lksmith's blog

                As I read the article by Henig, I couldn’t help but think about how, through all of that research, we have yet to discover the real purpose of play. Yes, many benefits and disadvantages to play were listed and explained, but play is still referred to as pointless. In one part the question was brought up of why play has survived so long through natural selection if there is no apparent use for it. Having said this, I thought it was fascinating to read about all of the effects of childhood play. I never would have guessed that play has such a crucial role in the growth and development of the brain. The experiment where some rats were allowed to play freely and others were deprived of play was surprising to me because I would not have expected the actual brain functions of the deprived rats to be less developed. Overall, this article was full of interesting findings, even though combined they lead to no real conclusion regarding the purpose of play.

            Every trip into the city feels like a new and exciting adventure, even if I do exactly the same thing every time I am there. The favorite destination for my sisters and I is the food carts in the center of town. My sisters always have Pad Thai from their favorite cart and I almost always have a sandwich. Even though we have done this same trip so many times, the thrill of being in the city has never gone away.

            Walking around the block full of delicious food carts, I get to see all sorts of people that also call Portland their home. During the lunchtime rush, people from all walks of life gather on the sidewalks surrounding the carts as they eagerly search out their food. I always have to walk around the block two or three times just to figure out what kind of food I want. With so many choices I look in awe at each cart until I settle for my usual, a sandwich. As I spend around fifteen minutes looking around confused, my sisters decide if they’d like to split Pad Thai and figure out how spicy they want it to be.

Hello everyone!

My name is Liane and I came to Bryn Mawr this year from the amazing city of Portland, Oregon. Although I love being here, I had to leave a lot behind to make that possible. My avatar is a photo of me with one of my best friends from home taken at a picnic just before I left. That afternoon was the last time I saw many of my friends and so that moment holds a lot of significance for me. It also reminds me of the way my life was before I came here and all the wonderful people that I left at home. It was hard for me (as I am sure it is for everyone) to leave all of that behind in favor of a new, far away place. With that in mind, it was very difficult for me to make the decision to come across the country and start over on my own, especially when many people I knew stayed together in Oregon. As I continue to piece together this next part of my life here at Bryn Mawr, my family and friends from home will always be in the back of my mind reminding me of not only where I came from, but where I plan to go.