Desmond Williams

Desmond Williams is a freelance writer and JUNO magazine columnist. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, is half of a mixed-race couple and father to a rambunctious, comedic, and inquisitive preschooler (all great fodder for parenting articles). His writing, with its injected wit and humor, tends to add a light touch to the general gravity of parenting. Desmond is currently working on a graphic novel for mixed-race parents titled ‘The Painted Man’.
Desmond Williams

WNYC’s Soundcheck Explores the Role Music Plays in the Delivery Room

by , 01/13/12

Stevie Wonder? Aretha Franklyn? Pink Floyd? Metallica? In Thursday’s episode of the WNYC radio show Soundcheck, host John Schaefer and Tina Cassidy author of Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born, respond to rumors that Beyonce gave birth to baby Blue while soothed and stimulated by a meticulously curated R&B soundtrack. The two explore the role music plays in the modern delivery room as experts chime in insisting that the advent of the iPod facilitating a more personalized musical experience helps (both in natural and facilitated birthing scenarios), while moms write/call in to testify that labor gradually generates a kind of piercing white noise in the head that drowns out the melodies in the background, making them irrelevant. And the lone male caller gives credence to the stereotype that men just don’t have a clue what women need during birthing. Forget birthing dulas. How about a birthing dj? Suggests Cassidy half-joking as she offers a Spotify playlist for expecting moms containing over 4 hours of music selection intended to speed along delivery. But, she notes, after it’s all said and done, silence is what is most important, helping mom and baby bond postpartum without distractions. What was on your birthing playlist?

+ Listen to the Show

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Hans Andersson Builds Clever Time Twister LEGO Mindstorms Digital Clock

by , 10/31/11

Though the Mindstorms sub-brand of the LEGOLAND empire is specifically intended to catalyze complex thoughts in the minds of young builders, adults love getting in on the game. And this Time Twsiter clock, with its self-solving Rubix algorithm designed by Hans Andersson, is a prime example of grown-up trigonometrical tinkering at work. Click through to see a video of the masterpiece working.


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8 DIY Cardboard Costumes That Are Outside the Box

by , 10/13/11

 
 
One of the best mediums for creating recycled, handmade Halloween costumes is an old cardboard box. When my son was 5 years old, we went all-out cardboard for Halloween, constructing an indoor cardboard cave that took over 3/4 of our small apartment. I was a cardboard construction worker, my wife was a cardboard viking and after many hours of consultation and construction my son was a cardboard knight - for about 15 minutes. Once his friends arrived in their store-bought costumes he quickly succumbed to the idea that his handcrafted labor of love was inferior. Bummer. To save you this dismay I've outlined a few DIY cardboard box costumes that are fun to make and fun to wear, fully able to stand up to even the most caustic kiddie criticism.
 


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Katie Mello Creates a Hilarious Star Wars AT-AT Costume for Dogs

by , 10/11/11

Somebody (and I will point fingers) had way too much time on her hands during the weeks leading up to Halloween. This super-detailed, super-funny (and hopefully super-light) AT-AT pet costume was created by Katie Mello for her dog Bones — that is, an All Terrain Armored Transport as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Mello is one of the Star Wars-loving artists over at LAIKA/house, a Portland animation studio. Let this inspire you to get your creative DIY juices flowing, and avoid slapping Fido between two oversized hot dog buns this Halloween.

+ LAIKA/house

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Papa Foxtrot Introduces Wooden Nautical Wonders

Papa Foxtrot Introduces Wooden Nautical Wonders

 
 
Generally frowned upon as oceanic polluters, mega-tankers usually possess very few redeeming qualities. Not so for the wooden replica toy tankers designed by Papa Foxtrot. Sleek and simple, the ships break apart into smaller puzzle-like pieces that are either rendered in various pleasing shades of blue or finished with a clear coat.
 

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Philippe Nigro’s ‘Build Up’ Child’s Chair and Table is Made from Cardboard

Philippe Nigro’s ‘Build Up’ Child’s Chair and Table is Made from Cardboard

At this stage in eco-design there’s nothing particularly new about cardboard furniture. Yet the cardboard ‘Build Up’ child’s chair and table designed by Philippe Nigro appears to be a new exercise in what can be sculpted from the paper-based medium. Sturdy, yet simple to put together, the pieces are shipped flat and are then folded, contorted and wedged together to create the final furniture form.

