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Play in the City 2013
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Welcome to the on-line conversation for Play in the City, an Emily Balch Seminar offered in Fall 2013 @ Bryn Mawr College, in which we are addressing the question of how we construct, experience, and learn in the act of play. How is play both structured by the environment in which it occurs, and how might it re-structure that space, unsettling and re-drawing the frame in which it is performed? This is an interestingly different kind of place for writing, and may take some getting used to. The first thing to keep in mind is that it's not a site for "formal writing" or "finished thoughts." It's a place for thoughts-in-progress, for what you're thinking (whether you know it or not) on your way to what you think next. Imagine that you're just talking to some people you've met. This is a "conversation" place, a place to find out what you're thinking yourself, and what other people are thinking. The idea here is that your "thoughts in progress" can help others with their thinking, and theirs can help you with yours. |
Who are you writing for? Primarily for yourself, and for others in our course. But also for the world. This is a "public" forum, so people anywhere on the web might look in. You're writing for yourself, for others in the class, AND for others you might or might not know. So, your thoughts in progress can contribute to the thoughts in progress of LOTS of people. The web is giving increasing reality to the idea that there can actually evolve a world community, and you're part of helping to bring that about. We're glad to have you along, and hope you come to both enjoy and value our shared explorations. Feel free to comment on any post below, or to POST YOUR THOUGHTS HERE.
Mid-Semester Evaluation
I love to play. Signing up for Emily Balch Seminars, the word “play” immediately caught my eye. My initial concerns about the class were that the play I’d encounter in the course wouldn’t be actual, fun play, and that the writing I would have to do would feel forced. Thankfully, the trips into Philadelphia that I’ve been on have felt genuinely fun and playful. I’ll admit, the writing sometimes does feel forced. I think part of it comes from a bit of confusion on exactly what the prompts are asking me to say. At first, the prompts seem vague and long, with somewhat of a disconnect between the multiple questions of each one. Only once I’ve written quite a bit have I discovered what I actually want to say. I think that that strategy is one I will end up utilizing a lot in writing throughout my life, and I like that the prompts with their vagueness have put me in a position where it is something I can practice. The class has also been helpful in sharpening my exploration skills. I’ve enjoyed seeing different types of neighborhoods combining to make the city into a whole.
Evaluation
I have always believed that play is one of the most important aspects of humanity due to the creativity that is ultimately involved in playing. Due to my strong belief in the benefits of playing, I am disturbed by schools that teach people how to work, while diminishing their ability to play creatively. After four years of traditional high school focused on working, I was greatly intrigued by this Emily Balch Seminar when I read its synopsis. I thought this class would be so unique and would give me a creative way to learn about this new city that I was moving near, but had only visited twice. I was initially interested by the idea of analyzing different states of play, and being able to play myself, the trips into Philadelphia just happened to be a perk to me.
After the class began, I was pleasantly surprised by Mark Lord’s teaching style, and his general belief that that everyone has important individual thoughts and there is no “wrong answer.” This initially first pushed me out of my comfort zone of what a class conversation could entail, as I was no longer looking for the answer that the teacher or text book believed was right, but was instead looking for the answer that was most correct to me as an individual. Already without even beginning to “play” I was able to feel the outlets of creativity within the class opening, even in just the general opening conversations we had.
Mid-Semester Evaluation
I had a few good English classes in High School. I expected my Emily Balch Seminar to be like them. The professor would lead the class in discussion, we would answer their questions and write a formulated essay. This turned out to not be the case. Anne does start the classes, we do try to answer questions, and we write essays, but all in a new, slightly different configuration.
Anne’s class definitely has a planned structure. She keeps the conversation going in the right direction. She asks a lot of questions, however she tries not to be in the typical powerful professor role. She makes us look at our classmates and speak to them, simplifying the conversation of the classroom. I love that we are in a circle instead of rows; it keeps me from hiding. The way the classroom is set up is an example of playing with structure. The construction of the class is deliberate in creating an unstructured place to play. Scaffolding we can fill with whatever we find most interesting. Anne might provide the questions, but she throws them out to the wind for us to run with.
Playing Differently Redux: A 4 page version
/*I could have sworn this paper was meant to be six pages. So I trimmed my six-page essay posted earlier to 4 pages, which is slightly better.*/
Phoenix
mlord
Play in the City 028
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Playing Differently
The purpose of visiting a city is to experience something new, or to experience something familiar in a new way. If our course Play in the City was itself a city, then our hometown must be our everyday experience of academia, in secondary school and in our other Bryn Mawr classes.
