Tag Archives: doodles

Grillin’ it: Barbecue trends and family recipes

This Fourth of July, the fairground fireworks and pool parties may be put on hold. But there’s one thing we don’t have to cancel: Firing up the grill and hanging out in the backyard. In fact, “4th of July grilling ideas” spiked more than 400 percent in the U.S. within the past week.


While many of us will head to our patios and yards, what we’re cooking up varies across the country. According to Google Trends, North Carolinians are searching for “bbq slaw” recipes. And in Oklahoma, they’re looking up “oven baked barbeque catfish.” In Colorado, searches for “bbq chicken recipes” are up. If you’re curious about what your own state is searching for, you can check out this map showing unique "How to grill..." searches in each state over the past week. 


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And if you head to Search and look up “Fourth of July”, you’ll find Cameos from chefs like Alice Randall and Mary Ann Esposito spilling their BBQ secrets and recipes. (During your search, you may find more than culinary advice; check out the homepage for a sparkling new Doodle and Search results...and perhaps some other surprises.)

Feeling inspired⁠—or hungry? We also asked Googlers to share their favorite grilling recipes. 

“Texas Crutch” Smoked Brisket

Submitted by Ryan Ausanka-Crues, Engineering Manager on Android TV

My family is all from Texas so I grew up barbecuing with my grandfather. As such, I don't apologize for using the Texas Crutch (the method of cooking brisket in foil). Plus, it's fun to wait until after people try the brisket to tell them it was made by a vegetarian. Even though I’ve been vegetarian for 20 years, I still enjoy the art and technique of barbecuing with fire.

  1. Dry-brine the meat (0.1 oz of salt per pound of beef) at least 24 hours before smoking.

  2. Prepare the smoker, then apply big bad beef rub to the meat just before adding to the smoker.

  3. Aim to keep smoker between 225 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit (275 degrees if you're using logs instead of charcoal) and add wood chunks to fire every 30 minutes for the first two hours.

  4. When the meat hits "the stall," wrap tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil and return to the fire (also known as, the Texas Crutch).

  5. Smoke until it reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees Fahrenheit (about 12 hours).

  6. Remove from heat and let sit, still wrapped, until temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Steak and Tenderstem Broccoli

Submitted by Ken Graham, Financial Analyst

When I first started grilling, I wanted to perfect this popular method of getting the meat as close to the heat as possible. 

  1. Buy the best quality meat you can afford, about ¾-inch thick is best for this method. Good steak should stand up on it's own, no real sauce or spice needed. I like rib eye, but to each their own.

  2. Take the steaks out of the fridge about an hour before you want to cook them, season with salt and then put them back in the fridge.

  3. Pat the steaks dry when you take them out of the fridge; water will inhibit the browning of the meat. 

  4. You want your grill screaming hot, so whack it up to max on all burners. Before you turn it up, take the grates off, and then place one of the grates directly on the bars (if it's gas) or coals (if it's charcoal). 

  5. Grill your steaks on the grate flipping every minute. Three or four minutes should get you to medium rare, depending on the heat of the grill, but using a meat thermometer is best; you want to get it around 130-135 degrees Fahrenheit.

  6. Serve with whatever sides you like, but I like Tenderstem broccoli, which I grill on the grates I used for the steak. They pick up some of the steak flavor and cook quickly but stay crunchy.

Wine Can Chicken

Submitted by Helynn Nelson, People Consultant and Nekosi Nelson, Staffing Lead

This recipe is one of the first experimental dishes my husband, Kosi, cooked 15 years ago when we were newlyweds and it gets better and better with time. He’s allowed me to co-opt his recipe a bit by introducing one of my favorite ingredients...wine! I run the Google wine club in our Austin office, so I also want to suggest a wine pairing: I’d enjoy this meal with a Viognier or an oaked Fume Blanc. 

  1. Gather your ingredients: 2 tablespoons Tony Chachere seasoning; 2 tablespoons Kosher salt; 2 tablespoons onion powder; 2 teaspoons dried thyme; 2 teaspoons dried oregano; 2 teaspoons black pepper; 2 teaspoons garlic powder. For the chicken (I usually choose one around four pounds), you’ll need: olive oil; a 12 oz can of dry white wine.

  2. Mix all the dry ingredients together. 

  3. Marinate your chicken in the seasonings 24 hours before grilling. Remember to season the cavity (and wrap in plastic wrap).

