It was a nice day today, so I can sit outside the Starbucks coffee shop. I found this is a great spot to people watch. I noticed some people were walking into the coffee shop, some were walking pass by the coffee shop quickly and some people would stop for a second and decided to go into the shop to buy drink.

The 1^st person that I observed was an American girl sitting at the table next to mine. She had blonde hair with a little curl and a pair of oversize sunglasses on her face. She wore a grey sweatshirt on the top, black sport legging on the bottom and a pair of Nike running sneaker. She walked into the coffee shop, and came out with a drink. She set her backpack on the chair and sat on the other one starting read her book. Form what I can see; she did not have any big pieces of jewelry on her. I think she must be a college student who just got off the class. Since this week is the midterm week, I think she wanted to study for her midterms, but do not want to miss the beautiful sunshine so that she decided to come here. From her outfit, I assume she should be a nice girl who really enjoy her daily life, and likes to exercise, to communicate and to help people. Most of my friends like the kind of outfit she was wearing, so I would link her to my friends because I think this is how a college student should be wearing.

The 2^nd person that I observed was still an American girl. I saw her walked fast into the coffee shop and when she came out, she has two drinks in her hands. She did not leave; instead, she was standing in front of the Starbucks store for a while. I guessed she might be waiting for her friends. She was wearing a heavy winter coat with a long shirt inside. She has scarves around her neck and UGG boots. It was warm in the afternoon, so I guessed she came out early to go to the class or she would stay really late at school. She did not have any heavy makeup on her face nor jewelries. I guessed she should be either an art student or an architecture student, because she did not have a backpack as others did. She carried a drawing board on her back. She stood here for about 3 minutes and her friend was here. Her friend apologized for her lateness, and then both of them left in a quick manner. I think they were probably late for their class.

The 3^rd person that I observed was an Asian girl. She was sitting there and doing her work, then she was on the phone talking to her friend. From the language she was speaking, I noticed that we came from the same country. She was wearing a coat on the top and all buttoned up; on the bottom, she was wearing jeans and a pair of sneaker. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail, and wore a reading glass on her face. Also, just like any other typical college students, she had a backpack on her back. She did not wear any make on the face nor jewelries. She was using an electronic dictionary so this made me to think she might be a freshman. I had a second thought; she might be taking a foreign language class here. I think this girl might be have a good personality and study hard for her schoolwork.

Is there a better way that we can follow to evaluate art value for food? The article “Can Food Be Art” is written by Sara Davis, she basically wants to tell the reader to explore the aesthetic value of what people eat. She has pointed out in the very beginning to the article, most of people identify works of art with their own sense and understand, and they would often to say “I will know whether it is or is not a art when I see it”. From her point of view, she claimed that it is hard just to define whether food is or is not an art, because we might just miss the point and the judgment we made about art will be unsound. Basically, we were wrong at the beginning by asking ‘is food art’; instead, we should ask whether food could be crafted with art value. Different people have different cognitive response to what they have seen and how they would feel. We see and hear and taste every day, we rely on our personal sense to guide our thoughts and feelings. Then we make our own conclusion whether we like or dislike the food we had. The example she gave in the article about when she returned back from a long trip and saw the homemade left-over in the fridge, she could recall memory of the lovely moment which she was surprised and being loved by her neighbor. She concluded that the question of ‘is food art’ does not matter any more, because you will know it when you eat it.

Telfer said that an art form is a type of work of art, a class to which works of art in a similar medium belong (18). So if dishes of food are works of art, then food is an art form. She tends to give a meaning of food and a conclusion of food whether it is art. When we are talking about the food, there are many general questions can be asked to the public, “have you ever been to a really fancy restaurants?” The answer would be either yes or no. Then you can ask, “why did you chose to go there?” Up to this point, I believe different people would come up with different answers. Maybe is because this restaurant have the best food in town, or their food look so good and must be tasted good, etc. I think most of people will experience a situation that you will have a kind of thought “this case was so beautiful that it would be a shame to eat it”. In Telfer’s article, she called this is a reaction to an aesthetic subject. “We naturally associate the word ‘aesthetic’ with the arts, but we can also speak of an aesthetic reaction to natural things such as a beautiful landscape, or to man-made, non-art objects” (9). In most of time, human beings’ reactions to food are drawn by its smells and visual appearances first. Nowadays, people could not only to make food faster with better taste, but also to make food look good. Unlike art that hangs in a gallery or in a museum, food cannot last long. Food must be consumed before it goes bad. People go to museums or galleries to see art works and they will enjoy what they have seen. Many food artists nowadays would ‘save’ their works by taking photos of them. They take photos of their works to make them to be a ‘permanent’ art before they are eaten. If you haven’t had this experience, I will suggest that you go to a fancy restaurant and order a nice meal; you will find that the visual enjoyment of food and consumption of a delicious meal can excite the senses just like any permanent work of art.

