Diversity Sauce

Amy and Kabir have a great conversation with comic book illustrator Yehudi Mercado about his new comic Hero Hotel (herohotelcomic.com)

Find more of Yehudi's awesome work at supermercadocomics.com and on instagram at @SuperMercadoComics

Amy and Kabir cover some worthy news

1. Concern about a "white savior" live action Mulan

2. Covergirl's new "Cover Boy"

3. Guardians of the Galaxy sequel and the Bechdel Test

And then dive into Halloween with a little "Do's and Don'ts for Halloween" focused on Cultural Appropriation as well as gender discussion.

Here is the link to the cartoon mentioned: http://gemma-correll.blogspot.com/2011/10/it-nearly-halloween.html

As well as avoiding a racist costume:

http://www.dailydot.com/irl/offensive-racist-halloween-costume/

Amy and Kabir touch on Gene Luen Yang's plan nationwide plan for "Reading without Walls" as well as Queen of Katwe opening this week.

Guest David Kleeman (SVP Dubit) comes on to discuss the Emmys (he went), diversity on television and his work with Prix Jeneusse. Plus, He touches on Dubit's work on VR and it's possibilities to develop empathy with kids. Finally, that TAP study that explores how, when and what kids do with apps and digital technology. (TechAndPlay.org)

David is on Twitter at @DavidKleeman

Dubit is on Twitter at @Dubit

Please check out the FB group children and media professionals here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/133583286677976/

Some links:

Queen of Katwe trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4l3-_yub5A

Prix Jeneusse:

http://www.prixjeunesse.de/

VR

https://www.wired.com/brandlab/2015/11/is-virtual-reality-the-ultimate-empathy-machine/

https://www.fastcoexist.com/3063687/van-jones-and-jamie-wong-use-vr-to-tell-the-story-of-the-prison-system

http://kidscreen.com/2016/09/22/thanks-to-vr-a-new-era-in-kids-storytelling-is-here

Amy and Kabir discuss "color-blind casting" in the context of Kobo and the Two Strings and the newly announced Wrinkle in Time casting. In addition, they discuss ongoing cultural appropriation by Gwen Stefani in light of her new Nickelodeon show.

Our guest this week is Carol Cain, the founder and publisher of Girl Gone Travel, an amazing travel blog where Carol documents her many adventures with her family. We touch on a variety of subjects including her experiences as a minority in the travel blogging world and how travel destinations, especially national parks can attract a more diverse group.

Here are a few of our favorite pieces from Carol including a few we reference:

http://girlgonetravel.com/2016/07/15/my-kids-first-trip-to-the-dominican-republic-heritage-race-and-breaking-the-cycle/

http://girlgonetravel.com/2013/08/05/the-role-of-media-diversity-sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb/

http://girlgonetravel.com/2013/08/29/visiting-national-parks/

Amy and Kabir discuss the new Hidden Figures trailer (3:00) and the forgotten history is portrays. Then, they discuss a recent Vox article on biased hiring and potential ways to reduce it (14:00).

Then, they are joined by Aaron Morris from PBS Kids to discuss his recent "tip sheet" he authored to help producers create content for Hispanic-Latino families. The document is excellent and ties closely to DIA's DIG toolkit

The tip sheet is right here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0lpAxYTAIxRd2RvUzRhV01RTkU

Kabir and Amy discuss a recent TV study that showed the overwhelming number of characters with disabilities are played by able-bodied characters (2:00). They also cover the show Stranger Things and how the actor's disability was dealt with in the show. From there, they move to the growing movement of #ToysLikeMe (12:00) that has created more and more dolls with various representations of disabilities. Xbox has also launched new avatars with wheelchairs. Finally, University of Michigan researchers have created a new sensory technology aimed at children with autism. (21:40)

Here is the link Amy talked about with the young girl who receives an American Girl Doll with a prosthetic leg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGhAcBwwpo0

Amy Kraft and Kabir Seth spend the podcast discussing the Olympics. They kick things off with a history of women at the Olympics quiz (1:30)(Kabir doesn't fair to badly) the dominant and diverse US Women's Gymnastics team (6:30), the worst of sexist olympic coverage (14:00) as well as body shaming on social media (30:00).

The podcast covers a ton of articles, some of which are in the newsletter this week but here's the full list:

https://www.olympic.org/women-in-sport/background/key-dates

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/you-throw-girl-an-olympic-shot-putters-feminist-mission

http://jezebel.com/simone-biles-im-not-the-next-usain-bolt-or-michael-ph-1785182242

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/08/leslie-jones-and-kerri-walsh-jennings-rio-bffs.html?mid=facebook_thecutblog

http://time.com/4446944/simone-biles-rio-2016-olympics-gymnastics-gold/

http://fusion.net/story/335443/social-media-strikes-back-after-mexican-olympic-athlete-gets-body-shamed/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fusion&utm_content=link

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/08/gabby-douglas-only-has-1-job-and-it-isnt-to-fix-her-hair-to-please-you/

http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/essential-olympics-gif-from-laurie-hernandez.html?mid=facebook_vulture

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/how-to-really-watch-olympic-gymnastics?mbid=social_facebook

http://mashable.com/2016/08/08/sexist-moments-rio-olympics/#v6Y.p9Lt4uqg

http://www.vox.com/2016/8/5/12369420/rio-2016-womens-gymnastics-simone-biles-diversity-race-relations

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/09/female-olympians-guide-gaffes-athletes-sports-makeup-shorts-marital-status-lindy-west

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nbc-riol-olympics-rio-2016-olympics-katie-ledecky-swimming_uk_57ac19c4e4b08ab70dc128c6

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/03/sport/sexism-sport-rio-olympic-games/

http://jezebel.com/simone-manuel-makes-history-as-the-first-black-woman-to-1785185468?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/sports/olympics/rio-schedule-medals-biles-phelps-lochte.html?_r=1

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/simone-manuel-on-making-history-the-gold-medal-wasnt-just-for-me/2016/08/11/28cc3fe6-603d-11e6-9d2f-b1a3564181a1_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_olymmanuel-1240am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Kabir and Amy talk about Ezra Jack Keats book Snowy Day and how it makes for a fantastic diverse book. Then, Polly Conway (@pollymarie) from Common Sense Media comes on to talk about Elena of Avalor, the first Disney Latina Princess and diversity generally across the TV landscape.

Here is the other article we talk about during our Keats discussion: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/07/young-adult-author-jacqueline-woodson-on-writing-stories-that-appeal-to-all-ages/

This episode covers Hillary Clinton's historic nomination in the context of how a woman for President was viewed in 1995. Amy and Kabir also discuss recently announced Moana's voice talent and all the awesome diversity news from Comic Con

Here is the Ms. Magazine article from a few months ago when Moana was announced: http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/10/24/will-disney-get-race-and-culture-right-with-moana/

Kabir and Amy talk about a recent Guardian article on kids media leading the way in LGBTQ representation as well as the disappointing fact that most kids cartoon animal characters in movies are male for no reason.

Erica Branch-Ridley joins Kabir later to talk about HITN's fifteen (!) new apps aimed at preschoolers. Find more information here: http://earlylearningcollaborative.org/ and also search "Pocoyo Playsets" on iOS