First, we played with the concept of a city, with the help of Lewis Mumford, George Simmel, and Sharon Zukin. This is a highly academic version of play, and, though mildly interesting, not different from my hometown of ordinary academia. Second, we played with Robin Henig and Cass Sunstein about serendipity and the science behind play. I preferred these. Despite the familiarity of reading and applying essays, the subjects were interesting and unusual. Serendipity is not an oft-discussed topic in my hometown. Furthermore, the topics were not overly theoretical, the opinions were easily understood, and the explanations were simple.
Audience
I turn onto a new street. The busy avenues and squares and plazas and circles have been making me dizzy. Linear, point by point. I walk down.
Midterm Evaluation-The Musical
(Disclaimer: This paper is not a musical.)
-So do you go into Philly all the time?
-Yeah, I’ve gone in most weekends. But it’s for a class. Try to gloss over the description of what an E-Sem is. You’ll lose her attention.
-So where have you been?
Drop names. Things people will know and be able to connect with regardless of whether or not they’ve been to Philly within the last twenty years.
-Oh you know, some museums, some places around South Street, the Italian Market, and a bunch of other places. We wander, mostly.
-Have you been to the art museum? You have to go to the art museum.
-Yeah, I haven’t been in yet this trip, but definitely, yeah. Thank her nicely for the tip. Refrain from telling her it’s one of the most iconic places in Philly and of course you’re going to go soon.
-Good. Eat a cheesesteak for me when you get back!
-Yeah, I will! Thank her again and secretly think that she wouldn’t know where to get a good cheesesteak if she ever made it to Philly.
Learning as a City Player
Learning as a City Player
Yijing Lu
When I saw the mosaic decoration on the wall of The International Airport of San Francisco, the sentence that“Mosaics celebrated seasonal change and embellished the shrines of the gods of fertility, harvest, and renewal with sensual displays of body and earth” came into my brain; when I saw the fantastic paintings in the libraries of UC Berkeley, I thought of the definition of “critical play”; when I wandered near the Golden Gate Bridge, I felt that I was a “city player”; and, when I experienced all the moments above, I realized that the course “Play in the City” impacted me a lot.
I still remember that when I first enrolled into this course, I was so curious about how to play in the city and what we can learn from it. Now, at the middle of semester, I have found the answer.
During the first week we talk about what the city is, and we share our favorite cities and our experience in them. I remember that three of my classmates chose San Francisco as the city they loved most, which not only surprised me, but also becomes one of the reasons why I made a trip there during this fall break.
A New Perspective
At the beginning of the semester, I came into this class not knowing what to expect. I had an idea that it might be different from the other Emily Balch Seminars because the subject itself was set so far apart from the others, but until the first day of classes I had no idea just how different it would be.
The activity we did on the first day of class, where we looked around the classroom to understand the space we would be spending our time together, can be used to perfectly explain my experience in the class up to this point. We spent the day looking at all the different aspects of the room in detail and placing them in context with everything else we found. The building itself has been around long enough that it has many layers of history that can be seen though observation. People noticed the designs on the fireplace, the shutters on the windows, parts of the walls that did not match up with the rest of the room, and plaques under the windows with names engraved of people that donated to the school. When we sat down and discussed everything that we noticed the class as a whole was better able to understand the space we were in and how every little piece added up to make it what it was.
Size Matters
Philadelphia is a massive city, and one of our tasks this semester is to familiarize ourselves with the unique metropolis that is Philly. More than that really, we are supposed to become intimately and individually involved in some aspect of the city during each and every sojourn. The largest hindrance to personal exploration, as I have experienced it, is not unfamiliarity, boredom, or even complete disinterest, because these themselves can reveal something about our experiences in the city. Rather the size of the group is the greatest obstacle. The larger a group is, the more self-contained it becomes, directing its focus inwards and glossing over the scenes of the city around us as mere tourists rather than explorers. Obviously this happened when we first journeyed into Philly with the entire group of twenty-eight people, and it was admittedly necessary for the safety and peace of mind of people unfamiliar with the area. However, this concept applies readily to the classroom as well: Twenty-eight people having a discussion rarely results in any meaningful conclusions if only because no individual has the time to go into detail about their ideas and experiences. Furthermore, discussions between the two sections often seem pointless since we take part in very different lectures and discussions in our separate classes. Even though both Anne and Mark try to coordinate their discussions, they have different expectations of their students and different aspects of any given topic that they focus on. This has relatively lit
Learning to Write for No One
Jessica Bernal
ESEM-Play in The City
Learning to Write for No One
When I crawl out of bed in the morning and start getting dressed to start a new day, it always takes me a while to step out and walk among society. One step in can cause a whole stir of thoughts, ideas, and judgments based on what I think I am. I put into a lot of thought about what the jeans and oversized shirt may say about me on that particular Monday morning. What I wear on a particular day represents who I am that day, how I wish to present myself for people to form their own ideas and perspectives… at least I used to think that way.
