As the Olympic Games conclude, I can’t help but remember my years as a star athlete . . . just kidding. People who condition their bodies and minds for extreme competition will forever surpass my skill and understanding. However, I appreciate their urge to better themselves through feats of athleticism. And I, like many of…
Do you know Winnie the Pooh? When you were very small, someone dear to you may have read the adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood as you drifted off to sleep. Perhaps you were given a Pooh Bear to cuddle. You may have learned to read with Winnie, sipped from a…
According to my mom, I cried when I finished devouring my first ice cream cone. I wailed for the duration of our bike ride home from the local ice cream shop. In response to this humbling story, I tell my mom, “Who doesn’t scream for an ice cream?” The frozen treat exemplifies advances in technology…
Summer seemed endless when I was a kid. After school let out, the days passed slowly and the month of September felt like a long, long distance away. Now, as an adult, summer days feel short and precious, slipping through my fingers like sand until suddenly it’s autumn. And the sands of time aren’t the…
I love to throw things and always have. Softballs, paper airplanes, Frisbees, water balloons, you name it—if it can be thrown, tossed, or side-armed, I’m there. Sometimes I like to throw for distance and speed, other times for accuracy. Trajectory, body mechanics, kinetic energy, and velocity are part of the formula. Those factors (combined with…
As kids, we would sometimes say, as a mean joke, “He’s so dumb, he forgot how to play!” We thought it was funny then—as 10 year olds. But it’s hardly a laughing matter, then or now. The worry today comes with the knowledge that more and more kids aren’t learning how to appreciate free play—the…
Looking for a safe place for your savings? With today’s tumultuous stock market (even Mark Zuckerberg is losing money) and bank bailouts of the recent past, it’s no wonder that most of us feel a bit uncertain about the best place to store our money. How about a mechanical bank? For years these cast-iron collectibles…
Have you ever wondered how The Strong uses artifacts not currently on display at the National Museum of Play? Scholars from around the world visit Rochester to study firsthand The Strong’s collections, which are unique not only for their rarities but for their breadth and depth. Museums also borrow The Strong’s artifacts for temporary exhibitions,…
When I wrote my first blog for The Strong more than a year ago, I talked about nostalgia—so it seems appropriate that I should come full circle and take some time to reflect back on my time at the museum before heading off to a new job in a new city. I’ve learned a great…
One-hit wonders. You know them well—the artists whose catchy lyrics and infectious tunes earn them a fleeting moment of mega fame before they plunge back into obscurity. Even so, songs like “Come on Eileen” and “Ice Ice Baby” will live on forever, immortalized in VH1 countdowns and karaoke archives. I can probably do the “Macarena”…