  4. Preheat your grill to medium-high heat.

  5. Rub the chicken and its cavity down with the olive oil. Pour out 1/4 of the wine and sit the chicken on top of the wine can. Place the chicken in the center of the hot grill and cover. Cook the chicken for an hour to an hour and a half, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Once cooked, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Ancho Chile Skirt Steak Tacos

Submitted by Kayla Geier, Senior Communications Associate

My family's favorite activity is getting together and cooking–whether it's tamales for Christmas or tacos for the Fourth of July. Since my grandfather's passing I've taken the role of grilling, using some of his "secrets", along with tricks from a few cookbooks. I find that grilling helps me keep his memory alive.

  1. Place steak (recipe calls for 2 lbs) in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag or covered bowl. 
  2. Stir together the juice of 2 limes, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder, 1/4 tablespoon onion salt and 2 tablespoons garlic powder. 
  3. Whisk the above in 1/4 cup olive oil, and pour over flank steak. 
  4. Seal bag, and turn to coat. Chill 1-12 hours.
  5. Grill to your liking–medium is always preferred. 
  6. Top with slices of cucumber (it'll cool down the heat), your favorite salsa (mine is Tapatio) and fresh guac with the spice of Serrano chiles on a flour tortilla.

Uncle Buck’s Ribs

Submitted by Susannah Callahan, Product Marketing Manager at Google Nest

Growing up in St. Louis, pork baby back ribs were always a favorite, especially around the Fourth of July. My Uncle Buck—not that one, but just as funny—has been perfecting his rib recipe for friends and family since the 1970s. The layers of marinade and sauces make these ribs extra juicy and tender, but also easy enough to tackle for grilling novices. 

  1. Around 24-48 hours before grill time, place 4-5 lbs (or two full racks) of pork baby back ribs (membrane removed), in the following marinade: 1 cup chicken broth; 1 cup soy sauce; 1 cup brown sugar; 5 tablespoons cider vinegar; 5 tablespoons olive oil; ½ teaspoon garlic powder; ½ teaspoon dehydrated onion; 1 tablespoon of paprika; 1 tablespoon of cornstarch; 3 tablespoons liquid smoke; salt and pepper .

  2. 30 minutes before grilling, glaze the ribs with Korean BBQ sauce (make sure it has apple and pear puree). This sweet sauce helps to caramelize the ribs when they hit the grill.

  3. Heat the grill to 550-600 degrees Fahrenheit and baste each side of the ribs on the grill twice, for two to three minutes. 

  4. Then, turn the grill down to 300 degrees and repeat the basting process and timing above two more times with the leftover marinade. 

  5. Lastly, turn the temperature down to 200 degrees and baste each side with your choice of thick honey BBQ sauce three times for three minutes. Serve immediately. 

Here’s to a happy, safe and delicious holiday! 

A Doodle dedicated to the aloha spirit

When I think of my time living in Hawaiʻi, I simply think of “aloha.” “Aloha” means more than “hello” or “goodbye,” it’s a way of life. To embody the aloha spirit is to embody kindness, humility, harmony, patience and sincerity. And if there were a soundtrack to this idea, it would be the music of Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, whom we’re celebrating in today’s Google Doodle. Of course, Israel was incredibly proud of his Hawaiian roots, which is why it’s perfect that today’s Doodle is also a larger celebration of Asian American Pacific Heritage Month. 


Best known for his beloved cover of “Over the Rainbow” (which I walked down the aisle to at my wedding), Israel’s music and his voice have always felt so welcoming to me. But it’s also the little details about Israel that I identify with. His wife, Marlene, told us one of his favorite flowers was the plumeria. These flowers are all over Oʻahu, where Israel and I both lived, and remind me of backyard barbecues with my Lōkahi Canoe Club teammates or friends being piled high in floral birthday leis. Most often, I think of simply plucking a plumeria and tucking it behind my ear, as so many people in Hawaii do—behind your right if you’re looking for love and behind your left (the same side as your heart) if you’re taken. 


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A photograph of the author surfing in front of Diamond Head, and some memorabilia from the Lōkahi Canoe Club.

I also loved learning that one of Israel’s favorite places in Oʻahu was the Waikiki Shell, where he often played. It sits in the shadow of Diamond Head, an iconic landmark of great significance to Israel and many others. Seeing the profile of Diamond Head depicted in the first few seconds of today’s Doodle video brings back many warm memories for me of concerts, movies on the beach, surf sessions off its coast and afternoon jogs around the crater. 

