What is a field of play?
Before engaging in play, it's good to obsess over the board. What do I mean? It's been my experience that certain tactile or visceral components will set my mind racing about possibilities. And these possibilities would fire both before and after any daily engagement. The field fuels obsession.
Examples from my experience:
- In high school I played lacrosse. We would get use of Brown universities astroturf roof ("the roof"). We would play hard games and double sessions there. Between sessions I would sometimes just sit on the turf, imagining the game.
- Cracking open a terminal on the computer fills me with potential and imagination.
- A new text editor file, terminal, or even a legal yellow pad and pen.
- Weightrooms. They fill me with a desire to jump around and play on the machines.
- Bikes. Where might I go?
- Molecular biology benches for research were always a favorite. They would have glass hoods where I'd scratch out equations, todo's, research thoughts etc.
- Tennis courts. There's a power that comes with the racket and ball. They form a closed, yet infinite set of possible exchanges.
- Bouldering mats. At the climbing gym there's nothing quite like exhausting oneself, both mentally and physically on a route, and then just laying on the ground staring up at 50+ foot celings. There's a catharsis here.
These are the places I find myself returning to. This is home.