Girls” (love that naming zing) starting in 2010 when I’d heard they were to be the first (and are still the ONLY) all girls teen team in the race for fuel efficiency. (you can get involved in supporting them too)

Aside from the hands-on, experiential learning that marks EVERYthing we do at Shaping Youth, I couldn’t help but think of the ‘media angle’ of how we could ideally engage youth by parlaying challenge-based real life use of STEM fields and maybe even turn it into a hit ‘reality TV’ show of substance… as I wrote here in “Project Raceway.” 

I’m serious, Hollywood…Imagine youth competing to solve real world problems like energy efficiency with fresh thinking and passion, instead of vapid, Snookified trashy cues to kids.

Imagine having teen girls represent MIND over BODY to put forth media messaging that’s the real deal  instead of a body blitz of self-merchandising and commodification. (referring to Danica Patrick and her racy “Go Daddy”sexualization, who cheated girls out of a role model by ratcheting up even more appearance-driven ‘sell yourself for profit’ cues)

This weekend in Houston at the 2012 Shell Eco-Marathon as teams descend from Alaska to Syracuse, Brazil to Canada, the excitement on Discovery Green is palpable…now just envision what that might look like if scaled en masse via a mainstream media TV show.

You can follow it all on Twitter  or follow the hashtag #SEM2012. This year has some stiff competition as collegiate crews continue to enter the race trying to lap the others with ever-increasing promises of miles per gallon, like the Cal Poly students (BBC video clip here) who are striving for 3000mpg. (last year, the Canadian team reached 2,000mpg in a 250ml tank in an urban concept gas powered car!) Clearly, 2012 is anyone’s bet.

For the record, in 2010, the ShopGirls’ diesel-fueled car, Iron Maiden, got 470 miles a gallon in the competition,  placing first in the prototype diesel division and third in the safety award category in 2010…snagging last year’s 2011 FIRST place safety award and second place in the race…so yes, I’m beaming with pride that these students took ‘just do it’ to a new level, but my main focus of this piece is about the CONCEPT of applied science into hands-on fun in multiple ways to showcase STEM…and give parents a few new ways to deal with kids who have math anxiety (great Mindshift article about psychology of math anxiety here)

Consider the massive knowledge acquisition, skill formation and character development achieved through amazing programs like this!

From The Shop Girls STEM racecar builders/drivers themselves:

“…I learned I may need pre-calculus in my life. I achieved design and development of an effective electrical system, a fuel system and learned what a clutch was and how it works… Also, even when you are under stress and time constraints, do NOT sacrifice the quality of your product. I learned that patience is very important when working on a team.”  Maia, Junior

Then there’s Pooja Sethi, who was a sophomore last year, and has already been selected into the ’12 Washington Aerospace Scholars program to compete for a slot in a summer residency session held at the Museum of Flight (WAS is all about prepping students for STEM fields, using a NASA-designed, distance-learning curriculum) there’s a visceral, palpable passion in her description of her hands-on building experience within Shop Girls:

 “My job on the team this year was to do aerodynamics and build the body of the car.  Together, Sara and I designed and built the nose and rear. When the body came together and I saw a shiny, black nose and light blue rear I finally saw what I had done.  No one, except for Sara would understand the attachment I had to these two pieces.”  —Pooja Sethi (now a junior)

Heady stuff. Looking at this fabulous collection of historic photos of women scientists, it makes me think these girls represent the 21st century versions of same…These kids are more than engaged, they’re aspiring and admiring  ‘what could be’ aspirational opportunities for future careers…

You can’t learn that kind of self-knowledge about what your passions are by filling in bubbles in continual test-taking mode. That’s a “Race to Nowhere,” that’s for sure.

Today’s students may be heading for careers that don’t even exist yet, and yet we continue to drone on with boring pedagogy for teaching STEM studies.

We need to use media and applied science to make STEM education RELEVANT by exploring and discovering ‘what ifs’ and imparting knowledge in new, fresh and engaging ways.

As I mentioned in this post about Vanished, MIT’s Eco-Edu experiential game for middle-school STEM bridging online and offline elements of learning, we need to use the power of storytelling…tools like immersive scavenger hunts that require critical thinking skills,  collaboration, and problem-solving to uncover mysteries and advance the ‘game play’ (otherwise known as LEARNING) forward…

Another case in fresh STEM thinking?

My enthusiasm for Kalimah Priforce’s startup venture Qeyno, Careerspotting for Kids blends gamification and real life role models to impart new pathways and aspirational goal setting for kids (their ambitious Stem4Girls pilot project is already taking shape in conversations on Facebook, Twitter and social media circles, such as the PitchMixer event for women I attended last night, which was an inspiring jolt of joy juice to see ‘what could be’)

Appropriately, given the Eco-Marathon theme this weekend, I found this prototype of a career planning gamification idea out of Indiana that ties in nicely, called “The Drive of Your Life.org”  discovered in this Edweek article, “Career Mapping Eyed to Prepare Students for College”

The article further reinforces to me that we NEED the Michael Werner style hands-on educators of the world to impart the usefulness of STEM along with the Kalimah Priforce digital-platform startups to outreach and scale how to ‘think differently’ beyond robo-student STEM boxes and stereotypes to make these fields more attractive, exciting and engaging.

Another approach? Celebrity mathematician Danica McKellar claims we need to ‘sexy up STEM’ studies…and in a sense, she’s right.

But rather than embrace that literally in terms of sexualized/commodification of “Hot X Algebra Exposed” (catchy title, third in her series, but sadly plays into an increasingly obsessive/destructive hotness culture that’s gotten WAY out of control, even though several years back it was clearly smart marketing to cut through the clutter, seems it’s now feeding the same zeitgeist we’re trying to curb) I think we could ‘sexy it up’ by showing fresh NEW ways (and preferably some surprising ones!) that are pertinent to kids current worlds as well as their future career paths…

A quick view of this American Stem Education Infographic from Teach.com (partial pullout above) should ignite a bonfire in the brain that reinforces the ‘why we need this NOW’ massive mindshift in our culture for future economic stability as a nation.

