Eden Prairie Mall, Eden Prairie, MN, United States of America

Driving towards the Eden Prairie mall, where I have gone countless times throughout my life, I found it strange to enter the building with a new critical and observational mindset.

The mall is already decorated head to toe for Christmas, the big tree and Santa included. There is garland wrapped on every surface imaginable, obviously topped with lights and a plentiful array of ornaments. It gives the ordinarily dreary florescent space a rather homey touch. Usually, this mall is pretty deserted; however, this Monday night, it is rather busy. My sister accompanied me in this people watching venture and we are sitting at a tiny table on the lower level of the two level building, doing our homework. Surrounding us are two families eating ice cream and popcorn from the adjacent SubZero frozen yogurt shop and the Doc Popcorn shop. The first family consists of one Asian mother, a White father, three male children, and one female child. The second family consists of an Italian father, a White mother, and two male children. As I swivel my head from left to right, I see a Caribou Coffee, the elevator, American Eagle Outfitters, Buckle, Justice, Scheels, and Teavana. People are darting around and I cannot see them longer than a few seconds because they either enter a store or quickly go to the other end of the mall. Most people are toting shopping bags. There is quite a variety of people, however, the majority are White middle-aged couples slowly browsing and window shopping. There are a lot of high school girls with their mothers. The only boys are either very young children or adults. As I have been observing, I barely noticed the kiosk workers because they are so stoic. The woman working at the Go! Games counter is watching a little boy like a hawk making sure he doesn't snag one of the toys. Another man has his headphones in and is playing on his phone; it is very apparent that he rarely gets business. A lot of people are walking while texting. Near the elevators are unoccupied wheelchairs and motorized scooters for the mall guests. My sister and I were going to take the escalator near the entrance we came in, but it was closed so we were forced to take the elevator, a strange maneuver in this small building. For some people, this is a social place. There are two pairs of women who are chatting and laughing and walking around. There are a lot of adult men shopping by themselves, some of whom seem totally comfortable and some who seem very confused. A woman brought her Great Dane to take a picture with Santa Claus.

I could go on with this forever but my eyes hurt from the florescent lights and Everytime We Touch by Cascada is blaring on the radio. I feel stressed out and want to leave.

7:30 p.m. Hold up, one more thing: a miniature train just started driving around the mall. It has compartments for the kids to sit in. There is also a children's play area, which used to be out in the middle of the hallway, but now has been put behind glass inside a store. This place is like an amusement park.

Mall experience

My experience of the mall essentially draws on my experience of it when I was younger, and for a suburban kid it was to me a kind of wonderland.  The people, the smells, the sights, the sounds, the fun at Camp Snoopy.  There were countless and diverse possibilities and experiences to be observed, and it was being an observer that characterizes my experience of it.  Reflecting on it now seems reminiscent of the flaneur talked about in a kind of observational ethnography.  In this way, I enjoyed being at the mall for the same reasons I enjoyed being in a city - being caught up in and simultaneously observing activities and sensations with much greater diversity and at a much faster pace than I could have experienced in the suburbs. Almost all of my visits were school events to the amusement park or visits with family from out of town, both of which constituted almost full-day and certainly remarkably rare and fun events, like vacations.  On the other hand, going into a store (reluctantly following my parents) that was an almost opposite experience, where "shopping" was much more boring and uninteresting than the people watching and activity of walking in the mall proper.

A Brief Summery of my Travels

Growing up in Wisconsin, this was actually the first time I'd been at the Mall of America. I took the lightrail, as I don't have a car. The voice over the intercom said, "Now arriving at the Mall of America" in its prerecorded tone. I was confused. Out my window was just a few buildings, nothing that looked like the fabled Mall. Then I had the sense to turn around. Oh, my. There it was. It was enormous. Not height wise, but the sheer volume was overwhelming. I entered. The tide of people rushed around me. It seemed like mostly families or groups of young teenagers for the most part. Having forgotten to eat breakfast, I was quite hungry at this time. I prowled around, looking for a tasty meal. The stores were mostly clothing and shoes, and I wasn't quite that hungry, so I found an escalator. Finally, a restaurant! It was some generic hamburger place though. Next to it was a Long John Silvers. Sorry hamburgers, you just can't compete. The complete stranger next to me decided to start a conversation regarding the menu. I was taken aback at first, but was able to put forth a decent conversation. It seems the Mall presents a sort of camaraderie. Friend, stranger, relative.. all are fellow MallGoers. After my meal (chicken and fish strips in tartar sauce) I rounded the corner. No. No, it couldn't be. I had entered a food court. Panda Express, Qdoba, Buffalo Wild Wings. But alas, I was full, having already dined on the Long John Silvers. Deeply saddened by this turn of events, I bought some candy for later and left. This Mall had offered my Panda Express and I hadn't even noticed until it was much too late. I couldn't bear to be in its presence anymore.    

