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Lead a Child Outside or to a Bookshelf Zazzle Design

Of course, when it comes to getting your kids to take mini-social media or digital detoxes, the old saying of leading a horse to water applies.

I created this design out of necessity. At the time - on January 19, 2025 - TikTok went on the process of restoring access to the app on the eve of President Donald Trump's second inauguration.

2 days before, the Supreme Court ruled that ByteDance, a media company, would either sell it to an investor outside China or cease downloads of the app stateside. They ordered it to do the latter, much to the distressing chagrin of 170 million American users.

When the app went dark between January 17 and January 19, 2025, some youths in mostly Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota, California, and Alabama who were facing then-imminent severe ennui even went as far as calling 911 to voice their dissent to emergency services. Some rational, sane netizens couldn't help but either laugh or rant in response.

"This is sadly a meltdown from addiction to that app, @XRP_Tiffany sniffed, "These kids need to touch grass."

@cesar_224455's comment is the most golden response to the articles on X. He quipped, "Great - now kids can pick up a book and read."

The articles of youths calling 911 SOLELY due to a social media platform going dark reminded me of the time when I called 911 at random - out of curiosity rather than me doing it just for kicks. I was 5 or 6 years old, and it took place in mid-90's New Jersey, when social media had yet to exist and NJ PBS was New Jersey Network (le sigh).

My DM reprimanded me for making that call, mostly because I was too naive - like many kindergartners, naturally - to understand that the act could've hindered first responders from responding to ACTUAL emergencies. My strict teacher at school also didn't take my wrongdoing lightly the next day. She sternly told me:

"NO 911."

My hot take on the articles was that I wished my straitlaced kindergarten teacher would knock on the parents' doors; call the children and teens who called emergency services JUST BECAUSE TikTok went dark; and tell them straight to their faces:

"NO 911."

Stemming out of the memories, the articles of youths calling 911 when TikTok went dark, and its comments from sane commenters, the Zazzle collection Lead a Child Outside or to a Bookshelf was born.

Aptly, the design involves a book on a patch of grass, symbolizing the many activities children can do offline, especially going outdoors and reading. The text is the TFB reword of the old saying: you can lead a child outside or to a bookshelf, BUT you can neither make your child touch grass nor read more books.

And I did include the words "touch grass," which according to Hootsuite is a phrase that indicates that "the person spends too much time online, and they physically need to get outside and… reconnect with the real world."

The design urges parents to take preliminary steps before getting their kids to unplug. The first step is to acknowledge AND validate their feelings.

"Have an open discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of these apps and ask them how these apps have made them feel and what emotions have surfaced when using TikTok, "Pam Allyn, a literacy advocate and author of Every Child a Super Reader, advised on Parents, "Does it bring them joy? Anxiety? Maybe it helps them combat loneliness."

One of the vital methods to clear any emotional resistances to social media/digital detoxes is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). It's the practice of tapping on various parts of the body to release any emotional energy blockages - especially the ones that the times spent on TikTok or digital devices in general have erected in children.

"This desire to stay informed and connected can become overwhelming, building into a media fixation or a Facebook (or TikTok) addiction, EFT expert Nick Ortner explained, "essentially, some form of escapism that indirectly allows you to procrastinate on a project at hand. The first thing to take a hit is your productivity."

"On top of that, there seems to be a surprising connection between a degree of insecurity and social media addiction. Sometimes, this deep need to know exactly what’s going on with everyone we know reflects a sense that everything that everyone else is doing is more important or more interesting that what we’re up to. If you think you’re spending too much time looking at whatever pops up every day, you’re probably addicted. It could be insightful to find out why."

Those EFT tapping scripts and videos form other influences behind the design. Items in the collections - split into stationery lines in the Construction Paper Eras Nostalgic Stationery & Supplies store and apparel, decor, and accessory lines the Construction Paper Eras Nostalgic Apparel & Life Stuff one - are also excellent for EFT therapists and parenting experts AS MUCH as concerned parents AND teachers alike THEMSELVES.

"(The) interesting thing is likely to happen once you get past your Facebook addiction or whatever’s been such a distraction," Ortner concluded, "There’s a good chance you and your work (as well as your kids AND their schoolwork and lives in general) are going to become a lot more interesting, not just to you, but to everyone else you (and your kids) were previously tuning into!"

Lead a Child Outside or to a Bookshelf Stationery https://www.zazzle.com/collections/lead_a_child_outside_or_to_a_bookshelf_stationery-119907994466785649?rf=238359978314987621

Lead a Child Outside or to a Bookshelf Life Stuff https://www.zazzle.com/collections/lead_a_child_outside_or_to_a_bookshelf_life_stuff-119188382735828430?rf=238359978314987621

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Tuesday, July 30th, 2024

🌟 New

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The Story Behind the “Full Contretemps” Zazzle Item Lines

In summer 2023, Tomas Karlborg resigned as ballet master for the Berlin Ballet. One of his parting gifts to the ballet world was a clip from their World Ballet Day 2021 company class on stage, accompanied by Nodira Burchanowa on the piano. It was a medium allegro combination inspired by George Balanchine.

The steps go as follows: temps leve 1st arabesque, 2 full contretemps into a temps leve passe, then a temps leve 1st arabesque into a contretemps to temps leve 3rd arabesque. The dancer then takes two steps arrriere (to the opposite direction) to a temps leve developpe ecarte derrière to a balance arriere. The dancer does a tombe, pas de bourree, glissade, to a grand pas de chat, or the pas de Balanchine as Karlborg calls it.

The clip was posted on TikTok in the middle of May in 2023, but later that next month, ballet dancers current and former started doing the medium allegro combo wherever they could, regardless of whether they were wearing sneakers and street clothes or pointe shoes and tutus. Sophie Silnicki did it down the shore in North Wildwood, NJ, in a bikini on the sand.

“Growing up, being trained constantly, day after day, you know all of those ballet terms. You can hear the terms and immediately know the combo,” she said.

Most organizations, ballet schools, and even ballet competition bodies also got into the act. The Dutch National Ballet had their danseurs in gowns pull it off. YAGP has at least two videos featuring female ballet students execute it in tutus.

Some competition-oriented studios and mom-and-pop ones also dove in. After all, it trended smack-dab in the middle of intensive season.

Even Silnicki’s former dance troupe, The Rockettes, hopped on the bandwagon - LaDuca Annie boots first, LITERALLY.

And later on, Ballet for All posted a living room-friendly version of the medium allegro enchainement. It may omit the temps leve avant 1st arabesque after the temps leve avant passe to a contretemps before the temps leve avant 3rd arabesque, but it’s about feasible.

And yes, I REQUESTED IT, having seen several videos of dancers pulling it off.

Apart from at least two tutorials of the combo on TikTok, Yelena’s on YouTube explicitly mentioned the aforementioned contretemps included in it!