The time is ripe for using the power of media as the distribution channel for positive change.

Just as we can use Hollywood media to transfer medical knowledge en masse (such as the Grey’s Anatomy health research which I wrote about in “Kids’ Prime Time TV Cues Ingested For Better or For Worse” think about how we could impart STEM studies so much more effectively if we made it ‘cool’ with practical applications…

Again, examples abound…ALL involving some form of math or chemistry know how.

From green scene fashion on the runways to glass art and jewelry making, fabrication of sports braces, and the soup d’jour of top chefs…math and science continue to factor into the equation.

Now more than ever with technology and health trends enmeshing into sensor-driven feedback and mobile social gaming trends tracking everything from fitness to food choices, there are countless NEW uses for STEM in the works. Check out MIT’s preview of tomorrow’s ‘wearable computing’ for example…

Students who like fashion, fitness and new product development might be the next designers of sensory styles, like the new Stella McCartney Adidas heart monitor bra…

Oh! And for those kids caught up in the ‘fame and money’ factor? Here’s a great site showing 40+ careers using math with descriptions, salaries, and as we used to say in advertising the “why to buy”…It’s called We Use Math.org.

Think you don’t need math if you’re going to be an author or wordsmith? This site called “Math for Grownups” has an ongoing series called “Math at Work Mondays” featuring interviews that show unusual applications of math and STEM in a variety of fields like book editing and writing perfect for those aspiring Hemingways that say they’ll ‘never use math again’…

Again, the options are endless to spark an interest when pragmatics come into play.

Finally, as a former new product development/creative director myself, I always remind students to think forward in Wayne Gretsky mode of visualizing where the hockey puck is headed  versus where it is right now…

This Mashable article, “5 Exciting Innovations that will change computing in 2012” is a clarion call to anticipate rather than react.

That’s what makes the human race an ‘anything goes’ whirlwind of solutions yet to come.

Meanwhile, for the ShopGirls (shown at left today in Houston gearing up for the race) and all the mathletes out there driving in the eco-marathon race for fuel efficiency this weekend remember, regardless of the race outcomes, the STEM you’ve acquired as a life skill makes you winners already.

Congrats and Good luck! I’ll keep working on getting a STEM mini-series in the works…Hollywood, can you hear me now?

Related Reading on Shaping Youth/STEM Specific

Starting from Scratch: Making STEM Easy, Kid-Friendly & Fun

Wise Women & Alice 3.0: Geek Chic For Girls (pt.1)

BrainCake: Teen Girls Talk Tech & Worldchanging (pt.2)

DigiGirlz: Teen Girls Build Community Online & Off (pt.3)

Shaping Youth Sponsors She’s Geeky: WIT & Wisdom Flourish

Project Raceway: ShopGirls Build STEM Eco-Marathon Car

She’s Geeky: Techno Leaders Converge

She’s Geeky:Vlogging with Ryanne Hodson at She’s Geeky

Media Moms, Engineers, Purple Tornadoes At She’s Geeky

She’s Geeky and Proud of It  (My first Shaping Youth geekery)

Misguided Media: Space station takes a backseat to Britney?

Kids Online UNconference: Kaliya Hamlin, Joi Podgorny

Shaping Youth Interviews Girl Mogul Founder/Geek Chic

Related Resources for STEM fields & CTE pathways

WISE women (WISE=”women into science/engineering”)

GirlStart.org

Digital-Sistas.org

GirlsInTech.net

GirlsGoTech.org (part of GSA)

Brain Cake
Engineer Girl
Girl Geeks

Girls Are IT!

BinaryGirl.com
The Alice Project

Female Science Professor Blogspot

Wise Women Campaign.org/U.K.–WISE Girls

Inspirational Women from WISE

Center for WIT (Women & Information Technology)
Nasa Quest: Women of NASA

Women in Engineering Org

Women’s Work

ZoeysRoom.com (online community for middleschool girls)

BrainCake.org’s Teen Link Love

Science Friday podcasts. Brought to you by NPR.

10 commandments of Being a Geeky Girl in Geeky Guy World

Nerd Girls - We are a growing, global movement which celebrates smart-girl individuality that’s revolutionizing our future.

Mind Candy Clothing – cute tees that let you show the world how much you love math and science! This just in: They have a sparkly BRAINCAKE tee!  Order yours today and show the world you’re a BrainCake girl!

Justine Magazine – an awesome magazine for “teens – real teens – just teens”

Instructables – the “World’s Biggest Show & Tell where people share what they do and how they do it.”

New Scientist – A great source for science news and science articles

Girl Power Fiction and Nonfiction Reading Lists – These great titles show that girls can accomplish anything.

Engineer Your Life – An awesome site for high school girls and the adults in their lives (parents, counselors, teachers, and other educators) who want to learn more about what life and work are like for engineers.

GMSP: The Girls, Math & Science Partnership…“A program of Carnegie Science Center,  conducts research in order to inform its work – whether it is creating this Web site or the most innovative programs for girls possible.”

• GMSP Stats + Data (pdf)
• Who Influences Girls?  Research Report (pdf)
• GMSP Summary and Charts – Research Report (pdf)
• Girls’ Beliefs About Math & Science (pdf)

March 8, 2012

As I struggled to post Part Two on solutions-building to combat toxic messages being sent to women and girls in our pop culture as depicted in Pt 1, Domestic Violence, Grammys, Too Short of a Memory my email chimed with a welcome update, interrupting like a DJ with a record scratch (go ahead, click the sound effects for a multimedia blog experience)

It spun me onto a different track of celebration on a global scale, highlighting the 101st International Women’s Day  through the lens of Global Women’s Leadership Network, (GWLN) where I was honored to be selected as a U.S. delegate for GWLN’s Women Leaders for the World incubator of changemakers and cyclebreakers in 2007.