Of MoA and MVM

"On Sunday we went to the mall." So begins the diary entries of thousands of teenage girls. My first trip to the Mall of America, and to any American mall in general. Even without expectations of buying anything (I ended up getting a H&M hoodie nonetheless), I was super excited to immerse myself in the American browsing/shopping culture. Given that it's the biggest mall in America by numerous measures, I'd had some high expectations.

Unfortunately I was disappointed. The activity in the Mall of America was just about equivalent to my experiences back in Malaysia; perhaps even less because of its high status compared to the malls I visited with such frequency (sometimes two, three times a week?) at home. Maybe this was due to it being a relatively warm Sunday afternoon in fall (I hear they didn't use to exist?), so perhaps families had decided to spend their time in the actual outdoors.

In many ways the people I encountered were similar to the ones I saw in Malaysia. Tired parents chasing after children in the theme park. Groups of teenagers and young adults just hanging out, usually around food or drinks. Smaller proprietor stalls set up in the middle of the wider walkways. Chinese tourists snapping pictures of every little detail. Strollers were being pushed around everywhere. Most people only carried one or two smaller bags.

Maybe because of the nature of the Mall of America, there were quite a few differences. I hardly saw any people walking alone. Only a select few were wearing business formal, and they looked incredibly out of place. Groups identifiable as families tended to have only one or two adults, rarely more. Most curiously, not many people appeared to browsing the stores; if someone entered a store, they would generally move immediately towards a specific area and pick up an item; people didn't often seem to walk out of stores empty-handed.

In comparison to the Mall of America, I raise the Mid Valley Megamall, one of the malls I frequented most in Malaysia. The two are comparable in terms of size - MoA has 4.87 million square feet of space, while MVM has 4.5 million. Mid Valley is also easily accessible by rail. However, the Mall of America has major attractions in the Sea Life Aquarium (that's the name ">.<) and Nickelodeon Universe; Mid Valley has neither of these, nor is it advertised as the largest mall in Malaysia, as that accolade would go to several others first. These would seem to provide a greater diversity of shoppers in the Mall of America, yet the demographics do tend to similarity. Regardless, there are some sizeable differences.

Malaysian society is generally quite communal. As such, families are about the same size as American ones, but they go out alone less often; it is quite often the norm to invite extended family (aunts and uncles, grandparents, not-so-distant cousins) when going on trips to the mall. This means multiple sets of parents and children are often found together, in bigger groups than I witnessed at the Mall of America. Malaysian malls are also often integrated with corporate buildings; Mid Valley is no exception, being adjacent to a number of business hotels and the fancier Gardens mall. Business people are a common sight in Mid Valley, whether in the restaurants or just business-walking their way through the mall between the corporate offices littered throughout. A third point - Malaysians, and Malaysian Chinese in general, have a tendency to be incredibly calculative. It's incredibly common (maybe even to the point of negativity) to see shoppers going between multiple outlets and comparing prices, searching for the best deals. This kind of mentality pervades Malaysian shopping society regardless of race or age.

One thing to note is that Malaysia is HOT out. Malls provide a refuge from the heat all year round, and especially in the city there are few to no alternatives for outside space. This brings people desperate to escape the stifling heat from their homes in hordes on the weekends. Mid Valley is also unique in that the basement floor is almost entirely dedicated to food outlets, primarily fast food and middle-class-family-oriented restaurants. Because of the sheer number of cultures intermingling over generations, Malaysian foodies have an immensely extended palate, and malls must also be similarly accomodating. I've had numerous trips there with my family for the sole purpose of food, simply because the options are so diverse and accessible. Furthermore, the cinema in Mid Valley is one of the most established in the area, and the ticket queue can easily snake for up to half an hour on weekends.

