Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building Through The Power of Play

Nov. 29, 2012 Kuala Lumpur’s famous Petronas twin towers will now always look like ‘stacking cups’ to me, the Guggenheim Museum in New York upside down stacking rings, and Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium a cozy fort “blankets flung, stretched chair to chair”…As I close the picture book “Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building,” brought to life by author and illustrator Christy … [Read more...]

Little Bits & Roominate- Innovate to Educate with STEM

Update July 23, 2014 Wow. From toys to tools...LittleBits launches CloudBit to make any object 'smart'!  Sept. 4, 2012  “Light it, push it, twist it, bend it, buzz it, blink it, shake it…” the promo card beckoned before I even reached the Little Bits tent at the Maker Faire.Hard to believe it's back to school time already, and this fall, we're kicking off with some STEM … [Read more...]

Bratzillaz, Novi Stars, Monster High: Same Sexualized SnoreFest

Update April 7, 2015 Toy Joy! New offerings upending the toy industry to send healthier cues to kids: Lottie Dolls, GoGoSportsGirls, and now this new Kickstarter, Ember World adventure dolls, highlighted in this post.  July 12, 2012 It's ironic that with over 900 cable networks choice is sorely lacking, as copycat formulaic media producers churn out new Reality TV genres … [Read more...]

Reach & Teach: Global Goods That Do Good

May 23, 2011 "Where do you GET these things? How come I never find stuff like this?" Picture a coloring book page with Rapunzel's hair cascading down the castle tower, captioned, “This time, she had some power tools, a pair of scissors, a roll of duct tape, a Tina Turner album and a bus pass.” That's from Jacinta Bunnell's Girls Are Not Chicks coloring book one of my … [Read more...]

Is There a Possibility the FCC Hasn’t Seen The Irony Here?

Dec. 6, 2009 Samuel Johnson once said, “Our aspirations are our possibilities.” I love the limitless empowerment in the short phrase, so when I heard there was going to be a new online DIY craft show called ‘The Possibility Shop’ with Jim Henson’s name attached, I thought perhaps there would be a “possibility” that media would be used to create a sort of eco-Etsy style … [Read more...]