It served as a breath of fresh air to be able to pump up the positive for International Women’s Day since we already know the top five reasons we should care  and definitely know “Women Deliver”…so it prompted me to ask instead, “ How will YOU use media today to inspire a girl or empower a female in your world today?”

Colleagues at Hardy Girls Healthy Women listed some fun media literacy activities to engage girls with critical thinking to start peeling the onion on the various media and marketing messages they receive. Crystal at Achilles Effect reminds of the ethical imperative to “Make Girls Part of the Story” from presence to partnerships…

New Moon Girls and Pigtail Pals are using art as a conduit to paint a healthier representation of girls hopes and desires AND are also counter-marketing the recent ‘Am I Ugly’ rash of validation videos from questioning tweens with “You Are Beautiful” free e-cards…

Miss Representation.org is screening their fabulous film in Canada on the Oprah Winfrey Network …

And everywhere it seems a “Chain of Girl Goodness” is taking shape with rumblings of burying damaging self-worth from selling insecurities for profit, along with a backlash brewing to triumph over sexualization that’s undermining girls repeatedly.

Yep, the Part Two attempt at solutions for the Chris Brown and Rihanna domestic violence debacle can wait, this is a day to celebrate global advancements, rather than struggle with setbacks…

Time to march forward with a larger worldview of positive, firm conviction…

As GWLN reminds:

“On this day, the worldwide community comes together with a myriad of activities that speak to the diversity and breadth of accomplishments that women have made around the globe rising with one voice to speak our truth. Political rallies, networking events, musical concerts, informal get-together; such as, Join Me on the Bridge campaigns calling for peace, the 56th UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Million Women Rise in London rally to stop the violence for women and girls, the dedication of the Afghanistan Sahar Gul Net Cafe to celebrate one courageous 14 year old’s journey of survival are just a few of the many powerful and life affirming events to take place on this important day.”

Twitter is already abuzz using the #IWD hashtag for great International Women’s Day storytelling, event links, and personal journeys told through the lens of females worldwide.

Our own illustrious GWLN Exec. Dir. and head honcho Linda Alepin is speaking about women leaders and economic sustainability around the world as part of “Global Women’s Journey: A series on female Business Leaders Around the World” (joined by Katy Dickinson of  Huawei Technologies on Middle East and North Africa, journalist Rebecca Fannin, author of Silicon Dragon, on women in China and Asian countries, Jen Shelby of Astia on Europe, Bridgette Sexton, Global Entrepreneurship Manager of Google talking about women in India and Africa) and fellow GWLN graduate Tara Agacayak (’06) will be conducting a Facebook video style “town hall” empowering Turkish girls convo about raising their ranking from 122 out of 135 in gender equality according to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap report.

How will you make IWD count in your world? Need suggestions for the day’s events?

Check out the documentary Makers, the dynamic digital platform of “undeniably courageous” all-stars from Condi Rice to Ellen DeGeneres…See how the United Nations Peacekeeping operations use gender differences to promote positive forces of security and calm…Browse through our prior posts from Shaping Youth’s “All Things Girl” series of uplifting media and marketing positive picks linked below…Watch the videos below to get you started thinking about ‘The Girl Effect’ on a global scale…

It’s International Women’s Day. Share it. Blog it. Tweet it. But most of all…Live it!

In Peace.

All Things Girl Series on Shaping Youth

By Amy Jussel

Twitter: Women2Follow Dedicated to Inspiring Girls (need to add yourself to this list?) 

Empowering Girls Instead of Consuming Them

Day of the Girl: GirlCaught Aims to Dial Down Disrespect

GWLN-Global Leaders for Justice: Using Media for Breakthroughs

GWLN-Mentoring: Masai, Midwives, Mobile Medical: Media That Matters

GWLN-Global Women’s Leadership Network/Young Leaders Worldwide

GWLN Delegate Carrie Ellett on Girls For a Change

The Girl Effect: A World Changing Media Message

Shaping Youth Honors Girls Rights Week

Dear Media, Please Change Your Channel of Influence (TEE party)

Positive Picks/Media & Marketing: Pigtail Pals, Redfining Girly

Backtalking Billboards: The Kite Sisters Take Back Beauty/Respect

Girl Caught! New Moon Girls Slams Sexualization!

Steamed About Sexualization? Healthy Media for Youth Act: Pt1

Healthy Youth Media Act: Can Change Be Legislated? Pt2

Teen Girls: Ready for a Rebel Yell to Spark Change?

Tips From the Trenches: Re-Imagining Youth Activism

Shaping Youth Joins New Moon Girls As Affiliate Partner

A Tee Party Kicks Off All Things Girl Week on Shaping Youth

Veteran’s Day: Women in the Military: MyVetwork

Interview with Girl Mogul Founder Andrea Stein

New Moon Girl Media

S.Y.’s Body Image Expert Dr. Robyn Silverman On Dove Forum

Motrin Mamas & Twitter Tirades; Marcom Blunders Redux

Twilight Teens, GirlChild Press, +Read Kiddo, Read!

