Original Discussion Post:

After looking through my wardrobe and seeing all of the clothes that I wear when I go out, I noticed a couple of patterns that could reflect my personality and how I act. There are many personal beliefs and values supported and expressed in the clothes that people wear. The same could be said about ones body adornment. One of the personal values and beliefs that I noticed was the clothing of sport teams that I am a fan of. I enjoy watching and playing sports so I am a huge fan of football, basketball, and baseball. My favorite football team would be the Oakland Raiders. My family and I have been Raider fans ever since I was born. We have had season tickets to every game for longer than I can even remember. I choose to be a raiders fan because I have grown up rooting for them and watched them play every football season. I have been a fan since the day I was born and will continue to be a fan no matter how bad they are. Now the Raiders have been known as having a bad reputation compared to other football teams. They are seen as being a ghetto team. This is mostly due to the fact that they are located in Oakland, which can be a somewhat dangerous city. No matter though my family and I still believe and root for the team. I own a Raiders jersey, hat, and some tee shirts. The same could be said about my other favorite sports teams, which are the Oakland Athletics and the Golden State Warriors. I have apparel from all three of these teams. Another personal belief and value that I notice in my clothing is all the Nike athletic gear that I have. Since I live in Oregon I a very use to see and wearing Nike brand products. This probably has to with the fact that the Nike headquarters is located in Oregon. Other than that I enjoy wearing the Nike product because I enjoy going to the gym and working out. I would say that I go to the gym around five times a week. I personally believe that going to the gym is important for ones body. I enjoy working out and making my body look and feel stronger. I never really noticed it but I care a lot about my body’s adornment. I would hate the feeling of being fat and out of shape. In my personal opinion I believe that everyone should be in good shape because it is important for ones body. My opinion about working out and being in shape has existed ever since I started my freshman year of college. In high school, I didn’t not work out nearly as much than I do in college. Part of the reason for this was because I play Lacrosse my freshman year of college. My lacrosse coach made me work out and practice all the time. Ever since then I’ve been having the constant routine of always going to the gym and working out. These same core values are also shared throughout my family. Both my parents and siblings enjoy going to the gym just as much as I do. They also enjoy wearing Nike gear just as much as I do. The same can be said about the community that I live in. My friends and roommates all enjoy going to the working out and going to the gym. We all strive to be in shape and have a nice looking body. I believe that this is also their core belief about working out. Finally the last piece of clothing that I found appealing in my wardrobe was the dress clothes that I have. I believe that it is important to dress nice when in certain environments. This would include a wedding celebration, job interview, or just going out to dinner. I believe the way someone dresses in dress clothes really says a lot about that person. Looking clean and being well dress show a lot of class and maturity to other people. I make the choice to dress nice because I believe that you gain a lot of respect from other people. Wearing a suit and tie gives off a demeanor that other clothes just can’t match. I would say my style of dress clothes has change a lot throughout the years. When I was young I had a hard time wearing dress clothes because I felt like it was uncomfortable and I looked like a fool. I hated tucking in my shirt and having to wear a belt. I cannot say the same thing about dress clothes today. Feel like dress clothes required a belt and tucking in ones shirt. Without this a person just looks like a fool. My family also follows the same values about dress clothes. My parent’s jobs required them to dress nice every day. I feel like the community around me would also agree with my statement how dress clothes make people look classy and very mature.

Reflection:

The purpose of this assignment was to take some time to reflect on how you dress and customize yourself. Consider and respond to the following questions. Are there any personal beliefs or values that are supported and expressed by your dress or body adornment? Why do you make the choices you do? How has this changed over the years?

I chose this article because I really enjoyed how I was able to go through all my clothes and see the different clothing I have worn since I began college. I am a person that takes a lot of pride in my clothes. I can’t really describe why I love clothes so much except that i enjoy getting complements from people on my clothing. I also like the history and experience I have through wearing clothes. Since my freshman year my clothing have dramatically changed. I can see how much i have matured from the clothes I had to the clothing I have now.

Its like my personality and style has completely changed. Though I do enjoy how I have change, I do miss the personality that i had when I was younger. Back then i didn’t care as much in the clothes I wear. Another funny thing that I notice was how much I dress like my dad. I noticed this because a lot of the clothes that I have now came from my dad. We happen to be the same size so I wear some of his clothes. I have realized that my dad and I are very similar to each other in many way from our life style to the sports team we root for. I am happy to share the same core beliefs as him because I look up to my father.

