doll

When I saw the Jezebel headline "The Newest American Girl Doll Has A Secret" I couldn't help but click through. It turns out the Gwen Thompson, a "companion" doll to Girl-of-the-Year doll Chrissa, is the first American Girl Doll to be living in a homeless shelter. From her American Girl Wiki page:

Gwen and her mother Janine fell on hard times when her father lost his job; they later lost the house as they were unable to keep up payments. Soon after, Gwen's father left them and they became homeless...

Job loss? Homeownership kaput? Sounds like what a sizeable chunk of America experienced this past year! Looks like American Girl is very up to date with contemporary issues that girls (and their parents) can relate to, or at least recognize (see also: Chrissa vs. the cyber-bullies!). Color me cynical, but I can't help but feel this is just a marketing strategy by the Mattel-owned company.

Are the US media objections to Spain's Bebé Glotón further evidence of American's sexualization of the healthy, natural, and nurturing relationship between mother and child?

How interesting is it that Jewish American female identity is packaged in a new doll and unpacked in a new book all in the same week?

So, I’m scrolling through my Google Reader today and noticed several posts about Japanese inventions. One creeped me out a bit. One made me giggle. One made me groan. And one left me feeling a little confused.