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I took about one hour sitting outside of the Business Hall doing people watching, and I really love this observational experience. There were many people passing me and I would like to describe three people in detail. The first person is a man who was standing and waiting someone. He was wearing a white hoodie with the logo of the University of Oregon. He was wearing yellow trousers and a black Nike sneakers. This is a typical American college student we can see in the campus. He does not have any body adornment beside his dress. I think for him, the most important thing about being a college student is studying. I believe he does not pay much attention on social activities because he does not dress up well. His clothes are loosely which I believe makes him feeling not confident. I think he did not feel happy at the moment when I saw him, and I believe he may have some kind of study problem with his courses.

The second person I want to talk about is an Asian girl. She was wearing a short-sleeve shirt, and the main color of that shirt is pink and white. She had a backpack on her back and also a handbag on her arm. She was wearing light blue jeans with a white cloth shoes. She was wearing glasses, and there was also a bracelet on her hand. So far, I believe she must have taken many courses this term because she carried so many things for classes. The glasses may indicate that she studied hard which cause her the vision problem. Her clothes are relatively light colors which I believe is the favorite color style for her. There was not many body adornment beside the bracelet, and she did not have makeup at that time. I think this means she may not care about how she show up in front of the classmates.

The last person I want to mention is a strange guy. I called him strange guy because he looks like a woman with all the adornment he has on his body. He had makeup with red lipstick, and his face was bright with thick foundation. He was wearing a white shirt and a black body pants. He was also wearing a light yellow women’s handbag. I was shocked when I first see him. He is not the guy who looks like a woman with the delicate face and thin body, in contrast, he has a strong body and a fat face. I could not think the reason why he makes him as the way I saw. I think he may be grow with many girls, and he really got the influence for a stay with female surrounding. For me, it is unbelievable to dress up and act as a woman, which means my value system do not accept this kind of value that rebel the traditional mindset for gender.

The reading I find is called “How can food be art?”. This is a great reading, which has a close relationship with our course reading for this week. The author Glenn Kuehn is using this article as a response to Telfer’s assertions and also an attempt to further establish food as a very significant art form for people. Part of the article will talk about the effort that Telfer had to support the idea that food can be considered as art. Glenn was agreeing with Telfer for some points, but he also has his own idea about why we should view food as a form of art. Glenn’s view of food comes from the work of John Dewey and his notion of transformative aesthetic experience. The article has an analysis of response to Telfer’s notion of aesthetic reaction. There is also an evaluation about the conclusion Telfer has that food can be a minor art. In the end of the article, Glenn explains the idea why he views food as art and the reason why we want to call it art.

This article raises the question about what the main reason is for food to view as a form of art. The author made a lot of comparisons for the idea of Telfer’s article and the idea from Dewey’s point of view. In the article, Glenn stated the three main premises for Telfer’s opinion about food as a minor art is that “it is transient, it is not representative of anything beyond the abilities of the cook, and it cannot “move” someone like other arts can.” (Page 203) Those are the premises for Telfer to derive the idea that food should be consider as a minor art. However, I cannot agree with those basic premises that Telfer made to explain the meaning of food. In my opinion, even though food is transient, it is beautiful and tasty when it exists. We should not view the things differently only based on whether it is transient or not. There are many examples that artworks can be transient, but also be a major art. I think that it is a unique ability to cook to make beautiful and tasty food. The ability which helps cook to make the beautiful food is the same as with the ability which helps the artists to make wonderful paintings. For the third premise, it is not true because people can be inspired by food. A cook can express their emotions and feelings through their dishes, and this can be received by the customers. People can get aesthetic experience from the food they eat. In the course reading, Tefler says that “there can also, of course, be visual aesthetic experiences connected with foodstuffs” (Page 11). This is why food can be considered a major art as it provided the similar aesthetic experiences just like the paintings and sculptures.

Another interesting idea raised in this article is the potential for food to be art. In the article, Glenn mentioned that “Not all food is great art…but all food has the potential to be art because its production, presentation, and manner of appreciation necessarily involve one interactive engagement with the qualitative tensions that underlie experience” (Page 195). This means that we should view food carefully because it has the potential to be called as a form of art. There are lots of examples which show the negative aspect of food, such as fast food. However, we cannot neglect the potential for food to be as art even though there are some bad foods. I think we can view food as a form of art if we look it in a broader point of view, and it may be true that food can be considered as art in general.

In the article, Glenn mentioned another idea that “Food also has a unique characteristic that no other art form has in that it must actually be consumed and destroyed in order to be experienced and enjoyed” (Page 195). This is a thoughtful idea which relates to the explanation for food to be considered as art. I think this should be the reason why food is art, because this unique characteristic can help the cook to express their emotion through this consuming and destroying process. This is unique just like the music that we cannot watch, but we can listen to it. Even though we cannot see the actual object of music, it is viewed as a major art with not doubt. After reading this article, there are more reasons for us to determining whether food is a form of art or not.

Reference:

Light, A., & Smith, J. (Eds.). (2005). Aesthetics of Everyday Life. New York, NY, USA: Columbia University Press. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.