The general shopping culture in Malaysia might also play a role. Because much of the Malaysian economy relies on tourism, the malls must be able to attract not only locals but also foreigners from various countries.This is to a great degree accomplished by providing varied shopping experiences that draw the attention of people from numerous cultures, nationalities and ethnicities, each of which have their own expectations and desires. Maybe a great diversity of customers and experiences is to be expected from malls in such places. Mid Valley is certainly not very different from the Mall of America in that regard.

Ethnography of Cub Foods

I did not have any extra time to get out to go to a shopping mall so i am going to discuss my ethnography on Cub Foods over in St. Paul.  Upon first arriving and parking in the parking lot you can see how full the store is almost right away.  The second you walked into the store it was almost like a huge burst of colors, different fonts, different signs advertising this deal or that and at first it is all very overwhelming  because you aren't sure where to start.  After I started walking I instantly notice how my cart is squeaking and how it veer's to the left without me shoving it back straight due to the bum wheel on the front left.  As I started walking down the aisles I noticed the different  all the different people;  Older men trying to decide what eggs they want like it is Who Wants to be a Millionaire, kids running up and down the aisles as if it were a playground, and the stockers stocking all the different foods into the coolers and shelves.  Regardless of all the distractions I keep moving from aisle to aisle picking up some ingredients here and there until I come upon one of the store's favorite selling techniques, the vibrant "its a sale!" sign.  Covered in all different colors to make it POP out to everyone, I begin to notice the sheer amount of sale signs in each aisle as I progress.  As I start to come to the end my ears become flooded with this extremely high pitched noise coming from all the registers, I pick a line and wait in turn for my items to be checked out.  While waiting I seem to notice every little detail about this register and the cashier such as; gum is on sale, his side of the register is extremely cluttered with coupons and old receipts, and also how each time he moves the belt he swipes his fingers over the sensor.  Needless to say my trip to Cub Foods was more than exhiliarating and still worked out well for this assignment.

Ethnogrophy

First of all I should say that I did not have a chance to go to a mall since our last class, so instead I will be writing about an experience that I had over the summer.

The experience I had was on a Saturday. I worked in the morning, but was home alone in the afternoon in my aunt's house that I had not stayed in for very long. I decided to go to the Maplewood mall with two goals in mind: buy a belt and kill some time. When I walked in I immediately noticed that the primary target of this mall was not for people like me. Many of the stores that I found there were targeted at teens or preteens. The mall was filled with stores like Aeropostle, American Eagle, Journeys and Hot Topic, stores that are of no interest to me.

The other thing I noticed about this mall was that it had plenty of places for children to have fun. There was a big carousel on the bottom floor, a special play area, a train that ran throughout the mall that kids could ride, and an arcade. I think this a smart strategy adapted by many malls. It lets parents know that they don't have to worry about bringing their kids with them because there are activities to keep them busy.

Northing in this mall was targeted at the early 20s male crowd that I belong to. I spent five minutes walking around, ten minutes looking in Barnes and Noble then left. Also my mom told me that there was an employee discount day coming up at the store she worked in and that she would buy me a belt on that day for a cheaper price. I completed 0 of 2 goals.

Ethnography of Skyway

The skyway system in downtown Minneapolis is an intricate and interesting maze that connects many buildings together so people can cross the area away from the normal humdrum that can be seen on the streets along with creating its own culture.

It is completely unorthodox. The system is not a mall per say but includes all the stereotypes of what we see a mall needs: many smaller stores, restaurants, and large department stores like Target and Macys. Although, every now and then you will walk into a building that is "off limits." You enter the business friendly museum and baking system in the Wells Fargo tower. You suddenly feel as if you don't belong walking by offices and exhibits.

Then you walk across the street in one of the fourth floor sky tunnels and you are back to normal buzz. There's this odd mix of people who are treating the skyways as a shopping area and slowly roam around and people who use it as just a walkway and quickly go to where they need to be.

