Posts Tagged ‘children’

DESIGN TRENDS

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Okay, I don’t really know if this one is a trend or not; I just think it’s really cool. Years ago when my family visited Disneyland we went to Mickey’s Land, or whatever it was called at the time. It was where all the cartoons lived and was opened right on the heels of the successful “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. One of the parts that really impressed me was Minnie Mouse’s house. It was a cartoon styled house you could walk around inside. You could see all her rooms including her bedroom with its cartoon styled bed and cartoon styled dresser. In her kitchen was even a cartoon styled refrigerator you could open to reveal cartoon styled milk cartons and steaks! I loved it. I’ve always loved such attention to detail.

I’ve always thought that a child would love to have his/her room designed in this same way. Everything would be “swoopy” and brightly colored. I’ve been waiting for years for someone to do it.

Back in the nineties I did a project for Darigold, a Northwest dairy company. The small retail outlet featured a circus theme, with cows as the performers. Upstairs was a self-guided video tour of the dairy factory. Here I put the tv monitors inside cartoon-styled cabinets, based on my love of Minnie Mouse’s house. The video, produced by a Seattle based advertising firm, had a clutzy scientist moving around a kitchen that was……….you guessed it, cartoon-styled, just like Minnie’s house!

Finally, after years of waiting, I stumbled upon Dust Furniture from Indiana. This company has decided to venture into stylized furniture based on cartoons for children’s rooms. It’s about darned time!

Checkout some of their stuff; it’s pretty cool. I could see this stuff in more rooms than just for kids. Think about one iconic bookshelf in an office, or a retail store! Oh wait….I may be giving out a design secret I would want to use in the future. Forget you’ve seen anything and move along.

Dust Furniture can be reached at www.dustfurniture.com

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Posted in Arts & Culture, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

MVK

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

So Michelle V over at Cleveland Foodie wrote this post. I stole it from her. Blatantly! No rewrite, just copy and paste…but somehow I don’t think that she will mind!

This has nothing to do with food, but everything to do with Cleveland. Jamie and I are both on the board of Most Valuable Kids (MVK), a group that provides underserved children throughout Cleveland the chance to see LeBron dunk, Grady homer (when healthy), Joshua Cribbs do just about everything and see the inside of the beautiful and magnificent Allen Theater or Cleveland Orchestra.
MVK takes unused tickets to any sporting or entertainment event and gives them to local kids so they can experience what many of us take for granted. Often for the very first time.

Think about it – how often do you decide to pass on the Tribe game or let the weekend orchestra tickets go unused? Same with season tickets where you work? This is such an easy way for people to help those less fortunate and it doesn’t cost a dime, which is something we can all appreciate during the current state of things.

So please help us spread the word. We have a lot of children waiting to go to a game, a play or the museum – we just need tickets! If you have tickets, or your company does, please visit the site and learn how to donate. It’s ridiculously easy and you’ll be responsible for some very big smiles throughout our city. Thank you.

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Posted in Arts & Culture, Cleveland | 4 Comments »

Declaration of Independence!

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

3650251966_a2afae39faSo I get emails from a great site that I wanted to share with you.  It is foodindependenceday.org. They are trying to get everyone to commit to buying the food for their 4th of July celebrations from the most local and environmentally friendly sources possible. We here in Ohio have it made! With so many farmers markets, and so many great local farms and CSAs, it should be easy. They are forming a petition to send to local government officials to encourage them to support their local economies as well by also buying local. There is an interactive map of the US that shows the locations of those who want to be on it. I was flabbergasted to see that there were no Clevelanders on the map! I know that many of you are probably growing most of your own July 4th meals yourselves, so please take a moment to sign up! Supporting local growers is a great way to vote with your dollars. Not only is your food fresher, and thus usually tastier, you are supporting your neighbors. But it is biggger than that. Locally produced food means less stress on the environment. Tomatoes trucked from California, fruits from Chile, apples from New Zealand, these things all add tons of CO2 to the air to get onto your plate. Why not stick to what is fresh, local, and seasonal. Local farmers are in general smaller entities. We need to support them, or they could go away, being bought up by corporate giants. Now I have nothing against corporations in general, but I like my food produced by the family farm, where they are more likely to care about quality of the product and quality of life for the workers and the consumers. So go and declare your food independence and lets make this map packed with little markers for Cleveland!

Those of you with kids, who are growing your own “victory gardens” should check out the whole site. Pull out your video camera, and help your kids make a video about “Why I Am A Victory Grower.” There is a great contest and your kids can get a free membership and seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. They are a group that tries to preserve and propogate rarer species of plants. The top 5 videos will also be featured a conference in Washington DC. What fun! Help bring awareness to Cleveland as a local growing hotspot and have fun with your kids while you are at it! You might even teach them something while they are not in school-you clever parent you! There are examples here.

