How to use this Page

Thanks Matt, much appreciated

A very cool list to find oneself on.

The Tiptree title ends "Filled of Light!"

The list that I made after hearing of MammothFail II has just one overlap with yours, Matt: the story by your fellow New Englander, Vandana Singh. Which suggests that a) Making lists is fun and b) There's a lot of Mindblowing stuff out there by women and PoC.

(really creepy capcha below my message here: "jewsmove." I'm gonna sit right here, thank you very much, capcha)

And if you could do it, so could the editor of that anthology.

Which, of course, meant that he didn't even try, and probably didn't intend to.

In any case, I'm going to speak with my wallet, and not buy either this or any anthology that editor has his name on, not unless he straightens up and flies right.

Thanks for the correction on the Tiptree title, Josh -- I've read that story a bunch of times and yet have always thought it was "Filled With", and have previously referred to it as that in print. I just looked it up, thinking, "How could I have missed that so many times?" and you're absolutely right. It's "of".

And I'm so glad Judith Moffett found the list -- "Tiny Tango" is a story I read when it first appeared in Asimov's, and it completely blew me away and broke my heart. I was young and just learning what science fiction could do, and it was one of the key stories in showing me the breadth of emotional and conceptual possibilities.

The Delany, Le Guin, Russ, and Wilhelm stories all fall within my pantheon of "Mindblowing". Some of the other authors as well, but not with the same stories. Great stuff! And a great way to think about the anthology--we all like lists but what goes into what we put on lists?

Thanks, Eric -- I'm not surprised if anyone has lots of differences with the list, since the reasons some of these stories were, for me, mindblowing is entirely based on when I read them, so it's a really personal list. I just wanted to see how long it would take me to put together a list of such stories made up entirely of the sorts of people excluded from the anthology under discussion elsewhere on the intertubes. (The answer: not very long.)

I haven't read most of those and now I want to!

Some of mine, off the top of my head:

"Press Enter[]" by John Varley
"Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll" by Howard Waldrop
"All My Darling Daughters" by Connie Willis (the first story I ever wrote fanfic for, and yes, it was very fucked-up fanfic)
"The Man Who Would Not Do Terrible Things to Rats" by James Tiptree Jr.
"Planet of the Rapes" by Tom Disch
"San Diego Lightfoot Sue" by Tom Reamy
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson
"Sandkings" by George R.R. Martin
"The Little Black Bag" by C.M. Kornbluth
"Summer Solstice" by Charles R. Harness

You can tell what era of book I was reading when SF started blowing my mind. *) These are stories that have stuck in my head for fifteen or twenty years. And even the stories by men have, I note, a lot to say about women, and the interactions between men and women, plus some bonus queer characters. (Not so much with the racial diversity, though, for which I cannot entirely blame the selections of Carr, Merril, and Ferman; I know I read some stories by S.P. Somtow and Dean Ing and Octavia Butlery and Chip Delany in there, but none of them stuck with me the same way.)

No surprise, also, that many of them are what I would consider SFnal horror stories, and if we were diverge from strict SF I'd include "Window" and "Instructions" by Bob Leman and "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" by Stephen King. I find that really good horror blows my mind the way nothing else can.

Wandered here from Jeff Vandermeer's site.

The TOC, I haven't read any of the stories.

Your list, I have read several.

So I'd be much more eager to read the ones in your list that I haven't read than to read the ones in the TOC.

Yep, what people find mindblowing varies a lot.

I'd never in a million years consider cheesy Lone Ranger pastiche mindblowing - or the more commonly mundane like the Food Farm, etc.

I just realized that the Kit Reed story I was thinking of is "The Wait" and not "The Food Farm", but for years I've conflated the two in my mind for some reason. In any case, I wrote about it in the early days of this blog. I also wrote about the Fowler story, which will give some context to what I meant by it having been personally "mindblowing".

Helps to have the right one, yeah. :)

To me, you can have a great story without having a mindblowing story.

e.g. The Sherlock Holmes story The Speckled Band is a great story. Not in the slightest bit mindblowing.

