We live in a heavily populated suburban area. Imagine my husbands surprise when he saw a very large, wild turkey in our neighbors yard! Yes, Illinois has wild turkey near the woods and river in our town - but never had seen one in this residential area. He did take pictures as proof. Not sure where the bird went and they're not known for being great flyers. Gotta love nature.
Wow, that is so cool! I've never seen turkeys in the suburbs either. I've seen a couple flocks out in the woods since I've moved to Arizona, but not nearly as often as I saw them in Kentucky. I hope that turkey found his flock!
Thanks for reading, Susan! I'm rooting for you to see these cute lizards --surprisingly they don't make their way into SoCal according to iNaturalist, but if you're ever in the Four Corners states in summer, they're all over the place.
The Kingdom of Play seems rather interesting. However, I'm not convinced that play rather than work is the essential expression of what it means to be alive. Could it rather be the blend of the two? At least that is how it sometimes manifests itself in my life.
Definitely could be, it's hard to completely uncouple the two. When I think of work I largely think of what we do under duress, for money, to stave off poverty and death, or at least to maintain a certain lifestyle. But of course we can do work for the joy we take either in the process or the importance we place on the end goal -- it's just way harder to make a living off of that kind of work in this world. You should give David Graeber's article on this a read, he has a really fascinating perspective and I'd love to hear your reaction to it: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/whats-the-point-if-we-cant-have-fun
I read the article, and I had a hard time following it, which isn't the fault of the author--I'm just a little slow in the head sometimes. However, what I got out of it is that when we start trying explain the idea of play, we miss the point. Another way to define work is "taking on the burden of responsibility." This can often be difficult, but may lead to a deep feeling of joy at times, such as watching your child walk across the stage during college graduation. It seems to me that anyone can do that sort of work.
I really liked 'The World Without Us' by Alan Weisman
It just talks about natural recovery of CiViLiZeD spaces and has a lot of natural and human history as well. There's good little bits about how different man made systems would decay if left alone and it's just a very neat thought exploration that seems to hold well to the relevant science.
Your commentary on Kingdom of Play reminds me of an epiphany I had with music. When I stopped trying to “play” notes on my banjo and focused on creating a feeling with the instrument, my playing instantly leveled up. Perhaps understanding the why behind play is more important to our “success” than we think.
That's very cool! I've had similar experiences with the creative writing process -- having a sense of what effect you're attempting to create with a story or poem makes it easier to be playful and have fun with the process. Guidelines and restrictions liberate our creativity in a strange way, as do rules in a game. The "why" behind play is definitely useful and interesting, and that's why I so appreciated Toomey's effort to catalogue all the different potential purposes behind different types of play.
We live in a heavily populated suburban area. Imagine my husbands surprise when he saw a very large, wild turkey in our neighbors yard! Yes, Illinois has wild turkey near the woods and river in our town - but never had seen one in this residential area. He did take pictures as proof. Not sure where the bird went and they're not known for being great flyers. Gotta love nature.
Wow, that is so cool! I've never seen turkeys in the suburbs either. I've seen a couple flocks out in the woods since I've moved to Arizona, but not nearly as often as I saw them in Kentucky. I hope that turkey found his flock!
You've given me lots to think about in this post -- a new goal of seeing one of those adorable chunky lizards!
Thanks for reading, Susan! I'm rooting for you to see these cute lizards --surprisingly they don't make their way into SoCal according to iNaturalist, but if you're ever in the Four Corners states in summer, they're all over the place.
The Kingdom of Play seems rather interesting. However, I'm not convinced that play rather than work is the essential expression of what it means to be alive. Could it rather be the blend of the two? At least that is how it sometimes manifests itself in my life.
Definitely could be, it's hard to completely uncouple the two. When I think of work I largely think of what we do under duress, for money, to stave off poverty and death, or at least to maintain a certain lifestyle. But of course we can do work for the joy we take either in the process or the importance we place on the end goal -- it's just way harder to make a living off of that kind of work in this world. You should give David Graeber's article on this a read, he has a really fascinating perspective and I'd love to hear your reaction to it: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/whats-the-point-if-we-cant-have-fun
I read the article, and I had a hard time following it, which isn't the fault of the author--I'm just a little slow in the head sometimes. However, what I got out of it is that when we start trying explain the idea of play, we miss the point. Another way to define work is "taking on the burden of responsibility." This can often be difficult, but may lead to a deep feeling of joy at times, such as watching your child walk across the stage during college graduation. It seems to me that anyone can do that sort of work.
I really liked 'The World Without Us' by Alan Weisman
It just talks about natural recovery of CiViLiZeD spaces and has a lot of natural and human history as well. There's good little bits about how different man made systems would decay if left alone and it's just a very neat thought exploration that seems to hold well to the relevant science.
Oh wow, that sounds super interesting! Love a good blend of human and natural history. Might have to check that out, thanks for sharing.
Your commentary on Kingdom of Play reminds me of an epiphany I had with music. When I stopped trying to “play” notes on my banjo and focused on creating a feeling with the instrument, my playing instantly leveled up. Perhaps understanding the why behind play is more important to our “success” than we think.
That's very cool! I've had similar experiences with the creative writing process -- having a sense of what effect you're attempting to create with a story or poem makes it easier to be playful and have fun with the process. Guidelines and restrictions liberate our creativity in a strange way, as do rules in a game. The "why" behind play is definitely useful and interesting, and that's why I so appreciated Toomey's effort to catalogue all the different potential purposes behind different types of play.