By Bailey Shoemaker Richards After months of writing, campaigning, researching, talking to the press and parents and kids, SPARK finally had the chance to meet with LEGO to talk about the Friends line, and LEGO’s role in shaping kids’ play. LEGO agreed to meet with SPARK representatives after we launched a Change.org petition that garnered [...]

By Bailey Shoemaker Richards  The Hunger Games trilogy is not just a series of books about a dystopian society. Although the books are written for a young adult audience, Suzanne Collins injects the books with enough metaphor, social commentary and allusions to Rome to keep me writing and talking for days. One of the most [...]

By Bailey Shoemaker Richards In mid-March, I entered what initially seemed like it could easily have become a nightmare: I went to Disney World as a chaperon for my sister’s high school dance team. Dance teams, like cheerleaders, tend to have a Mean Girls reputation, and I was nervous about hanging out with a group [...]

SPARK mailed LEGO a certified letter on Tuesday to follow-up on our request for a meeting. We’ve asked for LEGO to contact us by Tuesday, Feb. 6th. Stay tuned. By Bailey Shoemaker Richards SPARK and our partners might be waiting for a response to our letter to LEGO, but we are certainly not sitting around. [...]

By Bailey Shoemaker Richards The start of a new year brings around the time for resolutions, and for some reason, the collective cultural resolution seems to be weight loss – for women. Every ad for Atkins or the latest diet fad that promises women to help them shed pounds at an unhealthy rate reminds women [...]