Its this environment where its not a mall but is. On one had the skyway connects large malls and stores in different buildings together without making people use the street, but it also more. There are stores that are only accessible through the skyways. Stores that rely on people who actively go there to shop and not just trying to get form the convention center to the Target Center without having to deal with traffic.

Ethnography of shopping mall

I took a visit to mall of america to do this ethonography. I usually don't go to mall of america unless I'm under a situation that in badly need of adding clothes to my closet, or go there seeing a newest movie, for the reason that it takes so long of traffic to get there since I don't have a car, always feeling tired, boring and waste of time going there.

But in the recent week,it's the third time I went there. I got something really serious happened to my laptop, and I have to go to apple store in MOA to ask their engineer to fix it for me. All three times I went there alone. Most of the times I go to the mall on weekend with friends, but this time it was myself and I have to go there from school while I still have class after. So on the light rail to mall suddenly looks much longer than usual. And when I finally reached there I was definitely exhausted especially mentally. For the first visit to mall on weekday, one thing I noticed first it's noisy as usually there are still large crowds of people hanging around there, aren't they supposed to be at work?It is 1:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday!

Anyway I don't have time to think about this deeply, so I went directly to apple store. Then I found my self cannot tell the direction! That's crazy and ridiculous because every time I went there I was literally a total blank in my head and follow my friends unconsciously. This time I have to find out myself like I'm there for the first time. Wandering for half a circle on the first floor, I noticed that there are almost no customers going inside to the store, except for the amusement park and the lego store, while apple and microsoft store is full of people with kids and their families as always.

So I guess the noise I heard when I entered mall was mostly from kids and that kind of justify one of the opinions last class, that mall is not that great for shopping but a perfect place for kids to go to.

Different Types of Malls

For my mall observation I analyzed the atmosphere from both the perspective of a worker and a consumer. Also, the difference between retail stores that are in a mall and outside of a mall. I have worked at both and been a consumer at both.

The atmosphere of a mall for me has not always been the same. When I was young the mall was a place my friends and I would hang out and walk around. When I went to the Mall of America I noticed younger kids doing just this. It seemed silly to me now but I understand the logic because I once did the same thing. Now that I am older, the mall is a place for the sole purpose of shopping. Even though MOA offers movies, restaurants, and a theme park I only go for shopping. I save all of the other attraction to outside sources. As a retail worker in the mall I got a different perspective. I got really annoyed at kids walking around my store and not buying anything. They were just an annoyance and did not offer anything to me. I would much rather prefer actual buyers and people that are in a store for a purpose.

This brings up the difference between mall retail stores and outside retail stores. In a retail outside of the mall people come in with the intent to buy things. People do not just stop into "target stores" to look around for the most part. The mall offers the convenience of simply meandering into random stores just to take a peak. Most people do not drive out of there way to a stand alone store to simply look around. As a worker I like the outside stores much more for this purpose and serious consumers like outside stores more because they want to buy.

In my ethnography I will be looking at the mall from both the standpoint of a consumer and as a worker. I work at Herberger’s at the Blaine Northtown. This is a smaller mall that is going downhill rather quickly.

Coming into a day of work we start off with a take 5 meeting. This meeting entails reminding us to smile, greet every customer, the amount we are expected to sell, and how many credit applications we are expected to open. It seems that the only purpose of our mangers is to walk around and give the associates candy bars for each credit application that they open. Which is actually a rather frustrating situation as the mangers seem so insensitive to who we are and only care about our performance. There are also typically people at the door handing out coupons trying to get the costumers to stop and shop at Herberger’s before entering into the mall.

                  However, entering the mall for the purpose of a consumer the experience is completely different. For me after having the experience of also working in the mall it is frustrating to see the insincere greetings. I can tell how annoyed the workers are even with the fake smiles on their faces, as very few people truly enjoy standing for 8 hours waiting on peoples every needs. I personally do enjoy going to the mall, however after staying at the mall for more than an hour I tend to get very frustrated and just want to leave.

                  Overall, I think that malls are designed and set up specifically with the idea to sell more goods. Without even realizing it, the placement of every item and even every worker is designed to sell you goods easier.