For me, food should be considered as a form of art because it is creative and can provide aesthetic experience. I have saw many examples that food can be made using creativity and it is amazing to me about how the cook makes it. Nowadays, as the economic developed, people are viewing food not only for hunger, but also as the way for entertainment and enjoyment. According to the course reading for this week, the author Tefler mentioned that “if the work contains a good deal of creativity it will be thought of as art” (Page 16). This means the basic fact for artworks should be creativity, and the work with innovation should be consider a form of art. It is also true that people can get aesthetic experience from food if the cook does have the ability to make the beautiful food. There are many reasons why people can get aesthetic experience from food such as the feeling, sense and taste. In the reading, Tefler stated that “there can also, of course, be visual aesthetic experiences connected with foodstuffs” (Page 11). This shows that the possibility for food to view as artworks. I think food can be viewed as art if we see art as a broad way of definition. The things which called as artworks should give people emotional feelings and also attract people in some way. The best theory to explain my point of view relate to food as art should be postmodernism. In the article “What is art for?”, the author Dissanayake mentioned that “preparing the way for the liberation and democratization of art”(Page 20). This is the main fact for the postmodernism, which is the reason why I say that postmodernism is what I view for food as art. Food should be consider as art if we feel the enjoyment from it.

I am not the person who is interested in art very much, so I did not think about what art is for many times. After reading the course reading and the video, I have a better sense of how to identify the meaning of art. Art may not be something special, if we view it as same as other human interest. Everyone needs to feel the art and we all how different opinion about what art is. One of the reasons why we think art is complex, is because we see different things in our life. In the video, Denis stated that “the things that we call beautiful are so different” (TED talk). This means the work of art can be created in distinct ways. Art is one of the windows for us to view this beautiful world. There are different artworks in different counties and the definition of art is not the same. However, there are also some shared values and art among different cultures. In the video, Denis mentioned that “There are many differences among the art but they are also universal cross\-cultural aesthetic pleasures and values” (TED talk). This gives me the idea about how to identify the meaning of art. When we think about what art is, we should answer the question about what this universal pleasure and value is. I think art is the thing which can help human to improve their standard of living, just like the food and drinks in our everyday life. Art helps us to fulfill the need of exploring the beauty of our world. According to the course reading for this week, Dissanayake mentioned that “Art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings that like talking, exercising, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving and nurturing” (Page 26). This means that art is the necessary needs for everyone and it is as normal as talking and working. I think art is the way to find beauty and also show them to the people who are seeking of beautiful things.

Top five values:

1) Friendship

2) Enjoyment

3) Community

4) Health

5) Creativity

Today is Sunday, I am staying at home and finish my homework. As a college student, I always have many homework to do during the weekend. I understand that it is important for students to do their homework, however, I do not think that doing homework is the primary goal for my college life. I went to the gym with my friends today, even though my homework is not finished. I have the dinner with my friends because we will have less chance to meet together during the weekdays, and it is a good time for everyone to communicate together in the weekend. I also search on the internet for a while to find the interesting news and photos I like. For the activities I completed today, there are a lot of value that can be represented. I go out and eat dinner with my friends because I think friendship is an important value in my life, and I should always keep good relationship with my friends. I surfed online for entertainment because I think the enjoyment of my daily life is absolutely necessary. I went to the gym to exercise my body because I view health as one of the most important part of my life. I also love to be in a community with all my friends and classmate in the university. I like to have the sense of belonging in the community. Those activities I did today will represent how I view the world and what the values I have.

I think the family influence is the most effective fact for everyone, and it is also true for me. I think I learned a lot from my parents and there are many values I inherited from them. My father is the man who can make friends with every person he meet. He loves to talk with others and there are always many friends keep good relation with him. I inherited the value of friendship from my father, and it is good for me because I love to make friends. My goal for the friendship is to make more American friends here in Eugene. It is difficult for international students make true American friends because of the cultural difference and language. I will try my best to work it out and find a way to communicate with more Americans.

After reading the course material for this week, I was attracted by the question of where our value comes from. In the article, Lewis discussed about how we choose our value, and the relationship between the value and the mental modes. I always think about our value system and the mental modes, and it amazed me that people all have different values. It is hard for me to understand where the value comes from before I read this article. Fortunately, Lewis talked about this question and he mentioned that “Are human beings instead driven by inherited instincts, instincts that we like to dress up with the term values…… when it is really all programmed into our genes?” (Page 7) This raise the question that whether the value comes from our genes or not. In my opinion, the genetic influence of the form of value system is just one part of the whole story, and I think the environmental effects will also affect the value system for the person after birth. The best example is that people from the same family will share similar values which is caused by the environment influence. However, there are examples that the brothers who are separated in different families will also share similar values. It should be the case that the value system is influenced by both genetic effects as well as the environment effects. We can find support from the article, which is Lewis stated that “Perhaps we are not driven by immutable instincts. But we might still be controlled by the influence of genes on our underlying personality” (Page 8). This means the value system is driven by both instincts and also environmental aspect. By thinking about the idea of how the value system forms will help me get a better understanding of what we are as human beings, and what we should do with our lifetimes.

The blog I read this week is about the Fast and Furious 7. Here is the link to the original post. In the blog, the author talked about the story of what the meaning F & F has for him. The author love the F & F series very much and he viewed this series of movies are not only for entertainment but also can teach us about some important life values such as family and friendship. There are so many story in this F & F series and it is one of the best series movies. The author of the blog was amazed by how the movies was finished when Paul Walker passed away. This Fast and Furious 7 gives a happy ending for Paul and his friends. I really like this blog post because I have some of the same feeling like the author when I watch the Furious 7. I am not an F & F fun in the beginning, and the first F & F movie I had watched is the Furious 5. When I first time watch this series of movie, the most attracting thing is the fashion cars, handsome actors and beautiful actresses. Later on, after I watch all the seven series movies, there are much more inspiration in the movies. I learned about how to get along with friends, and how to loving with the families who are also loving us. The movie was finished even though the actor Paul passed away, and this tells us that the story will not end because we all know that the love of family and friendship will not end forever. It is hard for a series movie to produce for seven sections, and it is even hard for the movie to have so many fans during 10 years. I think the most important thing we can get from the movie is about the love and to be loved.