Over the summer, I worked at a summer camp in Point Reyes National Seashore, a few hours North of San Francisco. It was my second year working at this camp, although I’d been a camper for around six or seven years. Point Reyes Summer Camp is a nature science camp, so the campers do a lot of learning about local plants, wildlife, and natural processes. We often integrate this learning into games and activities, and the kids (aged 9-12) seem to really retain the information they learn in that way. 

When I was younger, my favorite part of the day would either be recess and for a short time period, naps also became the vital part of my day. Soon, they took that away from me and all I could look forward to was recess. All my friends and I would stare at the clock and watch the minute hand slowly move as 12 would strike. We'd feel like animals trapped in a small cage and once the bell rang, we escaped and gazelled out of enclosed space. We were free and the sweat dripping down our backs made no change on the bright smiles on our faces. Most of my favortite memories from childhood are from recess; it taught me quite a few things that a room with four walls could never. Recess is a vital part of growing up and if we take that away from children and bombard them with more work and trap them in four walls all day, then they'll miss out on essential experiences. 

I wasn't really struck by the Sunstein article, though I agree with the general sentiment that the serendipity of newspapers is a good thing. I don't go out of my way to find news, so I like the variety that a newspaper provides.

The Henig article got me really excited in the bringing when he talked about dogs bowing to show they are just play fighting, because my dog does that all the time. The bit of cute nostalgia naturally put me on the side of playing is good for growth. Then later on the article got me thinking that when animals are playing together they testing each other, seeing how much they can trust each other. But then, at the end of the article, Henig mentions how play is play-acting the roles that children see around them and therefore teaches them life skills like deception and harassment. So when he puts the quote by Smith saying “play’s ultimate purpose can be found in paradoxes” that made me feel of play as bad and good. Good because it may build trust and relationship but bad because it also reflects the negative side of relationship as in deception and harassment.

When Hendig started talking about A.D.H.D. I really like the theoretical definition of A.D.H.D. as “overactivity of play urges in the nervous system.” I have a friend who is an art professor, and he uses medication to focus during the school year but goes off it during the summer in order to generate ideas for his art. That definition fits because I think of creativity as a very playful thing.

Reading Sunstein's article reminded me of how I discovered what would eventually become a huge part of my life. People who know me know that Lifehouse has been my favorite band for a solid six years, but they don't know that I discovered this band totally by accident.  My dad subscribed to a radio station and would receive monthly CDs with wide ranges of music.  He normally requested not to have them sent, but this particular month he forgot and we received it. My sister and I were bored several months later and figured we might as well listen to it. We weren't really into it until "Whatever it Takes" came on and we both loved it.  We immediately searched for other songs by Lifehouse and eventually found a small community of fans who were accepting of everyone and genuinely some of the nicest people I've ever met.  Had I not stumbled across Lifehouse completely by accident I would never have met some of the people I think of as my closest friends or become as close as I am with my sister.

In my mind, playing is a very important thing, although most of the Chinese parents usually think that playing wastes times and is never as neccessary as studying hard, because all my family members are so enlightened to consider playing is a good way to make children become more creative and imaginative. Sometimes, I just think about the reason of playing. What are we playing for? Just for fun? Undoubtedly not. As far as I concerned, when we play, we can explore new things or even achieve "windfall". We play, not for reasons or goals, but to enjoy the process of continuously meeting the surprise. Moreover, "playing" should not be defined narrowly. If you like, working can be a kind of playing, because you may get a sense of achievement; studing can be a kind of playing, because you may enrich your knowledge; reading can be a kind of playing, because you may widen your horizon; and, even sleeping can be a kind of playing, because you may have an amzing dream! Therefore, playing is everywhere in our lives, and that is why our lives colorful and cheerful.

Last year in my A.P. Government class, my teacher told me that on each quiz or test we would have a question on the news from that week. I decided to make BBC my computer's homepage, thinking it would force me to read the news. I soon realized how much I enjoyed reading the news, how much I valued knowing what was going on in the world. I used to spend an hour each day just reading the news: political, health, technology...basically anything but sports. I soon found how important it was to have a wide range of news to read: much better than only reading about one spectrucm. To know what is happening in the world, people need a well-rounded view, not a singular view. For this reason, I think people will continue to value non-customized news. They will prefer to be surprised about what is showing up on their computers, as opposed to knowing what they'll learn about today: the same thing they learned yesterday, and the day before. People appriciate variery. Newspapers give it to them.

According to Henig’s essay, many scholars tried to figure out what effect does play have on human or animals, but ended up with no clear answers. Play is somehow dangerous, and those abilities that we can get from play can also be gained from other alternative ways. Then I got confused. Why do we play, if play is so meaningless and so dangerous? My two year old sister likes playing. In her class, her teacher taught them by playing different games. She was apparently less distracted when playing games. I like playing too. One of the reasons I chose “play in the city” is because I saw a word “play” which is very attracted to. I think play just makes me happy and is a mental need. Just like Stuart Brown said, “Look at life without play, and it’s not much of life.” 

I’ve spent most of my life at a politically and socially liberal school, but until my senior year the politics of the majority of my peers never really factored into my personal life.  It was then that I both enrolled in a political theory class with a socialist teacher and increased my presence on the internet.  Surrounded by liberal people in a left-leaning discussion-based class, I found my opinions shifting ever more to adjust to my friends’ perspectives, and I didn’t have any explanation other than ‘they just made a lot of sense’.  Sunstein, however, explains the concept beautifully.  It’s not that people lose their own free will in favor of the will of the majority, and it’s not as if a person will suddenly abandon long-held beliefs, rather the homogeneity of the group incites agreement in individuals.  The Internet and a lot of social media sites are tangible examples of this process in action.  One person might advocate for increased marriage equality, and, as the original message spreads and others take it up, so often they act as if anyone who disagrees is wrong and unworthy of inclusion in the conversation.   All other opinions fade into the background as a single opinion becomes dominant and “create[s] echo chambers” which encourage even more radical thinking along the same vein.

(just to be clear, I’m not condemning the example I used [I support marriage equality], but it illustrates my personal experience with the concept in Sunstein’s article)