No. 12 — The boy inside the wheel
What are you proud of having created or learned recently?
Take a few seconds and look at this picture. If you had to describe what this kid is feeling in one word, what word would you choose?
This LEGO ad is from 2012. Here’s what it says:
Have you ever seen anything like it? Not just what she’s made, but how proud it’s made her. It’s a look you’ll see whenever children build something all by themselves. No matter what they’ve created...
I’ve been thinking a lot about this picture lately. Specially about two elements in it: creating something, and feeling proud of it.
The spark of pride in children’s games
I recently attended Francis Alÿs exhibition, "Children's Games", at the MUAC in Mexico City. Alÿs has been producing videos that document the games traditionally played by children in the streets and backyards around the world.
The exhibition, made up of videoclips, included all sorts of games: from Piedra, Papel o Tijera (Rock, Paper, Scissors), to Musical Chairs. It had 33 games in total (you can watch them all here).
Even though the games were from places as different as Ecuador, Belgium, Congo, Iraq, Hong Kong, Nepal, France, and Mexico, it was inevitable to notice some similarities:
Most of these games were played in groups
They involved doing something and then repeating it to make it better
They all required imagination
Most of them were outside
In almost all of them, at some point, children are standing in a circle
There’s laughter involved
But there’s one more subtle trait visible in the kid’s eyes as they go about playing. Their look is similar to that from the girl in the Lego ad. Their look reflects sparks of pride.
Here are my four favorite examples from the exhibition:
Jump Rope
What I loved about this video is that it starts with each girl showing off individual moves. As the game progresses, they seem to find a unique, special synchronicity that involves speed, timing, rhythm, height… “The joy of skilled movement, of pure synchrony, illuminates their faces…” wrote Lorna Scott Fox.
And here you can see it in their eyes. A moment of pride rooted in a shared experience, orchestrated in the middle of effort and laughter…
This game reminds me of quote from Diane Ackerman: “In deep play, one’s sense of time no longer originates within oneself…”
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Nzango
Nzango is a poetic dance of improvisation, laughter, and anticipation. The word literally means "foot game" in the local Lingala language. It originated in Congo.
Nzango, initially played during school breaks, is now a national sport. Many women continue to practice it into adulthood to stay in shape, and to have a meeting space to share and compete.
During the game, players are required to prepare complicated choreographies, since you cannot be eliminated if you have both feet in the air. In essence, they’re not just dancing. They’re creating. Inventing. Improvising... And they all have this look. They seem to be proud about creating something so beautiful from the inside, yet so chaotic from an outsider’s perspective…
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La Roue
As I follow this kid fighting to push a tire uphill on a cobalt mine, all I can think of is courage.
You can tell the whole thing requieres a lot of hard work. And as he finally makes it high enough and gets into the wheel… there’s the look again... First, it seems like fear. He’s rolling down at full speed! But there’s a moment, in the middle of it all, when you see a smile (3:33). Perhaps is the adrenaline, perhaps is the sensation of having overcome something bold and scary.
The song the kids invented in that mine: “pushing, pushing”, might as well be at the core of risk-taking and creation. You have to push to get to where you want. And then you release…
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Haram Football
The last video of the exhibition, and the one on a movie-sized screen, was a portrait of creativity, passion, perhaps of resistance… Trust me, you’ll need to watch it first:
In Syria, there is no written law telling people that football is banned, but it is stated in the streets, in mosques, and at media points… The Islamic State has sought to eradicate soccer given its triple role as a sport, a passion and a spectacle. The reasons for this prohibition are many: one of them being that supporting teams and players could constitute idolatry, which violates the principle of exclusively worshipping Allah.
On the west bank of the Tigris, which had just been liberated from Daesh control, Francis Alÿs documented a street game that he had heard of on a previous trip: a soccer game played without a ball.
I don’t know how to describe what I felt the first time I watched the Haram Football clip. But there, I saw pride again. In two very different ways:
The celebratory claps ensued when someone outdid themselves with a move.
The pride with which these players wear the jerseys of their favorite teams, even though they have to disfigure their names and logos…
It takes courage to go against the rules. To create a painting even without a pair of brushes. And there’s a hidden, well-deserved pride in this act of beautiful resistance.
So whether it’s synchronizing the jump ropes, creating and improvising new dance moves, pushing a tire uphill and rolling down at full speed, or defiantly enjoying a soccer game even without it’s main piece of equipment, these kids have reasons to feel proud…
Learning something new should be cause for celebration
Another similarity between the lego ad, and the games within the exhibition, is that they all require some form of learning. And learning is hard. It involves complex processes in the brain that engage various regions and networks…
So even if as adults we’re not playing very often, we’re constantly learning. The best way to prove that is that you’ve made it all the way here reading this newsletter. It’s highly likely that you’re a curious person who enjoys learning new things (and I’m sure you do it often).
And so my question for you is: when was the last time you took a moment to feel proud of what you’ve created or learned?
I’m currently teaching a course on how to build learning games using AI, and I’ve been experimenting a lot with that question. Last week, I asked it to a group of 20 college professors that are turning their content into an engaging learning game.
“What are you proud of having accomplished today?”
Reading the answers has been eye-opening. These professors talk about new skills learned, technical accomplishments, creativity breakthroughs, and not being afraid to share their work with others.
The feedback I’ve gotten from them is that it’s nice to celebrate both big and small wins. After all, if on any given day, someone was to take a picture of you while you are creating something on your computer, they’ll probably capture a look like the one from the kid at the LEGO ad…
So, whether it’s working on a song, drawing a map, or learning a new AI tool, what it is is beautiful, as the Lego ad says.
What are you proud of having created or learned recently? (I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments!)