Tenderloin- Xuezhi
Tenderloin district is a very complicated area in San Francisco. It is the place and neighborhood for the local residents, many are poor or low income families. It is also the place where you have a lot of homeless population, crimes happening. There are roughly over 3,500 kids lived in the tenderloin district, most are Asian and pacific islanders. Parents worried, concerned about the safety and future of their children, tried to create a safer and more inspirational environment for their children’s growth and lives within the neighborhood. I want to stand with the parent and the youth in the neighborhood, try to figure and help the kids, enrich their after school activities. Letting them have a better after school life. Although the space and resources are limited to the children in the tenderloin, I think letting them have fun, and just being kids is absolutely possible and worth fighting for.
While I was doing and researching for the project, my mind keeps pulling me back to when I was young and little, things I did, how I had my fun as a kid. I feel it is important to add my experience in consideration, it might be very inspirational. I don’t like to go to school to be honest, no specific reason just not think it is very interesting or exciting. So I usually bring one special or interesting thing with me to school everyday, something can rescue me from the boring school. When school ended, I sometimes would play with kids in the neighborhood, there is a parking lot mix with garden in between the building I lived and the other building. It was a time period before internet domination, also a good era when you know your neighbors. I also know almost every kid in these two buildings, we would usually call them up and make the group to play. Soccer, hide and seek, roller skating chasing, scooter racing, tag, we enjoyed ourselves very much. The fun time usually end when it is dinner time and everyone has to go, or somebody kick, hit the window of the first floor resident again so we have to run away.
Children in tenderloin doesn’t have a lot of space to play in, and the safety and security of the children’s playground is always questionable. My project is going to focus on giving and creating toys and games for the children in the tenderloin, joy and happiness are important to them. Create an opportunity for the kids to be kids, connect them with a game.
The Game I am currently thinking and shooting for is Jianzi, it is traditional chinese kid game. There are many different ways to play it and there are many different types of Jianzi. Jianzi in Shanghai, the place where I come from is not as popular as the southern part of China, and it is actually a very popular game in East Asian, Vietnam too. Many played it when I was in elementary school, mostly girls though. They would play Jianzi during break time, but because many of them are really cute and I really want to talk with them so I ended up playing Jianzi a lot, but I am somehow still really bad. The reason I picked this game is that I believe that a game, like sport can relax and let the kids have fun while helping them make friends. The game of Jianzi doesn’t need a large space, and there is no requirement on the numbers of people either. The kicking part is not hard, you just need to get used to it. The kid can pick and create their game with it. The thing I am going to design and create is the Jianzi itself, the game and system is just coming along with it. I want to consider and adding elements and inspiration from tenderloin to the design of this Jianzi, through the making process, color appearance choice, material use and others. Hopefully can bring and introduce this ancient Chinese, asian game to the tenderloin community with the unique touch and inspiration from them.
At the end, I have a statement or I should say I have something I want to talk about. I am from a very different background, culture, time period, from these kids. I speak a different language, I have been living in different places, maybe have very different experiences from them, not to mention I am technically an adult already. Although I am still often a super chill
dish person, I don’t think I am able to think like a kid anymore. That is why for this project I chose to share my childhood fun, share my good, happy memories with them. I can never feel how they feel and I might never be able to think the way they think, I will never know the real situation they are in and see the way they see things. However, I can try to share my moments and emotions with them, try to establish a connection or some kind with them. I think it is important, and it is important for me to put myself in such a position. I believe as a designer, as a person, when you try to learn about a thing, a group of people, or an event, it is almost impossible for you to know the full story, to understand the entire circumstances. You often see people who have seen one or two article titles or watch one or two YouTube videos, or even just heard some rumors from others suddenly feel like they are powerful and have to speak up. Although they might just don’t understand anything at all, because they think they need to have an attitude,they need to stay relevant, have to use their freedom of speech. They will talk, stereotype, command or criticize the group of people, or the event. It dangerous, terrible, funny and wrecky, but you see it happening all the time, all the time. People who think that they are the smartest, people who feel like they have to have an attitude. I don’t want to be one of them, that’s why I choose to use sharing and suggesting in my project to reach the goal. Not to force anything, try to push anything through, or adding things to kids. I do believe that words have its weight, and all men are created equal, Thanks.
Tenderloin district is a very complicated area in San Francisco. It is the place and neighborhood for the local residents, many are poor or low income families. It is also the place where you have a lot of homeless population, crimes happening. There are roughly over 3,500 kids lived in the tenderloin district, most are Asian and pacific islanders. Parents worried, concerned about the safety and future of their children, tried to create a safer and more inspirational environment for their children’s growth and lives within the neighborhood. I want to learn more about the parents and the youth in the neighborhood, try to see what I can do to help the kids. Enrich their after school activities, letting them have a better after school life. Although the space and resources are limited to the children in the tenderloin, I think letting them have fun, and just being kids is absolutely possible and worth doing.
