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A review by craftygoat
Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die by Amy Fusselman
3.0
I'd read an article some time back about Hanegi Playpark (probably The Atlantic's excerpt of this book, though I didn't realize it at the time), and I was intrigued. So despite my general dislike of memoir-style books, I requested this from the library. The parts about "Savage Park" are interesting, and I felt that Fusselman had some nice musings on play. Her resources section seems extensive, and I intend to look into some of those sources for more in-depth material on adventure playgrounds. But I was so-so on the rest. The stream-of-consciousness style, jumping around in space and time, seemed unnecessary. Maybe I just didn't "get it," but the part about "space" seemed to be a topic for a different book. She focused on herself, her friend, and the play facilitator, and I suppose that's one perspective. But what about the people playing at the park? What were they doing, experiencing, learning...?
My fave parts:
"And yet, bulldozing a space, padding and disinfecting it, and then congratulating ourselves on how we can sit back with our handhelds and leave our babies and children alone to "explore" is just one approach. It has its drawback, however, including the fact that babies and children, who quickly become young adults, do not learn how to take risks in space, something that ultimately makes then less safe in space, not more. Allowing babies, children and young adults to spend as much time as possible with the lowest level of interference in the highest-quality environment we can provide for them -- that is, an environment that we have not engineered ourselves and do not completely control, an environment we don't fully understand, an environment that includes devils and angels and accidents and trees and swings and lunch -- this is another approach. It also has drawbacks, the major ones being the pain of our own uncertainty and vulnerability, the process of making peace with the unknown, and the requirement that a non interfering adult Be Here Now." (p.86)
"To play, you do not need a particular object or game or even a playground; you need only an assent, a grateful and glad yes. Granting this yes, to and for ourselves, in every environment, even awful ones, is one of the most liberating things humans can do." (p. 96)
It was a quick read, a good start-of-summer reminder about the importance of unstructured & empowering creative play, and a nice jumping off point for more in-depth resources, so it wasn't a waste of time. I'd just hoped for more substance.
My fave parts:
"And yet, bulldozing a space, padding and disinfecting it, and then congratulating ourselves on how we can sit back with our handhelds and leave our babies and children alone to "explore" is just one approach. It has its drawback, however, including the fact that babies and children, who quickly become young adults, do not learn how to take risks in space, something that ultimately makes then less safe in space, not more. Allowing babies, children and young adults to spend as much time as possible with the lowest level of interference in the highest-quality environment we can provide for them -- that is, an environment that we have not engineered ourselves and do not completely control, an environment we don't fully understand, an environment that includes devils and angels and accidents and trees and swings and lunch -- this is another approach. It also has drawbacks, the major ones being the pain of our own uncertainty and vulnerability, the process of making peace with the unknown, and the requirement that a non interfering adult Be Here Now." (p.86)
"To play, you do not need a particular object or game or even a playground; you need only an assent, a grateful and glad yes. Granting this yes, to and for ourselves, in every environment, even awful ones, is one of the most liberating things humans can do." (p. 96)
It was a quick read, a good start-of-summer reminder about the importance of unstructured & empowering creative play, and a nice jumping off point for more in-depth resources, so it wasn't a waste of time. I'd just hoped for more substance.