Response to Abstract: Cas Holman

At first, I wasn’t really into the vibe of what this episode had to offer, but the episode quickly turned into more of an intellectual one-sided conversation about children, their minds at play, and the child education system as a whole. It was really fascinating to think about her idea of letting the children be able to build what they want, in whatever manner they want, rather than having a list of instructions to follow that guide them through a one-way puzzle. All of her products were intricately designed for multi-purpose use, so they could be used over and over again, pleasing a child’s imagination each and every day — so cool to think about!!

I loved how she began discussing how her childhood, her growing up, and her sexual identity all shape what she creates. She is obviously very mute to the stereotype of boy/girl color and is conscious of her materials being sustainable. One really cool section I loved in this episode was when she discussed the Walmart aisles: blue aisle and pink aisle. Toys are toys and should be able to be used by any child to creatively play with anything in any way.

The episode as a whole felt more childish and sentimental, based on her conversations about about her struggles in her childhood, her coming out to her family, and her relationship now with her boyfriend, making this an episode much different than others — and I liked it!