NEWS

Eat Your Kale: Love It or Hate It

Eat Your Kale: Love It or Hate It

Posted on by Kbaumlier

In talking about my new project Food Font I often mention the possibility of being able to use a food alphabet made of food, such as kale to make images, posters, signs, where you write with your food.

I have learned that people have a strong opinion of kale – they either LOVE it or HATE it.

Kale has been grown for over 2000 years.  Kale was the most widely eaten green vegetable until the Middle ages when cabbages became more popular.  It is often called a “superfood,” has vitamin A, B complex and C, and is a powerful antioxidant.

I myself love kale and have learned that I like the red winter kale or red Russian kale which is milder and is a little sweet.

So what about you?  Do you love it or hate it?

Links:

http://www.foodfont.com

God Save the Green: Community and Gardening

God Save the Green: Community and Gardening

Posted on by Kbaumlier

It’s no surprise that community and gardening go hand in hand.   Gardening side by side or with others has been creating camaraderie between people and building community since the early days of agriculture when people began to grow and harvest grains.

God Save the Green is a documentary in progress that tells the stories from around the world of groups of people regaining a sense of community and improving their lives through gardening.

Today for the first time in history,  the majority of people in the world live in suburbs or cities and not in the country.  In the edges and central part of cities, the need to grow on the land and innovative ways to do so continue to emerge.  God Save the Queen tells the story of gardening around the world such as Morocco, Brazil, Berlin, Italy, Kenya.

One story explores the one garden that has survived in the biggest slum of Casablanca that uses cement and tin to grow potatoes, coriander, salad, pumpkin.  In Brazil, a group of women in Teresina have been making a living growing vegetables using hydroponic growing made with recycled materials.   In Nairobi, Kenya, a family grows vegetables inside large bags filled with soil from the forest surrounding the city. This method of gardening is gaining in popularity and more families are producing food in this way.

In this way Morris can get his crop also in rainy season. Food is used to feed his large family and also to be sold in the slum. This new idea is spreading all around the slum helping families, needy people and schools.

The project is currently in production, and you can see video clips and stills at the godsavethegreen website.

Links:

http://godsavethegreen.it/

 

Stretch Your Paycheck – Front and Center in the 4th of July Parade

Stretch Your Paycheck – Front and Center in the 4th of July Parade

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Stretch Your Paycheck showed up at the Lakewood 4th of July Parade last week.  My friend Lane and I marched with the “Corporations are not People” group carrying the Stretch Your Paycheck dollar.  As we walked down the street, we would periodically stretch the dollar and spin around.

One little boy said, “ Yeah!  Money!” Other children held out their bags – thinking that we were going to throw out candy.

It was a hot day, but it was great to march with the high school band, political candidates, the unicycle youth group, baton twirlers, the robotic team from St. Ed’s and other groups.  Our group was in front of the Silver Sneakers group, an adult and senior fitness group who were right behind us.  By the way – I know the song they performed to by heart.

We invited a few people to stretch the paycheck along the parade route, which included the students from St. Ed’s who were in the Robotics group who built a robotic canon that could shoot out t-shirts.

If you got your picture taken stretching your paycheck – you can download your picture at the Stretch Your Paycheck website.

Stretch your paycheck is an interactive performance where you can stretch your paycheck and get a souvenir picture that you can download, print, and share. Send to your boss, your congressman, or to the bill collector!

Links:

stretchpaycheck.tumblr.com/

CoolCleveland.com – 4th of July Parade pictures (scroll to the end to see Stretch Your Paycheck)

Sweatshop: a Strategy Game from the U.K. about Clothes Production

Sweatshop: a Strategy Game from the U.K. about Clothes Production

Posted on by Kbaumlier

When I went to the Games for Change conference last month, I attended a presentation by designer and producer, Simon Parkin who was part of the team that made the game Sweatshop.  Sweatshop is a game that challenges players to manage an off-shore clothing factory, producing the latest in cheap designer fashions for Britain’s fashion district.  The game was commissioned by Channel 4  in the U.K. (which is like our PBS station in the U.S.)

In his presentation, Parkin talked about in order for a game to be effective in exploring an issue it needs to not just tell a message that is predictable.  For this game – if the game focused on telling the message, “Sweatshops are bad,” it most likely would not be a good game. He said that most of us already know that sweatshops are bad, but few of us understand the complex issues that keep these systems in place.

In making Sweatshop, the design team decided to make a game where players can experience what it is like to be the owner, manager, and factory worker in the game.  The goal of the game was to challenge young people to think about the origin of the clothes we buy and the use.  The game is a strategy game that puts the player in the role of a clothing factory’s middle management. The player is responsible for hiring and firing workers, ensuring that orders are completed in time and balancing the needs of demanding clients with worker welfare.  Real-world problems such as fires, unions, and lack of toilets add authenticity to the game mechanics.

For the game, the team worked with British charity Labour Behind The Label to make sure that the game was accurate.  After each level the player is presented with a fact that supports the themes of the level just completed with real world events.

I just played the game, and I enjoyed the cartoony graphics and expressions on the players faces.  The game balanced information and fun enough for me to want to play it.  I also appreciated that the game did not start out with lots of facts or a message that sweatshops are bad.  The game was recently selected by MIT as one of the top five ‘Best Practice Serious Games’ and the university is currently writing a paper on the game.

Why do our clothes continue to often come from sweatshops?  You can play the game online, and also view Parkin’s speech on the Games for Change Livestream page to learn more.

Image Source:
www.playsweatshop.com

Links:

www.playsweatshop.com

Simon Parkin – Games For Change Livestream Video about Sweatshop

www.littleloud.com/work/sweatshop