After reading Sara’s article, I have many thoughts came to my mind. I like the conclusion she made at the end, and left readers with a thought they could carry on. As Ellen has claimed in her article, her palaeoanthropsychobiological view is that “in order to include human history, human cultures, and human psychology, art must be viewed as an inherent universal or biological trait of the human species” (15). Art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings and it does not have a particular meaning. Human beings should be encouraged to develop their own understanding and feeling about art. We live in a changing world, and ways in which we talk, exercise, play, work, social, learn and love might change as well. We can give different meaning to them as we can apply this logic to define what art really is. As I think of food, it can be a battery, a transportation and an inspiration for myself and help me to live in a better live. We should learn to appreciate food, and we will see the ‘aesthetic’ beauty within it.

Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Telfer, E. (2002). Food as art. In Neill, A. & Ridley, A (Eds.), Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2 ed., pp. 9-27). New York: Routledge.

Davis, S (2012, December). Can Food Be Art? [On-Line The Smart Set From Drexel University] Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://www.thesmartset.com/article/article12061201.aspx

The author Elizabeth Telfer explained that not only we can associated the word “aesthetic” with arts, but we can consider natural things as art, such as beautiful landscape, or man-made objects. Food can be an art, a minor form of art rather than a major art.   She defined on page 5 “a work of art is by definition a man-made thing”. Later on, she mentioned an art form is a type of work art later on. So if dishes of food can be considered as art, then food is an art form. However, I found her explanation is somewhat doubtful. Does food it self is an art, or food is an art if the dishes of food is an art?  I agree that food has some aesthetic value if the food has been made nice and delicious, but I am still not strongly convinced that food is an art because food is necessities of our lives. No doubts, everyone eats, we eat food not necessarily for the enjoyment of food nor the aesthetic value of food. According to Ellen, “art as a kind of behavior that developed as they evolved, to help them survive” (2). We eat food for survival first, and then we pick the one we like and enjoy what we eat. On the other hand, I may consider the process of making food can be considering an art. If people see the appearance of well-made food, there is some possibility they will consume the food. Therefore, food is an art and the craft and experience of consuming the food become an art as well. Even though people follow the same recipe to make the same food, the food made by two people rarely to be exactly the same. This is because the even the process of making food is the same, but the mood of cooks when they are making the food might not be alike. They want to make their own piece of art, this is how food can be unique to cook themselves. People just do not notice the food as an art because it is all around us and is part of our daily lives. In some point of time, we might need to appreciate food.

1. The term paleoanthropsychobiological is coined by Ellen Dissanayake. She used this word to suggest several things. First, the idea of art encompasses all of human history; second, the term included all human societies; third, the term takes the fact that art is a psychological or emotional need and effects into account. She wanted to point out that art contains different conceptions or contradictory ideas.

2. author explained that to “make special in things that one care deeply about or activities whose outcome has strong personal significance” (8). It is not only special, but something has to be extra-ordinary. Human beings tell the different between the ordinary or routine and the extraordinary or unusual in a different way than animals do. Apparently, human beings are way smarter than animal. Our ancestor have made special tools by shaping or elaborating them to keep themselves safe. The phrase “making special” relates to art because the process of making something special is one way of defining and understanding art in different ways. Different “art” is special to different people.

3. “the Romantic Rebellion”(18th Century)

This theory was a reaction to the goods and evil inherent in the great changes of society and its people. “Individualism became possible and people could be freed from tradition, custom and authority, they also became more alienated from their work and from other people” (3).

“the Modernism”(18th Century) Art as ideology.

During this period of time, a subject that came to be called “aesthetics” has been brought to the public. “A concern with elucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the arts and indeed make them not simply paintings or statues” (3). At this point of time, it would be a bit difficult for people to define what art really is.

“the Postmodernism”(20th Century) Art as interpretation.

A assumption that people are able to appreciate and identify artworks. Interpretation of art has become a part of people’s life. “The species-centered view of art combines modernism proclamation that art is of supreme value and a source for heightened personal experience with postmodernism;s insistence that it belongs to everyone and is potential all around us” (8). Therefore, every actions and choices were made by people could be art and went along with the human survival.

This article was written by Ellen Dissanayake to emphasize people’s view of art and the development of art. Based on her past experience of living in another culture, she realized difference people’s beliefs might be different from one’s own. She came to approach a thought that “art as a kind of behavior that developed as they evolved, to help them survive” (2). From medieval times to modernize Eighteenth Century, people’s beliefs change as the environment they live in is changing. I would ask myself, what art really is? From the perspective of most people, they consider all professional drawing, ancient sculptures or old-times music record in the historical museum are art. However, is this really what art is, we can only see art in a museum?

