Dear Media: Please Change Your Channel of Influence

Sept 12, 2011 After the ludicrous JCPenney toxic tee-shirt with a wink and nod to academic underachievement "I'm Too Pretty For Math, So My Brother Has To Do It For Me" and the fabulous rapid-reply from Pigtail Pals, Redefining Girly producing a proud and positive tee in response, "Pretty's Got Nothing to Do With It" it makes me wonder why media continues to cover the problems … [Read more...]

Meetup.com: Bringing Communities Together Post 9-11

9-11-11 On this decade anniversary of a horrific worldchanging event, with media spinning stories of heroes, hearts and homelands forever impacted, I’m turning to the positive births of OFFLINE community building that arose after 9/11.Scott Heiferman, Founder and CEO of Meetup.com, the world's largest network of local groups, inspires us all with spirited zeal of how his … [Read more...]

Survivor, The Lunch Table Edition: SEL to Prevent Bullying

Sept. 6, 2011 As school starts this week for the very few left that haven’t had summer short-circuited with August start dates, we’re continuing our focus on solutions-based media to ramp up Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and digital citizenship in an effort to not just squash ‘bullying’ but PREVENT it.Whether it’s an entirely new school experience or just curbing first … [Read more...]

Rachel Simmons Chats About Mythbusting “Mean Girl” Media

Aug. 31 2011 Transitioning back to school is tough, especially when media and marketing blitzes the ‘what could be’ fear dynamics of peer acceptance based on what you wear, how you look, and who you sit with at lunch. (Target's music teacher  ad/video sums in satire well, "if your kids want to sound cool, they need to look cool") Now toss in the social media promises and … [Read more...]

Selling Reluctant Readers: 10 Marketing Tactics To Amp Up Fun

Feb. 14, 2017 Valentine's Day Update: More ways to encourage reading, with therapy dogs (via MindshiftKQED Learning)  and a few "Kidlit" picks for Valentine's Day that streamed across my desk, here and here...Off to my new tutoring gig at Reading Partners.org!  Jan. 16, 2017 MLK Weekend: Book Three of March is out with Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell and John Lewis' much needed … [Read more...]