+ Build Up Chair £65

+ Build Up Table £75

+ Skitsch

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AnneMarie van Splunter Reuses Tires to Create a ‘Rubber Tree’ Playground

AnneMarie van Splunter Reuses Tires to Create a ‘Rubber Tree’ Playground

 
 
According to the Recycling Revolution website, consumers in the United States discard 220,000,000 automobile tires per year. And that's just one country. With stats like this it is easy to embrace AnneMarie van Splunter's conceptual design for 'Rubber Tree', a playground that utilizes tires headed for landfills by re-purposing them as primary building materials.
 

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Fridgeezoo Refrigerator Pets Remind Kids to Save Energy

Fridgeezoo Refrigerator Pets Remind Kids to Save Energy

If I had a carbon credit for every time I tell my kid to shut the refrigerator door, I’d be able to travel around the world without leaving a theoretical footprint. Gadget-loving parents need not have that worry thanks to an electronic icebox pet called the Fridgeezoo. Designed to lessen the time spent standing idly in front of an open refrigerator deciding what to retrieve, Fridgeezoo friends audibly remind you that each second that passes equals energy lost.


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Introducing Frii, A New Recycled Plastic Bike by Dror Peleg

Introducing Frii, A New Recycled Plastic Bike by Dror Peleg

Cute in a way that only those who love modular design will appreciate, the Frii tri-color recycled plastic bike is an injection molded, snap-together marvel that is light weight yet durable. Dror Peleg, the mastermind behind the bike’s concept design, intends it to be used for “quick trips through the city streets” and hopes that interested governments will see it as a way to usefully recycle landfill-destined plastics. All of the cumbersome design details can be found at …

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3 Custom LEGO Figures Travel to Jupiter on Space Probe

3 Custom LEGO Figures Travel to Jupiter on Space Probe

 
 
As part of a special commission for NASA, the LEGO company has created three custom brick figures to travel into the outer realms affixed to 'Juno', one of the space agency's probes, which launched today. The three figures represent one scientist, Galileo Galilei and two roman gods, Jupiter and Juno (for whom the probe is named). Of course, these are not your average minifigures.
 

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City Playgrounds Are Deemed Too Safe Thanks to Dumbed Down Designs

City Playgrounds Are Deemed Too Safe Thanks to Dumbed Down Designs

Playgrounds too safe? So concludes a recent article that’s been making the usual rounds on the Internet. The main contention is that the kiddie sites are becoming homogenized and dumbed down. “We’re now at a point where every playground is pretty much the same. And they’re boring. They’re not challenging,” says playground expert Alex Gilliam who longs for the 3-story forts of his youth.

Do you think playgrounds are too safe?

  • 294 Votes Yes.
  • 22 Votes No.
  • 22 Votes Maybe, but I like keeping my kid safe anyway.

View Results

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GREEN RANT: Can Childhood Prohibitions Lead to Binge Consumption?

GREEN RANT: Can Childhood Prohibitions Lead to Binge Consumption?

Do guarded green parents inadvertently push their kids toward binge consumption? This is a question I posed to myself while sitting at a homey table in a wood paneled diner, considering my own overreaching fathering methods. Waiting for our orders to arrive, my wife Liza and I had attempted to make small talk with our 6-year-old to no avail. Devon’s gaze was fixed on the diner’s television set. It was spewing candy-coated, technicolor hogwash interspersed with undifferentiated marketing hype; and when Devon suggested that we should get him the gun-toting, steroid pumping action figure that had just been advertised, I shot a look of despair in Liza’s direction. “Well, what do you expect? He doesn’t watch TV at home,” she quipped.

Do you think bringing your child up with a minimalist, eco-friendly or vegetarian lifestyle will lead them to do the opposite later?

  • 29 Votes No.
  • 57 Votes Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm going to change my parenting style.
  • 21 Votes Yes.

View Results

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Minimii’s Dollhouse Replicates Arne Jacobsen’s Charlottenlund Villa on a Smaller, Yet Grand Scale

Minimii’s Dollhouse Replicates Arne Jacobsen’s Charlottenlund Villa on a Smaller, Yet Grand Scale

Fantasy and reality beautifully collide in Minimii’s 1:16 scale dollhouse reproduction of designer Arne Jacobsen’s 1928 villa in Charlottenlund, Denmark. Designed by Linda Stenberg and Claus Hojer Hansen, the Danish creative directors of Minimii, the dollhouse features a roof and four walls that may be mounted and dismounted, allowing more children to play at once, a small collection of designer furniture (Egg and Swan chairs courtesy of Fritz Hansen) as well as tiny commissioned modern art pieces, wallpaper and rugs with patterns from Jacobsens aquarelle drawings and many more chic amenities which stay in place via magnets!