Even days before Ballet for All’s tutorial was released, the medium allegro combo that went viral on TikTok sparked a merchandise line on the TFB for Safe and Age-Appropriate Dance Ed. Zazzle store: Full Contretemps. Each item is emblazoned with the script text that answers one of the deepest questions some ballet students ask, “Ummm… can you demonstrate a full contretemps once more?”

“This is an excellent example of important good content is on social media — even if it isn’t new,” Ceci Dadisman wrote on ArtsHacker, “Great content can be evergreen. Crafting captivating content significantly increases the likelihood of engaging a larger audience.”

And evergreen the medium allegro combo had been. And it became the influence behind the Full Contretemps merch line on Zazzle.

Full Contretemps collections:

Stationery and Treats: https://www.zazzle.com/collections/full_contretemps_stationery_and_treats-119490106935806660?rf=238359978314987621

Lifestyle Items: https://www.zazzle.com/collections/full_contretemps_lifestyle_items-119286775398051934?rf=238359978314987621

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As a former child dancer and a dance fan, I relaunched my Zazzle side hustle to open the site’s own branch, TFBSAADE Dance Ed. Personalizables & Treats. The meat and veg of the content is safe, healthy dance for youth and others.

2 of the topics I covered in my merch are safe pointework and taming overzealous dance parents. In the latter, my Dance Parent Reminders collection focuses on having them control their emotions.

Building on that when it comes to their kids performing and/or competing is audience etiquette. The collection - Dance Parent Audience Etiquette - is inspired by a Dance Informa article that asks, “Is it okay to shout, ‘Werk it,’ at a student performer?”

Dance Parent Audience Etiquette Green Notebook, made by me via TFBSAADE Personalizables & Treats.

“In general, cheers/affirmations can be interpreted as reinforcement of a behavior or, in the case of dance, a movement," Youth Protection Advocates in Dance panelist and psychologist Dr. Christine Donaldson explained.

“In the field of psychology, we call this process ‘operant conditioning’. Operant conditioning is a learning process through which the strength of an individual behavior is modified by either a reward or a punishment. Typically, if something feels good (reward), we repeat the behavior, and when it doesn’t feel good (punishment), we avoid the behavior.”

"To be completely honest, most people cheer dancers on in competition in order to help them win awards," Dr. Steven Karageanes, sports medicine specialist, added.

"Because these dance conventions include a competitive element, parents, friends and fans take sides. In competition, you have winners and losers, and nobody enjoys losing. Parents and friends can get caught up in the winning and forget to show sportsmanship and class toward other dancers and studios.”

And not to mention audience etiquette.

Sadly, a small minority (my estimate) of the parents who each holler at their 10-year-old, “Werk it,” as she does an especially hypersexualized jazz solo went to see an in-person performance of a major ballet company’s production of Swan Lake. It would be a ridiculous - as well as RUDE - thing to scream the EXACT SAME thing as Odile does 32 fouettes en tournant in the coda of the Act II pad de deux.

Dance Parent Audience Etiquette Pink Flyer (great for studio registration packets), made by me via TFBSAADE Personalizables & Treats.

The coda of the Act II pas de deux from Swan Lake popped in my mind reading the Dance Informa article. Hence, the Dance Parent Audience Etiquette collection was born.

Katie Gatlin, a former studio owner, advised, “When cheering, I would stick to the basics: ‘Way to go!,’ or, ‘Great energy!’ Shy away from comments regarding physical appearance or body performance. Simply clapping is also a great way to remain positive!”

Better yet, save those cheers AFTER the solo or group numbers. Treat every recital or performance just as if you’re watching a major ballet company’s production of Swan Lake.

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The Story Behind My Dance Parents Reminder Collection

The similar behaviors between dance parents and sports parents is one facet that explains that to some people, dance is seen as a sport.

Should their studios their kids attend be competitive, and they are part of a competition team, some parents would boo at other studios, especially when they’d snub awards. They’d complain to teachers for not including tricks because their kids aren’t technically trained enough to properly execute them. They’d even get verbally and physically violent with the judges for unfairly scoring their kids’ routines.

Some teachers have ways to deal with overzealous parents. Some would simply un-enroll the child. And in some cases, they’d ask the judges to pull entire routines from competitions to have them behave better.

My inspirations behind the customizable, Zazzle-exclusive product line are witty signs Little League teams would erect mostly on outside perimeters of their ballparks. Sayings vary from:

These are kids.

Their coaches volunteer.

The umpires are human.

You don’t play for (an MLB team of said Little League team’s metro area).

To:

I’m just a kid.

It’s just a game.

My coach volunteers.

The umpires are human.

Any university scholarships WON’T be handed out today.

“YouTube is filled with adults fighting during or after Little League games,” Jerriann Sullivan wrote on ScaryMommy, “Watch 30 seconds of one and you’ll plaster a baseball field with similar warnings to parents to avoid your kids seeing that type of unnecessary violence.”

“Little League games give kids a place to have fun while also teaching them how to be gracious when they lose. The parents and coaches should be the first example of that sportsman-like behavior. It’s just a game and they’re just kids trying to enjoy themselves.”

If those signs would work for Little League parents, I pondered, would the same concepts work for dance parents? Those dance parents who’d - like their sports counterparts - bicker with their coaches? Those dance parents who’d scream, “Werk it!,” every 10 seconds while their child would dance the female variation from Ben Stevenson’s Pas De Deux from Esmeralda at a ballet competition?

With that, the Dance Parent Reminder customizable Zazzle merchandise line was born. Teachers and studio owners CAN customize the lines of text on flyers, wall decals, window clings (great on mirrors too), and other items that motion parents to know that proper theater etiquette and good sportsmanship are required.

“Something that drives student-athletes crazy is when their parents look for revenge with judges or the coaches,” Seattle-based ballroom dance instructor Atanas G. Malamov explains, “Judges are doing the best they can. They have professional integrity; the sport is very subjective, and make human mistakes.”

“Taking your abuse is not part of the job description. But the child- athletes recognize this better than the parents. They feel bad for the judges and coaches. They understand that they are doing their best, the same way the athletes are trying. Your yelling embarrasses them and sets a bad example.“

“These statements can be broken down into one: I love to watch you dance. Notice the unconditional love, complete acceptance of the child, and lack of pressure or attention to performance. Kids already know that they dance to win. They know to avoid mistakes. What they need to know is that you love them no matter what.”

And the Dance Parent Reminder line will help studio owners and faculties ensure that their dance parents will be THOSE good sports!

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Important! PLEASE, PLEASE contact customer service if you want to purchase my Zazzle products in bulk. If no live agent is available, please email them. I STRIVE to keep my stores scam-free. Thank you.

https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support-

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The Story of Authentic Italian Cuisine Appreciation on TFB Zazzle

I love Italian cuisine - and as any firstborn American would do, I grew up eating fettuccine Alfredo; spaghetti Bolognese (the FIlipinos have their variation with sliced frankfurters and banana ketchup); and other food items not seen at a restaurant in Italy.

That was - when I first visited Italy.