Same goes for Godwin's The Cold Equations.

If David Axelrod, Michelle amd Barrack Obama had not played the race care with Oprahs help, we would not be talking today about this new inexperienced typical lying filp flopping politican with a wife and preacher of twenty or more years who hates white americans.

Bill Clinton is a good man, and he does good work for the world. I believe Bill Clinton has been seriously disrespected by the Obama camp. McCain is smart to quickly point out whenever the Obama camp tries to pull the same stunts on them!

I think it is such a shame to call Bill Clinton a racist…Obama, his surrogates, and Obama-Media behaved absolutely disgraceful. The dem party big tops never said a word to defend the only dem president in 1/2 a century who served two terms in the White House. It’s disgusting.

Obama and his band of mean-spirited villains knew that they needed to DESTROY Bill Clinton’s relationship with black people, and oh yes, they did everything in their power to do so. I paid attention to the entire primary season very closely, and it is ATROCIOUS how the Obama camp treated Hillary and Bill.

I will never dare reward Obama’s actions with a vote.

EVER.

[…] desconocido wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptI read the whole article on salaries called What’s an MLIS Worth (for the record, I have an MLib.) and I have to say I could not get over the fact that women in librarianship, in all parts of librarianship earn less than men. … […]

The persistent gap in salaries for the two sexes just hacks me to the bone. As my feminist scholar wife would say to me “that’s the patriarchy, dear,” and she’s of course absolutely right. It’s everywhere, and all-powerful to boot.

You asked if librarianship is as bad as everyplace else. Perhaps. But the institution that is competely retro when it comes to such things is academia as a whole. Most institutions are so socially backward and patriarchal as to be laughable. Most corporations–yes, those evil, greedy, bloosucking monsters–have far more progressive social policies than do most universities and colleges. From my experience, it’s the larger institution’s old-boy clubbiness that impacts salaries across the board at the university; unfortunately, all too many women in libraries are slaves to the patriarchy and ‘enforce’ these systems in their own organizations. I don’t see such inequity where I work now, but have seen it quite clearly elsewhere.

Somewhere in one of the more subversive books I picked up during my Foundations of Librarianship class, I learned that originally, at least in the US, most, if not all, librarians were men. Thanks in large part to Carnegie, library construction boomed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There weren’t enough male librarians to staff them all, and the small town libraries couldn’t afford them. When Melvil Dui opened his library classes to women, it wasn’t due to any sense of equality, but cold hard economics. Women would work for less. The legacy follows us to this day.

But you have to ask, who is doing the hiring and salary reviews here? With an 80/20 margin, is there still not a significant number of women in administrative positions who can change that? (I can’t get Table 4 and beyond to display. Maybe the information is there.)

Thanks for the link to “What an MLIS is worth.”

MLib? I’ll have an MS (in LIS) in three classes, and there are still MLS programs floating around, in addition to the majority (MLIS programs).

This field = alphabet soup.

I’m not sure I understand how this can be. When I was hired for my job in an academic library (both of my library jobs actually), there was one salary; take it or leave it. Perhaps men are more likely to go up for promotions and get raises that way. My salary is determined by the position, not the gender.

This survey is obviously a lot of work, but some of this is straight up misleading. Not only is the response rate (the number of graduates reporting) rate around 40% every year, but there are also a fair number of library schools that don’t report data, and someone should be asking why. After looking at these tables, I must make the comment that I know of abolustely no one who starts out at $40,000 working at a public library in my home state…and I do keep track of this stuff.

So, Robert, who decides on the promotions?

Sigh.

http://shelfcheck.blogspot.com/2007/10/shelf-check-125.html

I work in a library where the majority of the faculty and staff are women and the majority of the department heads are men. And I think this is a pretty common scenario.

Because we are door mats.

See also; why teachers and nurses (the other two traditional educated female jobs) make a lot more than librarians. Hint - unions and strikes.

