Students and Organizers discuss FrankenToys, an annual event which brings new life into the toys we surround ourselves with.

Transcript: 

0:05: Welcome back to Chronversations. 

0:07: I’m your host, Cameron Johnson. 

0:12: It’s the spooky season, and if you haven’t noticed, Wicked Week has been taken off at Columbia College. 

0:18: Events have been taking place throughout this week, and there were honestly so many events to choose from. 

0:23: But this past Tuesday, I decided to check out the FrankenToys event happening at the 624 building in the library on the 4th floor. 

0:31: I started off interviewing one of the organizers for this event to get a little bit more information on what was taking place. 

0:38: My name is Jennifer Sauzer. 

0:40: I’m the head of access services and assessment in the library, and my pronouns are she/her. 

0:45: So can you tell me a bit about FrankenToys? 

0:48: It is ours, the library’s signature fall event, where we bring the community together to have a little bit of fun. 

0:53: The staff bring in a bunch of plush toys and the community is invited to let’s say disassemble them. 

1:02: And harvest their parts like a good mad scientist, Dr. Frankenstein would, and then reassemble them into their own vision. 

1:11: So, yeah. 

1:11: How do you aim to impact students through this event? 

1:14: Everybody has a really good time. 

1:16: The chatter at the tables is solid,

1:19: and really creepy where it’s very common when folks come in and, they see all the cute stuffed animals and they’re like, oh I couldn’t cut up, but I’m gonna save the bunny, and then give them 30 minutes at the table with those scissors and those arms are coming off the

1:36: rabbit’s feet, you know, you hear things like, oh I want that face. 

1:40: So it’s just like one of the most quotable events that I’ve ever been to for sure. 

1:48: So, it’s delightful in that way. 

1:50: So, in addition to bringing the community together to just have fun in the library mission, we talk about consistently 

1:58: surprising and delighting our community by coloring outside the lines to get students to engage with what not just an academic library is, but what a 21st century arts library is. 

2:13: Next, I want to see how a couple of the students were engaging with the event. 

2:17: My name is Maple. 

2:19: I’m an acting major. 

2:20: I use they/them pronouns. 

2:22: My name is Autumn Durham, she/her, and my major is film. 

2:25: Can you describe what you have found for us today? 

2:28: When I went over, I saw this cute little otter plush and I was like I’ll do something with that, but it also has a lot of short limbs, so I didn’t know what to do with that exactly. 

2:37: Found a fox with some really long limbs, so I thought that would be fun to add on. 

2:44: And then his ears are so tiny, so I figured I’d cut up a bunny and get his fun little ears that I could put there and make him a little silly. 

2:54: I don’t know. 

2:55: I’ll probably try and add a patch of something else here or like on his back or something, but yeah just right now a torn up otter with one arm. 

3:07: Right now, I have a pig and I chopped off all of its limbs and currently attached elephant ears. 

3:13: What do you think the final product’s gonna look like? 

3:16: I have no idea. 

3:17: I’m just kind of mixing things together. 

3:19: So, do you have other toys like this at the house? 

3:21: I don’t actually. 

3:23: I have, you know, regular stuffed animals, but they’re not hybrids like this one will be so

3:31: no, this one will be very unique. 

3:33: Do you have other toys like this at home? 

3:35: Not that I stitched together, but it is a fun idea for used toys. 

3:39: To continue the spooky theme, I had to ask each person a bonus question. 

3:44: So here’s a bonus question. 

3:46: This may not be necessarily geared towards the event, but just towards the season. 

3:52: What are you planning on doing for Halloween weekend? 

3:55: For Halloween proper I think I’m gonna go out to my mom’s house who lives about an hour and a half away because she’s in her 70s and just sit on her porch with her so that it feels charming and hand out Halloween candy so that she doesn’t feel left out. 

4:09: Party.

4:10: I mean I’m in college. It’s Halloween. 

4:12: I think it’s fun to party. 

4:15: Also I like to walk around other cemeteries sometimes because I don’t know it adds to the vibe and also it’s just nice sometimes to go to a place people don’t really go to as much and just be I guess even if I am in a silly clown costume. 

4:33: It’s just fun and it’s eerie and it’s cool. 

4:36: We’re just walking around the city and having fun. 

4:39: I was saying this in my class yesterday, but just people are gonna be in their costumes. 

4:43: I feel like when I’m in because I’m doing a full clown face, I feel like more full of fun and like I just wanna talk to people and 

4:52: interact with people. 

4:54: So, walking around the streets of Chicago is a great place to do that with everyone else in their costumes and they’re having fun and then it’s just this big night of everyone celebrating and doing whatever. 

5:05: So yeah that. 

5:07: To be honest, I don’t do much for Halloween, but I don’t know just kind of go out just to see.

5:20: Make sure to stay up to date with Campus and Metro News at columbiachronicle.com. 

5:24: I’m Cameron Johnson. 

5:26: Thanks for listening, and until next time. 

Copy Edited by Mia Smith