Throwback Thursday: Highlights 67th Anniversary Issue!

Today is Throwback Thursday, and I am pleased to bring to you, a super-throwback, the 67th Anniversary issue of the beloved children's magazine, Highlights!

If you grew up in the United States, it was hard to escape Highlights magazine. From the dentist's office to free sample issues that came in the mail (free stickers, anyone?), Highlights was simply part of childhood.

Now, as a writer for children, it's fun to look at how far Highlights has come through a (lovingly) critical lens.

The issue in question (June, 1946) can be accessed here. (I'm not sure when the folks at Highlights plan to take this down, as this link was posted on their Twitter account a few days ago.)

On to the fun part!

My very first impression of this issue was how simple it was in design. Yellow cover, black and white inside. Lots of text. Then I became aware of two things: children back then (1946) probably had a greater attention span than our iPad-addicted darlings of today. Printing in colored ink was probably costly as well. Still, as a typography junkie, I love love love the cover, and how the "f" of the word "fun" elegantly curves from top to bottom.

The "Editor's Note" by the first Highlights editor, Garry Cleveland Meyers almost made me cry. It was addressed to the readers, the children of America. It's pretty evident he believed in the children of America:

To us who are much older than you are, you seem to grow so fast. We know it won't be long before you are men and women. Soon you will take our places. We believe you will be useful men and women. We believe that other persons will look up to you and speak well of you when you are as old as we are now.

And he went on for a few more heartwarming paragraphs about the children of America growing up to be good citizens, but also having useful fun with the magazine. He also reminded the readers not to forget to read their Bible and attend Sunday school, which surprised me at first. But of course, America was a very different place in in 1946.

There were many stories and activities, but most of them only a couple pages in length. My favorites were: the very first "Hidden Pictures"(pg. 25), "Animals No One Has Seen Before" (pg. 37) which features animals from the readers' imaginations, "A Little Log Cabin to Build on the Ground" (pg. 38) a piece on how to build a log cabin, complete with diagram! There were a couple of pieces that had a Mexican character, "Over the Cliff", and a Native American family, "Plant Trappers"--which surprised me, considering the time period in America. (Of course, the "Plant Trappers" story was a thinly-veiled science story and the father of the family was wearing a headful of feathers--but still, I appreciate the attempt at diversity, considering again, the time period.)

I highly recommend checking out this piece of American history. It's amazing to see how much has changed, but also how much has stayed the same.

Happy Birthday, Highlights! We (still) love having fun with a purpose!

Throwback Thursday: Gargoyles: Season One, Episode One

In the last post, I talked about Lego Ninjago, and how it's very heavily marketed toward boys. So I thought it would be nice to kick off the first "Throwback Thursday" post with a classic cartoon that crosses gender lines--the 1990s cartoon, Gargoyles.

I'll admit Gargoyles wasn't at the top of my list of throwbacks to review. But one day, when I was feeling nostalgic, I posted a Gargoyles video on Facebook (Yes, I'm outing myself--I'm a child of the 1990s!) All the people who commented on the video were female. Hmmmm, I thought. That's interesting. Using today's standards of what would make a good show "for girls" the show doesn't seem to have much girl appeal. Lots of fighting. No (cutesy) princesses. No pink. So what is it about Gargoyles that fans, both male and female, love?

The opening sequence of the first episode is action-packed, chock full of falling boulders, fire, and screaming people. It makes the viewer ask, "What the heck is going on?" Five seconds later, a beautiful but obviously strong woman detective comes on the scene, only identifying herself as "Maza." (I liked that they used a less-common Latin last name like Maza. The name firmly establishes her Latin identity without making her the token minority, which would have happened if they used a more common name like Lopez or Gomez). Maza's strong, yet attractive and not too overly-primped character makes the viewers want to know more about her and also gives the female viewers someone to identify with.

