"The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination"**

I'm sure this is all over the blogosphere by now... I can't even remember who spoke at my college graduation. What a treat this must have been!

Apparently not everyone was thrilled. Like this guy, "...They should have picked a leader to speak at commencement. Not a children's writer. What does that say to the class of 2008? Are we the joke class?"

Hmmm... so children's books are a joke? Perhaps he'd rather they just watch more TV. It sounds to me as if this guy could use a little bit more imagination in his life. As could many leaders. Given the state the of the world today, wouldn't more imagination be a good thing for everyone?

(**–J.K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Address 2008)

Children, Play & Things That Get Me Thinking

Remember being a kid and getting so excited when your parents said you could have that giant empty box that packaged some newly-arrived-on-your-doorstep appliance-or-such? It's a fort! It's an elf castle! It's a giant dollhouse! It's a... whatever you could imagine it to be.

Take a listen to this, from last week on NPR: Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills.

Turns out you didn't need the latest and greatest toy after all. And with all that unstructured play time you were learning, too. Who knew?

Along similar lines-- an excellent commentary over at Finding Wonderland, for those of us that are tired of the endless marketing of "stuff" to children (and everyone, for that matter...)