Southdale: the first indoor shopping mall

An Ethnography

Mall of America I can’t stand.  It’s all too busy and touristy for me; I’m not a fan of crowds unless I’m at an outdoor concert.  But I have always liked Southdale, especially around the Holidays – so that’s where I went.  I entered through the Herbergers entrance on the East side of the mall (I ran because it was pouring rain) and immediately people were trying to sell me junk.

Three girls sat right inside the door selling holiday coupon books for five bucks.  They could see right through me when I told them I’d think about it and let them know on my way out, I wouldn’t be long.  The truth is that coupons are great if you know how to use them in a way that will actually help you save money, but I know that if I were to spend five dollars on a coupon book I’d feel obligated to use as many of the coupons as I could and I just know I would spend a lot more than five dollars doing so.

And then, two steps in the door and I was slapped in the face by Christmas.  It’s usually the big department stores that do it up big.  Herbergers (founded in Minnesota might I add) was a Christmas wonderland of music, decorations and products.  “Holly Jolly Christmas” was playing and I was surrounded by Christmas trees, reindeer and a bright sign that read, “Cheer begins at home”.

I got out of there quick and went up to the second level of the shopping mall, where girls were swarming around Victoria’s Secret and their “Holiday Lingerie Shop” that just came out.  I spoke with one of the workers who was dying to get off work so she could do some shopping herself, and something occurred to me: sex sells, Christmas sells, the two together are dangerous combination for consumers.  I can never spend too much time in that store – it’s like somebody sprayed twelve different perfumes in your face all at once.  I was actually surprised by how busy the mall was on a Wednesday night; maybe it was because of the rain.  Lines were so long at check out they actually asked the employees to open another register – which they did.

Then I found my way into Ragstock: the original “recycled” ugly Christmas sweater store.  I could hear the voice in my head saying, “it’s just the Christmas music talking, you don’t really want to buy anything.” But it didn’t matter. It totally worked. The Christmas music, the atmosphere, the hustle-bustle of the holiday season… I love it.

Ps.

Matt, I blame you one hundred percent for the completely unnecessary seventy-three bucks I spent on Christmas sweaters and cozy socks at Ragstock.

Ethnography and the Nicollet Mall/Skyway

Downtown Minneapolis (especially in the area I went to) is the business epitome of the city. Being surrounded by upper-class, wealthy business people made me feel completely alienated, and even worse, strangely alone.

Wearing their expensive suits and holding their expensive briefcases, they walked with a direct focus in a way that made it seem as though they wanted to quickly return somewhere, or quickly go somewhere, completely ignoring all others around them. 

At one point, my friend and I ran into a man wearing a plaid, twee-like suit in the elevator. He acted as though we were completely impeding on him and his space, scoffing at us when we decided to go to the very top floor of the parking garage. This is where I felt most alienated and separated from what I thought I was a part of- a city. 

The mall area was full of empty, dark stores that were catered towards the busy business workers, mostly consisting of food places. The few places that were open included a jewelry store and a store that sold smoothies. There was a part of me that felt completely empty and alone, although I was surrounded by hundreds of people. They seemed so direct and so sad- it was really an experience that took me back a little bit. They paid no attention to detail, to their journey, to the rainy day outside. They paid attention to where they were going, and how fast they were going. 

Ethnography

I decided to take a trip to Cub Foods with my roommate (desperately needed groceries) and jotted down a few things I noticed while we were there.

One thing that really stood out to me was the traffic flow because there wasn't a whole lot of it. Yes, there were certain areas where people stuck to one side of the isle to let others pass, but in the fruit/vegetable section, for example, where there aren't really defined isles people just wandered. Some people were mindful of their karts and where they were in regards to others, but other people had no clue and were oblivious when we were trying to pass by them.

Another thing I noticed was the speed of people walking around and I noticed this with myself at first. I aimlessly and slowly wandered through different isles looking for food that I wanted, but the minute I thought of something without seeing it my pace quickened when I headed for that item. Without knowing exactly what I was trying to get, my pace was slow. But when I knew what I wanted, my pace was quick and determined. I noticed this with others, too. Many people were aimlessly wandering and you could see it in their expression also. They looked around a lot or read the food isle headings that said which food items it contained. But there were also people who walked with a purpose straight towards an isle or a food item.