But perhaps the thing that resonated with me most is something Israel’s former producer, Jon de Mello, said about him, which is that he got along with anyone he met, and that he only had love for people. Today, this kind of love and hopefulness Israel shared are turning up in an unexpected, but fitting way: People all over the world are displaying photos of rainbows, which Israel loved, in their windows and on sidewalks to uplift their neighbors and give people passing by a smile. We feel like this Doodle is a way for us to do the same.

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No matter where you are, or what your circumstances, like a rainbow after the rain—and like Israel’s voice always does for me—we hope that this Doodle brings a smile to your face.  

A Doodle for (super)Moms near or far

I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my mom. She raised me and my two siblings as a single, immigrant mother in a small Texas town. Her goal was always to give us a better life and unparalleled opportunities to what she had growing up in Mexico—and she regularly worked more than three jobs at a time to do it. The truth is, I have no idea how she pulled it all off. I also don’t know that I’ll ever be able to convey the extent of gratitude I feel for who she is (a supermom!) and what she did for us. Her strength and capacity for love is what I aspire to every single day.


I’ve always loved that we have a day dedicated to showing the superheroines in each of our lives how much we love and appreciate them—though one day is certainly not enough! While I’ve been lucky enough throughout the years to spend this day with my mom, this year I’ll be sending my love from afar. 


People around the world are looking for ways to celebrate with their moms, too. Search interest in “Homemade Mother's Day card” has increased by 160 percent in the past week globally. In fact, the most searched Mother’s Day and "virtual" searches worldwide are “virtual Mothers Day ideas,” “virtual Mothers Day gifts” and “virtual Mothers Day cards.”


Giving families an opportunity to connect during these unprecedented times is what inspired us to build today’s new, interactive Mother’s Day Doodle. When you visit the Google homepage, you can create your own custom, digital art from the heart and send it to any and all the moms in your life.

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And while they’ve always had to wear many hats, moms, dads and parents everywhere over the last few months have had to become so much more. To all the parents out there, thank you for everything.

Thank you, parents.

While nothing beats one of my mom’s cure-all hugs, I’m grateful that technology will give me the chance to see her smile and hear her laugh when she opens up my attempt at channeling my inner Picasso. It still won’t be enough to thank her for everything she’s done for me, but it’ll surely make all the miles between us feel a little bit smaller. 


La quiero mucho, Ama. I love you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day ?

Perla and mom

Source: Search


A Doodle for (super)Moms near or far

I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my mom. She raised me and my two siblings as a single, immigrant mother in a small Texas town. Her goal was always to give us a better life and unparalleled opportunities to what she had growing up in Mexico—and she regularly worked more than three jobs at a time to do it. The truth is, I have no idea how she pulled it all off. I also don’t know that I’ll ever be able to convey the extent of gratitude I feel for who she is (a supermom!) and what she did for us. Her strength and capacity for love is what I aspire to every single day.


I’ve always loved that we have a day dedicated to showing the superheroines in each of our lives how much we love and appreciate them—though one day is certainly not enough! While I’ve been lucky enough throughout the years to spend this day with my mom, this year I’ll be sending my love from afar. 


People around the world are looking for ways to celebrate with their moms, too. Search interest in “Homemade Mother's Day card” has increased by 160 percent in the past week globally. In fact, the most searched Mother’s Day and "virtual" searches worldwide are “virtual Mothers Day ideas,” “virtual Mothers Day gifts” and “virtual Mothers Day cards.”


Giving families an opportunity to connect during these unprecedented times is what inspired us to build today’s new, interactive Mother’s Day Doodle. When you visit the Google homepage, you can create your own custom, digital art from the heart and send it to any and all the moms in your life.

Doodle Interactive Experience

And while they’ve always had to wear many hats, moms, dads and parents everywhere over the last few months have had to become so much more. To all the parents out there, thank you for everything.

Thank you, parents.

While nothing beats one of my mom’s cure-all hugs, I’m grateful that technology will give me the chance to see her smile and hear her laugh when she opens up my attempt at channeling my inner Picasso. It still won’t be enough to thank her for everything she’s done for me, but it’ll surely make all the miles between us feel a little bit smaller. 


La quiero mucho, Ama. I love you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day ?

Perla and mom

Source: Search


To every teacher, thank you times infinity

Editor’s note: Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! We’re honored to have 2019 National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson as today’s guest author to share the many ways we’re celebrating and supporting teachers, in classrooms or at home.

