People Watching
Individual #1: I see a young white man that is most likely between the age of 18-22 in line at the Subway in the EMU. He is wearing athletic shorts, sandals with socks, and a Portland Trailblazers sweatshirt. The young man is also caring a duffle bag. The man’s cheeks are bright red and his hair seems to be damp or wet. Based on my observations, I think the young man just got finished working out at the student rec center, maybe he played basketball there. In my opinion and based off of his dress and body adornment this man values physical exercise and health as a priority in his life. I am also making the assumption that this young man is a Trailblazers fan and I am also assuming that he is originally from the Portland area. These assumptions that I have made about the young man show that I definitely associate people more with where they are from rather than whom they are. But I believe that where you come from shapes you into who you are.
Individual #2: I see a thin Asian female. Again I believe she is most likely between the ages 18-22 years old. The female was sitting at a nearby table doing some schoolwork or paper work. She was wearing almost all black or dark clothing. This included a black raincoat. The only non-dark piece of clothing that she had on was her beanie, which was bright red. I was unable to see if she had any piercing due to the bright red beanie covering her ears. She also had an umbrella by her side. I believe based on her dress and body adornment that she is a hard working individual. I think that the lack of expression in clothing color shows that she is all business. She was doing some sort of work early in the morning and I think based on her body language she was heavily fixated on it. I also think that the weather here in Eugene affects the way that she dresses. The assumptions that I made about the Asian girl are based on my values that people should work hard. That is what I was taught and what I instantly thought of when I saw he doing schoolwork.
Individual #3: I see an elderly man that I believe is between the ages of 60-65 years old. He was walking slowly around the EMU and was wearing a plaid collard shirt with a tan coat. He was wearing jeans as well as boots. The most noticeable thing that the man was wearing was a construction hard hat. I believe that he was working at the near by construction site on campus. I think that based on the elderly man’s dress and body adornment the man values patience. Since I believe that he is working on the nearby construction site, I think he knows how patient that someone has to be when it comes to construction. I am also assuming that the man is almost prepared by his attire. He is wearing boots that are meant for working outdoors or in messy environments as well as the hard hat. I think the man is always ready to go. The assumptions that I have made regarding the elderly man and his attire reflect and show my values of accomplishment. When I see the elderly man I see an accomplished life. He knows what it takes to finish a job and accomplish his goals.
February 6th, 2015 at 4:34 pm
I like the assumptions you made about each person. It was interesting to see that you associate people where they are from rather than what they are. I personally tend to make assumptions on what the person is and who they are. If I see people dressed nicely and have a sense of style, I think higher of them and would like to associate with them. This is because I’m a more fashion forward person and have worked at Nordstrom for the past couple years. My whole perspective changed when I stared working at Nordstrom.
February 6th, 2015 at 7:54 pm
Individual #1:
You have a very methodical way of observing this individual. Given what he was wearing, I would say there’s a good chance he was just finishing a game of basketball ball or lifting weights. The only assumption I didn’t agree with is that he was from Portland. I am a huge Trail Blazers fan, but I am from Central Oregon, which is about 250 miles from Portland. I like how you ended the observation. Like you said, you associate people more with where they are from than who they are. I believe you cannot judge a book by its cover.
February 6th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
It is interesting to think how we can assume so many thinks about people only by their appearance. Things such as black mean business or that Asians are hard working. I think these thoughts reflect a reflection about how we specify certain attributes towards individuals, as we perceive them. Attributes such as specific color, race, gender or way of dressing are such high factors that determine how other people identify us. Thus, I think these factors varies on individual thought about an individual personality and in some cases also can cause people to have a wrong impression.
February 6th, 2015 at 9:56 pm
I like the fact you also observed an older person that is outside of the college age range. The sheer amount of students on campus seem to hide the presence of anyone of an older age. I agree with your conclusions about the first person in that they were likely playing basketball and from Portland, although I also understand Marcus’s perspective in the comment above me that he could be from a wide variety of other places as well. In your description of the Asian girl I would have liked you to have guessed if she was an international student or not. Not that it is necessarily important for you to pass judgement on where she is from, but we do have a very large international population on this campus, so it allows you to give deeper insight on her character.