Fem 2.0: Feminine Feminism

GLTR Girls: Girls Learn to Ride (wakeboards etc)

Doctor Jenn Pajama Parties, Neuroscience

What’s On Tweens’ Minds: Meet Denise Restauri of AllyKatzz

Girls Prescription for Self-Worth: Respect Rx

Smart Girls at the Party.TV: SNL’s Amy Poehler

Wise Women & Alice 3.0: Geek Chic For Girls (pt.1)

BrainCake: Teen Girls Talk Tech & Worldchanging (pt.2)

DigiGirlz: Teen Girls Build Community Online & Off (pt.3)

She’s Geeky/Techno Leaders Converge

She’s Geeky/Vlogging with Ryanne Hodson at She’s Geeky

Media Moms, Engineers, Purple Tornadoes At She’s Geeky

She’s Geeky and Proud of It  (My first Shaping Youth geekery)

This Valentine’s Day, Fall Madly In Love…with Yourself!

Rachel Simmons/SY Interview: Curse of the Good Girl

Rosalind Wiseman/SY Interview: YA Kidlit- Boys, Girls/Hazardous Mat

Media Spotlight: Rachel (&SY) Talks to Chicago Trib/Girlpower Gone Wrong

SY-Amy Jussel & RS in Chicago Trib (pdf) Using KidLit Girls’ Bullying Literacy

Reading the Right Message About Bullying (+ huge KidLit Resource List)

Media Musts to Wrap Up All Things Girl Week Part One

Seven Sensational Blogs About Girls: All Things Girl Week Part Two, Finale!

Resources from International Women’s Day 2012

- UN Women Secondary School Kit 2012
- Deloitte’s International Women’s Day Toolkit
- We are Equals posters, badges and stickers
- Celebrating Working Women International Women’s Day video
- Add your International Women’s Day twibbon

Feb. 29, 2012

February has been a brutal month for witnessing the harsh realities of profiteering at the intersection of pop culture and public health.

From showcasing domestic violence felons at the Grammys and parents’ worst media messaging nightmares, to ethically bankrupt buffoonery inciting sexual assault of young girls at XXL magazine, and self-objectifying preteens seeking validation of their appearance-based self-worth with “Am I Ugly” internet queries (plus the ongoing onslaught of the hyper-sexualized Monster High dolls proliferating the marketplace with age-compression dialed down into the K-5 years) I’d say our current media landscape is rife with contradictions that put profit over public health.

I’ve racked my brain trying to apply solutions-based thinking to elevate rather than escalate the conversation, but some sticky webs have been spun with corporate media sanctioning these entanglements by looking the other way, and youth advocates face-palming and hand-wringing over the impact of messages sent to children with the outcomes yet to come.

Today we’ll frame some of the public health problems, adding context for part two: solutions and ideation (both tactical and strategic) interviewing from within the entertainment industry and the public health sector as we “March” on and close out February’s fiascos.

What’s so glaringly discordant about media and marketing money-making over-riding public interests in February? For starters:

Teen Dating Violence Awareness month clashed up against Chris Brown’s freebie PR platform comeback blitz at the Grammys (his RCA Record label is a division of Sony Music, who partners with CBS, who hosted the Grammys, and, well, you see the money trail hopscotch…)

…His TWO performances sent a strong signal about priorities and societal valuation of women, in a music industry wink and nod to money-makers doling out a hallpass of forgiveness.

No Presidential proclamation on TDV is going to remove the media message sent into the sphere with full complicity there.

I won’t even get into Rihanna’s role in that script, and how their musical reunion is landing on kids but let’s just say “The Bro Code” was in full tilt that night, brushing off the gravity of the violence, and sweeping the ugly truths and Chris Brown’s subsequent (and recurrent) media flare-ups tidily under the red carpet.

Teen dating violence survivor Elin Waldal, author of Tornado Warning, points to the stark facts:

“Chris Brown was charged with California Penal Code 422, which in laymen’s terms is, the code that states the defendant threatened to kill the victim, he is right now on probation and will be for two more years.

In March of 2011, while in the studio of Good Morning America, Chris Brown had a violent outburst after being questioned about his past; the result of that outburst was Chris Brown broke a window with a chair…”

Elin goes on to say, “After the Grammys Chris tweeted the following message to his ‘haters’ and as we learned the following morning many young women tweeted messages that stated they would welcome a beating if it meant being with Chris. And his response (to the best of my knowledge) was to meet them with silence.”

She continues with thoughtful media literacy and societal questions we should be asking about the landscape we’re tacitly endorsing by giving performers a paid platform.

I’d add that this also goes for the bipartisan blowhards baiting outrage on news radio and talk TV resulting in public safety issues inciting violence as well…Quick example? (Gabby Giffords and the ‘target mapping’ rhetoric that left her fighting for her life, and every other shock talk jock given a paid platform to spew hate that rallies the less than stable faction of our nation to actually ACT upon these media missives…(update/another case in point:  ahem, Rush Limbaugh’s misogynistic rant skewering women’s reproductive rights while playing the blame game for shock and awe to get media coverage at the expense of public health…but I digress…)

While many shrug off Chris Brown dismissively, saying things like “are you going to tamp down every jerk? The industry’s lousy with ‘em!” …

…I’d ask that we ‘control the controllables’ from a profiteering standpoint and at least not pay for and fund the perpetuation of the cycle. (nor advertise or align with it, lookin at you, Pepsi, Grammys, Fox News et al…)

What does it teach youth about abusive relationships when a convicted felon gets rewarded with an audience of 39 million after pummeling his girlfriend bloody a mere three years ago? What signal does it send when the two ‘realign’ musically as if all is ‘forgiven’?

Do we need to post a timeline reminder as they did on HuffPo signaling how quickly this controversy has gone from chaos to commodified? Do we need to reiterate that statistically, black youth are most affected by teen dating violence? Again…public health problem, people…wake up call time.

It’s a toxic triple-fold sidewinder being missiled into the media mix…especially since the two paired up to release remixes for financial gain over public health, and the Grammys essentially became the gratis promotional platform.

