Amy Ma's blog

Last week, the lens of our(with Ziyan) paper is the relationship between Leah and Keshia/Natalie, and we just generally talked about the relationship but didn't really analyse it. This week I want to keep this lens, and narrow it down to how their relationship is formed and analyze what makes it different over time.

When I think about the last two months in this class, the first scene that appeared in my mind is that I walked into Mark’s class. After he finished the roll call, I realized I was not supposed to be there. Mark took me to the right classroom. Mark led me to a classroom with chairs in lines ( and later we made it a circle) and that’s how my Play in the City journey began.

This week in Chinatown, I was in a shop looking for a birthday gift. Some girls walked in: they looked like fourteen or fifteen. As they were talking fluently in Chinese about how things were expensive and how much money their parents make, one of them said, “I will start working soon. I will make my own money and I can buy anything I want!” Actually, she used the word “Dagong” in Chinese which specifically indicated to a full-time job which they are too young for. I recalled documentation about Chinese stowaways. They came to US when they were teenagers, they don’t have ID, and they feel lonely. Most of them served in Chinese restaurants for their whole life. Some of them have never left Chinatown. They are never happy about their life but just get used to it. Then why do they come to the States? In the meantime, it raises a question to me: “Why do I come to the States?”

1. Saw the title “Bunny Bunny, a Tale of Two BBFs ”

 2. It reminds me of my bunny at home.

 3.I searched “Animal Philadelphia” and find this link.

 4. I haven’t seen any animal shelter yet, and I want to know how those homeless animals are treated. Do they have enough space to play? Are they in cadge all the time?

 5.Hey you want to care about those homeless animals? Meow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

100 N. 2nd Street (at Arch)
Philadelphia, PA 19106:))))))

After reading the introduction of Critical Play, I started to question if I played critically in Philly. I think the answer is no. According to Flanagan, “critical play means to create or occupy play environments and activities that represent one or more questions about aspects of human life.” During the visit in Zagar’s Magic Garden, I didn’t really think about how this shining and beautiful garden is related to human life. Instead, I just took time to enjoy being surrounded by mosaics, telling my groups how incredible it is, and taking interesting photos with them. Besides the Magic Garden itself, being with my group is the part I liked the most. I have thought about how it would be if I was there myself. Could I have spent one hour there?  Probably not: it is such a small garden actually. But I think I did play “ …the use of play forms as forms of bonding, including the exhibition and validation or parody of membership and traditions in a community.”, Flanagan puts this sentence in Critical Reading. With my group, I did play.

Look at all these faces with noses or eyes or mouths that don't belong to them.

They are broken to be new
.

The original sentence is: " Mosaic is a conversation that takes place on surfaces", and I added two" A"s and two "m"s, I lost an "s" when putting them together....

My first trip to Philly was two years ago. I lost in Philly in the morning one day. I walked down the streets without realizing I was lost. It was cold in the winter, and all I remember was snow. Snow by the streets, snow on the rooftops, snow in the air…and the streets are mostly narrow, and old. Buildings were in old style. Actually the city’s name “Philadelphia” sounds pretty old to me too. It sounds like a city where a lot of old politicians with beard have their debate.

Yesterday, when I stood in front of the Free Library, I looked around and got a feeling: “Oh yeah, I have been here. I am sure.” But I just cannot recognize anything, just like I know someone is speaking English, but don’t know exactly what he or she is talking about.  Philly is just way it was: it is old in a way, but by walking around I saw tall buildings, modern ones which stand in these old and narrow streets without giving me any feeling that they don’t belong to such an old style city. Then we hanged out in groups. We just walked. We passed by Sheraton where I lived two years ago, and then a Subway just jumped into my eyes and reminded me of those days when we lined up there buying lunch. It was really surprised to see these familiar things without any expect to see them.

According to Henig’s essay, many scholars tried to figure out what effect does play have on human or animals, but ended up with no clear answers. Play is somehow dangerous, and those abilities that we can get from play can also be gained from other alternative ways. Then I got confused. Why do we play, if play is so meaningless and so dangerous? My two year old sister likes playing. In her class, her teacher taught them by playing different games. She was apparently less distracted when playing games. I like playing too. One of the reasons I chose “play in the city” is because I saw a word “play” which is very attracted to. I think play just makes me happy and is a mental need. Just like Stuart Brown said, “Look at life without play, and it’s not much of life.” 

The lady in the photo slowly put down her cigarette, and looked at it. The lady in front of her was looking at her, probably waiting for her words. But she just sat there in silence. She didn’t speak a word until we left. Under the warm street lights, people were lingering slowly, slowly enough to make ten meters a long distance. So were we. We walked slowly with the crowd. Everything and everyone around us just slowed us down.

Chengdu is famous for its slow life pace. 256 B.C., Li Bing and his son built Dujiangyan, a hydraulic project which makes Chengdu a place without floods or droughts. When everything was very dependent on agriculture, this project greatly benefitted Chengdu, and made Chengdu a wealthy place. People never worried about their life in that period of time, and they spent more time seeking for a more comfortable lifestyle. There is an old saying: “Never go to Chengdu when you are young.” Because you will lose your ambitions, and will just indulge yourself in comforts at a young age. Today, there are people in the park who just sip tea for a whole afternoon. I asked my dad, “What is the meaning of sitting there and drinking tea for hours?” My dad said, “The meaning is that there is no meaning of it.”