Objectives
- Evaluate personal values and paradigms around body decoration and physical beauty.
- Investigate how physical appearance affects definitions of identity and belonging.
- Analyze values and belief systems of physical appearance across cultures, sub-cultures and generations.
http://www.ronckytonk.com/2010_09_01_archive.html
Original Post
People Watch Assignment
This week’s assignment is really interesting to me because I am a kind of person who likes to watch people then make assumptions. I spent some time this week to watch people in different place so that I will have more general group target of people.
The first people I want to talk about is a guy I saw when I ate lunch at Noodle Head, which is a restaurant cross over Duck store. He was sitting at window and ate lunch alone. He was wearing a hat, a black T-shirt, black Nike sports pants, and a pair of sneakers. The first impression I had for him was he must likes play sports. Since he was sitting, I could not tell how tall he is, but I think he was tall because his feet are so big. He has a tattoo on right arm, which is a sentence or a term in a language I don’t recognize. So I would guess that he isn’t American, or he speaks other languages. I would say he is around 20 years old, and probably is a student in UO since he has his school bag by his side. Every time I saw a guy like him I would like to imagine lots of things about him. For example what sports he likes playing, what major he is, and why he eats lunch by himself. I think this is because I am a kind of girl who really likes imagining. I could sit there and think about random things for hours and don’t even notice how long I am doing that. So again, this week’s topic is a one that I really like.
The second people I noticed was a guy I saw randomly in library when I studied for my midterm. He waked by with a water bottle and came back a minute later, and then I started to watch him for a while. The reason I noticed him was he was wearing glasses. I don’t see people ware glasses in US especially guys, and I guess it is because they prefer contact lenses. That guy I watched was wearing a dark blue jacket with black shorts. He is short and thin, which is not what I would expect when someone is saying American guy. I am not judging him for his body, instead, I would make my assumption about him that he was a good student. He was studying for something, which I guess was midterm. He kept writing things and checked books, and he did not raise his head for at least for an hour. I don’t have any other guesses for him because he didn’t do anything else that I can guess for. So based on his clothes and glasses, plus he was kept studying so hard, I would think he is a very good student who probably will make straight As in school.
The last person I want to talk about is a girl I noticed on my way home. I walk home every day because I enjoy walking. This girl was wearing a light green dress with a brown jacket, a pair of long red pantyhose, and a pair of dark blue boots. She has gold long hair and two huge earrings. I was walking behind her so I didn’t see her face, but I think this made me even more curious about her. Her dressing style is not casual dressing I would have for school days, but I know this is her personal liking. I would assume that she is a girl likes special things, or in another way to say it, I think she is non-mainstream. I would imagine she likes party at night or drinking because of her earrings. Again, I don’t want to judge someone, but I just saying by first impression.
I think I can understand why I would think this way because my own value is like to make assumptions when I first meet people. This is not a good or bad thing, but I have to say my sixth sense is not very good. For example I used to think a girl is a “ bad” girl because of the way she talks, but it terns out that she is really sweet and nice after we actually know each other, and she becomes one of my best friends now. I always say to her that if we didn’t have a chance know each other, I will have bad impression of her. I think this is the way I do things, I like to guess or imagine by watching people, but I could also change my mind totally after I know them.
Reflection
Dressing and physical beauty are the two things that give first impression to people who don’t know each other, and I believe that most of people will judge others by their dressing and looking. This topic made me to admit that I am really a kind of person who likes imagining things by looking other’s outfits. The people watch assignment gave a chance for me to really think about this deeply, and I was surprised that I could imagine that many things just by looking at random people on the street. Like Sanders mentioned in his article that “people use appearance to place each other into categories, which aid in the anticipation and interpretation of behavior” (Sanders, 1), I start to think about people’s dressing in a different way, which is combine it with culture, gender, race, and even environment.
http://badtattooidea.com/top-10-most-tattooed-people-in-the-world/
I would like to use “tattoo boy” as an example. I personally don’t like tattoos very much because they are signs of “bad” in traditional Chinese’s view. However, after I came to the U.S, and I saw many people ware tattoos and they are definitely not bad. I start to notice how wrong I was to judge people by if they have tattoos. Now I think about it backwards, I think this could connect with creativity, spirituality and religion because I think many people would want to tattoo something on their body to show their inside beliefs to others. I also did a deeper discussion about this in my “Creative Spirituality Reflection“, and I think the looking and outfits are worth to think but not to be judged.
Future Goals
I want to do another people watch activity in the future and see if I got different feelings with the last one. I believe I would watch people more on their life side rather than just think about what they are wearing and how they are looking. I believe my imagination is a good thing for me, but I would like to try to imagine people’s stories behind them, and I think that would be much more interesting and also more meaningful.
Bibliography:
Table of Contents
Artifact 1: Life Values Assessment
Artifact 3: Food As Art Research