Supergirl’s Adoption Lens: Swooping Past Stereotypes

April 14, 2016 Most know Superman and Supergirl are adopted, along with Peter Parker as Spiderman, Dick Grayson as Robin, and heck even Bamm Bamm Rubble from the Flintstones...but all too often in media, characters depicted as adopted get the ‘cartoon’ treatment even when they’re not cartoons. From language used in journalism coverage, to controversial  Avengers punchlines in … [Read more...]

I Am Elemental: Superheroes Strike A Pitch Perfect Toy Tenor

May 11, 2015 With superheroes crushing box office numbers with Hulk style force and toy merchandisers frantically scrambling to address market demand for sheroes deleted from mass media like an invisibly evil comic book spell, hashtags like #IncludeTheGirls are trumpeting a Herculean reminder that the new era of girls dubbed “Generation K” for Katniss will NOT be dissed and … [Read more...]

Selma March: The Power of Empathy, Storytelling

Mar. 7, 2015 Selma March, 50 years later, commemoration of Bloody Sunday. #Selma50Anyone who has seen the movie "Selma" knows the split second power of media storytelling to jolt viewers into a visceral, emotional sidewinder.The teens on either side of me were wide-eyed, visibly shaken, and riveted as the dialogue shifted from children playfully bantering about hairstyles to … [Read more...]

Reach and Teach Kids in Fun, Fresh Ways: Ten Under $10

Dec. 20, 2009 In my last post I went for ‘free media finds that are priceless year-round,’ today I’ll nudge it up a notch to prove you can gift meaning and mindfulness without spending a fortune (not even a Hamilton!) I attended the Peace and Social Justice crafts fair and barely made it past the Reach and Teach table and Free the Children’s Me to We booth finding tidbits to … [Read more...]

Halloween Beyond the Cliché: Packaging Boyhood Part Two

Oct. 7, 2014 Update I realize I've been 'deconstructing' Halloween for years with pushback on the societal sexploitation of girls as we fiercely try to "Take Back Halloween" by mythbusting "market demand"...But the little boys' lens of how some of the girls costumes land on them is one to watch too, instilling critical thinking early on...in this case, two posts by SheKnows.com … [Read more...]