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Nurseryworks’ Hollis Crib Offers a Clear View to Sleeping Tots

Nurseryworks’ Hollis Crib Offers a Clear View to Sleeping Tots

With its broad slatted Lucite panels that render the streamlined structure nearly invisible, Nurseryworks’ Hollis Crib is a wonderfully magical piece of furniture. Okay, so one could argue that it resembles a fish tank… And I guess new parents may be scared silly when they awake, bleary-eyed, from their slumber to find their tot apparently floating atop a levitated mattress, but modern furniture will always face practical challenges. “Inspired by Charles Hollis Jones, a pioneer in acrylic …

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Torpedo by Jerry Koza is the Sleekest New Ride On

Torpedo by Jerry Koza is the Sleekest New Ride On

What do you get when you place an aerodynamic luge on the deck of a high-end skateboard? As unlikely as it may seem, you get Jerry Koza‘s design for his children’s Torpedo ride-on toy. Sleek in form and function, the toys seem to be racing even when at a standstill, and feature racing stripes, custom detailing or bold, blocky numerals. At EUR 785, I assume the toys are intended to be heirloom pieces and though the pointy …

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Andrea Petrachi Designs Himatic Robots from Recycled Electronics and Old Toy

Andrea Petrachi Designs Himatic Robots from Recycled Electronics and Old Toy

 
 
Here at Inhabitots, We. Love. Robots and the collection of robots from Himatic are our latest obsession. Some time ago I wrote about Gordon Bennett's amazing recycled robots that are playful but not intended to be played with. Bennett creates each character injecting wit and because of the recycled materials used, each is instilled with a sense old-timey, future-past feel. Artist Andrea Petrachi (the creative mind and hands behind Himatic) does something similar. But where Bennett's robots seem like relics awaiting a trip back in time, Petrachi's sculptures verge on the sinister.
 

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5 Kid-Friendly DIY Projects for Father’s Day

5 Kid-Friendly DIY Projects for Father’s Day

 
 
Getting a Father's Day gift for dad is a relatively easy task as almost every retailer has prepackaged ideas that a middle-aged, predominantly male focus group has told them dads will love. But what about a gift for that individual who thinks outside the box? The guy that celebrates individuality? Would he rather a polo shirt from the GAP or a unique object d'art fashioned by nubby fingers? I'd wager on the latter (not that I have anything against polos). Read on for a few simple project ideas kids can complete in time for the most awesome day of the year.
 

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Help Kids Calm Down With At-Home Massage

Help Kids Calm Down With At-Home Massage

Five-year-olds don’t know their Vedas from their Asanas, yet it is believed that if you put them in a room full of adults doing cobras and downward dogs in yoga class, you will be amazed at how quickly most fall in line… most. Practitioners tout the positive effects of teaching kids relaxation techniques, but many parents of sprightly students, battling with the problem of helping them find their own place of stillness, know that introducing busybody kids to the peaceful sanctity of a yoga studio can be like setting a bull loose in a china shop. So how can you help active kids slow down? Eventually we realized the parental touch of massage can do wonders.


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The Wrap-up on Holiday Wrapping Paper

The Wrap-up on Holiday Wrapping Paper

You emailed your family and friends a link to Jill’s post on reusable wrapping paper alternatives. You wore your “Wrapping Paper Sucks!” pin everywhere you went for weeks before Christmas. Yet here you are, stuck with mounds of clawed, crushed and crumpled paper. Not to worry, below are 5 great ways to turn all that trash into shredded treasure.


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Solar Beetle Electronics Charger Concept from the IIDA Contest

Solar Beetle Electronics Charger Concept from the IIDA Contest

If this new cute, yet functional, concept by Bora Kim, Kimhyelyn and Park Jong Duck, makes it to production, it’s sure to get kids interested in the idea of alternative energy. Entered in the IIDA contest organized by designboom, the Solar Beetle “featuring small solar panels on its surface, is a way for nature lovers to recharge their electronic devices.” If I had this solar charger, I would run my iPhone battery to nil, then when my …

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