Free Play

                                             [Courtesy of Vortexeffect.com]

Currently taking a liberal studies class about children and their environment. One topic we discussed were these special places. Of course, I thought that this meant MadTV Stewart's special place. Alas, that was not the case. Our study was pulled mainly from David Soebl's research of forts. To surmise, Soebl's conducted a study of children's so-called special places in two regions: the more advanced, and somewhat rural, Devon, England and the underdeveloped, remote Carriacou. What he found was that, despite the differences geographically, adolescents behaved similarly in regards that they all seemed to find these places within their comfort zone where they can, unsupervised, be children. And within that area, they essentially learn how to become adults. Children in England found shrubs, a cubby hole within a room, or a space within the wooded area in their community where they would simply invite friends and play. More often than not, adults were not aware of the location of said places and sometimes they excluded others (No Boys Allowed). And they were nature made. 

Anywho, it's a great book, a great concept to let sink around in your brain and it makes you think about your own childhood and whether or not you had a special place. But the reason I brought it up was because instead of catching up on my readings and starting my papers (for this class if you can believe it) I instead went ahead and continued abusing Amazon Prime and last night's feature was Man in the Moon with Reese Witherspoon (wayyyy before she left Louisiana to become president of Delta Nu). But before, I read the reviews (didn't want to waste my precious time on a dud of a movie) and one left me thinking about Soebl when they mentioned the great amount of free play in this movie as well as Stand by Me. So I'm watching and thinking, "Damn, they got a pond?! She's like 12 and running all over the damn prairie, swimming with strangers. I can barely float. When I was 12, I was locked up at home watching SpongeBob (no ragrets there). Is it a country thing? Or maybe just the era these children grew up in? I mean damn, in Stand By Me, those kids were gone for hours and not one search party was sent out. They found a damn body for fucks sake! I can't even find my way home without GoogleMaps!" 

Anyway, after crying out at the injustice of my, lacking, adolescence, I started thinking about the children in today's times. How many have special places their own parents considered special places still standing? How many have the ability to roam freely when we live in times of fear as the media dishes out story after story of school shootings and rapists and burglaries and drunk driving? Are there any enough places in packed, dense cities for kids to call their own? 

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