My first was a cruise on October 2014, and the culinary highlights were in Florence, Rome, and the Adriatic Coast. Everything tasted FRESH, and the food creamed the fare onboard the NCL Spirit to a T!It was a postive culture shock, as there were excellent varieties of pizze (I used to 3-plus cheeses and pepperoni types) to try out.

Taken 10/14/2015.

That next year, I revisited Italy via Expat Explore’s 26-day Ultimate Europe tour package. Not only did I eat the best gelato at Venchi when my tour bus stopped in Rome, but on the food tour there, my highlights were arancini and bucatini all'amatriciana.

The bucatini all'amatriciana had a sauce of tomatoes and chopped, rendered guanciale - pork jowl. Filipinos are familiar with sisig, but the difference between it and the best pasta in Rome was that there weren’t any onions in latter.

I also sampled tomato foccacia from a bakery, as opposed to pizzeriae as it was stateside. I then had yet to sample tomato pie (which is a similar food item from South Jersey), but that was as close as I could get to doing so, let alone assuming it was better and more culinary-wise advanced.

Both times I was in Italy, the pasta displays were just as delightful. There were more shapes sold - about 4 times the amount sold at an average stateside supermarket. And there were even - ahem - NSFW ones as well!

Yup, I HAD TO blur out the aforementioned NSFW pasta shapes on the bottom left. (Taken 10/16/2015)

Those memories of my past jaunts in Italy flooded back to me reading and viewing the social media campaigns, Italians Mad at Food and Stop Italian Sounding. Not only is there common ground - the appreciation of authentic Italian cuisine. But most of their posts would make me laugh till wheezing. 

Italians Mad at Food was conceived Christmas 2016 by a non-Italian music producer, Zach Champion. He started it after seeing a slew of comments from Italian netizens criticizing - mostly HILARIOUSLY - pasta recipes from various sites like Buzzfeed’s Tasty (especially its one-pot pesto pasta).

Think of this tank top (and other items promoting the proper cooking of spaghetti on TFB’s Construction Paper Eras Notstalgic Apparel and Lifestyle Items) as my tribute to Italians Mad at Food and Stop Italian Sounding.

“Gradually, I just started noticing that any time they’d post pasta or pizza recipes, they’d get this unrelenting torrent of vitriol from sometimes the same people commenting on every video,” Champion recalled on The Verge, “this pretty broad swath of very traditionalist Italian cooks and consumers.”

“So on my personal Twitter account, I started tweeting a couple of those and they didn’t really stick, but somehow I knew that this is hilarious. I read them to my friends sometimes and they agreed that it was hilarious. Even though my personal account didn’t get much traction, I had a gut feeling that there was a market out there for people who would enjoy this.”

“So kind of embracing the more absurdist humor that I liked from elsewhere on Twitter, I put together the image one day and I found that picture of Luigi (from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show) angrily cooking the pizza. I’m pretty impressed by how easily it came together as a concept. It was especially enticing to me because it’d be such an easy account to run.”

“I can just let these people speak for themselves.”

In contrast, an Italian-American - Robert Campana - founded Stop Italian Sounding, which calls out commercial products that are imitations of foodstuffs found in Italy. It also takes jabs at dishes that claim to be just like the ones served at the nation or are variations.

“(Creating Stop Italian Sounding) matters because it helps to protect the consumer,” wrote Campana, “Behind many Italian products, there is much more then just simple ingredients; there is tradition, history, and craftsmanship. A knowledge consumer is a happier one.”

“Furthermore, spreading awareness is important because most Italian sounding products are imitations of protected Italian products. From the Italian point of view, this is damaging to not only Italy’s image, but also to the small and medium producers.”

I have nothing against fettuccine Alfredo, and I can “go with the flow” if I’d eat Hawaiian pizza or feast on pepperoni pizza at a party somewhere. But the higher preference to true Italian food and support for businesses around it are behind my item lines for TFB Zazzle: Authentic Italian Cuisine Appreciation.

On AICA at CPENSS, I offer a variety of items. They are for home chefs who scoff at pasta being boiled in milk and restaurants that likewise agree that there are 5 ingredients in carbonara: eggs; spaghetti (boiled WHOLE al dente first, as this sticker indicates); Pecorino and/or Parmigiano-Reggiano; black pepper; and diced, rendered guanciale.

Countries outside Italy will always sell jarred tomato sauce with fillers - no matter how the label featuring the Tuscan countryside convinces that eating a dish with it makes “you feel like you’re in that country.

TV channels and prerolls on Web video will always either show scenes of spaghetti being snapped in half or feature a plethora of cultural appropriation and stereotypes.

But I have a market on Zazzle for connoisseurs and chefs ALIKE who appreciate and honor authentic Italian cuisine. ‘

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Back in the mid-to-late 90s, when I was a little girl, I did ballet/tap combo and the first 2 levels of ballet. My dance studio rarely had their students overstretch.

So what is overstretching? Well, that’s when dancers use often injurious tactics to increase extreme ranges of motion.

“We're seeing labral tears (tears in hip joints) and issues in their back in 11 and 12-year-olds,” physiotherapist Lisa Howell told Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2015, “which is very disconcerting because while they're doing these moves to make themselves better dancers, they are often actually ruling themselves out of a professional career because they are getting injuries so young.”

“The biggest issue we have now is that people are taking moves from rhythmic gymnasts and trying to insert them into dance and trying to do this in a very, very quick way as a one stop shop, rather than looking at all of the detailed training that has to go in before any of those tricks are actually attempted.”

“If they look like they are unsafe they probably are. If you cringe then it probably is cringeworthy."

The trend actually started a few years earlier before social media took off. In 2002, netizens on Dance.net started posting pictures of contortionists and rhythmic gymnasts on their stretching pages. Initially, they became motivators for them to become more flexible. 

Through competition footage vids, despite the prevalence of dial-up internet, dancers allegedly also started to borrow key movements from RG in their routines.

The movements included fouettes with legs in horizontal (grandes pirouettes a la secondes en dehors, or a la seconde turns, also borrowed from collegiate/HS dance teams); front or side split pivots with help (pirouettes detires, or leg hold turns); and scissor leaps in ring with both legs passing to the floor (pas de kiltses en tournant, or turning C jumps).

IMHO, this is what my brain sees watching video footage of youth dance competitions, especially the musical theater routines that aren’t related to the showtune’s originating musical.

While they allegedly have dancers reaping top brass at dance competitions, classic jazz dance proponents feel that such movements are cheapening the dance genre by trading in history and heritage for flash and shock value.

“The prime reason for the choreography was to display the ability of the dancer, often resulting in a surfeit of tricks and of course the ridiculous inclusion of fouetté turns (or rather, said grandes pirouettes a la secondes en dehors) in a jazz dance routine,” Matt Mattox protege and master teacher Bob Boross told audiences at the Dance Teacher Summit in 2018.

“I would imagine that it hasn’t gotten much better in recent years, but competition jazz dance has not done much to improve the quality of the form or its knowledgeability in its audience.”

