Play in the City 2013

There is something nice about being wrong. In the past, I have been ashamed of my “wrongness;” I have been embarrassed after I write a flawed essay or define a word incorrectly. However, throughout the past couple of years, I have felt more and more comfortable with “wrongness.” There are two ways I could look at it; I could worry that I am not as intelligent or as capable as everyone else or I could revel in the fact that I do not know much. The latter is not only kinder to my ego, it makes me more open to learning. 

When I chose to take this class, I was completely wrong about what it was. I believed that it was a series of trips into the city paired with written reflections on the physical structure of the city. Although we have discussed this, I slowly realized that this course is not based off of topics, but lenses. I am not merely describing experiences, but using class discussions and papers as ways to interpret the city. This is not easy, but it helps me to play with ideas. Taking these influences into the city (Simmel’s, Flanagan’s, Zetkin’s etc.) and combining them with startling discoveries (for example, that there is a place that sells sparkly penis headbands) is the recipe for “wrongness.” My interpretations may be wrong and my further revelations may be wronger. But, this is where the fun is. 

“Subversion in the City”

In the first paragraph, tflurry gives story-like examples of subversion. Then, she delves into more serious definitions of it (that of the OED, Flanagan, and her own). With her own definition of subversion, tflurry argues that subversion is “the means and result” of any sort of deviation from the norm. To me, tflurry’s first paragraph is both playful and critical. In the beginning, tflurry playfully draws me into her interpretation of subversion; she excites my imagination and then surprises me with several definitions of subversion. These definitions provide a buffer zone for tflurry’s next pursuit: to both analyze subversion and provoke the reader to analyze it as well.

“Playing for Power”

In mmanzone’s first paragraph, mmanzone references a previous paper and reflects that her experiences mirror both Flanagan’s “critical play” and Smith’s “four different types of play.” The first paragraph arises my curiosity because I do not know mmanzone’s earlier paper and Smith’s different types of play. Mmanzone makes me play by stating these various forms of play and, in doing so, asks me to play with play; mmanzone leads me to consider all of these types and wonder if play expands much further than I previously thought.

Mark and I are thinking that our next two trips will be, respectively, to a prison and to a museum.
We would like some guidance from you all in planning these two jaunts, as well as the one thereafter:
* do you want to go as one large group to the same space?
* would you prefer to self-organize (to visit some sites we will select, and others which you'll select)?
* what are the advantages/disadvantages of each of these arrangements?

Please post your response as a "comment" --not just a vote, but an explanation of why you think so--before classtime on Thursday--and thanks!

A&M

It was a gorgeous and sunny day this Saturday, and I had had quite a pleasant and relaxing morning sitting in a café, reading, and doodling around with thoughts in my head and on paper. Later I walked to the street corner of the subway station to meet two of the girls with whom I’d come into the city. We were going to wait a while to see if the other girls would catch up with us before we went down into the subway.

We were at the intersection of Market and Fifth Streets, and there were cars and people and tour buses passing on by. At one point, a woman walked towards us, greeting some of the other people on the block walking by us. She came over to us, smiling and exuding cheerfulness, and asked us where we were going. “We’re on our way home,” I said, smiling back at her. She was thin, about my height, wearing faded, well-worn clothes, an army-style hat over her very little hair, and with a satchel strapped across her shoulder. She held a beer can in a brown paper bag in her left hand and had a glassy look in her eye like she was ready to tell us a story.

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?”

Play in Night Market

There was a conflict going on in my mind when I found the Night Market is on Thursday, at night. I have midterms on Friday and Saturday, and that should be an intensive night for me. But I know I would go, I know this the first time I saw the ads in Chinatown, it is something that means more than a good grade for me. Night Market is something rooted in my memories, with flashing lights, crowds, sweet smell of marshmallows in the air, and loud bargain sounds.

When I proposed to go there on Thursday, I thought there would be nobody with me, but it turns out that all the Chinese in the class wants to go to the event. When it comes to Night Market in Chinatown, nobody from China wants to miss it.

It’s the first Night Market I went to in Philly, but I feel there’s nothing really fresh and surprising in playing, instead, the fun I found in here is all about familiarity.

I went to the city twice over the weekend. Friday night, I went on a ghost tour, and on Sunday, I wandered the city after dropping a friend off at Amtrak at 30th St. Station. This was my first experience going on the subway system (specifically, the Market-Frankford Line/El) for the first time. While in the city, I focused on how I was using the things around me as a method for playing, to see if I could figure out what ‘technology’ is from Flanagan’s viewpoint.

Our mode of transportation is both technology in the obvious way and technology that helps us play. Transportation, especially new kinds, can be very playful when you are first discovering its quirks and the way it works. I feel that an important aspect of play is discovering new things and having adventures. When I went on the subway for the first time, by myself, it was very new and stressful as I tried to make sure that I was on the right line and going to the correct stop. So this kind of technology is a game in and of itself, not just a method used to play another game or get to a location to play with something else.