The Imagine Neighborhood

Bonus Episode. Dr Aisha White from the University of Pittsburgh's P.R.I.D.E. program joins us to talk about different ways to discuss racial identity with kids.  She mentions some great resources in the interview which can be found below.   Raising Race Conscious Children Embrace Race PBS Kids: Talking About Race This episode supports our series of new adventures called Imagine Equity: Six New Sto...

Have you ever wondered who comes up with a dinosaur princess, Cardboard Boxing Day, pirate food fights, or Big Bot Burgers? Well, here’s your chance to find out! We gathered the Imagine Neighborhood team members who helped create our latest series, Imagine Equity: Six New Stories About Race, Identity, and Making Things Right, for a candid conversation about what happens behind the scenes. This epi...

A COUNT VACULA™ episode. Today Scotty and Count Vacula are having a great time at a robot wrestling championship, until Count Vacula decides that he needs to look exactly like his hero, intergalactic robot wrestling champion Destructivir! It takes a visit from Destructivir to show Count Vacula that the way you look is only one little part of who you are, and that being kind—and being yourself—is w...

When we last left our heroes, Scotty and Doc were on a mission to stop discrimination at Big Bot Burger. But it turns out the injustice isn’t just at one location—it’s at ALL the Big Bot Burger locations. This week, they’re enlisting the help of everyone in the Neighborhood to get some justice! The robots at Big Bot still won’t let anyone from the Wasteland into their restaurants. Even the interve...

This week, a new restaurant called Big Bot Burger is coming to The Imagine Neighborhood™. Doc and Scotty are super excited to try it . . . until they find out that Big Bot won’t take Doc’s order. It turns out that Big Bot Burger has a company rule to not serve people from the Wasteland. Doc and Scotty set out to make things right and get some justice. Doc uses her music and her voice to get people...

A MACHO SUPREME™ episode. Macho Supreme and Count Vacula are playing their favorite movie, Nebula Trek! But every time Count Vacula tries to help Macho Supreme save the galaxy, Macho Supreme won’t let him play—because in the movie, the Nebula Trek actors are white, and Count Vacula is Asian. Scotty explains to Macho Supreme that excluding Count Vacula is not right, and that the kind thing to do is...

An ALAKAZAMBRA™ episode. Preston Changeo (guest star Tom Lenk) doesn’t think that wizards and monsters should be friends, and when he learns that Alakazambra and Count Vacula are buddies he gets so upset he accidentally summons a rainbow-sherbet monster! Everyone has to work together to solve the problem, and Alakazambra helps Preston learn that being pals with folks who have all kinds of differen...

Today, Princess Donnasaurus stumbles out of The Imagine Neighborhood™ and into the neighborhood of Princess Tia from the Stoopkid Stories podcast! At first, neither princess thinks the other looks the way a princess should, but they talk it out and team up. Together, they embark on a quest to open an enchanted backpack and defeat the evil identity-stealing Erazor because anyone can be a princess,...

Today, Scotty and Vac are pirate-sitting the Fire Pirates while Captain Marion is off at the dentist. Everything is shipshape . . . until Burn Voyage is taken over by Captain Deen! She thinks that pirates should only eat gross asparagus dumplings, not the food they brought from home. But the pirates’ foods are important to their ethnicities, which is a part of who they are. Vac decides to make thi...

The Imagine Neighborhood returns next week with a special series called Imagine Equity: Six New Stories About Race, Identity, and Making Things Right. Imagine Equity is supported by a generous grant from the Allstate Foundation. The Allstate Foundation works to empower youth to reach their full potential and build the just, equitable, and healthy world we all deserve. To learn more, visit allstate...

The Imagine Neighborhood celebrates lots of different holidays, and they're all special, but our favorite is Cardboard Boxing Day! On the last Monday of the year, everyone gathers to spend time with each other and make cardboard masterpieces.. but how did it begin? Special guest narrator Cardboard Scotty is here to tell fantastical tale of the very first Cardboard Boxing Day! Get more at: IMAGINEN...

Do you ever have questions for your friends in The Imagine Neighborhood™? This week we’ve got answers! Listeners had questions about what makes Macho Supreme so strong, how Doctor Apocalypso spends her morning, and whether we ever fly paper airplanes in the Neighborhood. One listener even had a question about sharks! Get more at: IMAGINENEIGHBORHOOD.org Friend and follow us! TWITTER , FACEBOOK , I...