As National Teacher of the Year, I’ve been afforded opportunities that most teachers don’t get. It’s been exciting and rewarding to advocate for my students—some of the most resilient and courageous people I know—in places like the White House and Halls of Congress. But it’s also been challenging. And now with so many students, teachers and families impacted by this global pandemic, we’re presented with a whole new set of challenges we must face together.

Whether you’re a veteran teacher or a new parent, this is uncharted territory for everyone. We could all use a little help at the moment, and that’s why I’m so happy that Google is acknowledging the work teachers and families are putting in, and providing us with the support we need right now.

Free tools, training and support for educators and families

Today Google released two new resources to help educators and families make better use of technology as part of teaching and learning, whether you’re at home or back in the classroom. Their latest version of Teach from Home provides those newer to tech with tools and tips they need to get going with distance learning, with new sections for schools and families. And their new Teacher Center has free training, certification programs and product guides for those looking to advance their practice. As teachers it’s important for us to continue learning new things, and these resources make it easier for us to come up with new ways to engage our students by incorporating technology into how we teach.


$2 million to DonorsChoose to support vulnerable students

Teachers know that for all of us, but particularly for our young students, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is more important than Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. In other words, essential needs are paramount: you can’t learn if you’re hungry or feel unsafe. That’s why I’m so encouraged to see Google support U.S. teachers from high poverty public schools like mine by providing a $2 million Google.org grant to DonorsChoose. The Keep Kids Learning program will provide thousands of teachers with $1,000 funding credits to get the materials they need to teach remotely and send their students personalized education care packages including items like books, basic supplies, educational games or kits, and groceries for students who rely on school to provide meals.  


Teachers are out there working hard for our underserved students, converting their homes into remote learning centers, teaching from driveways, delivering meals and providing learning  materials; crucially, they are also offering a familiar face and comfort to our students who need it most. This grant will help ensure more of our teachers can provide this for their students.

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Amanda Calzada and her kindergarten class in Chicago, in a photo from earlier this school year. Recently, Amanda received a grant through Keep Kids Learning, a program from DonorsChoose. With the funding, she bought supplies like pencils and playdough, “giving her students the tools they need to make learning at home an engaging, effective and exciting experience.”

Celebrating every teacher, in classrooms and at home

I’m also loving Google’s Doodle today which was created in collaboration with the 2020 State Teachers of the Year to pay tribute to teachers. 

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Today's teacher Doodle was created in collaboration with the 2020 State Teachers of the Year when they were at Google headquarters in February.

These teachers—who represent students across every U.S. state and territory—began brainstorming the Doodle when they met as a cohort at Google’s headquarters in February. Everything they do over this next year will be about advocating for their students and elevating the voices of their fellow teachers. You can get to know them and hear some of their words of wisdom in this YouTube playlist. 


I’ll also be hosting an Edu OnAir webinar later today with the four 2020 National Teacher of the Year finalists, so I hope you’ll tune in. This session is all about how we can best support teachers right now, and kicks off a free 6-week distance learning webinar series. 


For teachers like me, the best part of Teacher Appreciation Week is always the handwritten notes from our students thanking us for doing what we do. Since most of us can’t be together in person this year, Google worked with some incredible student artists (former winners of their Doodle for Google competition) and organizations like the National PTA, CCSSO (who runs the National Teacher of the Year program) and TED-Ed to design these free digital thank you cards. Whether you’re a student, caretaker or fellow teacher, be sure to use these to #ThankATeacher—I will be sending a few of these myself, and I know we could probably all use a kind, encouraging word these days. 


As my tenure as National Teacher of the Year comes to a close, I’m reflecting on what a different course it has taken than I could have ever imagined. But I know wherever we are, teachers will continue fighting for our students and putting them first so that we can ensure that education continues—no matter what. 

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Be sure to #ThankATeacher this week using one of these free digital thank you cards.

Two weeks of Doodles to thank essential workers

Essential workers keeping our world safe and running during this global pandemic deserve a standing ovation. To show our appreciation, we created a two week Google Doodle series to honor and recognize all who have stepped up in unprecedented ways— including putting their own lives at risk—to provide services that keep our society moving forward.

Google Doodles usually take months (sometimes years!) of planning and development. This one came together in a matter of days. Though in the past we’ve moved quickly to create a Doodle in response to a major world—or even outer world—event, this is our first real-time Doodle series focusing on one theme. 

In this series of animated GIF Doodles, the big "G" represents communities around the world sending our love to the other letters, which represent the essential workers. Fun fact: we purposely used the first and last letters of our logo to ensure characters in every Doodle were practicing social distancing.

