nightowl's blog

Hannah Hoch was a German photocollage artist and part of Dada art movement in Europe. The Dada art movement was in responce to World Word I. During World War I Hoch wad a nurse with the Red Cross. Hoch was one of the orginators of photocollage art along with Raoul Hausmann. Her work mainly features women and machine parts.

Since my trip into the city yesterday, I have slightly alerted my image of the city as a trove with treasures waiting to be discovered, to something with more of a reliable infrastructure. This view applies more to cities I am visiting for the first time or as a tourist, rather than being a resident or frequent visitor. Yesterday was my first time in Philadelphia. I have now visited New York, Paris, Salzburg, Toronto, Tokyo, and Philadelphia as a tourist. The last city I went to before Philadelphia was Tokyo. In Tokyo I got lost all the time, and held back tears on station platforms. When I was in Philadelphia I was with a group and could easily point out where we were on a map at all times. Although my Tokyo and Philadelphia experiences are a bit polar in terms of their potential unexpectedness, the mixture of the two recent experiences makes me feel city savvy. Being in Philadelphia was the first time that I was completely relaxed in a city that was not my own, even though it was my first time going there. I now feel like I have personal strategies on how to enjoy a new city. Before I go to a city I search online for things to do and learn my train stops. When I am in the city I do the things I planned and some I did not. I see the tourist sights, go down the main shopping street, I look around, ask people on the street where to go, and go down a couple streets just to see what is there. A bit of what I was expecting to be there and some left to chance.

The Henig article got me really excited in the bringing when he talked about dogs bowing to show they are just play fighting, because my dog does that all the time. The bit of cute nostalgia naturally put me on the side of playing is good for growth. Then later on the article got me thinking that when animals are playing together they testing each other, seeing how much they can trust each other. But then, at the end of the article, Henig mentions how play is play-acting the roles that children see around them and therefore teaches them life skills like deception and harassment. So when he puts the quote by Smith saying “play’s ultimate purpose can be found in paradoxes” that made me feel of play as bad and good. Good because it may build trust and relationship but bad because it also reflects the negative side of relationship as in deception and harassment.

When Hendig started talking about A.D.H.D. I really like the theoretical definition of A.D.H.D. as “overactivity of play urges in the nervous system.” I have a friend who is an art professor, and he uses medication to focus during the school year but goes off it during the summer in order to generate ideas for his art. That definition fits because I think of creativity as a very playful thing.

This picture was taken inside Atlas Eats Kitchen and Bake Shop. The shop is cozy, internationally themed, and has a cheap breakfast. It is located in a residential area, where you would not expect to find a restaurant. When I first went to the shop I wasn’t expecting anything special because of its peculiar location. I ended up being surprised by how unique and delicious it was. Since then it has become one of my favorite places to eat.

For me the city is a place of potential beauty through risk. By taking risks with my time and money to try something new, I am going on an adventure. In this adventure I may meet new people, try new food, and see new things. I will also have a unique space to reflect.

The statements, “That was great.” or “That was terrible.” are both more interesting to me than, “It was the usual.” Whether or not I have a positive experience going out, my experiences combine to form a picture of what to expect from the city. The feelings of love, hate, or indifference I associate with the city particularize my connection to that place. This connection forms a relationship between the guts of city and me. The guts are the people, food, sights, sounds, and smells that become my overall feelings towards the city.

I used to have a tee-shirt with the slogan “Night Owl Mystery Book Shop” on it. When the tee shirt got to small for me, I decorated my binder with it. I am now using that binder for this class, so the words “night owl” have been in the back of my mind lately. I chose my name to be “nightowl” because it reminds me of the school mascot and idealizes the time I will spend here in the libraries late at night. It is also nostalgic for my love of Harry Potter, which then reminds me of how much Bryn Mawr looks like Hogwarts. 

My profile picture is of Cat Stevens with cats. The picture satisfies some sort of primal desire in me that wishes to see things organized by categories. I am going to listen to his music whenever I am feeling a bit down this semester.