Mary Poppins was an excellent nanny but a shitty philosopher. Her oft-quoted ditty about how a “spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” is the wrong way to approach everyday tasks people associate with drudgery: brewing coffee, mowing the lawn, taking a trip to the store. Instead of rose-colored self-deception, humans should embrace the underappreciated wonder of tedious chores and engage them through acts of deliberate and focused “play.” With the right perspective, every medicine has always tasted like sugar.
“Fun comes from the attention and care you bring to something that imposes arbitrary, often boring, even cruel limitations on what you—or anyone—can do with them,” Bogost says.
Sun 11/6, 1:30 PM, Venue Six10, Feinberg Theater, 610 S. Michigan, tickets.chicagohumanities.org $12, $5 students and teachers.