The graphic Chris Brown/Rihanna police report (discretion advised, DV/PTSD triggers throughout) is packed with contusions, punches, blood splatters and death threats.

What’s the take away for kids by enabling (and FUNDING) this messaging? How are they navigating the messaging minefield as rookies in the teen dating scene?

Which brings us to the next abhorrent social outcome to fall into the ‘Houston we’ve got a problem’ public health scenario, swooning young women who saw Brown on the Grammys and ‘tweeted’ their adoration into twisted send-up snark and satire, saying they’d welcome a beating if it came from Brown?

Again, if Brown had contrition (and a clue) he could’ve used that moment to step up in the name of human decency to speak out that it’s NOT a joking matter and break the battering cycle of abusing women by calling for a hard stop on violence.

He could’ve used his platform and influence to show some semblance of change. But he hasn’t changed. Not a whit.

His silence speaks volumes, and our culture’s swift ignoring of the gaffe gives collusion to repeat offenders knowing they’ll be ‘excused’ from societal consequences. This. Is. Not. Okay.

Further, as news anchor Richelle Carey captures in this poignant HLNTV op-ed, it’s culturally relevant to connect the dots between media’s treatment of abuse as a trivial matter and the justice system’s real life legal sentences that are beginning to look like a kangaroo court if this “date and flowers” reparation for domestic violence is any indication.

When a court judge can dismissively hand down a legal wrist slap like that, we’ve got media mirroring that puts abusers in the driver’s seat, leaving male and female victims of DV further pummeled by ‘the system.’

Our attention span in this starstruck media circus is creating a ‘how quickly we forget’ scenario giving carte blanche to an increasingly coarse society of ‘anything goes.’ This eloquent post by Elin Waldal called “What we Choose to Forget” is a must read.

How short is our memory? Too Short.

Similarly, and quite literally speaking of “Too $hort,”—the rapper known for his less than savory exploits for his entire career took his ‘dirty’ messaging WAY too far this month, blathering in a video for XXL magazine with ‘fatherly advice’ on how to sexually assault young girls, which he tries to scrape off as if it were messy gum on his shoe (claiming first that he was ‘in character’ and j/k –a joke gone bad, segueing to the blame game, followed by the weak and lame apologies department, finally landing in a form of a ‘wake up call’ in Ebony magazine that seemed to hold some promise).

Now, Too $hort appears to be outing the record labels in the conspiracy to ‘shut down conscious hip-hop’ in favor of smut. Hey, if this is his farewell gig as a mea culpa truth telling catharsis, I’ll take it, as it would at least begin to unearth the money machine and incite a systemic overhaul...

But here’s the thing…For every entertainer that spews out a career’s worth of toxic crud under the guise of art, and then finally “gets it,” (or says s/he does) there’s a society already impacted, and youth caught in the blast zone. (lookin’ at you, 50 cent) I equate it to a sewage pipe burst into a fresh water stream; the impact hits everyone, whether you’re splattered directly or tainted by the lengthy process to filter/flush and return to some semblance of consumability.

In Too $hort’s case, there’s the reprehensible cost of inciting youth violence and putting both young girls at risk AND young boys in legal jeopardy with criminal charges, there’s also the larger conversation of the escalation of sexual violence and ‘rape culture’ as a serious public health problem.

True, the outrage has sparked high visibility about sexual assault, and a cry for public health media literacy…the good news is  over 600,000 have already signed the Care2 Petition and raised awareness…other petitions were launched on Twitter and beyond…

“In a culture where 44% of rape victims are under the age of 18; in a society where someone is assaulted every 2 minutes; with 2/3 of victims committed by someone known by the victim and 38% of rapists being either friends or acquaintances of the victims, and 15 of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail, we stand together in condemnation of this video,”  reads a petition calling on Harris Publications (Publisher XXL Magazine) to fire Satten. 

The Color of Change petition adds,

“Rhetoric like this has real effects on girls in our communities. Three out of five Black girls have experienced sexual assault by the time they turn 18. Nearly a third of sexual assault and rape victims are between the ages of 12-17…” and in addition to Vanessa Satten’s firing at XXL asks “Please explain what Harris Publications plans to do to make sure your audience isn’t again subjected to rhetoric that characterizes girls and women as playthings who can be fondled and otherwise abused whenever a boy or man pleases.”

Amen to that one. Please explain ‘next steps’ for the hard stop policy-wise, not just a  Band-Aid repair.

Again, we’ll get to the ‘what you can do’ aspects in part two (from activism to ideation) part one is to remove the blinders, since so many parents don’t even have this on their radar.

This post by Lisa Guerrero, Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University Pullman, is succinct and spot on, “Chris Brown, Too $hort and the Disposable Conscience of Consumer Society”

We need to take some squeaky clear Windex to the soft-blurred focus lens and come to terms with the full picture panorama. Let’s wipe it clean and crisp to see all around us in 360 living color…

Putting profit over public health is a huge societal problem…In the name of profit, recent media and marketing antics have put rape culture and assault center stage at the expense of girls and women everywhere.

Whether it’s Kanye’s “Monster” video with women hanging from the ceiling and dining on dead flesh (which grotesquely disgusted me into a rant last year around Grammy time) to yg’s ‘B*s Ain’t”which epitomizes vile hate speech and the devaluation of human beings without even a whimper from the FCC decency folks. (NSFW should be NSFanyone)

It makes me wonder how we as a culture of sentient beings can tune out and desensitize rather than rally and act upon it to raise the bar for humanity. Remember this post I wrote “Depravity Gone Viral: A Thin Line for Humanity on Facebook” about the teen who had her rape horrors posted and spread around social media circuits? Talk about desensitization…

I’d like to see an “infographic” on contributory elements in media and marketing messaging…toss some research money into causation vs corollary health phenoms.