“This idea of truthfulness in jazz dance is a big issue in today’s jazz dance world. The term ‘jazz dance’ is used and misused in so many areas. Dances that have little or no jazz dance qualities are routinely (and inaccurately) described as jazz dance.”

Another thought in my brain watching a youth dance competition.

“When a media outlet has great or highly influential visibility (So You Think You Can Dance, etc.), the audience begins to believe the inaccurate description, and in the process the truth of jazz dance is ignored. What often is called jazz dance will have minimal jazz dance characteristics.”

Boross listed qualities of jazz dance sorely needed in much of youth dance education: grounded, relaxed hits that emanate from the pelvis outward; judicious use of body isolations (non-sexual, of course); sense of "cool;” inclusion of rhythmic sophistication; and manipulation of dynamic impulse.

Above all, many dance teachers are pedantic in jazz dance history, which is why many MT routines (especially those to any cover of “Le Jazz Hot” or Tami Tappan Damiano’s “Hit Me With a Hot Note”) lack context, let alone the era of the song or originating musical. 

Such as the case of my TFBSAADE Zazzle and TeePublic line, Less Oversplits, More Savoy Kicks.

Besides the fact that sports science increasingly urges dance teachers to eschew overstretching and hyper-detires (in which dancers shoulder their legs next to their earlobes and beyond that) in favor of functional strength and cross-training and dynamic flexibility, I created this design to ALSO promote jazz dance history and heritage that will trump over gluts of tricks. 

“Research and know the history of your genre,” Boross informed, “Know the music of jazz in its early formations – ragtime, hot jazz, swing, bebop, cool jazz... And also know the standard dances that were created to meld with these jazz rhythmic elements. Have the music and movements solid in your mind and in your bones.”

“And once you have that, then let this be a subliminal guide in your jazz dance creations of today. You will find that aspects of the true jazz formations of the past will emerge in your work, or the overall look/style of your jazz dance will show a reflection back to the veracity of the past.”

“This is a surefire way to know that your work is truly 'jazz’ and that you are honoring the past as you move into the future.”

And also - limit the overstretching, please.

Here’s some JAZZ DANCING that doesn’t require pirouettes detires or other tricks borrowed from the FIG RG Code of Points!

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One meme features an image of a white descant recorder, captioned, “How the heck did this help my education?” One netizen replied, “It taught me how to summon Satan with “Hot Cross Buns.”

For many, the recorder is the least liked woodwind instrument due to countless elementary school experiences in music classes.

“The squeaking of bad notes and repetitive nature of the songs played on the recorder can drive people crazy,” Robert Jackson of Hello Music Theory explains, “It is not unheard of that recorders are 'accidentally' thrown away after a child plays 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' for the hundredth time.”

“The aspect of the recorder that people find most annoying is the whistling sound that is created when the holes are not covered properly. This high-pitched noise is enough to make dogs go running and people incredibly irritated.”

Or so classical music fans - especially early music nuts - THINK?

One of the things that make some people hate the recorder is improper breath control. Overblowing - using fast, large air streams in the instrument, causing squeaks - is one issue.

“Recorders are seemingly easy to play and deceptively take no practice to be good at them, although all musical instruments require practice. But the reason why some people hate it is because they or even their classmates overblow too much on their instruments,” I explained on HubPages. 

Soca Blues Recorder Foam Board, designed by me for tfbaccompmusicians.

“Recorders need even, steady air. But even though some teachers constantly remind them to blow evenly and steadily, some kids are too eager enough to blow so hard that their instruments squeal.”

Embouchure is another source of breeding anti-recorder resentment. Because they are fipple flutes, children often put their instruments TOO FAR IN THEIR MOUTHS, making them prone to overblow.

“They should place them on their bottom lips of them in front of their lower jaws and place the instrument at a diagonal angle, approximately 45 degrees,” I informed. “They should keep the upper jaws relaxed with teeth away from the tops. Lips shouldn't tense that much but they should be closed enough to discourage squeaks.”

General ignorance aside, I fell into the Classical/Early Music Rabbit Hole watching Classic Arts Showcase on access TV and Ovation TV on cable TV in 4th grade. Even though I previously learned “Hot Cross Buns” in my last years living in NJ, I was one of the minority actually pleased to revisit it. But not without moving media that led me further into the said rabbit hole. 

On Classic Arts Showcase, I watched Michala Petri play Johann Sebastian Bach’s music on the recorder - accompanied by Lars Hannibal on the lute - with a demeanor of an 80s pop band saxophonist (to my 10-year-old eyes). I thought it was so amazing, even for an elementary school student revisiting the ridiculed “Hot Cross Buns!” I began to expand my brain like NEVER BEFORE.

Just watch until 2:35 - this was when I realized that there was MORE to the woodwind instrument than “Hot Cross Buns!”

Ton Koopman’s rendition of Cantata BWV 106 on Ovation TV widened my classical music horizons. The two recorder players of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra allured me, and watching the performance felt like I’m happily defying my elementary music teachers by watching pro musicians play REAL BACH instead of them playing “Merrily we Roll Along” and “Lightly Row.”

Not only did I survive the recorder unit VICTORIOUSLY, but I sought WAY MORE POTENTIAL in the woodwind instrument via TV and classical music mp3s, all the while flowing through “Hot Cross Buns,” “Merrily we Roll Along,” and “Lightly Row.”

Years later, I created a series of recorder-appreciation items on TFBLAM’s Zazzle, some of them each asking a much deeper question, “Can we play Vivaldi next?” Because the more we get people educated on classical music, the less people would associate the misunderstood woodwind instrument with “Hot Cross Buns,” “Merrily we Roll Along,” and “Lightly Row.”

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In a previous post, I wrote about how the side hustle is age-appropriate compared to grinding and twerking. The above product bears the third overall design on the Side Hustle Dance Craze lines on my Construction Paper Eras Zazzle stores, and it refers to what it and square dancing have in common:

YOU WON’T CONTRACT COOTIES.

Ever since Henry Ford introduced it in the PE curriculum in Dearborn schools (to deter kiddos from dancing the Charleston, the twerking of the Roaring 20s) and Dr. Lloyd “Pappy” Shaw perfected it by making it widespread with the tours by the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers in the 40s and 50s, square dancing in PE provoked many horror stories from elementary school, some of them humorous.

“I’ll never forget standing on the asphalt of the outdoor basketball courts on those sun-baked Miami afternoons, just wanting to go inside to play with (Transformers or G.I. Joe action figures), but (with us students) having to deal with the Virginia Reel and other classics,” recalled a poster on a StraightDope forum.

“I’ll never forget the announcer on the records (because this was the mid-'80s, and our school still had scratchy old record players), who sounded like The Count from Sesame Street. He could have been a Southerner, but to me it was Transylvanian all the way, and it strangely fit.

