September 25, 2015 - 16:15
Elena Luedy
Professor Cohen
E-Sem
9/25/15
Our Own Jungle
For homework we had to read both a post from one of our class mates and an article regarding ‘play’. For this paper I chose “Playing on the Wild Side” by isabell.the.polygot and “Playing in the Industrial Ruins” by Tim Edensor.
Edensor mentions that one of the main attractions of the industrial ruins is the danger and Isabell.the.polygot talks about her act of play being dangerous and freeing. Often times as children the moment we feel safe in an environment is the moment we decide to take a risk. We think of children as being reckless, although the times we as children did something daring we learned important lessons of safety from them.
Isabell.the.polygot’s story is an example of what Edensor calls Adventurous and Expressive play. “One day, I decided that I would be adventurous and walk along an elevated portion of the sidewalk that was about two feet off the ground, put there so that people could sit along the path. I climbed up all by myself without my parents noticing, and began to walk along it. I wanted to see how long I could go before my mom found out and pulled me down.” (Weebly 2015). In this story Isabell.the.polygot knows what she is doing is wrong, which is why she expects her mom to come and tell her not to do what she is doing anymore. This is similar to the article we read, because the individuals playing in the industrial ruin know what they are doing is dangerous or illegal but decide to do it anyway.
In the industrial ruin individuals feel that the space allows them to test their limits, to see what level they are at. “Such disordered space also provides a location for play that entails risk and danger through encounters with unstable structures and surfaces, requiring balance, agility and bravery beyond that encountered in managed play spaces or activities, such as climbing and abseiling, where health and safety regulations restrict the level of risk.”(Edensor 70). This is similar to Isabell.the.polygot’s experience. She mentions that she felt freedom walking along the beach, “I started to run and dance along it, experimenting with all the different ways of walking that I knew.” (Weebly 2015). Both Isabell.the.polygot and the people in the industrial ruin desire to stretch their abilities to see what they are capable of. It is interesting to note that isabell.the.polygot is significantly younger than those in the Edensor article, however not much is changed between them.
Often in society we look down upon older individuals ‘playing’ as we see these activities as harmful or a distraction to the greater goal. We allow our children to be free and encourage them to explore their different interests. For example one child may have both Barbies and Legos, two toys that do different functions. The Barbies are fun to dress up in outfits and the Legos are a good way to learn architecture. However if a fashion designer expressed interest in architecture they would most likely be told to stick to their field of study, and vice versa. We look at adults who want to stretch their horizons as crazy, but also secretly admire them. When someone tells you they want to do something like white water rafting or skydiving we often tell them it’s too risky and advise them against it. They are however just being like the young isabell.the.polygot, trying to test their limits and see what they are capable of. The same principle could be applied to marathon runners or any other similar athlete. What we as adults come to learn though, is exactly how far we should go, so we do not get hurt, such as little isabell.the.polygot. “Everything started moving slowly around me, and I still remember my mom's look of panic as I fell off the ledge and onto the hard pavement. I went down face first.” (Weebly 2015). It is only through pushing ourselves far enough that we learn when to draw the line. It can be theorized that once isabell.the.polygot became hurt she no longer desired to do the same trick on the sidewalk. As humans we are often taught through pain to ourselves or another that something is too dangerous to try. Unfortunately, it is with the older individuals, such as those in the industrial ruin, that more serious pain can be inflicted. Hopefully not only the individuals that suffer the pain understand the important lessons they learn from the pain, but those who come into contact with the one suffering learn as well.
In Edensor’s essay he discusses how adults play, that are fundamentally the same as how children play. Isabell.the.polygot’s essay reflects on her own childhood experience of play, one that is not so different to the way adults in an industrial ruin play. It is through playing that both adults and children alike discover their limits and learn from their failures. It is important to stay connected to our childhood of learning through playing. Without this play we has humans would remain static, never evolve in our own sense of being.