Connect the dots with visual insight (Pinterest the dang thing if you have to get attention with the media darling du jour!) just visibly line up the statistics against the mounds of degradation and misogynistic messaging increasingly off the charts in shock and awe and see where it lands. Anyone? Research folks? Pretty please?

Again…seeding thought for part two solutions, because industry self-rein sure isn’t working. Next stop? Toy department…

Look at kids toymaker Mattel and their ongoing marketing push for their hyper-sexualized Monster High dolls…

Again, huge profit over public health issue with the usual ‘oh, calm down it’s just a doll’ desensitization. Have hipsters saying ‘relax’ actually studied the content and context of the webisodes? Have they read the ‘personas’ purveyed on the back of boxes and followed the media literacy ‘rebranding’ of a failed attempt to be ‘cool’ going sideways?

Parenting and youth advocates wish they’d ‘bury’ these scrawny, sexed up toys once and for all, yet they keep creeping back like nightmare zombie ‘dead Bratz’ to wreak havoc with vapid values seeping into kids’ ambient intake like second-hand smoke that pollutes with cancer-causing agents.

Despite pushback and pleas to the toy giant to see the bigger picture on the damage to girls as cited repeatedly by the APA Task Force study,  Mattel isn’t listening…like a petulant profiteer, they’re just turning up the volume, ‘la-la-la’ hands over ears, tossing in a bit of good-washing through alliances to further create market confusion for parents who are unaware of the backstory/content of the webisodes and superficial ‘made up’ personas.

Now, when you visit the Monster High site the words ‘be yourself’ and ‘be unique’ hurl at you in a desperate rebranding of a doll collection that has focused on building appearance and dating-based self-worth via consumption-obsessed personas (with mean-girl relational aggression added as a personality trait) detailed at length in their webisodes and on the back of their packaging, allowing zero room for imaginative play.

Read Peggy Orenstein’s “Monster High’s New Low” post and the comments from parents for a good overview of the ‘two sided controversy.’ Read Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker’s deconstruction of the content and watch for her academic treatise forthcoming that connects the dots on the vapid values and toxicity being put forth.

Read my own Shaping Youth analysis of how in just the last five years time we went from a successful pushback of the Hasbro strippers for 6-year olds slated to be marketed as The Pussycat Dolls to this new mass produced Mattel Monster High line which is arguably even worse!

Again…even if we offer Monster High deconstruction dialog, where is the public health conversation?

Parents are getting both riled and fatigued, calling for upending the whole system that’s pumping out these goods to sell off childhood as a big ol’ media and merchandising opportunity.

This “Mattel, I Am Seething” post by colleague Melissa Wardy, parent of a 6-year old girl who has watched the toddler high Monster High merchandising on toy shelves take hold with “age compression” far younger than ‘tweens’ 8-12, details how the ambient impact landed in her own home, despite her vehemence in keeping toxic toys like these at bay, as she passionately voiced in an open plea to Mattel,

“…You make my job so, so hard. You make me tap dance around the topic that your dolls are dressed like women who sell their bodies for sex, often to men who offer zero respect to the human being that lives inside. My husband cannot even talk to his little girl about this, because his voice catches in his throat, knowing how awful the world is to its girls. He also knows the thousands of girls who aren’t having this conversation with her parents, and it scares him.”

…”Before, when I spoke about your products, I did so as sort of a far-off and removed concept that might someday touch my child. Today, I am speaking from a place of deep anger because you have reached her. Today, more than ever, I am dedicated to making change. Serious change. Today it became personal. Today, the gloves came off. It is never wise to be in the space between a mother and her child.” 

No, it is not. And that mama bear Melissa can growl, and has a posse of she-bears alongside her willing to come out of hibernation and give Mattel some serious teeth baring treatment too. I know, ‘cause I’m one of ‘em.

Mind you, some may blanch at putting the Monster High doll sexualization and tween YouTube “Am I Ugly” objectification and self-esteem turbulence in the same bucket as sexual assault/teen dating violence but they’re connected via the over-arching public health umbrella of kids’ socio-emotional and physical well-being.

As a nation, media and marketing are failing our children when we put profit over public health repeatedly.

As I wrote to the ‘just don’t buy it’ crowd on the “Mattel, I Am Seething” post, this is an AMBIENT issue, it’s about exposure and surround sound messaging.

You don’t have to “buy it” or even listen/watch it to be impacted by the devalued message that flows into the media stream. People need to understand that what manufacturers ‘put out there’ in the media and marketing universe is now ambient in its proliferation…

My vehement stance is that the default should favor public health…I wrote:

“To me it’s like second-hand smoke.

…Should my child have lung cancer from pervasive exposure to unhealthy environs even though I choose not to smoke?

Should children have to breathe in the polluted sphere of formulaic pop culture with its body image soul erosion and snarky/mean-spirited hyper-sexualized ‘dead Bratz’ imagery and vapid values?

The only option consumers are entitled to is to ‘leave the building’ to get some air (getting harder to do with mega-bucks marketing proliferation) or to ‘deconstruct and desensitize’ with media literacy (tune out the crud with ‘why not to buy’ which in itself presents a judgmental conundrum, since lil’ Sally is bound to have peer posses playing w/Monster High crud)…

The larger question should be:

Why isn’t the default for ‘clean air?’

Why isn’t Mattel/Monster High put out on the stoop?

Why should healthy kids be forced to leave play environs to eke out some fresh air away from cancer-causing agents of ‘secondhand smoke?’

Why are we as parents undermined by cruddy ambient cues, essentially putting Non Smokers into a Smokers den…then asked to ‘do our jobs as parents’ by not letting them breathe in the fumes?

