All of the three articles we read recently focused on how play can enhance social skills and evoke imagination; how play should be free and unlimited. As I was reading the post of WhoAmI, Glass Doll And All¹, on serendip, the writer’s childhood experience of playing with white glass dolls reminds me of some different ways in which play can influence children. Beside all the benefits of play that mentioned in the articles, there could be some negative aspects of play and play is actually somehow limited in real life.

Romi Laskin
            Identity, Access and Innovation in Education
Professor Jody Cohen
October 10^th, 2014

 Identity Beyond Ability: An Examination of the Impact of PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the Lives of Students with Disabilities

The Rewards and Challenges of District-Regulated Diversity

Student Discipline Regulations: 603 CMR 53.00

                                                                          "Peggy Lee"                                                 "T Shirt"  

In Weilla’s Post, limited playing time, she writes, “Unlike other kids, I’ve always had a time limit --- ‘You must come back in half an hour.’ My family always believe that read more books is better than ‘just play and learn nothing’’’ (Yuan).  Weilla describes the struggle of having a limited play time, or not being able to play with her friends how she wanted to or for as long as she wanted to because she would face harsh consequences from her parents. And as someone who feels as though their wanting to play a certain way was hindered by a parent, I can relate. But in reading this post, it made me think about the article Playing in Industrial Ruins: Interrogating teleological understandings of play in spaces of material alterity and low surveillance.

To Preface: I'm putting up what I have written of my paper, since I'm unable to work on it any further for the time being (and don't know when I'll be able to get back to it) and figured that, since it's pretty fleshed out already, something was better than nothing. Thus, pardon the complete lack of revision; some parts aren't fully developed, others do not flow particularly well, and points and trains of thought may be repeated. Hopefully I'll be back soon for take two.

Portrait of the heart, Portrait of the Heart: Questioning the Ethics of Veteran Portraiture

Beverly McIver is a woman whose life has taken her on a non-normative path. She is an artist who was “thrust” into the role of taking care of her sister who has developmental disabilities. We can see the journey that she has taken with her sister, Renee, and how they have coped with it through Beverly’s portraits. Beverly invites the viewer to peek into her life, and shows them how a ‘non-normative’ life can be fulfilling.

Part I: Queering Time

    The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. Try as some of the more conservative and nativist set might, no one living in the US (save those of first nations descent) can honestly claim to have no immigrant history. In light of this national heritage it is slightly peculiar the amount of disdain with which older established immigrants have treated the more recent set. There exists in the historical context an extensive history of legislation barring the entry of people from other nations–the Page Act (1875), the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), the Emergency Quota Act (1921), etc.–to satisfy baseless prejudices and promote a rather hypocritical brand of ethnocentrism that seemed to believe there was any sort of racial or ethnic status quo to maintain.

Defining Portraiture

It is often, at least in my opinion, a faux pas to begin a paper beyond grade school with a dictionary definition. That said, I think some dictionary definitions can get the proverbial ball rolling.

Portrait, n. A drawing or painting of a person, often mounted and framed for display, esp. one of the face or head and shoulders; (also) an engraving, photograph, etc., in a similar style.