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Posted in Cleveland, Green | 2 Comments »

STEM schools are paving the way for the new economy

Friday, May 1st, 2009

We had the privilege of attending at presentation at the GE headquarters in East Cleveland. The presentation was called Beyond Green-Sustainable Business Practices in a Difficult Economy. It was a great afternoon of informed speakers from a variety of industries. Basically, I came away with one thing: Sustainability and saving money are interconnected. By cutting down on energy use, upcycling or recycling, and other sustainable practices you will save money. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what your motivation for being more sustainable is, the two are tied together. That means it makes more sense for everyone to adopt sustainable practices. mc2_cmyk_highschool_lrg

The presentation was held at the MC2 STEM High School. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. New legislation has allowed for the formation of these schools, and Cleveland is the first in the state. This is a four year high school. This is the first year, so all the students on campus are in the ninth grade. The plan involves adding campus locations, so that students can learn in real life business settings. The GE Noble Road campus is great. It’s focus is on sustainability. Projects are all based around the STEM fields. There is room for 100 students in each grade. While touring the campus, I was fascinated by all the cool toys that students got to “play” with. This is not a traditional high school. Through an active, “hands-on” approach students are learning how to use the tools of today’s technology in preparation for the technology of the future. There were computer run routers and laser cutters. The students were making light boxes out of LED’s. There was a project in which a remote control car was being converted to solar power. I have to admit that I was jealous.

The STEM school model is different from the static model we use today. First off, it is by application. Kids have to want to go there, even though it means they may not go to school with the rest of their friends. This has obviously led to students who are proud of themselves and their school, as evidenced by the beaming faces of the students giving the tours. It is open to all students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and first ring suburbs, so students are mixing with kids from around the area. The school year is also set up in a more European model. The school operates on a 10 week on, 3 week off basis. It seems to work, as attendance at the school is at 95%-among the highest of all schools in the district. While traditional schools are based on class time and testing, this school is based on mastery of student benchmarks in various areas. Mastery means a 90% achievement. Each hub (of which this is the first) will be based on a specific industry-all the programs here are based on energy and sustainability, which means we are training the next generation for the challenges of the new economy. My favorite project was the one in which students of the school went to city hall and did an audit of all the trash and recycling of every office in the building. They spoke with the office occupants and followed up after a few days. One student proudly confessed that he knew that the office workers were more receptive to what they had to say, because they were kids. Children are our future….

If we had more schools like this 30 years ago, we would not be facing many of the challenges that we are facing today.

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Posted in Arts & Culture, Cleveland, Green | 1 Comment »

Hello? Recycling calling…

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

I fianlly got my new phone. I hate buying a new phone, because I am a techno-geek and want the phone that does everything, when I may take 2 pictures a year, and never listen to a single tune. Still, I finally got the phone I wanted. This makes the 3rd cell phone that I have on hand. I can’t just throw them away, and I have the nagging idea that I may need one as a back up. Still, my back up doesn’t need a back up, so time to move on.

Cell phones are one of the worst things for the environment. Like most modern day gadgets, they are loaded with complex circuitry composed of heavy metals and plastics. In addition, most cell phones are replaced annually if not sooner. They are impossible to repair manually and expensive to have repaired. I have finally seen so many options for my cell phone, that I can give up all my back ups and feel good.

One of my favorite donations is the local rape or battered woman’s crisis center. These facilities take care of women in need and can use any help. They are located in nearly every major city. They are a great place to recycle almost anything. Some may have interim housing. That means they can often use furniture and food. Time for some new clothes? These women are often left with little more than the clothes on their back and would gladly take your usable hand me downs. Sometimes, these woman have children with them and can use childrens toys and clothes as well.

So what does that have to do with cell phones? If your old cell still works, although it may not be stylish, it will still dial 911. Shelters often provide used cell phones to their clients for emergency use. While they can’t call home, in an emergency, they can still dial for help. And who thinks to give them old cell phones? We Americans build up a mountain of old phones every month, and most work just fine. Keep them out of the landfill and into the hands of someone who can truly use it. Think about giving someone at least a tiny but of security, when they are most vulnerable. Check out Family Place or in Cleveland try the Domestic Violence Shelter.

If you are not near a crisis center, there are still plenty of options beyond your local electronics store. Consider Collective Good. This is a great way to recycle old phones. They take your phone, repair it, and use it to provide inexpensive cellular access in underdeveloped countries. You can choose the charity that benefits from your sale, and you can claim the tax deduction. Even if your phone doesn’t work, they may be able to use the parts or will at the very least recycle it for you. Or try Cell Phones for Soldiers. This charity recycles old phones and uses funds to buy calling cards for US military overseas. The whole idea was started by a couple of kids 12 and 13 years old.
At the very least, drop your phone in a collection bin at the local electronics store.

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Posted in Cleveland, Green | 1 Comment »

I believe that children are our future…

Friday, November 7th, 2008

and so do a lot of others. Many of the policy changes that need to be made will be made by future generations. We have left them some big messes and in the end it will be they who clean it up. That is why I was so excited to run across this cool website.

This cool website has great stories geared toward kids. The stories all revolve around complex issues of recycling and landfill waste, but in clear concise language that kids (and adults) can understand. The topics are pretty heavy, and seem a little deep for kids to me, but lets face it-if your kids are surfing the net they probably understand more than we think. The kiddie cartoons are a little disconnected from the ideas put forth, but what do I know? I think that this site is a great way to share some intense ideas with a younger generation and get them thinking on solutions now. Kids can sometimes figure out what escapes us adults-because they have more imagination. So if you have kids, check out this site. Talk these things over with them. They just might learn something-and so might you.

If you don’t like this site, try out Global Warming Kids.This site has links to all kinds of sites for kids. There is surely something here for everyone, whether your kids like games or stories or studies.

Lastly, if you are still reading this, you probably have kids. Check out this other great site: Eco Child’s Play. This is a blog that has tons of great ideas and stories. There is everything from breast feeding to board games. My favorite is the recipe for modeling dough made from dryer lint. It’s not as good as the homemade playdough my mom made us as kids, but it’s still cool.

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Posted in Green | 1 Comment »