Different people might have various understanding of art. To myself, I recognize art if I think something is special to me. It might be art for me because I think it is special. There is no way for others to believe what I believed is art. It is only in the eye of myself what is or isn’t art, and it is difficult for other to understand and to think if one is art in the same way as I did.  Art is everywhere and it is embedded into the culture. This is why she was exercising a different understanding of art while she was traveling around. Ellen did not give a specific definition of art, because art is everywhere ay any time. In fact, everything that is alive or that is still could all be considered as art. This depends on how we believe or define one thing. I really like the way she concluded at the end, “art is normal and necessary behaviors of human beings that like talking, exercising, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving and nurturing should be encouraged and developed in everyone” (11).

My life is always on a regular routine: library-gym-home. It seems boring from all aspects, but this is my current life situation. Time flies, I am a senior now and there is so much pressure on me because I have to face the fact that I need to find a job. Since I am international student, my family is on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, I am not able to see my family everyday. I have my time scheduled for every Sunday evening that I will video call my parent to see how they are doing and what I have done in the past week. I have been to the states for five years, and this year is my sixth. The first time that I stepped onto this unfamiliar mainland of the United State of America, I was sixteen. I do not know remember every single word that my parent told me before the first departure, but I remember one thing they told me is to stay healthy. I think this is the most important thing that parents care about when their children are far away from home. I have heard many stories about some students who cannot bear the pressure that their parents are not around, no friends speaking the same language and no one they could pour their feeling to. Some of them have been depressed, and they went home.  I am a very positive person, and I realized no one could be around you always the time so that I need to be my own sometimes.

Every Sunday, I come to the library in the morning, go to the gym with my friends in the afternoon, and enjoy dinner with them in the evening. I like making friends no matter where they come from. It does not matter how many friends you have, it matter who will stay when you nee help from them. Therefore, I believe to be honest to friends keep friendship longer. As the time comes closer to the graduation, I need to think what kind of career or life I want to pursue. When I was going over the list of 20 different values, I found that every value seems important to me under different circumstance. My parents used to tell me: do what you love, love what you do, and enjoy it; then, you will not regret. Life is full of surprises and it changes everyday, so I tell myself to stay strong and positive, to be prepared for tomorrow.

Human beings are born with different gene and level of intelligence; therefore, they value things might be different from various aspect. The difference occurred in personal valuation might be due to people’s inborn genes or acquired information as they grown up. According to the definition the author mentioned in the article, the term values should be similar as personal evaluations and related beliefs about the “good”, the “just”, and the “beautiful, personal evaluations and beliefs that propel us to action, to a particular kind of behavior and life” (5). I agree with the point that author mentioned there are only a very few ways that we know anything. This perception of “anything” is not genetically driven; instead, people are free to make their own choices based on their personal valuation.

I think it is complicated to define what exactly the term “values” mean because if we do give a specific definition to it, it would have many different explanations. As author pointed out in the article, there are four most basic ways we come to know something: sense experience, deductive logic, emotion and intuition (7). As a human being, we see things differently and sense things differently; the behavior causes us to express our feelings in opposite ways of other people do. So in this case, personal valuation and beliefs help you to decide your particular behavior and then to act in this particular way. I believe that people have different perceptions of things, whenever or wherever they start to sense a situation, it will lead them to think under interior mental modes. We come to believe and know something through these four interior mental modes.

We are free to think, and we are free to act. We make conclusion based on what we have seen, how we would feel about the situation and how we sense the situation; then, based on our own experiences, we think of the consequences that would occur before acting. In my conclusion, under this circumstance, I believe the differences in values of human come from their later ability of acquiring information. They develop this ability as they are going over the process, see, sense, feel and intuit, over and over again. Finally, they value something to be true.

Click here for reference.

Lewis, H. (1990). A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives. Axios Press

There are two factors to account for whether a person wealth or not: income and spending. The relationship between income and spending will determine how well you do financially and how long you would last on building wealth. The author of this blog pointed out there are four “extremes” that highlight the boundaries of good and bad money management. Income and spending can only be either “high” or “low”. Therefore, we would conclude four extremes are: income high, spending high; income low, spending low; income low, spending high; income high, spending low.

Income high and spending high seem to be ideal situation. People with high incomes and high spending are living the good life. Also, they may have a lot of potential to grow their wealth because they have high incomes. On the other hand, they spend much to live in a luxurious lifestyle. Hence they have no surplus, even they have a lot of potential, to grow their wealth.

The best of all possible scenarios is when income is high and spending is low. There people keep adding to their wealth. Their surplus is large because they make good income and keep their expense under control. Their wealth is growing continuously. Income high and spending low would help to improve your financial situation and grow your wealth subsequently.

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2013/10/money-101-income-and-spending-scenarios-and-the-impact-on-wealth.html