Future:

For the future, I hope to continue to grow and create many more memories through the clothes that I wear. I feel like my values aren’t going to change much in the future, though anything could happen. Hopefully I continue to grow and create my own identity as a person.

Bibliography:

Sanders, C. R. (1989). Introduction: Body Alteration, Artistic Production, and the Social World of Tattooing. In Customizing the Body (Chap. 1). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Original Discussion Post:

The first individual I noticed during this time was a homeless man who sits on the corner of 10^th and Hilyard right next to the Carl’s Jr. I normally see this man here everyday and he is mostly in the same attire every time I see him. He always dresses in camouflage jacket and pants with a black cowboy hat.  The man has long hair almost in a ponytail and has a long beard. I couldn’t tell his race beside that he was a white person. I’m guessing that this mans age would be late 50’s to early 60’s. I believe that values and beliefs are demonstrated in his dress through his camouflage clothing. This could mean that at some point in his life he was in the military. Which means he wasn’t always a homeless person begging for money. Another thing I notice was that he looked a little more presentable then most homeless people seen around Eugene. He seems to be a fairly healthy looking man. The thing that I though was the most interesting was that he had high spirits for a homeless man. I believe like this guy is a good man. Even though he was homeless, he kept a smile on his face. I feel like he probably had a rough few years in his life that caused him to become homeless. In my opinion he wasn’t a typical homeless man who would beg for cash.

The second person I noticed during this time was a man who was driving a decked out Jeep wrangler truck. This man definitely looked like a student that was in college. He had long blonde hair and an outrageous mustache on his face. He seemed like he came from a family with a lot of money because of the clothing and car that he was driving. The man was dressing in a collard golf shirt with colorful short shorts and a pair of boat shoes. In my opinion this guy seemed to part of a fraternity at the University of Oregon. I not totally sure about this but I could make a strong argument about why I could believe it. The age of this guy was early 20’s. He looked very Caucasian and seemed to be very wealthy. He also seemed to be in good health. I believe that I noticed these things about this guy because I grew up in a nice neighborhood with a lot of wealthy people. This guy seemed like a normal person and though there is also the typical rich attitude. What I mean by this is he could be a spoiled self-centered person. I feel like most people with a lot of money act that way.

The third person I noticed during this time was a woman who was walking down 13^th near the duck store. I would describe this woman as not a typical looking woman. For starters she had her hair die pink. She was wearing a normal looking dress but the rest of her body was covered in tattoos and piercings. She had most of her piercings around her noise and mouth, which I found somewhat disturbing. Her values and beliefs are demonstrated in her clothing because most women who were considered hippies would wear this kind of attire. This means she probably didn’t care what other people though about her. This woman’s age seemed to be late 30’s early 40’s. I could really notice her ethnicity other than Caucasian. She seemed to be a healthy person that just dressed out of the ordinary. I believe that the outfit she was wearing was a little bit too much for me. I would never want to date a girl that was dressed like her. I’m not say how she was dressed was a bad thing though it isn’t part of my values and believes.

Reflection:

The main objective of this assignment was to take an hour to people watch. Pick out three individuals during this time and respond to the following questions for each person. Describe what you see? How are values and beliefs,in your opinion, demonstrated in their dress and body adornment? What assumption are you making about the person based on their dress, such as age, race, cultural background, gender, health, emotional condition? What do these assumptions say about your own values and beliefs?

I chose this artifact to write about because it caused me to really think about the kind of person I am and how I judge other people. After reading my response over again I feel like I judge these people roughly. I got the impression in my writing that I was for some reason better than these people. I definitely don’t think that is the case. People should care what others think they should be able to make their own decisions.

Like the woman that I talked about with pink hair and piercings. In the article that we read Sanders says ” Tattooing, body piercing and, and to a lesser degree body sculpting are employed to proclaim publicly one’s special attachment to deviant groups, certain activities, self concepts, or primary associates”(Sanders pg 2). I feel that instead of being so judgmental I should have looked at the things that I like about these three people. If I could back and re due the assignment I feel like i would have describe different traits about these people.

Future:

For the future, I hope to be able to constant have the mind set of of not judging people just for what they look like. It is important to find the beauty in people instead of the ugly side of someones appearance. If I continue to live my life this way I believe I can appreciate the world we live in more than I do now.

Bibliography:

Sanders, C. R. (1989). Introduction: Body Alteration, Artistic Production, and the Social World of Tattooing. In Customizing the Body (Chap. 1). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.