I came into this course with the mentality of writing and presenting myself for others to reach a consensus of approval. I surveyed around for the all agreeing and pleasing nods when really it had nothing to do with how smart I tried to appeal in my writing or present my thoughts in class. By taking this course, Play in The City, I’ve come to grasp and embrace my thoughts and express them through writing for no one in particular but myself, for my enjoyment in my choice of critical play in my own voice.
A City of Critical Play
In the city of our course, I am having a journey that is leading me and helping me to start my brand new college life. I feel my growth throughout these six weeks. I joined this city when I was a genuine "freshman" who had not got used to this whole different life in a new country. But now I'm thrilled to become a part of it. In this unique course, we learn to play and think. We learn to view things critically.
In the first day of class, we were told by our professor to walk around our classroom and observe the surroundings. My first reaction was that there would be nothing much to see. I thought it was just a regular classroom that lacked of creation. However, in my exploration around the classroom, I found nameplates that dated back to hundreds of years ago on the windowsill. I was bewildered by the use of the long metal bar below the blackboard. I was amazed by the old ancient window shades that were opened by my classmates... Sitting down, I was surprised at the variety of details in this simple room during our exchange of observations. By using lenses and magnifying tiny things, we tried to make sense of them. And we are still trying in every single class and in every trip to the city of Philadelphia.
We were asked to define ourselves and create an avatar on our website after class. I realized this is necessary for building a city of our own. Every city player needs to have a personality. Although this process was hard at first, but it at least set a starting point for us to continue in the future.
The City & Me
Exploring cities has always been something I love to do. What better way to combine this passion with a college credit than take a class that essentially has you exploring a city week after week? Better yet, a city I know almost nothing about: Philadelphia. Though it has not even been two months, the city has quickly become a part of who I am: a part full of Shake Shack, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an attractive man playing a guitar, a not so attractive man attempting to hit on me, and so much more.
I feel very lucky to attend a school near a city. I actually almost applied Early Decision to a school in Maine, aka the Middle of Nowhere. I would have suffered and gotten antsy without a city for me to play in. Though Philadelphia is not as great a city as New York (sorry, but not sorry), I still have a great time exploring. I appreciate the fact that the class is so open and that I have the opportunity to choose where I want to go and how I want to experience it.
My first experience in the city was with the whole group, which I liked, since I was unfamiliar with the city. Even with the smaller groups, I was comfortable. I feel as if it was the most structured trip of the three I’ve been on for the class, and we still had a lot of free time. Perhaps the fact that we were in a big group together and had times we had to be places made it seem more organized. Even though I only did some shopping and had Shake Shack, I felt as if that was a good start for an official first trip into the city of Philadelphia.
The Roundabout Path
The most recent, and perhaps most helpful, piece of advice that I got for writing essays was to write around things I don’t know how to say. I was told to just keep talking, describing what it is that I’m thinking of, and eventually I’ll either come up with the correct phrase or realize that my roundabout explanation is better than what I had been visualizing before. Thinking back, this is very similar to what I’ve been doing in my city visits. I wander around, never quite sure where exactly I’m going, or how to get where I want to get, but always reaching my destination in the end. Sometimes I’ve even come across things that I didn’t know existed but are now my favorite things in the city, like the Masonic Temple and the Board Game Art Park.
Being able to wander freely around Philadelphia is my favorite part of this course. Before, in cities, I’ve always been on a mission to see something, or had to follow a tour guide. I now know that that’s not a good way to see a city-- I mean, sure, you’ll see all the famous landmarks, but you won’t experience the real sights and sounds. You won’t get the insight into what it’s actually like to live in that city. I can see myself living in Philadelphia, something I’ve never really felt before, in any city I’ve been to. I feel alive and part of the world, which I’m sure is because I’ve gotten to wander around and see and do whatever strikes my interest.
Evaluation
When choosing my top three choices for my ESEM this summer, I remember being stuck between “Arguing with Songs” and “Play in the City” yet I am so grateful that I was placed in this class. I expected Play in the City to be much more theatre based but I have found that interpretations and observations are much more the backbone. Like most college classes, students are asked to contribute their perspectives and different points of view. We dig up our past experiences, childhood memories, thoughts and notes we’ve shared on trips, and what we’ve seen in and on our way to Philadelphia.