(As a non-MLS library staffer, I’ll just point out that MLS librarians make more than the rest of us, and that public libraries, especially, have been exploiting part time employees badly for years.)

i am a licensed social worker who works as a pseudo-librarian in a resource center/specialty library.

i cannot speak to the issues within the librarian community but they sound similar to social work problems.

we are a predominantly female profession where the majority of administrators are male. it seems that they seek out those positions more while women tend to seek out hands on, rubber-hits-the-road type jobs. obviously there is a pay differential between the two.

another issue i’ve been trained to avoid is that women do not negotiate as hard as men do for their salaries, raises, etc. so, if a female librarian accepts whatever is given to her and a male coworker pushes for even a bit higher, when it comes to raise time and they both receive the same percent, the amount is very different. each year they both receive the same rate of a raise but the desparity between the dollar amounts only grows. i’m sure there is a mathematical word to explain this more clearly but i can’t pull it out of my ancient memory.

another difference is biology. when women have babies, take maternity leave, etc. they generally take more time then men who become fathers. some may decide to stay at home full time and return to the profession after a few years. this stops their pay from increasing all while their male counterparts continue to receive updated training, ongoing raises, promotions, etc. when a female returns to the workforce she has to catch up from all that missed time.

what are the answers to this? in social work we were taught to be more assertive when negotiating pay, to not be afraid to ask for more benefits, and to not fear managerial positions. i think administrators also need to be aware of these issues and find ways to decrease the pay gap.

Jess Bruckner - I don’t know what your home stat is, but I’m pretty sure we’re there ($-wise) in New Jersey.

As for males’ salaries being higher, it’s impossible to justify, in my opinion, although the article did point out that men are still by FAR a minority in the profession.

Based on my experience and observations (as a male librarian), I have noticed several factors that may be coming into play:

1) I know many women who a) were unwilling or unable to relocate geographically to higher paying positions or b) went to a lower paying job for sentimental reasons (i.e. to be the Children’s Librarian at their hometown library instead of moving to a higher-paying admin job somewhere else. I have jumped several states in the past few years for higher-paying employment, but the people who have stayed in their home regions have stagnated in their positions.

2) More men than women go into libraries only to go into management. I went into libraries to become a manager only; I don’t really have a deep, ingrained love and respect of books and reading. I get my job satisfaction from freeing my staff to fulfill the library’s mission. If our mission changed overnight, my staff would fulfill that mission with no protest from me. Not all librarians feel that way.

[…] more here […]

Sharon,

If a librarian decides to go for promotion, a dossier is prepared by the candidate, sent to a committee of three fellow librarians, then to a university committee. Promotion in this case is from Assistant Prof to Associate Prof, not any change in duties, but it does come with a $2000 raise. With our male/female ratio almost any committee is going to be two female and one male.

So why the double hell don’t people go to COSWL Cause and make noise?
So why the triple hell did the LIS education discussion list–JESSE- refuse to let me post even a news note about the 89 day Vancouver strike?
The issue is Pay Equity and the place to go is here:
http://blogs.ala.org/coswlcause.php?title=why_isn_t_your_headline_why_the_hell_are&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

And just this past week on Fox News Sunday Laura Bush said:
Transcript: Laura Bush on ‘FOX News Sunday’
Monday, October 29, 2007–

BUSH: Well, the fact is I’ve been involved for a long time in policy and I think I just didn’t get a lot coverage on it.

I mean, I really do think there’s a stereotype, and I was stereotyped as being a certain way because I was a librarian and a teacher and, you know, had the careers that traditional women have that were considered traditional women’s careers.

Yep, King Thrushbeard creeps me out. I found it sickly fascinatinating as a child, but now that I am old enough to think about what goes on behind closed doors,just sickening.

And like magic, today as I was catching up on my blog reading, I found this link over at Kids Lit for the Anti Princess Reading List.