“(He crowed,) ‘HONOR YOUR PARTNER! AH! AH! AH! HONOR YOUR CORNER! ONE! TWO! THREE! ALL JOIN HANDS, CIRCLE TO THE LEFT!   AH! AH! AH! YOUR LEFT HAND AROUND HER! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! YOUR RIGHT HAND AROUND HER! AH! AH! AH!‘”

“I’m not saying it WAS The Count, or (if they WERE Sesame Street square dancing records), but it sure sounded like him.  It’s a wonder I ended up as a musician after those years when music was simply a torture device by evil grownups.”

I also read my fill of accounts and yams from the small numbers who liked square dancing in PE. One Georgia dad, Rick Badie, hailed its benefits of his son doing so in 2007. Him being equipped to dance cleanly especially at a time when grind dancing and twerking were the main social dances of the day in middle and high school functions was one of them.

“Kids, parents and teachers packed the gymnasium,” Badie described the elementary school hoedown he attended in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1) op-ed that April, “There had to be 300 people on hand. “The sound system blared no rock, rap or rhythm and blues. No deejay was mixing. Kids were decked out in Western wear. From ear to ear they grinned, even my son.”

“Earlier, Miles had said he'd have no part of it. A young mind can change quickly. There he was, arm to arm with his partner. Typically at dances for this age level, boys gather on one side of the room, girls camp out on the other. No interaction.”

“And given the pap that poses as pop culture, that could be a good thing. Raunchiness rules. Rita Buchanan, Nesbit's music teacher, wanted her 1,400 or so students to dance, but she didn't want them to mimic the bumping and grinding common among older teens.”

Badie wasn’t alone. Nearly 3 months before his op-ed was published, Tully Junior-Senior High School Rebecca Snow also preferred square dancing to grinding and twerking and advocated it. She wrote in the Syracuse Post-Standard (2), “I know, the music is a bit lame. I get that part, but how can someone be a fan of a style of dance that only offers one piece of choreography? In square dancing, each song is a new dance. Keep them coming!” “When I have been to square dancing parties in the past, I have had the time of my life. I could have done it until I fell asleep on the dance floor in the middle of a do-si-do. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Everyone messes up when learning the dance, but they work together to make it like clockwork.

Speaking on behalf of THAT minority who embraced square dancing in elementary school, I decided to explain - childhood memories and all - why I’m proud to be part of the faction on HubPages. “I got acquainted with square dancing even before my PE coach taught it. I don't recall seeing any live performances or attended events, but I saw scenes from TV shows and kidvids of people dancing it.”

One of my ‘placebos’ I took before taking on the RATHER ENJOYABLE (for me) square dancing PE unit in elementary school in NJ. (And it helped that square dancing has been its official state dance since 1983!)

“The ‘Turkey in the Straw' segment from Mickey's Fun Songs: Campout at Walt Disney World is a prime example of this. I first watched the video when it came out in 1994. Of all the segments of the video, that one gave me an introduction to the dance. I pictured myself dancing with the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dancers, all in traditional square dance garb, with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy watching it all.” “Fast forward to nearly 3 years later, and my PE coach finally taught us the square dancing unit. Almost all the class - me included - actually had fun! While a lot of my classmates enjoyed it for that reason only, I enjoyed it for both that and prior exposure. Eventually, the Valentine's Day dance was themed to a hoedown. And I came out cootie-free, to the contrary.”

I cited the lack of exposure as a reason why most elementary school kids HATE square dancing and why adults and teens alike HATED doing so in gym class as elementary students themselves. “Again, a lot of kids and adults old enough to remember do-si-doing in gym class as kids hated it due to the lack of prior exposure amid cootie fears and social awkwardness,” I explained on HubPages.

“So I proposed that if PE classes ever do the unit or still do it, they should at least offer site suggestions for students who watch online videos (a lot of them have YouTube in their homes). Or - if money and time aren't issues - they could invite a small group of square dancing club members in full frock in their next school assemblies."

“It’s like classical music (and I’m a fan of it since late elementary school) - just as teens think it's uncool, so do they with square dancing because even recent mainstream media (with the exception of just searching for square dance videos) does very little to expose them to it enough.”

My memories of me ACTUALLY ENJOYING the square dancing unit in PE in elementary school also led me to create a design that is part of the Side Hustle Dance Craze lines on Zazzle, no circle-circle-dot-dot vaccines needed. 

(1) Badie, Rick. "Rick Badie / My Opinion: Square dancing a nicer option." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA), Online; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ed., 2 Apr. 2007, p. 0. NewsBank: Access World News, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/126E852647900900. Accessed 8 June 2022.

(2) Snow, Rebecca. "HOW ABOUT A REAL DANCE?." Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY), Final ed., sec. Local, 23 Jan. 2007, p. B3. NewsBank: Access World News, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/116DC259CA187CE8. Accessed 8 June 2022.

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The impetus behind the Male Dancer Awareness lines - exclusively on TFB for Safe and Age-Appropriate Dance Ed. Personalized Items & Treats - stemmed from the 2022 balletcore trend.

Balletcore was a fashion trend marked by tulle, rehearsal attire-based duds, and yes, LOTS of pink. Jezebel states that while it was hot, it also misrepresented the ballet world.

“Amidst well-meaning but incomplete TikToks of the history of balletcore, and elegant photo shoots featuring celebrities and fashion models in pointe shoes,” the article read, “the ballet aesthetic revival tells only the palatable parts of the story.”

“Conveniently, it leaves out the systemic sexual assault, grooming, and harassment allegations that have cropped up across the ballet world over the past several years, and ignores ballet’s institutional inability to reckon with its self-perpetuated racism and fat-phobia."

“Women face the same standards that ballet dancers do everyday. But now they’re being commodified into this tiny little trend that uses the public’s nostalgia for ballet as a Trojan horse for fat-phobia and misogyny,” ballet dancer Minnie Lane explained.

“Balletcore has taken the worst aspects of ballet culture and applied it to all women, and I really doubt, other than a few New York City Ballet or ABT ad campaigns, that ballet as a field is going to benefit at all.”

Meet the faction of the “minority” represented in balletcore.

Even worse, balletcore largely left men and boys studying ballet in the commercial lurch. 

That 2022 fashion trend was another pile of salt the fashion industry rubbed in their male ballet students’ wounds, long-festered by relentless teasing related to their training and performance. A 2006 Wayne State University study showed that 93% of boys who take up ballet reported “teasing and name calling,” and 68% experienced “verbal or physical harassment.” 

It’s not enough to convince dance studios that males (and other genders) CAN study ballet. A majority of them are inundated with pinks, purples, and bright teals. Many of their logos include females in grandes sissonnes ouvertes en avant with the back legs in oftentimes hyperextended attitudes derrieres effaces (which the competition dance world call such poses “firebird leaps”), pointe shoes, and five-pointed stars.

And a majority of merchandise also bear the SAME color schemes AND images.

