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When I think about the last two months in this class, the first scene that appeared in my mind is that I walked into Mark’s class. After he finished the roll call, I realized I was not supposed to be there. Mark took me to the right classroom. Mark led me to a classroom with chairs in lines ( and later we made it a circle) and that’s how my Play in the City journey began.

Play in the City: an interesting concept. To discuss what play is, means, can be, and to then go out and try it in a city as varied as Philadelphia. I had hoped, going into this course, that when I walked out I would walk out with a different way of thinking about the world- a difficult demand to be sure. Thus far I have not been disappointed. Ant Hamilton’s Quiet Volume changed how I thought about libraries, reading, even silence. Isaiah Zagar’s Magic Gardens helped change how I think about silent art forms like mosaic and painting, and to the canvas and materials themselves. The trip into Bryn Mawr proved that these lessons I am learning apply everywhere. It is clear that my experiences in this course have changed how I think about the world, given me more tools with which to think about the world, and that can only be positive.

When I was looking over the list of Emily Balch Seminars the first one that caught my attention was Play in the City.  Not only because I was thinking about being a Cities major but also because I’ve always wished I knew Philadelphia better.  This was going to be the perfect class: I’ll learn how to negotiate the city and how to write in college.  Killing two birds with one stone (or class, as the case may be).

Much like cities all over the world our little Play in the City class welcomes people from everywhere.  We have students from many states in the United States as well as some who have lived in Europe and China.  There are students who have grown up in one place and some that have moved around their whole life.  These varying backgrounds allow our group discussions to have more meaning as there are many different perspectives presented.  We get to hear about how our adventures in the city compare to those had in cities all around the world. 

“There were more people than back in China”

“I’m used to this. I grew up in D.C.”

“I was overwhelmed.”

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. 

            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.

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.

/*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.

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.

(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

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.