The girl in front of me at church on Sunday was dressed in a cute mini skirt with a coordinating top. She had on pink dangling earrings and a pink ankle bracelet above her pink painted toenails. She wore flipflops, heavy eye liner, eye shadow and blush. She sat there - all “tarted” up -during the entire church service coloring a picture. The incongruence between her appearance and her activity was remarkable and I wanted to shake the mother and say, “DON’T YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO YOUR LITTLE GIRL?” but, of course, I didn’t. Parents need to pay close attention to what their children are reading - in books, magazines, online. And they need to stop trying to live their lives through their beautiful daughters.

I absolutely agree with Nathan’s observations and his proposed solutions. I must add to this discourse the boys who are seeing the same messages. The myriad of mental health issues that Nathan describes are some of the effects on girls. Boys see these messages, and interact with girls to whom they are intended, and they react as well. Many of my tenth grade boys are aggressive towards girls but the girls are just as aggressive and often instigate these interactions. I think boys are the byproduct of the marketing campaign to sexualze young girls. Regardless of gender, parents should be involved in the lives of their children. Teachers should be aware of the images their students are exposed to and be open to dialogue.

Thanks for your comments Marilyn and Andrew. You both raise the importance of being attentive, as teachers and parents, to the way in which media positions children. I think once you create a space to engage in these important conversations with children, the easier it gets.

Andrew…sounds like you have a great topic for a clip episode!

Have a good one
vivian

Vivian,

I have to admit I hadn’t given a lot of thought to childrens books before I took this course. (Trends and issues in critical literacy) I’m starting realize from the exploration of childrens books we did at the Critical Literacy Conference from listening to Mini Grey talk about her creative process that children’s books really are a unique form of art. Some of the works can be very profound and contain many layers of meaning-just like great works of art. As with visual art, my preference is for pieces that interpret experience in an aesthetic way but don’t contain an explicit message or lesson, I find that a little condescending and frankly not as beautiful… With the children’s books I’ve examined through this course, I find the ones I most appreciate are also this way. They provide different layers of meaning, trips through the imagination and are ripe for exploration and always leave you asking more questions.

Erin

Hi Erin,
I think as in the different layers of meaning, as readers we also can engage in different layers of reading depending on the perspectives from which we read a text. As in your comment regarding the children’s books you most appreciate, I think a sign of a book that ‘works’ for someone is whether it is generative or not ie. does a reading a particular text lead to further inquiries and so forth.

Can’t wait to hear more about your thoughts on children’s books.

Thanks
vivian

Vivian,
What an inventive way to produce a text-based interview! I may have to try that with Desperate Husbands. I could have Diane read the email questions.

And THANK YOU for the nice shoutout. I really do appriecate yours and Andy support!

-Charles

Thanks Charles! Good idea with having Diane read the e-mail questions…I think that would work out nicely. I have a lot of DH and MN to catch up on…this weekend is the time for it!

vivian

[…] On this show An interview with author Mini Grey Podcasts […]

very good

Hi Vivian,
This topic is right up my alley. Since taking your critical literacy class and now that I am a mother-to-be, I am always on the look out for great books to add to my child’s library collection. I am excited to add Ms. Grey’s picture books to my child’s library. I love taking a classic tale and giving it a new twist. I remember reading classic fairy tales and feeling sort of cheated since they all ended with a happy ending. What does “happily ever after” really mean? It’s nice to know that there are books out there that tell stories from a different perspective. It gives parents and teachers a wonderful tool to help children probe deeper and help they become active readers, rather than just passive listeners who accept “the end.” Thanks for the great interview! -Kristina