Male Dancer Awareness III Personalized Binder, made by me for TFBSAADE Personalized Items & Stationery

While the images of females in said grandes sissonnes ouvertes en avant with the back legs in hyperextended attitudes derrieres effaces aren’t really bad, I decided to breathe fresh airs of breath on the merchandising side of the dance industry by creating the Male Dancer Awareness lines on the TFBSAADE Zazzle store. With each image in bright but gender-neutral colors, I gear each item branded to not only male dancers, but the ones who support them 100%.

“The first thing you should do if you’re trying to attract more boys to your studio is take a good look around the premises,” Sherry Graves wrote on TutuTix, “Are the walls pink? Is the waiting room decorated with pictures of female ballerinas? Are your changing rooms for girls only?”

“These design choices may be in line with your current clientele, but they will likely work against you when it comes to selling dance for boys in your studio. Dance Advantage explained that simple, vibrant decor in neutral colors is often a good choice when catering to both genders. You should also be sure to feature a variety of dancers and genres in your artwork.”

And so should dance-related merchandise.

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According to the IADMS, pointe shoes AREN’T RECOMMENDED for girls and boys (due to an increasing number of males pursuing pointework) who are under 12; are weak in ankle, foot, core, thigh, hip, AND GLUTE muscles; and/or have taken ballet with halfhearted effort at most once weekly for at most 3 years.

But for many years, some people don’t get the drift.

***WARNING: SPOILERS!***

In the Golden Age of Hollywood and the height of variety TV in the 50s, for instance, hosts and movie stars often didn’t give children’s health and safety much thought when it came to pointework. For some ballet-erudite people, the 4 ballet dancers - presumed to be younger than 10 - in the finale are the reasons why the 1954 Paramount flick White Christmas hits different for them.

“Blame Danny Kaye for that,” explained a poster on Ballet Talk for Dancers, “He thought that teeny-tiny girls en pointe were 'cute.’ While doing his TV variety show, Laurie Ichino, who was a guest, her sister Nancy (Yoko), and their mother finally laid down the law to him.”

The finale of White Christmas was brought up in a ballet-related Reddit forum about girls being en pointe too early. “The beautiful ending sequence is always ruined for me when I see those little girls tottering around on pointe shoes,” a commentator wrote, “That was Hollywood in the 50s though; in North America we try to be more aware of health consequences these days."

Even in recent years - despite what the podiatrists, ballet experts, and PTs say - some people still have girls pursue pointework too early, and some of the blame has laid on social media.

“I don't care how talented a dancer is or how good her technique is, but if she is below 10 years of age, she shouldn't be on pointe at all. Period,” the OP wrote, kicking off the thread with a link of a 2012 video of a 6-year-old dancing the Lilac Fairy variation from Sleeping Beauty COMPLETELY EN POINTE.

“Her bones are still developing, and putting her on pointe early will damage her feet, eventually screwing her as she gets older. When I started pointe at 11 years old (with my teacher's approval), I didn't have the best turnout or arches, but my ankles were at least strong enough to bear the pressure of pointework.”

“I also think that pointe shoe distributors and sellers should enact a policy prohibiting the sale of pointe shoes to girls under the age of 10, as well as setting guidelines on how to determine a student is ready for pointework."

“I remembered that when I was around 7 years of age, I discovered that I can stand on pointe in (my Crocs) that I wear at home,” another commenter recalled, “When I demonstrated this to my dance teacher, she frowned and asked who put me on pointe. She later on had a talk with me and strongly encouraged me not to attempt en pointe, especially at home without any support.”

“There was also another baby ballerina en pointe (an 8 year old) who made an appearance on Russian TV where Nikolai Tsiskaridze (headmaster of the prestigious Vaganova Academy) was a guest as well. Tsiskaridze is known as a man who doesn't mince any words when it comes to ballet, yet he was put in a really awkward position on TV in the presence of an 8 year old en pointe.”

“I don't know what he said because I don't speak Russian, but judging by his body language and speech flow I had a feeling that he was probably struggling to find the right words. Deep down, he knows that an 8 year old shouldn't be on pointe, but at the same time, he's trying to be nice and not sound like (an idiot).”

The IG account, Models Doing Ballet, showcases stills and videos (most of those being advertisements) of dancers doing technically-incorrect ballet poses and moves. A lion’s share of them involves the models - and most are adult non-dancers - in pointe shoes.

The worst are the photos from magazines and websites that sell anything but dancewear featuring children in pointe shoes. One of them is from a Lithuanian contemporary of Storybook Heirlooms (the go-to clothing emporium for children’s Sunday Best, First Communion apparel, and formalwear in the 80s and 90s, mind y’all).

“Meanwhile my 13 year old daughter is working her (explicit off) in training/lessons just for the privilege of getting the opportunity to put on pointe shoes and dance on pointe,” a dance mom commented.

“I used to have a lot of Storybook Heirlooms catalogs as a 90s kid, and they WOULD NEVER EVER do that on their models to sell their flower girl, First Communion, and party dresses,” I chimed in, via my IG handle @tfblovesmusiciansanddancers, coming from this said 90s kid who grew up with Storybook Heirlooms myself.

“My kid was actually in a commercial as a ballerina, and the director asked for pointe shoes,” a dance mom recalled as she commented on another photo of a girl clearly under 11 in pointe shoes. “She was 9. I laughed, ‘Oh no no... she’s not ready for that.’” MDB knighted her as the “mom of the year.”

Manifested from loads of horror stories of children being put en pointe too early; the balletcore trend of 2022 (and men represented a sad minority, and the teasing that STILL PERSISTED didn’t help wonders AT ALL); and MDB came the Pointe Shoe Warning line on TFBSAADE’s Zazzle personalizeables store.

For the design, I recolored the black public domain vector of a pair of pointe shoes in satin ballet pink gradient and placed it and a public domain clip art of a little girl in a slashed circle to mean business. In addition to under-11s and undertrained ballet dancers, fashion models who have little to no dance training should NOT go en pointe, no matter how the ad agencies, film directors, and photographers wanted them to make each shot or video ballet-themed.

“(MDB’s mission) is simple,” the admins explained on Pointe Magazine, “If a brand is going to do a ballet or dance-inspired shoot, then hire real dancers. It takes a lifetime of grueling training to be able to pose correctly (and dare we say safely) in pointe shoes. There is an entire community of trained dancers who would love to work professionally and do us proud. We’re not here to shame. We’re here to change the game. While also having a laugh.”

Pointe Shoes Warning Merch Line: https://www.zazzle.com/z/a3vbuqb6?rf=238359978314987621

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My concept for the youth apparel and accessory line, Baon Again?, was based on 2 videos, all taken during the Orlando vacations which included trips to Walt Disney World.

In John Crist’s video, he tells his kids that they aren’t eating Goofy-shaped chicken nuggets (which don’t exist anyway), and they have to settle with their homemade ham sandwiches. Many people, regardless of faith (Crist is Christian) related to that scene.

“Every time I had been on a school trip or family holiday, I watched people sitting in lovely restaurants while I ate squashed sandwiches my mum made,” a UK commenter recalled.

“Mine were squashed cheese - flat,” another UK adult chimed in, “I used to get battered and told to be grateful... but (the memory) stuck with me, and I still find it hard to go eat in a café or restaurant.”

