Pop and Play

This week Haeny and Nathan get schooled. Specifically they visit the first grade classroom of first-grade teacher and education scholar Carmen Llerena and talk to some kids! They learn how to play pirates, all about Rainbow Friends, and how to navigate conflict through pretend play. They talk about how kids use available materials to play in unexpected ways, the role of adults when it comes to shaping spaces where kids play, and learn about how easily imaginary worlds emerge from a pile of blocks. 

Fact check: We know that while Haeny says “America Ferrera aka Barbie” in this episode, Barbie was actually played by Margot Robbie in the movie and America Ferrera played a human character. No need to email, message, or DM us this correction.

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

There’s no denying it (looking at you, Haeny), on this week’s episode we’re diving into “role playing.” It’s right in the acronym “Live Action Role Playing” or LARPing, the topic of this week’s episode. Haeny and Nathan are joined by Judson Packard, Program Director of the Wayfinder Experience camp in the Hudson Valley that runs LARPing programs for kids. They talk about their experiences as a camper at Wayfinder and now as a staff member, and what LARPing offers people that can make it a special and transformative experience. And they discuss the central importance of foam swords. Also: beware of spoilers for the movie Role Models! (It came out in 2008, so… you had time.) 

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This week Haeny and Nathan talk with Amy Parks, and Maika and Maritza Moulite. They are all navigating the world of academia and busy being young adult fiction authors. They talk about why they’re drawn to writing for middle school aged readers, what it’s like to be a YA author in academia, and where they get inspiration. Also, Haeny makes everyone share their most embarrassing memories. Just kidding. Sort of. Haeny Yoon! (You’ll get it when you listen.)

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Professor Amy Parks is the author of YA novels ​​Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra and The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss and the middle grade novel Summer of Brave.

Maika and Maritza Moulite are the authors of several books including the novels Dear Haiti, Love Alaine, One of the Good Ones, and the forthcoming The Summer I Ate the Rich (Correction: Nathan says you can get it now in the episode, but it’s due to come out next year and you can pre-order the Kindle edition now).

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

Have you ever been curious about dressing up in character? This week, Haeny and Nathan talk with Alexis and Josh about cosplay! They talk about why they dress up as characters they enjoy in community with others and how to put together costumes (having Josh sew them for you helps). They also talk about why dressing in character can feel risky, including dealing with the risk of harassment. And Nathan and Haeny talk about their own experiences with costumes and debate how to say “cosplay.”

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This week Haeny and Nathan are back at the table - the tabletop gaming table that is, with Kent Davis, author of the A Riddle in Ruby fantasy series and co-author of Epic RPG, a tabletop role playing game. He talks with Haeny and Nathan about how risk comes into gaming. What makes playing roles feel risky, and how can players be encouraged to take risks in a gaming environment, without pushing too hard? And of course, Haeny pitches Kent on her Kardashian themed role playing game. 

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This episode takes the theme of “playing roles” this season literally! Marah and Chris join Haeny and Nathan on the Pop and Play stage to talk about acting! They are a married couple that acts in community theater productions in San Francisco. They talk about how they got into acting, what has kept them coming back to it, and how it feels to be on stage as a lead character and a person of color in front of younger generations. Also Nathan and Haeny put them on the spot for an unrehearsed acting challenge (without even giving them to the count of ten), and the results are impressive and maybe a little terrifying.

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

Nathan and Haeny are joined by Lil Miss Hot Mess (LMHM) to talk about playing with roles through drag, Drag Queen Story Hour, and what it’s like doing drag events for kids. LMHM talks with Haeny and Nathan about her journey in drag, and how drag can be part of modeling possibilities for adulthood with kids. They tackle questions like, how can we defend drag from its critics and uplift its possibilities without sanitizing discussions of drag as an art form? And LMHM demonstrate her skills in coining drag names on the fly. 

Lil Miss Hot Mess is on the board of Drag Queen Story Hour, and is the author of two children’s books centered on drag, The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish (Running Press Kids, 2020) and If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It (Running Press Kids, 2022). Check out their website to learn more about her and her work!

For transcripts of this episode and more, visit our website. 

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

Haeny and Nathan are joined by immersive experience designer Caro Murphy to discuss the power of immersive experiences, what kinds of choices go into designing them, and what parallels they have to learning environments and teaching. Caro is one of the designers behind the Star Wars: Galactic Experience the team visited in last week’s episode! Listen to that too, it pairs great with this episode in either order! Caro shares some tips and reflections from their immersive experience design work, Nathan makes them navigate a haunted mansion, and more, all on this week’s episode!

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

To hear more from Nathan on play, technology, and learning, listen to his appearance on Pursuing the Public Good, a new podcast from Teachers College!

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This season is all about “playing roles,” and Haeny and Nathan start it off by exploring a long ago and far away galaxy at the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser immersive experience. They are joined by fellow Teachers College professors Tran Templeton and Alex Bowers for their journey, and then interviewed by earthbound guest host Professor Lalitha Vasudevan to unpack their fantastical adventures. They ask, what is an immersive experience? What did they learn that could be relevant to designing learning experiences and environments? Why was Haeny’s experience so much different than Nathan’s? Find out all this and more on our first episode of Season 4!

This episode includes short audio clips from the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience for transformational educational and commentary uses in this not-for-profit podcast under fair use. 

For transcripts of this episode, to learn about our guests, and more, visit our website. 

See pictures from the team's visit to Galactic Starcruiser! http://snowdaylearninglab.org/popplay_starcruiser

Our music is selections from Leafeaters by Podington Bear, Licensed under CC (BY-NC) 3.0.

Pop and Play is produced by the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University. The views expressed in this episode are solely those of the speaker to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, staff or Trustees either of Teachers College or of Columbia University. 

This April 9, another season of Pop and Play is about to roll into your podcast feeds! This season, Haeny and Nathan are exploring how play allows people to try on roles they might not otherwise experience in their lives. With another set of great guests, they learn about Drag, Cosplay, Young Adult fiction, Immersive Theater Design and more. They even travel to a far away galaxy (...Orlando). And of course they play games and find out “what’s poppin.” Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or search “Pop and Play” wherever you listen to Podcasts and subscribe!