A COUNT VACULA™ episode.  It’s almost Friendsgiving in The Imagine Neighborhood, and Scotty and Count Vacula™ have been working on their thank-you jar all year! Every time folks in the Neighborhood feel thankful, they put a penny into their jar, and then on Friendsgiving, the magical Yeti comes and collects all the jars and donates the money to help the community. The Yeti is on its way, and this...

This week Scotty, Macho Supreme, Princess Donnasaurus, and Count Vacula answer questions from listeners all over the country! Get more at: IMAGINENEIGHBORHOOD.org Friend and follow us! TWITTER , FACEBOOK , INSTAGRAM  

When too many Blurghsdays happen in a row, Scotty and Doctor Apocalypso start to feel stressed. At first they “get small to deal with it all,” but when a tidal wave of deli meats threatens the Neighborhood, they realize it’s time to “get large and take charge!” Get more at: IMAGINENEIGHBORHOOD.org Friend and follow us! TWITTER , FACEBOOK , INSTAGRAM

It's Macho's time to shine at the Space Marines' Annual Smelling Bee! But there's just one problem: Macho is full of worries. And when Macho's worries get out of control, they become worrywarts that get bigger and bigger! Macho needs Scotty's help to calm down, talk about his worries, and prepare for the things he's worried about—before the worrywarts turn into a worrycane that blows away his chan...

Dr Kelly Mendoza from Common Sense Education drops by to talk about what grown-ups can do about cyberbullying. We'll talk about resources and tools grown-ups can use to help keep their kids safe and kind online. For more information about Common Sense Education's amazing programs, hit the link and visit their website. Get more at: IMAGINENEIGHBORHOOD.org Friend and follow us! TWITTER , FACEBOOK ,...

Today Scotty is inside a video game called BrineBlox! Everyone’s having a good time until one of the players starts leaving mean comments and blowing up other people's creations. Macho and Scotty decide to get to the bottom of this bullying behavior—and find a big (very big!) surprise!   This episode was created in partnership with Common Sense Media, who invite you to visit their Digital Citizens...

It’s Halloween in The Imagine Neighborhood! Scotty and Vac have built a super-spooky haunted house, and they can’t wait to scare the socks off of everyone. But when Alakazambra stops by, there’s just one problem: she doesn’t feel scared. It turns out that different people can feel differently about the same things—and that it’s always kind to understand our friends’ perspectives (and maybe help th...

Bonus Episode. Dr Aisha White from the University of Pittsburgh's P.R.I.D.E. program joins us to talk about different ways to discuss racial identity with kids. She mentions some great resources in the interview which can be found below. Raising Race Conscious Children Embrace Race PBS Kids: Talking About Race  

A COUNT VACULA™ episode. Today Scotty and Count Vacula are having a great time at a robot wrestling championship, until Count Vacula decides that he needs to look exactly like his hero, intergalactic robot wrestling champion Destructivir! It takes a visit from Destructivir to show Count Vacula that the way you look is only one little part of who you are, and that being kind—and being yourself—is w...

We love getting listener letters so much! In fact the only thing we like better than reading them is answering them! Today we're taking questions from Neighbors all over the country!   Get more at: IMAGINENEIGHBORHOOD.org Friend and follow us! TWITTER , FACEBOOK , INSTAGRAM

It’s a sad day today in The Imagine Neighborhood™. Doctor Apocalypso’s motorcycle, Giganticus, has gone kaput. He really meant a lot to her; she built him from scratch and they had so many epic adventures riding through the Wasteland together! In a lot of ways, he was her best friend. At first, Doc doesn’t know how to feel. She wants to be happy, but she really feels angry and sad. She wants to ce...

Alakazambra the Demon-Hunter is hunting for Count Vacula! She needs the teeth of an angry vampire for one of her magic spells—but Vac’s not angry! In fact, he’s mostly just hungry and a little bit nervous. Alakazambra needs some help figuring out how other people are feeling. This skill can come in handy, whether you’re making a new friend, trying to figure out what someone else needs or wants, or...

This week Scotty needs a little help learning to use his assertive voice to help make the dreaded Nose Stealers stop stealing his nose. They think it's a fun game, but it's not fun for Scotty... and it's his nose they want to steal! Sometimes we need to let other people know that what they're doing to us is not okay--and with a few tips we can learn to be assertive and kind and say “NOSE, THANK YO...