I have been asked as my first assignment for the MIT Media Lab MOOC “Learning Creative Learning” to read Seymour Papert’s essay on Gears of My Childhood and write about an object from my childhood that interested and influenced me.
Throughout my younger childhood there where many objects that drew me in and captured my attention for hours. One of my favorites can be seen below:
However, there is one in particular that does stand out and it wasn’t Merlin, although that is a close second. For me it was Garbage Pail Kids.
I was 13 years old and I found the illustrations of Garbage Pail Kids unendingly fascinating. They were gross, twisted, clever, and very detailed. I also loved trading them with my friends. I would spend hours studying the drawings. One day I sat down and tried to design my own card. I fell in love with the creation process, and while my drawing was not really good, it did inspire me to take extracurricular art classes.
Garbage Pail image from: http://www.imisstheoldschool.com/archives/garbage-pail-kids/