[Xmca-l] Re: Playing with/at TED

[David Kellogg]

I agree completely with Tom's remarks. I remember that almost every summer
in Chicago between five and ten black children in the city would be
murdered by police for playing with toy guns. Consider this:

http://www.mintpressnews.com/us-police-murdered-5000-innocent-civilians-since-911/172029/

To link this to the previous thread--I don't think that the article "What
Theory is Not" has a workable definition of theory, and for that reason I
found it little more than a list of complaints. But part of the dialectical
method is defining what things are by looking at what things are
not: transgressing that boundary is precisely what we mean when we say that
something is in the process of becoming what it is not.

One of the problems of Lois's talk is that it doesn't give us a very clear
view of what play is not. But I would say that street kids talking to
policemen about their fear of being gunned down in the street is a pretty
good place to start.

Lois herself recognizes in her talk that the conversations are not part of
the play. But then we need to look at when and where the activity stopped
being play, and above all why. Otherwise we rob "play" of all of its
content.

I think the same thing is true when we say that children play constantly,
from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed (and Vygotsky, of
course, says the opposite--play is a "leading" activity but for that very
reason we cannot say it is the main activity).

David Kellogg
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

PS: Obviously, the teacher who claimed that their generation in China (my
wife's generation) did not play after the age of two was just playing
around with poor Lois. But that's no reason to play along...

dk


On 20 June 2014 06:03, Tom Richardson <tom.richardson3@googlemail.com>
wrote:

> A fascinating and moving 14+minutes of Lois ....only how I wish that I did
> not subscribe to a class analysis which means that the last example of the
> 'kids of colour' and the NYPD is called into deep question - will the
> lethal divides of capitalism's "special bodies of armed men" from
> working-class citizens, (and of course it extends to imperialism's
> destruction of whole countries), be 'overcome' by Play. Lois' commitment
> and passionate intelligence almost lets me believe it might, but I know
> that I'm fooling myself.
> We need Play to evolve the next tranche of revolutionary strategy and
> tactics, but Play alone will never arrive at the necessity for
> revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, only, from Lois' examples,
> ultimately futile attempts at transcending class conflict,
>
> Tom Richardson
> Middlesbrough
> UK
>
>
> On 19 June 2014 20:57, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Well Lois
> >
> > That was splendid, awesome! All you serious XMCAers please watch.
> >
> > Carol
> >
> >
> > On 19 June 2014 13:48, Lois Holzman <lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Here's the link, Carol.
> > > http://tedxnavesink.com/project/lois-holzman/
> > >
> > > Lois Holzman
> > > Director, East Side Institute for Group & Short Term Psychotherapy
> > > 104-106 South Oxford Street
> > > Brooklyn, New York 11217
> > > Chair, Global Outreach, All Stars Project, UX
> > > Tel. +1.212.941.8906 x324
> > > Fax +1.718.797.3966
> > > lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org
> > > Social Media
> > > Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
> > > Blogs
> > > Psychology Today| Psychology of Becoming | ESI Community News
> > > Websites
> > > Lois Holzman | East Side Institute | Performing the World
> > > All Stars Project
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jun 19, 2014, at 3:02 AM, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Louis
> > > >
> > > > Please could you send the link again?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks
> > > > Carol
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On 19 June 2014 01:03, Lois Holzman <lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Hi All,
> > > >> Peter kindly posted a link to a talk I gave last month at a TEDx
> > > >> event--TEDxNavesink Play.
> > > >> Aside from the prep being among the hardest things I've ever done
> > > (staying
> > > >> within their rules and structure, not being academic but saying
> > > something
> > > >> new for people to think about, and more), it was a delight to be
> with
> > > folks
> > > >> who appreciate and value play--many of whom are affording people in
> > > their
> > > >> communities with the opportunity to play in all kinds of ways. It
> was
> > > >> really growthful for me and my team. I was really pleased to
> reconnect
> > > with
> > > >> Peter Gray after many years and to meet other good people. The
> one-day
> > > >> event was organized are 4 P's--possibility, pleasure, progress and
> > > paradox.
> > > >> I invite you all to include these talks within your conversation
> > > here--even
> > > >> though they're not theoretical. Maybe it's a new kind of play for
> > many.
> > > >> Lois
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> Lois Holzman
> > > >> Director, East Side Institute for Group & Short Term Psychotherapy
> > > >> 104-106 South Oxford Street
> > > >> Brooklyn, New York 11217
> > > >> Chair, Global Outreach, All Stars Project, UX
> > > >> Tel. +1.212.941.8906 x324
> > > >> Fax +1.718.797.3966
> > > >> lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org
> > > >> Social Media
> > > >> Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
> > > >> Blogs
> > > >> Psychology Today| Psychology of Becoming | ESI Community News
> > > >> Websites
> > > >> Lois Holzman | East Side Institute | Performing the World
> > > >> All Stars Project
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Carol A  Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
> > > > Developmental psycholinguist
> > > > Academic, Researcher,  and Editor
> > > > Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Carol A  Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
> > Developmental psycholinguist
> > Academic, Researcher,  and Editor
> > Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa
> >
>