“I am having flashbacks to the turkey sandwiches (yup, brought by Mom) that my fam ate at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (at Universal’s Islands of Adventure) while watching everybody else eat shepherd's pie and drink Butterbeer,” another chimed.

Christine “HappySlip” Gambito made a similar video of her trip to Disney and Universal Orlando (hence her HILARIOUSLY commenting on the Brachiosaurus‘s neck and herbivorous diet while riding Jurassic Park River Adventure at Islands of Adventure) with her 12-year-old son (though according to her, it was all staged).

In the final scene when they are in an offsite hotel, Micah asks Tita HappySlip is they could get room service. She turns down his request, saying that they are having SNACK BARS - mostly swap meet and airline-offered ones - for dinner. The ending caption reads, “Pood (sic) is too expensive at Disney. Next time, I will just bring the rice cooker.”

“Your mom was packing oranges for us (for our trip to Disney),” one commenter on FB recalled, “with her telling us to just eat at home, we should have listened. But nnnoooooooooooooooo - we wanted to pay $50 for lunch!”

“I told you to eat plenty before we leave if you don't want to carry the siopao and pan de sal buns at Disneyland,” another recalled his mother saying during one of his trips, “I'm not gonna pay for the overpriced food; it’s cheaper getting those in swapmeet. The food there is too salty - I cook better, The food there has no taste - I cook better. The cooks there don’t wash their hands - I cook cleaner. I don't want to wait on the long line.”

“What kind of food did you get - hotdog,” he recalled his mother asking, “you got a hotdog? We came here; too expensive - JUST FOR A HOTDOG!?”

That video brought me a lot of memories as a Fil-Am myself. “My traveling party would bring the Lucky Me pancit to overseas tours,” I reminisced on IG. 

With all those memories and those funny parenting-at-Disney videos combined, I conceived the collection on the TFBOTM Sari-Sari on Zazzle, Baon Again?. I created it for everybody, especially youths (and not just my Filipino friends) who seethe in jealousy eating packed meals as others eat whichever local fare or restaurant food around them, hence the Filipino term.

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It’s a tragic fact - most youth sports participants QUIT before age 13 due to the car ride home. And many pros and adults would agree that it’s one of the worst memories of their participation, too.

Don’t believe me? Picture this.

You come home from work and pick up your spouse or other relative, who has been spying on you during your shift. En route home, your S-O grills you on every faux pas you made at work, from minor spills, going on social media at the job, and eating what the S-O feels that “ruins your appearance" on lunch break.

What do you do? If your S-O is able to drive, would you trade places and continue to be grilled. Would you even feel like jumping out of the car at some point because you couldn’t take it anymore?

If that scenario I described really sounds absurd, there are sob stories of youth athletes being on the receiving ends of similar flak their OWN PARENTS throw at them. From missed shots to dropped batons (and some school districts consider baton twirling a sport), they’d feel like they’re SHAMED to perfection.

“One of the saddest things I had to do as a Director of Coaching for numerous soccer clubs was conduct exit interviews, meetings with players whom had decided to leave the club,” Coach John O’Sullivan, of Changing the Game Project, lamented.

"When I got these players alone, and asked them, ‘What was your least favorite moment in sports?,’ I often got a very similar and sad answer: the ride home after the game.”

Kidvids, coaches, and even parents teach fairness and good sportsmanship to kids when they are young, but it’s sad that some of the latter tend to forget what they mean. They let emotions and egos overtook what they have learned in school, and when presented outwardly and without control, they get in the way of THEIR kids’ foci in their meets, practices, and competitions.

“Many children indicated to me that parental actions and conversations after games made them feel as though their value and worth in their parents’ eyes was tied to their athletic performance, and the wins and losses of their team,” Coach O’Sullivan explained, “Ask yourself whether you are quieter after a hard loss, or happier and more buoyant after a big win. Do you tend to criticize and dissect your child’s performance after a loss, but overlook many of the same mistakes because he or she won?”

“If you see that you are doing this, even though your intentions may be well-meaning, your child’s perceptions of your words and actions can be quite detrimental to their performance, and to your relationship."

Enter Pixabay and GIMP. As described in my HubPages article on using this software for print-on-demand designers, I made the mandala clip art white and added a conical gradient. With the layers merged, I copied the image and pasted it as new layer below the meditating man clip art, head replaced with a ball or other apparatus. I made a layer mask to recolor the man.

With so many iterations of the images, I accompanied each one with this slogan: Inhale. Exhale. Drive calmly and positively.

Besides basketball and football, I decided to make versions for dance (represented by a jazz bootie, on the TFBSAADE Personalized Items Store) and baton twirling. (I added an altered baton clipart on a mandala flower as the meditating person’s head. Items featuring those images can be found at TFB LOVES School Music Ensembles.). Again, some school districts consider baton twirling as a sport and would even list dance teams under athletics.

My images have many things in common when it comes to parental good sportsmanship.

"It is critically important that you do not bring the game up for them, as uninvited conversations may cause resentment in children,” Coach O’Sullivan advises, “Give them the time and space to digest the game and recover physically and emotionally from a match. When your child is ready to bring the game up and talk about it, be a quiet and reflective listener, and make sure she can see the big picture and not just the outcome of a single event.

“Help her work through the game, and facilitate her growth and education by guiding her toward her own answers. Kids learn a lot when they realize things such as, ‘We had a bad week of practice and coach told us this was coming.’”

“The only exception to the above ‘Ride Home’ rule is when your child engages in behavior that you would not accept at home, such as spitting, cursing, assaulting an opponent, or disrespecting a coach or authority figure. In these cases you should initiate the conversation, not as a parent to an athlete, but as a parent to a child. Even then you must be careful and considerate of the emotions of the match, and choose your words wisely. Deal with the issue, and then put it to bed; do not use it as a segue to a discussion of the entire game.”

Simply put, take the time to de-stress after each practice; rehearsal (for baton twirlers in bands and dance teams); meet; or match. Use calming techniques like meditation or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). And I believe that items that feature those images will remind parents to take deep breaths before driving your young sports participants.

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If you ever seen some green trumpets, blue saxes, or clarinets with white gloves on resale or auction sites, picture this:

Imagine you’re a 6th grader who is a clarinettist in the middle school band in autumn 2001. You’re running errands with family, and you spot a display of musical instruments as you buy food your family needs at Walmart. WALMART. In the glass-encased niche sat a violin, flute, trumpet, alto sax, and clarinet, each selling for $150 or cheaper.

But you shrug off buying the clarinet, instead focusing your money on needs. Besides - you’re pretty much happier renting your clarinet from your local music store.

That scenario was REALLY me living it in 7th grade. Though I wanted the clarinet in Walmart, I instead shrugged it off. Financial experts would often say that I should wait 24 hours after keeping an impulse buy in mind. Nearly a decade later, that impulse clarinet turned out to be an instrument-shaped object, or ISO.