Vivian,
Listening to this interview, and having read Traction Man in your Children’s Literature class, I feel that I have a clearer sense of how such a text could be created. I love the idea of layering the real life illustrations of a kitchen with the make-believe world that a child and his action figure perceive. The thing that strikes me about this particular method of authoring is that it is quite removed from the way that we suggest that children should go about creating their own pieces. In the school where I work we utilize a workshop approach to writing (and reading for that matter). In the first grade, our authors are instructed to draw what they will write. If there is something in their pictures that is not in their writing, we teachers encourage our students to go back and add words to their text that more fully explain their illustration. Clearly this process does not leave much room for a dual story line that is told through pictures and words. I think that students would love to have the opportunity to work on this level, and even in primary grades they could experience success with this layering because often times they can be so much more expressive with art than they can be with words. I can even envision using some of the mentor texts that they have already grown accustom to as examples of how this would work. In particular, I am imagining Kevin Henkes fabulously funny book, Julius, Baby of the World, wherein there is one page that is told without words, through the use of a series of small drawings of Lilly in her time-out chair. I need only to show the children this page to the class and let their eyes march across the pictures and they are in stitches. They get it, and I think that if the thinking were modeled properly, this would be engaging (read: fun) and exciting work for young authors.

Thanks,
Rachel

I love how her text offers different perspectives on characters. In picture books she can tell two versions of the story. Even young children can pick up on the stories being told through the pictures. She uses pictures to show complex and subtle messages. Ordinary objects are given a second life and analogies are drawn between things which encourage creativity. Reading and writing become exciting through a creative process, they also become more exciting when they are brought together. Making picture books also sounds like an amazing process where so many mediums are combined to form the final product.

Vivian,
I enjoyed listening to your interview with Mini Grey. After hearing it read in your class, I checked it out of the library for my own 2nd grade class. I knew that they would love the idea of an everyday hero that goes on wild adventures. A problem I have faced this year in my teaching is getting children to use their imagination. I think that they feel that because they haven’t had a lot of adventures, like the stories we read in class, that they have no stories of their own to tell. I read this book and we talked about what kind of adventures Traction Man had and that even though they happened in our ordinary settings, that the adventures were anything but ordinary.

For Writer’s Workshop, we talked about what kinds of ordinary things we could exaggerate on to make extraordinary stories. The stories that they wrote about Traction Man (or Traction Lady as some students preferred) were by far the most creative, detailed stories they’ve written this school year. I like that Mini Grey purposely created this story about ordinary things that she gave a “second life” too. Her book and helped my kids realize what an adventure story really is and that it’s more than the adventures portrayed on TV and in movies. It helped them find value in their own everyday experiences.

Thanks,
Anjuli

Hello ,my name is Capri and I teach the first grade. I really enjoyed your interview, and it is also nice hearing the authors point of view on the book that was written.
I specifically enjoyed it because it shows how Ms. Mini Grey used her imagination and maybe became a child while writing this book. I haven’t read the book to my children yet, but it was read to me by my professor, but as I listened to the book I used my imagination, by putting myself in Traction Man shoes and actually becoming the character. I believe that my students will do the same thing especially since they love action heroes. It has been a pleasure listening to your podcast.
Thank you,
Capri C.

After enjoying the “Traction Man”, book in class, I can appreciate the imagery of Mini Grey. I enjoyed hearing about her creative process as she wrestled with the contrast between words and the visual. Much of what she said was indicative of the film process I undergo when I am in the pre-production phase of a film. I found it insightful and interesting to hear that book authors and illustrators are obsessed with this whole notion of the image and its affects and proximity in the story and on the page. Ms Grey indicated that she found wonder in ordinary things and often developed and built her story around this. I think that filmmakers and other creative people are challenged everyday to interpret their surroundings, seeing things from an unconventional filter, digesting life through the eyes of humanity. Interesting interview!

Vivian,

THanks for a great interview! I liked the concept of making the ordinary extraordinary. I haven’t read any of Mini Grey’s books, although now I will have to, but the description of how she takes an everyday scene and brings it one step beyond reality into the imagination could be a great tool in the classroom. Reading a book like this with a class could inspire students to do something similar. As students begin to do that, they are starting the process of constructing their own reality. Doing something like this could help students begin to question something that they may have previously considered to be an absolute truth, one important component of critical literacy.