Why are peer parents entitled to dismissively tell nonsmokers to ‘calm down’ and start the eyerolling and name-calling as ‘over-reactive’ when we’re just trying to find some freakin’ fresh air to breathe? It’s the ultimate ‘pass the ashtray’ peer perpetuation hipster moment and frankly, I’m sick of it.

Instead, let’s ‘imagine’…(channeling Lennon here)

Imagine if Mattel embraced healthier products w/the same fervor and financing imparting POSITIVE caring credos (eco/animals/ocean/whatevs) and amped ‘em up with ‘coolness cache’…Imagine if we replaced toxic items like MH with healthier role models (post on Super Tool Lula, Karito Kids, and GoGo Girls Sports dolls forthcoming)… What if we ditched the self-esteem coffin nails/cancer sticks to try a “switch pitch” so children could breathe healthier air?

It’s doable. Really it is. We shouldn’t need to live life with 21st century inhalers to filter; instead, let’s task corporations NOT to light up toxic media/marketing tripe in the first place. Accountability and a free market economy CAN go hand in hand.”

Finally, as February draws to a close, we cap off this toxic month of marketing misfires with poignant ‘outcomes’ shared on the Today Show, as young ‘tweens’ literally place themselves into the media market of self-objectification to have their ‘hotness’ valuation externally bestowed upon them by strangers…

That’s right, young girls are sadly commodifying themselves for validation through videos asking “Am I Ugly?”

After all, that’s what every media and marketing cue is telling them…Girls value is being judged in ‘hot or not’ appearance amplification and objectification over internal heart, soul, mind, identity and worth as a member of human kind.

It’s heartbreaking to see these insecurities play out on the ‘digital stage’ as kids are defined by media before they can even define themselves…but it’s even harder to delve into the societal repercussions and public health facts that so many have yet to understand.

To clarify the sexualization correlation, via the APA Task Force study:

“Research links sexualization with three of the most common mental health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression or depressed mood”–Cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, sexuality and attitudes and beliefs can all be impacted by the various components of sexualization which occurs when:

•    a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
•    a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
•    a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
•    sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.

All four conditions need not be present; any one is an indication of sexualization.

The fourth condition (the inappropriate imposition of sexuality) is especially relevant to children. Anyone (girls, boys, men, women) can be sexualized. But when children are imbued with adult sexuality, it is often imposed upon them rather than chosen by them. Self-motivated sexual exploration, on the other hand, is not sexualization by our definition, nor is age-appropriate exposure to information about sexuality.”

It’s pretty obvious to me that the proliferation of hyper-sexualized culture and age compression dialed down into tween and K-5 demographics is doing some unmitigated damage…The “Am I Ugly” videos are just one canary in the coal mine reflecting same.

Many parents don’t even see ‘the problem’ much less ‘the solution’ so to ignite sustainable change we need to start by unearthing some of the smoldering messages polluting childrens’ environment like second-hand smoke.

Reading the CDC folder, “Almost 60% of children breathe second-hand smoke, at home, in day care, in cars, they have more than twice the level of chemicals of smoke in their blood as nonsmoking adults…”

Now swap the words “MEDIA AND MARKETING” for second-hand smoke and I dare say those numbers are even higher, with involuntary intake seeping into their psyches from radio, TV, digital, toy shelves, peers, and in the play yard.

Start asking yourselves: What messages are sticking, even when we try to scrub ‘em off? What are we selling kids, and what are we buying into with our silence when we don’t speak out and lash back to make change?

Ready for the ‘what can we do about it’ part?

I sure am…Time to “March forward” to applaud and amplify some of the fast counter-marketing efforts and interventions under way…

From Tumblr’s all new media platform policy change to tighten the reins on ‘self-harm’ to New Moon Girls and Pigtail Pals video challenge to girls worldwide to use social media to counter external messages and look internally to take back beauty and speak out with voices yet unheard to build confidence and inspire positively. (Join in the fun–see videos already up and add your own!) 

Meanwhile, if you have specific contacts in the entertainment industry and public health field you’d like to send my way to get their point of view on solutions-based thinking, I’ll add them to the ones I’ve already got.

Bring it. We need as many ideas for how to turn this tanker around as we can muster.

March…on!

Update, March 6, 2012: Check out the updated site of RapRehab.com with a similar tonality/post called “Only Entertainment…Right?” which gives some cultural context of ‘then/now’ discordance. Stay tuned for solutions-ideation and interviews from a cross-section of industry, policy, public health folks…(Any recos, send ‘em my way!)

Visual Credits: PakMed.net forum/second hand smoke, Rihanna-TMZ, pop culture graphic

Mini-Resource Guide

Prior to Part Two “Solutions Building!”

Break the Cycle

Love Is Respect

RespectRx

Bom411.com: Boss of Me

A Thin Line.org-MTV’s Over the Line (digital abuse/teen control)

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

See It and Stop It! Organization

Do Something Organization

LiveStrong: Teen Dating Violence

Love is Not Abuse.com (Liz Claiborne campaign)

APA: Teens/Love Doesn’t Have to Hurt (pdf)

HelpGuide.org: Cycle of abuse/DV; cause-effect

HSUS/Animal abuse & corollary w/domestic violence

Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness

Feb. 27, 2012

To honor Jan’s memory and salute Mike’s role in continuing the family franchise, I’m republishing this tribute piece, selecting Mike Berenstain as a “People Shaping Youth” honoree, interviewed in 2007. (after the jump)

When I chatted with Mike back then, he spoke of his father’s passing in 2005, and reiterated his commitment to working alongside his mother Jan creating storybooks with teaching moments that came to life.

Friday that chapter came to a close with Jan’s stroke, but as Mike recently stated, “‘Every day she was very productive…She was working on two books and had been doing illustrations until the day before she passed away.”