The last big thing that caught my attention were checkout lines. When two people would approach a checkout line at the same time they would either avoid eye contact all together or nervously look up at the other person and then look away until they both just formed in line without saying anything. This type of thing happens to me all the time so I thought it was an interesting thing to finally notice.

Ethnography of Target Express

Since I didn't quite have enough time to make the trip to any mall nearby, I decided to do an ethnography of the Target Express in Dinkytown instead.

Immediately upon entering the store I realized the dynamic shift in body language and walking styles of those outside of the store vs. those inside.  It was interesting too to notice and feel the shift in myself as well as the group I had walked in with.  Those on their way out the door look straight ahead without veering, walked with purpose and speed, and seemed to pay no attention at all to what was happening around them.  Those inside the doors however, including myself, seemed to engage in the opposite style of movement.  We had a sort of 'wandering' look about us (or so I imagine), taking in the scene of the store laid out before us, thinking hard about what it was we needed and where we needed to go to find it.

In front of me stood a girl who looked like she had absolutely no idea where she was going or what she was looking for.  I could see others behind her start to get frustrated, as she was blocking their paths, but still she stood with that 'wandering' sense about her.  Then, almost as if a lightbulb suddenly shone bright in her head, she did a complete 180 and headed out the door past me.  Interesting.

I began to notice more closely those around me, and couldn't help but attribute stories to the people I saw even though I didn't know them at all.  Upon reflection I now realize that this realization was an important part of the ethnographic experience because I think sometimes we project our thoughts and beliefs onto others even when we know hardly nothing about them at all.  Is a good ethnography completely objective?  Or does implementing our own experiences and ideas make the observations valuable?  And if we were to take a step back and reflect on our own projections onto the people we observe, would they give us an even better insight into society and how we understand people?

Social Aesthetics

The idea that life is art is important (viz. Nietzsche, the Marx quote in the reading). This might typically be read in terms of life as artifice, where we expect to craft, with technique and technicality, a form of life distinct in style, beauty, pleasure.  Highmore's work interests me in exploring an alternative (and, as I read it, complementary) approach to an aesthetics of living - one that is "descriptive," rather than "prescriptive."  That is, I think Highmore's project is to (lead to the project to) explain what constitutes the everyday in terms of aesthetic forms, as opposed to offering an aesthetic way to live.  I suppose my first question is - what's the point?  Does he explain the utility/value in a socio-aesthetic approach to describe everyday life, as opposed to just a sociological account?  I found it difficult to figure out the direction he was trying to take us in if, at the same time, he was trying to stay away from "the need to make categorical judgments as to the worth or otherwise of routine."  Is his point just that aesthetic forms might more accurately capture (by metaphor) what everydayness looks like?

Towards this end, nonetheless, I think the aesthetics of montage (demonstrated in the activity of cooking by Giard) and of rhythmanalysis ("premised on the understanding that everyday life is a polyrhythmic ensemble of competing and overlapping rhythms" (322)) are very interesting and compelling approaches to framing the everyday in aesthetic terms.  Lefebvre's idea that rhythmanalysis might replace psychoanalysis is entirely appealing to me, although - as, mentioned by Highmore, it's a very undeveloped idea - I wonder what rhythmanalysis as a kind of aesthetic therapy would exactly entail?

Another Step in the Routine

On p. 308, Highmore mentions the way that Chaplin's character brings his "automated response", a routine developed by his industrial workplace, outside the factory. To me, this seems to embody two different ideas. Firstly, the barriers between work and life appear to have been dulled to the point where it becomes difficult to distinguish between them. Simultaneously, we may have been experiencing the comfort of our routines for so long that we choose to replicate those routines even in situations where there is no need to, causing us to react to events in a subconscious, repetitive way rather than engaging with them on an individual level. This latter effect could effectively be seen as a dumbing-down of society due to modernization, which the essay seems to address partly from various perspectives.

Recently I watched a video essay on neorealism, and it made me think of some similarities between cinematic portrayals and analyses of everyday life. What exactly is it that makes an experience stand out from the routines of the everyday? Do we focus only on the things that matter and cause change in our everyday lives? Or should we also pay attention to the absence of change, as well as the empty spaces left behind by change? After all, routines do not develop in a vacuum.

here we go again

In my essay, I used quotes from Highmore to emphasize my argument that humans are alienated in both work and leisure; moreover, there is chaos in every part of everyday life in the search for satisfaction.