When we first began, we visited our destinations in groups, yet as the class unfolded we began to break into groups to self organize our trip and visit. I think this worked to our advantage as it gave us the ability to individually experience something different and become more independent. I especially enjoyed the assignment a couple of weeks back where we were given the opportunity to personally choose and present a specific place to visit. This research aided our exploration of the city and hearing each person present their research made me aware of how much the city of Philadelphia has to offer. It also allowed me to reach to students I hadn’t previously spoken to.
change
The sunshine sneaks into this old room through wooden shutters, spilling on the chairs, the wooden floors, the old cabinet；and the clean blackboard, the sophisticated computer and the new projector. The students are wandering around the room, seeking for the clues to dig out the secret of this place. It is only a classroom, I thought. I felt confused and embarrassed when silently walking around this small and “normal” area. “There are scars on the pillars on each side of the fireplace. Only on each side, maybe because people moved the furniture before and grinded the pillars. The heating and the air conditioner are on at the same time. I don’t know why. It’s strange.” It was the first sentence I said in this class. It was interesting to find something I never would notice or expected and guess the reasons for it. I started to involve. And now, this course just takes me deeper and deeper; I even don’t know what I will find or think in next minutes. This course helps me to understand the city, but makes me more unfamiliar with myself- I thought I am a well-planned person; everything is under control and in my expectation. However, I was wrong, I keep digging out the potential and having new ideas in the trips. I was amazed that I even enjoyed getting out of the comfort zone and get to know a “different” me.
This class keeps changing me and challenging my habit.
My City of Play
Scrolling through the Emily Balch seminars was a daunting task: Having to narrow my preferences down to three was overwhelmingly difficult. Each one sparked my interest with a catchy title and a syllabus of interesting material. In the end, I chose the “Play in the City” seminar, mostly because of the professor.
Theater had shaped my high school (and middle school) experience, and although I wasn’t too interested in a theater major, staying involved and working with people who shared my passion seemed like a great idea. I chose “Play in the City” for many reasons, including Mark Lord.
Mark Lord proved to be the stereotypical theater professor, having us walk around the classroom on the first day, observing all we could. We, the students, examined the classroom, seeing as much as possible, and hoping to not say a “wrong” answer. This second day of classes was pretty uncomfortable in Taylor F, awkward silences ran amuck, and Mark’s command that we live with the discomforts and “give each other time to think” was pretty outside of our comfort zones. However, the class soon bonded and developed an ebb and flow of conversation, which includes many different voices bringing up important and diverse points on whatever we may be discussing.
Mid-semester evaluation
When I saw this topic ‘play in the city’ for the first time, actually I thought it was ironic. The word ‘play’ seemed to be irrelevant, even opposite to a course topic. The definition of ‘play’, in my mind, is just activity which people choose to get happiness and easiness. In the readings we read in this class, almost every writer has her own definition of ‘play’, and because of this, the topic becomes deeper and complicated to study. I receive those definitions although sometimes I did not accept them, and because the help of our trips to Philly, I can try to understand them. The course is like an un-known city, such as Philly, having various aspects to explore and surprising me often.
Playing Differently
Phoenix
MLord
Play in the City 028
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Playing Differently
The purpose of visiting a city is to experience something new, or to experience something familiar in a new way. If our course Play in the City was itself a city, then our hometown must be our everyday experience of academia, in secondary school and in our other Bryn Mawr classes.
Mid Semester Evaluation
In many ways, this class is exactly what I’ve been hoping for since my days at an alternative elementary/middle school. At that school, we practiced being critical thinkers. To do this, we had a comfortable environment: we called teachers by their first names, had a lot of classroom discussions, and sat in circles so we could see each other’s faces. I’ve found that this class, Play in the City, is also set up to be a comfortable environment. Unfortunately, I still have lingering thoughts from high school running through my head, usually along the lines of Is this relevant? Will people care about what I have to say? and, of course, the ever present Is this a stupid question/remark/thought? I’ve been getting over that, though. I’ve become more comfortable talking in class, saying what I believe. Everyone in this class listens to what other people have to say, and there is usually a way to bring the comment into the discussion and build upon it.
A Rather Bold Mid-Semester Evaluation
I wrote my Common App essay on how I managed to adjust to French teaching styles upon moving to Geneva at nine years old. It was quite the leap for younger Tessa. I have always been rather fascinated at the range of teaching styles I can benefit from. Anne’s style is no exception. It’s very college professor type-y. Exactly how I expected a prof at a respectable school to look and act like. She treats us like the fledgling adults we are, while maintaining a fair level of command. She’s both formidable and heartwarming. Obviously she knows the ins and outs of teaching. She gives the best feedback on my writing that I’ve ever recieved. She is meticulous about structuring each class so we get the most out of the time together. I can feel my writing evolving up into Bryn Mawr’s standard of essays, albeit slowly thanks to this class. That being said, I feel that Anne can be too professor-y on occaision. Her high expectations for us and our writing make it difficult to talk to her less than professionally. This might be why starting conversations in class can be rather awkward. Part of the problem might be that none of us want to be the first one to say something. I can only speak for me, but I find it hard to join in the conversation because I’m afraid what will come out of my mouth will sound stupid to Anne and everyone else. I noticed that Anne asks all the questions and doesn’t volunteer her own relevant experiences or personal thoughts much.
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