Beyond the efforts of essential workers, “help” has become more than a concept, a desire or an unusual action. Help has become part of our day-to-day lives. We notice it in small actions—like going to the supermarket for your elderly neighbor, or donating homemade face masks to healthcare workers—and in what people are searching for around the world. One thing has become clear: people want to help.

Where There's Help, There's Hope

As with all of our Doodles, we hope the series allows for helpers everywhere to feel seen, heard, and valued and for everyone to remember there will be a light at the end of what could feel like a long tunnel. Because where there’s help, there’s hope.

Support for public health workers fighting COVID-19

This week, we're beginning a series of Doodles to recognize the many people responding to COVID-19—from doctors and nurses caring for people on the front lines, to teachers and food service workers ensuring essential goods and services are still available. Coinciding with the start of National Public Health Week in the U.S., our first Doodle in the series shines a light on the public health workers who are at the forefront of fighting this disease.  

Public health is what we do together as a society to create the conditions in which everyone can be healthy. Public health workers include leaders at organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as scientists, like epidemiologists, field researchers, and lab scientists and technicians working to better understand the virus, find new cases, and track and predict and prevent its spread. 


Community education and access to reliable information are critical parts of promoting and protecting public health. Over the last few months we’ve partnered with WHO, Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) and national health ministries to surface authoritative information on COVID-19. On Search, people can find official information on how to prevent COVID-19 transmission, with links to helpful resources from health authorities. On YouTube, we have a dedicated news shelf with COVID-19 news from authoritative sources, curated playlists with official information, and we’ve connected popular YouTube creators with public health leaders. We’ve also launched #StayHome #WithMe, a campaign that encourages people to practice social distancing with playlists on education, cooking, fitness and more. 


Beyond this education effort, we’re proud to support the important work public health workers are doing behind the scenes to learn more about the virus, develop and deploy vaccines, and create evidence-based policy intended to reduce community transmission.


Scientists are critical to understanding and combating COVID-19. We’re supporting their work by providing Google Cloud research credits, including high performance computing to researchers. On Google Cloud’s Kaggle data science community, a coalition of leading research groups have gathered more than 44,000 COVID-19-related scholarly articles to share with data scientists.  


To aid researchers, data scientists, and analysts, we’ve also made available a hosted repository of public datasets, like Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the Global Health Data from the World Bank, and OpenStreetMap data, free to access and query through our COVID-19 Public Dataset Program.


Just last week we published an early release of our COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports: aggregated, anonymized data on movement trends across places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, to give public health workers insights to make more data driven policy. These reports are designed to inform public health officials as they implement and refine social distancing measures designed to prevent the spread of the virus, while protecting essential movement. 


Today we salute public health workers who are playing an important role in responding to this pandemic. Over the next two weeks, our Doodles will honor other essential frontline workers, including healthcare workers, first responders and the many people keeping services like sanitation, food service, public transit, schools, and more up and running. Thank you to all the people who are working to save lives and keep communities safe during this pandemic.


(Her)story in the making: our International Women’s Day Doodle

Coming from a family of strong women, I grew up taking independence for granted. My grandmother always emphasized the power we had as women to take care of ourselves, pursue our dreams, and thrive. All three of her daughters went on to earn university degrees in subjects they were passionate about and then to work and become financially independent. One of them even chose not to get married, an act of defiance in 1950s Italy. 

Needless to say, I grew up surrounded by strong women role models. It wasn’t until my business partner, Joyanne, and I started Makerie Studio that I saw firsthand the perceived difference between genders in society.  We realized how differently we were treated as young women, as people often assumed we worked for someone else, or commented on our appearance rather than our skills. More than once we were told that we “didn’t look like we’d know what we were doing,” despite having done our research, being professionally dressed, and clearly well prepared for our jobs.

We were lucky enough to grow up in environments that fostered growth indiscriminately, with people who believe gender is not relevant to a person’s potential, and we have reaped the benefits of our mothers’ and grandmothers’ fights for independence. 

But there is more that needs to change.

This is nothing compared to the difficulties women have to go through in most parts of the world. Women are still fighting every day for the most basic of freedoms: the freedom to choose what to do with their minds and their bodies, the freedom to vote, the freedom to earn a living. The freedom to experience their menstrual cycles without being ostracized by families and communities. The freedom to pursue their dreams.

International Women’s Day holds significance for everyone, regardless of gender. Today, we remember the freedoms we have enjoyed, but continue to stand up for women’s equality around the world.