Edit I just checked the Wikipedia entry for Elisa Maza. It turns out that she is not Latina, but half-Nigerian, and half-Native American. Of course, this wasn't revealed in the first episode, which was the only episode I watched. According to the creators of the show, Maza's parents' relationship is supposed to parallel her later relationship with Goliath. Whoa! Inter-species love!

Flash backward to Scotland, A.D. 994. The origin of the Gargoyles is revealed. There's betrayal, murder, friendship, and true Gargoyle love all rolled into one. There's also tension between the Gargoyle and Human races. In spite of their service to the humans, the gargoyles are under constant threat of violence and vitriol. At one point, Goliath, the head honcho, wisely says, "It is human nature to fear what they don't understand."

So what's so great about Gargoyles? Everything! Both male and female fans can enjoy the great story, wise lessons, deep characterization, interesting relationships, and of course, action. It's a cartoon worth watching. No pink or token characters required.

To purchase Gargoyles, visit Amazon.

Please be advised that due to violent content, Gargoyles may not be a cartoon for very young children. I would personally rate this a cartoon for kids 11 and up, but the best thing would be to watch it first before showing it to your child.

Photo Credits

The picture of Demona kicking butt was taken from here.

Lego Ninjago: Episode 1, Way of the Ninja

Yes, yes, for those of you who are familiar with the series, you have every right to tell me I am a couple of years late. You are correct. But since the last topic was Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse, I thought it would be nice to discuss another iconic toy-turned-series.

Legos. Some of you may remember them, before they got super-commercialized and over-marketed as a toy only for boys (I actually owned one of these blue buckets!!!!):

Back then, it was absolutely possible to buy a Lego set that wasn't from a television show:

Sadly, times are different. But, seeing as the Lego: Ninjago series has become such a cultural force, it would be best to confront it rather than run from it. Ninja-style!!!!

I know that the Ninjago series will be entering its third season, but I decided to start with the first episode of the first season, since I have only watched the series intermittently in the past.

The episode starts out ordinarily enough, with the as-yet unnamed Old Mysterious Asian Guy coming into a sword shop run by Kai, the blacksmith, and his sister, Nya. The Old Mysterious Asian guy says something pseudo-profound (like something from a fortune cookie), the sword shop gets attacked, and all heck breaks loose. Nya, the only female for miles around gets kidnapped by the bad guys (of course), Kai begins his ninja training with the Old Man, who now has a name (Master Wu), and so our story begins.

Innocuous-sounding enough, right? No sex, drugs, or violence (wait, no, there's violence!) But there are plenty of ninjas. Who doesn't love ninjas? Ninjas are fun. Like pirates or cowboys.

...except that, if you're going to talk about ninjas (I'm looking at you, Cartoon Network!) Please keep your cultural references straight!

In the opening sequence, Kai and the Old Man are talking about samurai and ninja. Both are names of different kinds of warriors from Japan. So obviously, one would think, the Land of Ninjago is based on a village from old Japan, if a village from old Japan were made out of Lego. So if Kai and Nya are Japanese, why is Nya wearing Chinese clothing? (See illustration below. Just pretend the blouse on the left is red).

Why does the ninja master from Ninjago (Master Wu), have the tenth most common Chinese name in Mainland China, according to Wikipedia?

Samurai met their official end in the late 1800s. If Ninjago is loosely based on late 1800s Japan (yes, yes, I know it's a television show, but still) could it be that Master Wu and Nya are just incredibly open-minded, or is it that the creators of the show don't know the different between China and Japan?

I'll let you decide, gentle reader. The only cool thing about the first episode for me, was when Nya helped her brother fight when their shop was under attack. Nya can kick butt! Now, if we could only get her in some culturally-correct clothing....

Coming soon, a new design for the blog, and a review of a vintage cartoon!!! Can't wait to see you there!

Photo Credits

All photos were used for illustration purposes only. No profit was made from them, nor am I associated with any of the web sites or companies listed below.

The original picture of the Lego CITY set can be found here.

And at the same web site, the Lego bucket.

The Chinese blouse was taken from here.

Here is the original picture of Nya

And lastly, Kai the Ninja!