AAD 250: Art and Human Values, Fall 2013, Scott Huette

Today I devoted an hour of my time to people watch in front of the EMU on the campus of University of Oregon. Of that hour spent people watching there were a lot of people that stood out to me. However, of the wide variety of people I saw, there were three that stood out.

One person that stood out to me was a tall athletic looking individual. By his build and clothes that he was wearing I assumed he was a jock. Furthermore what made me think this was that he was pretty clean cut.  He was also walking towards the student recreation center, which also made me think that he was going to the gym. However, I have to admit that my assumptions may be biased because one of my values I hold high is health. I played sports and been surrounded by athletes my whole life and health has always been important to me. And when I saw this individual it reminded me a lot of myself. I mean why else would you wear basketball shows and athletic shorts heading towards the gym if you’re not a jock. He was also a white male and some his entire fit was pretty expensive. He had on nice Jordan’s with some expensive looking Nike clothing. Therefore I also thought that he came from a well off family in some suburb. Also since he had an athletic build I also assumed that he had good health, respectively of course because we are in college. I’m not sure what all these assumptions tell me about my core values and beliefs, but all of them were based off my background and experience.

The second person that stood out was a wiry looking kid skating by on a skateboard. He was shorter than the presumed jock/athlete and was wearing a truckers hat on backwards with gauges in his ears and at least one tattoo that I could see on his forearm. These first initial observations led me to believe that this kid was everything opposite that the jock was. I could obviously be wrong but with the tattoos and gauges, plus his attire and frame, I assumed he didn’t do a lot of recreational activities except for obviously skating. I also assumed he was a skater because of the board he was riding. It was an actual skateboard deck with smaller skating wheels instead of those huge longboards with bigger rubber wheels. Also what made me believe he was a skater was how comfortable he skated, he didn’t look awkward like a lot of other kids. And from his wiry frame, tattoos, and gauges I also believe that his health was most likely poor compared to the jock. I’m also biased on this assumption because I have friends that skate and I myself used to skate so I know a skater when I see one and I know what recreation activities they partake in. Now I also played sports and skated so technically this kid could be along the same lines, however his wiry build convinced me that he doesn’t play a lot of sports.

The third individual that stood out to me today was a girl that was all dressed up, more than your average girl just going to class. It looked like she spent a lot of time on her hair and make up, basically she looked very high maintenance. However she wasn’t anything special to look at, I don’t mean this in an offensive way, I’m just saying she wasn’t a model no matter how hard she tried. Now I know that may have sounded rude, but I think she would have been more attractive if she didn’t try so hard to look special. She had WAY to much make up on, which led me to believe that she may have a low self esteem. Also based on how fancy she dressed up to stand out I also assumed that she was seeking attention and may be in a sorority. I guess what this say about my values is that I’m simple and modest, I can’t stand attention seekers. I already knew that this girl and me would probably not get along. I’m also comfortable with who I am in my own body so to see someone who tries to hard to make them feel better about myself also annoys me.