Babies Movie: Through The Lens of a Young Teen

May 11, 2010 I tried to warn her, “This isn’t some wham- bam fast-paced action thriller or rom-com dramedy, but Babies IS my movie choice for Mother’s Day, ok?” In preparation, I showed her the Babies trailer (after the jump) and the short little ‘featurette’ so she’d know there wouldn’t be ‘much of a plot line’ but more of an editorial commentary as seen through the eyes … [Read more...]

Media Hypefest: Is Prom the New Wedding? A Teen’s Perspective

May 7, 2010 As the last vestiges of prom wind down along with Girls Rights Week, I wanted to land one last post in the queue exploring media and marketing’s impact on kids' expectations, reality show distortions, and 'over the top' depictions of celebratory fetes. From ‘proma-a drama,’ lavish limos and  fantasy night fairytales (e.g. akin to the amped up MTV My Super Sweet … [Read more...]

Commodification of Kids: The Backlash Has Begun

April 16, 2010 About a year ago, TruthOut featured a poignant article called "Commodifying Kids, The Forgotten Crisis" by academic Henry A. Giroux, and though I read it with lots of head bobbing agreement on the tipping point of toxicity, I have to strongly DISagree with the "forgotten" notion. This issue is not the LEAST bit forgotten...it's on fire, baby and it's gaining … [Read more...]

“Mouse Inc?” Disney Bullies Small & Mighty CCFC From Home?

March 10, 2010 I bought and watched Academy Award nominee  Food Inc. last night, the riveting documentary on corporate pressures leaning hard on farmers that’s nothing short of mafia-style thuggery for compliance and adherence to industrial machinations. Looks to me like we’ve got a similar scenario with Disney strong-arming the powers that be to silence and oust tiny but … [Read more...]

CounterMarketing Consumption Cues: Think Geek Gifting Fun

Update: Dec. 21, 2014 Adding a few more fun finds of DIY holiday hack geekery to keep it simple, and am strongly considering ordering my first RaspberryPi credit card sized computer to inspire some collegiate builders...along with MIT's Scratch coding for kids.  (my original post on the new launch of ScratchJr.org and uses for making STEM kid-friendly fun is here)  Dec. 15, … [Read more...]