Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities: Creating Safe and Happy Places for Children

Note on Sources

169 Note on Sources For further information regarding some of the concepts and events discussed in the text, see the following sources: Chapter 1 The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 produced a sea change in public education in the United States. The basic concept brought forth by this decision—that separate but equal is not equal—is a morally correct, straightforward idea that has driven my work with the LSU Community Playground Project. My experiences in this context have led me to believe that school desegregation is a far more complicated process than one might initially suspect, and that it is a force still at work today. I recommend the following two books for those wanting to learn more about Brown v. Board of Education: Richard Kluger, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America’s Struggle for Equality (New York: Vintage, 1994), and James T. Patterson, Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). Page 8: The Consumer Product Safety Commission publishes the Handbook for Public Playground Safety, which can be viewed online at www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/ pubs/325.pdf. This publication, written in an accessible style, is updated periodically and contains information on playground injury statistics, as well as comprehensive information on playground safety recommendations. Page 14: For more information on the settlement of the desegregation lawsuit in Ba- 170 / Note on Sources ton Rouge, listen to a National Public Radio story aired on Morning Edition, August 15, 2003: www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=13 97079&m=1397080. Chapter 2 Page 32: Paul Loeb is an activist, author, and speaker with an important message about getting involved in civic society. He has a regularly updated website, www.paulloeb .org, and he also blogs at the Huffington Post, www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-loeb. I recommend his book, Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times, 2nd ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010). Page 34: KaBOOM! is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a playground within walking distance of every child in the United States. Their website can be found at kaboom.org/. It contains good information on building playgrounds, getting them funded, and strategies for increasing play time and activities in the daily lives of children. Chapter 3 Page 43: Janet Eyler is Professor of the Practice of Education at Vanderbilt University and a national pioneer for service-learning in higher education. Her quote comes from a plenary address that she delivered at the Gulf South Summit at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., March 13–15, 2008. Another great quote from the same address is: “Fear makes us stupid.” Dr. Eyler is best known for the 1999 book she coauthored with Dwight E. Giles Jr., Where’s the Learning in Service-Learning? (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999). This outstanding book is on almost every library shelf in service-learning offices across the United States, including LSU’s. Page 45: The actual population of Renaissance Village was difficult to pinpoint, as the population was constantly in flux. The numbers reported here are based on conversa- Note on Sources / 171 tions that the YK Coalition had with FEMA. I cite them in my article, “Inside the Eye: Playground Design in a Hurricane-Induced Trailer Park City.” Resource Magazine 14(3) (2007): 9–10. Page 49: A technical report on the susceptibility of electrode blowout in cochlear implants can be found at www.access-board.gov/research/play-slides/report.htm. Head entrapments are generally openings between 3.5” and 9” To be sure if an opening is in fact a head entrapment, a test is conducted using standard probes as described in ASTM F1487-11, “Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Playground Equipment for Public Use” (available for purchase at www.astm.org/ Standards/F1487.htm). This test should be conducted by a certified playground safety inspector. The Louisiana Office of the State Fire Marshal publishes the code that must be followed in the construction of artifacts such as residential and commercial buildings . This report, which states that openings in fences and gates must not allow a four-inch sphere to pass through them, can be found at sfm.dps.louisiana.gov/doc/ ms-a/ms-alr_rules.pdf. Chapter 4 Page 80: The FBI publishes the uniform crime report on an annual...