When designing this year’s Google Doodle for International Women’s Day, we chose to represent this concept as a mandala—a format reminiscent of the planet we all live on, and of the life cycles we all go through. We started at the center by depicting some of the women who instigated the women’s rights movement, which chronologically and exponentially grew to include more and more women, each generation standing on the shoulders of the incredible women before them. We included women from many different backgrounds, visually connecting them at the start and then gradually releasing them from each other, showing how our togetherness and strength as a group has, in turn, allowed us to be independent. 

We believe that the outer layer of this mandala is not the end of the story—we still have so many more women to include and many more layers to add. 

We have a long way to go, but my grandmother would have been so proud of how far we’ve come. Joyanne and I hope that when people around the world see today’s Doodle, they are, too.

Meet the Doodle for Google guest judges

The 12th annual Doodle for Google competition is underway, and we’re asking students across the country to unleash their creativity and show us their interpretation of this year’s theme, “I show kindness by…”.  Submissions are due by March 13.

This year we’re excited to announce our panel of stellar guest judges who will help us choose the contest finalists and winners. They have each made showing kindness a guiding principle in their lives. Teacher of the year Rodney Robinson, works to create a positive environment and to empower his students. In 2015 he started teaching at Virgie Binford Education Center, a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, in an effort to better understand and prevent students from entering the school-to-prison pipeline.

Joining Rodney as a judge is acclaimed author and illustrator Mari Andrew. Mari values optimism, resilience and vulnerability in her work and has inspired over 1 million devoted fans through her art and writing, where she beautifully covers these subjects. In her New York Times Bestseller book, “Am I There Yet?: The Loop-de-loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood,” she uses poignant essays and illustrations to help her readers feel less alone as they experience the trials and tribulations of life. 

Last but certainly not least, the multifaceted entertainer and late-night host Lilly Singh will also join our guest judge panel. Lilly has amassed a global audience of millions through her social channels and work in entertainment—she uses her platform to uplift others. In 2017, UNICEF appointed Lilly as one of their Goodwill Ambassadors. She also created her #GirlLove initiative to inspire positivity among women and support each other's voices encouraging upward mobility.  

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    Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson.

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     Author and illustrator Mari Andrew.

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    Entertainer and late-night host Lilly Singh.

Kindness means something different to everyone, whether it’s starting a community garden, standing up for a friend or doing chores around the home—so it’s up to you how to interpret this year’s theme. 

 With Rodney, Mari and Lilly’s help, we’ll select five National Finalists who will win a $5,000 college scholarship and a trip to our Mountainview headquarters. One National Winner will receive: a  $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology package for their school or non-profit and their artwork featured on the Google homepage for a day. 

We can’t wait to see how you show kindness. Let’s get Doodling! 


Little Doodle, big impact: Honoring the Greensboro sit-in

As a little girl, my biggest wish was for a dollhouse. But as the daughter of a single mom, we just couldn’t afford things like that. Forty-something years later, that wish came true. I bought my first dollhouse. What I didn’t know at the time was that a childhood dream would soon become my passion for telling stories through dioramas.


My love for miniatures gained a new meaning upon the devastating incarceration of my son. It was in the midst of that pain and anguish that I came up with the African American Miniature Museum. This mobile exhibit tells stories of Black history through a collection of dioramas placed in shadow boxes, created by myself and my husband Eddie Lewis. For me, the museum was a way to turn the negativity into something positive and share the stories of our ancestors’ strength and perseverance through hardship. I want young people to learn about those that came before them who sacrificed to help make the lives they live today possible. Most importantly, I want them to see that we each have the power to make it through difficult times to thrive and hopefully make things better for those who come after us. 


One such difficult yet inspiring time was the United States Civil Rights Movement. In fact, today marks the 60th anniversary of one of the events that helped spark it—the Greensboro sit-in. Organized by four Black college freshmen, the protest against segregation served as a catalyst for similar demonstrations throughout the nation. Today’s Doodle diorama not only pays homage to the sit-in, but also to everything that came as a result: changes in our country to make it more possible for ALL Americans—no matter their race, color, or creed—to live to their full potential.
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Karen Collins with her Doodle diorama. Photo credit: Rebecca Veit

I hope that when people see this Doodle, at the start of Black History Month, they are inspired to learn more about the sit-in, the movement, and all the stories of Black resilience that helped shape the world we live in today. For folks in the Black community, I hope they feel gratitude and pride and that they remember that we have the strength to build a better future for ourselves and generations to come.