Here’s to a life well lived, and a legacy passed along to MANY generations. When I think of Berenstain Bears books I think of simplicity sans mass commercialization, weathered recycled bins of hand-me-down dog-eared versions of their books, waiting rooms and medical offices brightened by the bears storybooks scattered about, and slower, gentler, media times.

What are your favorite Berenstain Bears memories? Or are they still to come? Enjoy this interview with Mike, and the indelible bear paws that have left a mark on so many childhoods.

Presenting: People Shaping Youth Honoree Mike Berenstain

by Amy Jussel

Feb 16, 2012 Tired of skanky media with lousy messages and negative role models? Prefer to find fabulously positive uses of social media to uplift and inspire humanity? Ready to be part of something worthy, exciting, and impactful?

In less than 24 hours Shaun King could be fully funded for his amazing HopeMob.org venture (“What Happens When Generous Strangers Unite”) on Kickstarter…but he needs your help to rally.

“I believe in miracles” (cue soundtrack by Hot Chocolate which is in my brain…Actually…scratch that…Hope Mob has its own soundtrack, called “Believe”–the Walk of Hope (catchy too, and you get it free when you become a backer!)

Shaun’s description of HopeMob would make any venture capitalist with a heart grin widely and open a wallet…I can even envision the pitch deck, as he describes, “if Mother Teresa built a platform with the tech base of Groupon, Foursquare, & Netflix & the heart of CNN Heroes, it’d look like this!”

Those of you familiar with Kickstarter know that he won’t get a penny unless he hits that mark, and no donations will be processed UNTIL he does. So, for a great post-Valentine’s Day to humanity, how about showing this project some love? I’m in. You?

What’s Hope Mob About? How Does It Work? When Will it Launch?

Here, let them tell you:

• A family loses their house in a fire.  HopeMob tells their story!
• A great single mom loses her job.  HopeMob profiles her!
• A first generation college student is about to drop out of school because he can’t afford tuition. HopeMob spreads the word!
• A child with cancer has a wish for more Facebook fans.  HopeMob tells her story!
• A dad has his only car break down and now he can’t get to work.  HopeMob profiles him!
• A family with a disabled toddler needs a special van to transport their child.  HopeMob spreads the word!

Unlike other platforms that focus on hundreds of small issues, HopeMob simply tells one story at a time and focuses all of our collective energy on this one cause.

Using STORY POINTS, you can help boost a story up through our cause queue until it becomes our one and only FEATURED STORY with a HUGE international audience.  That is when the MOB swarms the cause with HOPE!

Before we launch in late March, HopeMob already has over 1,000 volunteers from 35 states and 6 continents committed to making this platform one of the most diverse, socially networked teams ever assembled to do good in the world!

I’d say that’s work giving a KickSTART in the wallet, eh?

Go for it! They (WE!) need you NOW!

Related Reading on Shaping Youth

Shaping Youth is Backing the Illusionists Film-Media’s Body Blitz

Tapestries of Hope: See A Movie, Make A Difference!

Social Media Rally for Girls Sports!

Blame Drew’s Cancer TweetAThon

3 Sisters Trekking: Changing the Game for Women Through Sports

Vote for Your Favorite Ashoka Youth Venture!

Dream It! Do It! Youth Grants for Social Change in Virtual Worlds

Media’s Positive Impact: Twitter Sends An Orphan to College

Let’s Show How Positive Social Media Works!

Celebrate My Birthday By Helping Beth Kanter Celebrate Hers!

Saved By the Well! Dream Village on Kickstarter/Kids Books

Socially Responsible Picture Books, Part Two: Dream Village!

Blog Action Day: Charity Water Meets Age of Conversation3

Age of Conversation3: Kids As Digital Citizens vs The Snark Tank

The Age of Conversation2: A Tribe of 237 Leading Change

• How It All Began: Drew, Gavin, and a Vision

• Using the Age of Conversation For Social Good (3-08)

• The Age of Conversation Goes Ka-Ching( 9-07)

• Age of Conversation: eBook for Variety the Children’s Charity (4-07)

• Launch of AOC: A Youth Social Media Primer (7-07)

Instilling Mindfulness & Humane Education In Kids

Shaping Youth’s Marketing Mindfulness to Kids —Part One

Shaping Youth Through Philanthropic Fun —Part Two

Shaping Youth’s Part Three: Kids Guide to Giving

Shaping Youth’s The Big Give: Kiva, Oprah & the Reality TV Juggernaut

Shaping Youth: Can I Sit With You? A Living Book/UGC Benefit for SEPTAR

Network for Good

Network for Good Blog

A Kid’s Guide to Giving by Freddi Zeiler

Ruby’s Hope by Hannah Taylor, Ladybug Foundation

It’s Your World, If You Don’t Like It, Change It! Activism for Teenagers by Mikki Halpin

The Kids Guide to Service Projects: (Over 500 Ideas…) by Barbara Lewis

The Kids Guide to Social Action: (same author, grades 4-8/tweens)

Raising Charitable Children by Carol Weisman

Update Feb.17, 2012

Don’t ‘cha love happy endings?

Now it’s time to REALLY get busy.

Question: Do you think Shaping Youth should try to do a Kickstarter funding project for one of our ventures?

Or should we save our storytelling for piloting the new crowdsourcing on HopeMob?? What’s the ’cause-marketing’ fatigue factor out there right now, economy and all?

Which of our many projects should be given the golden opportunity first? A TEDx style media literacy deployment to scale and train with hands-on regional workshops, speakers, and  insights?

Our nutrition, body image, eco/sustainability, and stereotypes media literacy  games to “train the trainer” (all ages and stages?)

Sparking the larger movement with allies to combat the sexualization of children?

What are your most urgent hot buttons? Leave a comment below, or tweet me… @ShapingYouth.