Vivian,

This interview made the connections between Traction Man and critical literacy much more explicit for me. After reading the book in class, we had discussed the ways in which the book called for a return to the imaginative nature of childhood; the emancipation of the spirit from pre-packaged adventures. While I still think this is an important aspect of the book’s message, I now find myself focusing on the concept of limitation. The fun of Traction Man is his ability to transform a household for a child, but his crowning achievement came only after he was stripped down to nothing more than a doll in a green yarn suit. Only then was Traction Man’s success a direct result of a child’s imagination rather than a mass-produced gadget.
I hate to see children upset, but I would rather set limits than allow too much “freedom” to limit the imagination. It may be easier to get what you want, but ultimately there is more joy to be had from overcoming the challenge.

Thank you for an enlightening semester!

Warmly,
Diana

Interesting show Vivian — as always! Here’s a follow up of my conversation with four second graders at lunch:
Me: Why do you think McD puts a toy in Happy Meals?
Girl 1: Because it makes you happy?
Girl 2: Because toys make children happy and we can buy more of them if we want.
Girl 3: So that we can tell our Moms to take us to McD (Carmen Luke, you are so right).
Me: Do you think McD is smart about putting a toy in there?
Girl 3: Yep, then we can buy more and collect all 17 things if they have them.
Me: So who benefits from that?
Girl 3: McD–so that they can make lots of money and get richer and richer.
Me: What do you all think about that? And do you think Happy Meals are healthy?
Girl 2: If you take the apples.
Girl 3: No wonder my Mom only lets me eat there once a month and sometimes not-even.
Boy 1 (who has been listening the entire time): I don’t care, I don’t care, I just want the toys and I’m still going to buy them no matter what.
There was more discussion about McD making lots of profit. Hardest for me was not trying to bias/sway them. The girls seemed to have felt wiser and informed but based on Boy 1’s adamant comment, there was no way he would chose otherwise. CHOICE–is that the ultimate end result?

Great review of Vivian’s book, NEGOTIATING CRITICAL LITERACIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN in LANGUAGE ARTS (Jan. 2007 issue)!! Glad this book continues to get lots of press! Hip hip hooray Vivian!

Vivian,

That’s three weeks in a row CLIP has made me feel virtuous that our girls only whine “Can we go to the pub???”. Seriously.

Thanks!
Andrea

Andrea… LOL. A great way to start my morning! Thanks Andrea. As usual your comment is greatly appreciated!

vivian

I love what you did with your students Anna. It’s such a great demonstration of how such issues as those in connection with the Happy Meal cut across time and space.

Thank you so much for taking the time to create the transcript!!!

Much appreciated as usual.

vivian

Thanks for the heads up on the Negotiating review Anna. I didn’t know about it. I’m finally beginning to catch up with e-mails so expect a flurry soon!

vivian

My comment was mentioned on CLIP!!! I’m famous now!!!!!

Nice follow up show. I thought it wrapped up that idea nicely, though after reading these comments it sounds like you could do another show on Mikey D’s.

Andrea, when I ask my kids what they want to eat their responses are McDonald’s, or Subway, and all I wanted to know was whether or not they wanted peas or potatoes. Diane or I cook most evenings so I’m not sure why the kids always respond with a fast-food joint when asked that question. I guess it’s pop culture conditioning.

Vivian, could you mention simple ways parents could encourage literature, especially a love for books, and pre-reading techniques on a future show? Diane has her own ideas but it would be interesting it hear suggestions from teachers and parents in other geographically locations. The parents of her students ask her for suggestions all the time.

