Search

This paper aims to unstick domination narratives embedded in Disneyland by using creative imagination and futurecast cultural imaginaries in which the earth system reinhabits agentic powers. I seek to open up alternative understandings of non-dominated, regenerative creativities in order to begin to heal the colonized imagination of Disneyland and the colonized notions of childhood it otherwise proliferates. I explore the underbelly of the pervading land of childhood creativity to reclaim the roots of magic, animistic co-affiliation, trans-species collaborative creativity, and matrixial embedment within the generative living systems of the planetary. Focusing on the actual, physical genesis place of Disney, the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim California, I consider, through three disruptions, what is possible in a future imaginary. Here, Gaia breaks through Disneyland and the imagination of the Earth liberates the curriculum of consumption and the domestication of magic toward a notion of childhood education that is creative, collaborative, and connective.

We demonstrated the use of Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) to analyze welfare exit patterns in a hard-to-serve sample (N = 654) of individuals (94.3 percent female) from six counties in California from 1998 to 2002. Individuals were randomly assigned to either (a) the Employment Readiness Demonstration Project, an intervention of intensive case management (experimental group), or (b) California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) (control group). In the two-class solution, those unlikely to exit (57.7 percent) were not White, had physical complaints, more than two children, and no job training. A solution with three latent class trajectories was somewhat better than a two-class solution. Class 1 members (57 percent of sample) were not likely to exit off Assistance for Families and Dependent Children (AFDC) throughout the study period and were more likely to have three or more children (p < .05). Class 2 (26 percent) was slightly more likely to exit off welfare over time but was more likely to exit to some other type of aid (other than AFDC cash) than to exit completely off aid. The probability of complete exit increased greatly over time for members of Class 3 (17 percent). Although individuals in Class 3 had an increased probability of exiting to aid other than AFDC cash assistance in the first six months of follow-up, their use of non-AFDC aid decreased in latter months as the probability of exit off all aid increased greatly during this period. Advantages of the group-based approach and its use in welfare research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses her ambivalent relationship with the television program "I Dream of Jeannie" and her hybridized identity as an Arab-American. She discusses the her childhood in California where she was subject to mockery due to the depiction of Jeannie in the television program and explores the ironic comfort the show offered, but also the problems related to Jeannie's violent and bumbling characterization on the show.

Although past research indicates that children often lead the way within their families with regard to mastering new communication technologies, studies of family negotiations that result from children's expertise have generally been limited to majority culture, middle-class families. This study explored these dynamics within immigrant families, with particular focus on the leadership roles children of immigrants play as translators of media, language, and culture to help their parents locate resources in their new communities. Utilizing Livingstone's domestic infrastructure (2002) concept, interviews with 43 parents and children in a new immigrant Latino community in Los Angeles revealed the key ways that children and their parents connect with and understand information about community resources and services. Understanding how children's media connections link their families to community information resources that facilitate settlement and adaptation also has application in other urban centers as population diversity continues to increase worldwide. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]