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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.
"10 rules for students and teachers"
Mark shared these rules with me y'day, and I'm passing them on to you--good counsel, I think, as you create these mosaics! Enjoy--
IMosaic (without flash)
If I turned on flash, then I lost the shadow of the rubik's cube. If I did not turn it on, the words were blurry. So, I'm posting two pictures one with flash and one without!
thought you might enjoy
seeing where i read-and-responded to your papers this week. this park, @ the end of my street,
is dedicated to an old resident of the neighborhood...
who designed this building (where some of you will soon live)
and who had a clear vision of cities as composed of "schools, streets, and village greens."
This park, designed in his honor, clearly separates spaces humans can occupy
from those they can look upon (archaic form chosen advisedly):
How bounded do you want your pleasure-and-play to be?
Open to Serendipity
On our walk from Suburban station to the Free Library, most classmates were busy taking pictures of skyscrapers and monumental buildings. I, however, didn’t even press my shutter, which seemed strange since I always say I love photography. The reason was my “photography philosophy”: I see with my eyes, not with my camera, and I won’t start taking photos until the beauty no longer dumbfounds me. And I was dumbfounded then, by so many homeless people in the brightest and most fancy part of the city. In China, I had only seen them in poor suburban and subways, because city inspectors would banish them from visible area, but here they have the freedom to sleep in the perfect Logan Square or under the statue of a war hero, skateboard in Love Square, and look so vibrant under the warm Saturday sun. Just a few steps away, in the small streets straying from the broad and gorgeous Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, their scrawls are everywhere, and when they are merely standing there talking I can sense their movement like dancing. This is what Sharon Zukin says, “a kind of low-down but truer sense of where the self can develop”.
After wandering for a while, I went in the Free Library – also the territory of the homeless. I sat among them and started to enjoy the Quiet Volume.
“Put your hand on the paper, palm down, and press it into the book. Press harder. Push until your hand starts to shake a little bit.” I looked up awkwardly hoping no one noticed me. And no one did. They concentrated in reading.
Happen to happen
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.
City Serendipity
On Saturday, September 14, the various members of the two classes of Play in the City met with Mark in the glass atrium outside of Hepburn; I was among the first people there, got my ticket, and watched as the room filled with people in waves. When most of the group had arrived, a few stragglers rushing in behind, Mark explained the details of the trip, and we split into groups; I was paired with a woman named Agatha, and we grouped with Phoenix and Marcia.
We rode the train into town; it was full but not crowded, Agatha enjoying a conversation with a friend as I read. When the train reached our station, we hurried off; the train stops were brief enough that a stumble could make you miss your stop. A short walk took us to the library, where Mark described the plan for the day; “Go play, and make sure to come back on time for your ticket.”
a wander around the city
The trip we took this Saturday was a magical exploration.
I did not have any plan until the morning I met up with my group, we talked about the places we saw online that interested us and decided to go to an art museum when we got there.
When we arrived, I took a look around the random angle of the city, it is ----concrete and different from any city I’ve seen previously. The huge mirror buildings reflected the sky and clouds, which made them part of the blue. It’s beautiful concrete. We saw the city hall, which is a nicely preserved building, magnificent, graceful, you can see a history out of it.When we walk along the street, there are flags of different nations. I tried to find my country through the long street and found the five stars right in front of the library.
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