Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays.
-Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education Of Man (1793)
I have been in both British and American schools. In Britain, we call 'Recess,' 'Playtime.' Some people think school is nothing more than a training ground for future automatons. I tend to agree and I certainly don't think the British education system is much better at producing free thinking individuals but the difference in terminology, perhaps exposes schools as institutions that serve to hinder, quell and conform the natural wildness of children, in order to produce productive citizens and workers. Anyway, most of us never forget that longing for play and it doesn't die with age, or it shouldn't.
Summer is upon us. I've been catching some waves here and there but the above machine (recently stripped down to its bare minimum) has been providing me with the most distraction. Due to a wrecked back, it has largely replaced my skateboard of recent. I have not been this excited about a toy since I got my first skateboard at age nine or perhaps when I got my first surfboard at eighteen.
Bombing around the city during recent evenings has reminded me of mid-summer evenings as a child in Wales when my mum would send me to bed when it was still light. All the older neighbourhood kids would still be out causing havoc in the streets and I could never fall asleep knowing they were out there having all sorts of adventures. Now, I get to be the big kid. The streets my playground. Going nowhere for the sake of it.
Whereas winter is so conducive to writing, it is hard to stay inside on warm sunny evenings hacking away on a keyboard. Nevertheless, Foulweather #2 is coming along nicely. I recently, received some great art from Patch and I have a surprise artist working on something special for the cover. Plus a great story from Ras. More to follow...