All the waiting turned out to be worth it, after all.

ISOs look like standard band instruments. Some of them are colored in fun colors - and they could add pep and school spirit to any band, right? Well, they are made from poorer-quality materials, and even the cases. Some of them have inaccurate fingering charts and unnecessary white gloves. (WHY?)

In 2016, a user posted a display of trumpets during one of his errands at German discount retailer chain LiDL on Facebook. 4 years later, at the first nadir of the COVID-19 pandemic, some British tabloids lifted spirits of people in lockdown reporting variations of the meme.

In one Manchester Evening News article, a Twitter user posted a screenshot of a trumpet sold at LiDL and captioned, “Lidl not giving a (expletive) about your neighbors or housemates during isolation.”

In the years between the time when an FB user posted his photo of a LiDL trumpet and a Twitterverse netizen posting a screenshot of it (as well as beyond), some band directors, band parents, and pro musicians weren’t laughing.

“These pieces of junk are WORSE than a used instrument ready for the junk pile,” one netizen reposted, from a friend’s FB post, “The junk pile of instruments would look at them with disdain. They are like buying a rickshaw instead of a car. They are the kind of crud that crud ridicules.” (Word edits mine.)

In 2019, a flute teacher went to the grocery store with her mom, and she decided to test one of the flutes on sale. She discovered that the left-hand keys were malfunctioning, and the instruction booklet had a bunch of errata. 

The flute teacher posted some pics and a video to Facebook and captioned, “Please, please, please NEVER buy instruments from Amazon, grocery stores, or anywhere that is not a music store. This GREAT deal couldn’t even play from the box. None of the corks were glued on, head joint cork wasn’t actual cork, and not to mention the quality of metal is what causes allergic reactions in young kids.” 

Image also via my Zazzle store, TFB LOVES Accompanimental Musicians 

In 2012, a New Mexico 6th grader had to swap a purple violin - gifted from her grandmother - for a district-owned one for orchestra.

Her mother ranted to the LA Times, "This whole thing is like telling Axl Rose he has to use some guitar from Kmart. He doesn’t want to use that. He wants to use his own guitar. But the school was just so adamant. (My daughter) didn’t match. She stood out. (The teacher) didn’t like the color, and she said she had to keep tuning it, suggesting it was a piece-of-crud violin. “ (Word edits also mine.)

“Their attitude was like, 'Doesn’t your daughter want to be like everyone else?' In this orchestra, they won’t even let the kids wear white socks – they all have to be black. One school officials told me that, 'What if one of our football players wanted to wear a bright helmet? We just can’t allow it.'”

Despite being offered to rent a district-owned violin free-of-charge, the daughter switched electives to choir. Indeed, the purple violin turned out to be a piece-of-crud one, and the media failed to mention that it was an ISO.

I manifested my personal memories; a HubPages article on ISOs; the horror stories about them from band directors, parents, and music lesson instructors; and extensive research into items for local music stores sold on Zazzle. As long as parents are forewarned about the band/orchestra ripoffs - and as long as there are some of them who learned their lessons the hard ways - the number of items for store employees and owners continue to grow!

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Hater: You’re teasing some Christmas items that are upcoming on Zazzle - IN MAY!?!?!?

Me: I wanna make sure that I’ll have something for cruise lovers during its Christmas in July sales as well as the Ber months..

(Conversation based on the Arthur episode, “The Chips are Down.”)

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Back in the 2000s and 2010s, grind dancing was THE dance craze that left school faculty members screaming and Fred Astaire and Arthur Murray turning in their graves. It came in different synonyms like freak dancing and - if done to reggaeton - EL PERREO.

As the Spanish moniker of the latter term attested, the dance similar to canine mating rituals were cruxes of many school dance cancellations at the time. Most grinding took place at homecomings and proms, where girls dress in formal gowns and men dress in tuxes. Having been there as a high schooler during the mid-to-late 2000s myself, I would see at least 30% of attendees form a grind chain. If formed to the strains of reggaeton, it was called a tren de perreo.

“SexyBack,” “Low,” “Gasolina,” “Eso Ehh,” and “Goodies” were the gold standards for grinding just as “In the Mood,” “Take the A-Train,”  "One O'Clock Jump," "Begin the Beguine,” and “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” were the gold standards for swing dancing. Last time I checked, I neither saw see any teens do a tren de perreo during formal nights at cruises past nor my relatives’ friends’ weddings, Sweet 16s (mine included), and the Filipino 18th birthday equivalents, debuts.

Inappropriate music aside, school administrators tried tactics to kill the trend. Some of them canceled their dances altogether. Some others annexed an average of 2 wristbands to jewelry per student. One being snipped meant a warning, while both being cut off usually resulted in being asked to leave the venue.

Few other school administrators hired ballroom dance instructors because they felt that grinding was the only form of social dancing their student bodies knew outside the square dancing units at PE.

“There is something about putting on a formal ball, and ballroom dancing brings a sense of class to any event,” a blog post of Quick Quick Slow Ballroom Dance Studio in Marlboro, NJ, read.

“Ladies get to wear gorgeous ballgowns and men get to look dapper in their suits, apparel which people rarely get an occasion to wear. We grew up watching and reading about princes and princesses attending balls and falling in love, not going clubbing with glow sticks.”

“This nostalgic form of dancing reminds us of simpler times while also offering a form of stress relief and exercise. Ballroom dancing has always been used as a social mixer for people to celebrate different happenings together and find new friends. It does not matter if you are single or a couple, ballroom dancing lessons are a great way to meet others and is a unique talent that is sure to impress anyone.”

“Even though people often associate ballroom dancing with slow dancing, there are fun upbeat dances like the foxtrot and the jive. No matter what you are into, there is something for everyone.”

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and its aftershocks in the form of health restrictions all but played the party poopers who were killing off grind dancing in schools. Once the first in-person prom, HoCo, and other school-sanctioned formals after the lockdowns had taken place, students began finding out that crotch-to-cheeks dancing began to become IMPRACTICAL, given the social distancing guidelines at the time.

As far as their home lives went, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic (and several years even before that) lead to both teens AND adults laying the grooves down with this dance craze: the side hustle.

The side hustle goes by several iterations, from lemonade stands, dropshipping, print-on-demand, and network marketing. No skimpy clothing or music with explicit lyrics are needed to dance it. Done right and legally, it’s one of the few dance crazes that WON’T send teens to the principals’ offices or have them earn suspensions! Plus, there aren’t any cooties involved!

Creating items with this design (there’s a version that mentions twerking too) brought me nostalgia of not only seeing my fellow classmates grind dancing at HoCo 2007 and Prom 2008 as a high schooler. Coming from this 90s kid, I grew up learning line dances like The Macarena, The Electric Slide, and Achy Breaky Heart. For a brief spell, I learned ballroom dancing. 

My cumulative experiences with social dancing - as well as my stints of content writing, print-on-demand, and reselling - lead me to create my Zazzle lines under Side Hustle Dance Craze.