-Charles

Vivian,

I enjoyed this podcast. It raises interesting questions: why are dinky plastic toys/collectibles so irrestible for kids (and I would argue for adults too, just with different collectibles) ? I remember begging my mom for the most trendy toy, be it a cabbage patch doll or my little pony, and showing it off to others was of the utmost importance. I think its more than clever marketing on the part of individual companies. It’s the underlying value system that we have to examine. How do we judge “success” , “hapiness” or “self-image”? A lot of the time, we gauge these things by what we own, what we wear, etc. I remember what an Australian friend said once, he had already spent several years in the US and he said,” here I feel like a consumer, not a citizen.” Now I’ve never been to Australia so i don’t know what it’s like or how it compares on the level of consumerism. But I definately understood what he meant. Every second of the day, I feel like I’m being told to buy something. I’m told I’m crazy if I don’t buy this or that, or that I wont be “cool” or fashionable. So, it’s no wonder children model those patterns, as they are also being advertised to, and judged by their peers. Parents and teachers have an uphill battle competing with the surrounding environment, that’s why bringing these value topics out in the open for exploration and discussion is essential. Children have to be literate in regards to consumerism and advertising.

Erin

Hi Vivian,

I am very excited about the podcast’s recognition and then to hear your book has received more recognition. Not surprised about either!!

I also have to say I am really enjoying “getting to know” the people who follow your podcast and hearing/ reading their comments about the topics that come up. I take away ideas to try with my class and also view points that I need to think more deeply about.

Thanks for bringing us all together!!

Carol

“Vivian, could you mention simple ways parents could encourage literature, especially a love for books, and pre-reading techniques on a future show? ”

Thanks for the suggestion Charles. I will definitely work on such an episode

vivian

“I think its more than clever marketing on the part of individual companies. It’s the underlying value system that we have to examine. How do we judge “success” , “hapiness” or “self-image”? A lot of the time, we gauge these things by what we own, what we wear, etc.”

A very important point Erin. I think your comment speaks to the notion of what is bought and sold through commercial advertising and so forth. Specifically that when we purchase something we are purchasing something more than the object itself. What we are consuming are particular lifestyles.

I look forward to hearing more from you.
vivian

I’m glad you are enjoying the show Carol. I’m also excited to see you writing about this space as a site for possible networking!!!

Keep us posted!
vivian

Erin, I appreciated your thoughtful comments and the observation from your Australian friend. Outsiders really notice it.
Speaking of consuming particular lifestyles, I couldn’t believe how high-definition TV sales jumped by 30% just because the Super Bowl was being broadcast in HD. Whether young or old, how easily Americans get sucked in.

Happy Silver Anniversay to CLIP!

I too find the McD Happy Meal toys to be quite problematic for me as a Dad and for my son. Thank goodness he’s to young to really “get it” so for now we’re ok. Heaven help us one he makes the distinction between “boy” and “girl” toys.

I laughed out loud at the McDonald’s Think Tank.

What a riot!

Andy Bilodeau
http://www.andycast.net

I was surprised and yet had fully expected to see McDonald’s casting…it is a riot.
Thanks Andy

vivian

Hey, that’s right, this is your silver!?! Congrats Vivian! I remember when you were in your teens, it seems like only yesterday….
This gender segregation at McDonald has always irked me. There have been many times where we either wanted one toy or the other or both. I find the girls toys in general to be of a more supportive and cooperative nature than the boy toys. Those usually follow themes of war, fighting and competition. Their most recent toy, the Littlest Pet Shop which was the girl toy, is an uni-sex one that either boys or girls would enjoy, our kids certain have.
Sadly this is just another way to hook the next generation of consumers into buying their product.

Great show Vivian, I enjoyed it during our show day today.

Charles

Hi Vivian, Andy mentioned this show to me so I paid attention.

It’s funny, I mentioned this topic on a recent Dry Shave (#95 - Happy Meal)…I asked for the Pet Shop toy for our son, the people working there still got it wrong and gave him Yugi-whatever-the-thing-is. Oh well, at least it creates work for our waste management company.

I LOL at your walk down memory lane Charles! It’s amazing nowadays the amount of war imagery that permeates society.

Ross, thanks for your comment. I went over to listen to your episode and really appreciated what you had to say. It is infuriating how our children are being socially ’schooled’ with such innocent appearing texts like the Happy Meal.

vivian