An interesting part of Highmore's essay that I want to touch on is his analysis of parent-child relationships and the routine that affects them. "Parents are continually told that routine also provides stability, predictability and most important of all, security. Establishing routines is thus the key to happiness: 'chaos makes us all feel as if we've got no control over the situation. Children are happiest when they have a structured routine" (Highmore 311). He goes on to say that setting childcare routines are not only effective for the children, but more so for the adults. When a parent is exhausted from his or her work day, they want to come home to immerse themselves in leisure time, not deal with a screaming kid. This proves the point that there is extreme difficulty in finding consciousness in our modern world.

"These days, solitude is a luxury too. People are rarely alone; they're either at the office or at home with the family" (Sagan). With the constant innate need to live a productive life, we completely lose our sense of consciousness. Routine, in my opinion, is a distraction from true conciousness and is put in place to prevent complete and total chaos in the never-ceasing everyday life.

Stress, fatigue, and dissatisfaction stem from, as "Lefebvre [suggests,] the contemporary experiences of routine life (mealtime, bedtime, the school run, the commute and so on,) [which] are the outcome of processes of modernization" (Highmore 322). Technology adds to the stress of work life and that stress nevertheless carries on to other aspects of life.

Homework

In Highmore's passage "homework" , he first talk about "home and work", by giving Charles Chaplin as an example, of how he is dedicated to machine assembly work: everyday he repeats the same steps of assembling, and when this becomes a routine, his concentration can be relaxed, and his mind can be used to do other things, such as daydreaming. And by Lefebvre, this is called a "reverse image". The way Chaplin's experience of routine contributed to his later film work, is by participating in this kind of machine himself, he can feel of the truth of relationship between human and machine, thus he can express this relationship in his film performance more lively, and this is how it is contributed to aesthetics. 

However Chaplin's example cannot apply to normal people that is basically doing office work, so in the next part he furthermore talks about aesthetic and everyday in a more specific way. In "art, experience and everyday life", Dewey's essay is quotes, and we can see that "everyday experience is thus figured as the material basis of aesthetics", here experience is in general instead of "an experience". From his perspective of view, an aesthetic of routine centers on the notion of inchoate experience.

He then talks about how doing cooking and childcare is related to aesthetics. For example, when it comes to childcare, children is trained to get used to some routines, and even this training process is tedious, they could still obtain a lot of joy.

My personal view of routine and aesthetic is that by experiencing a daily routine, you can always explore a pattern or some special relationship between something, and when you combine this pattern with your emotions and thoughts at every specific moments, and when you jump out of the routine and go back to see all of this, it can create some kind of aesthetic with your daily life.

Routine and Social Aesthetics

As I was reading Highmore's piece, one passage in particular was very relatable to me. On page 311 he writes, "Routines and habits can be hard to acquire and harder still to break. In this sense everyday life is often experienced as something deeply ambiguous, as simultaneously comforting and frustrating." He then goes on to detail a pattern of wanting to change, but reverting to his old habits every night. I think this is something that many of us can relate to. In my own experience, I often find myself resolving to change in some way. Read more, procrastinate less, go to the gym more. I make up my mind to do all of these things, but when my free time comes I wind up just doing the same old things that I had done every other night. The act of deciding to change my routine has become somewhat routine.  I know that a change could be more beneficial to me, but I also know that my current routine still (somewhat) works for me. I think this is the danger in our every day lives. The monotony of completing the same tasks everyday becomes stale after a while, but it is still seen as good because it is familiar.

Routine of Everyday Life

While reading the Highmore homework he comes to a point where he starts to talk about routines of everyday life and how drab and dreary they are.  He then goes on to say that though these are that boring once we become accustomed we tend to relax and mistakes start to happen.  I found this quite interesting because I feel like this happens in the work place almost daily regardless of which job you have.  Whether it be a big mistake like breaking a machine or something as simple and giving customers much more change then they were supposed to get back.  Also he talks about these routines mainly in work but I can see this becoming a huge factor in sports as well.  A top seeded team goes to face a lower team and gets complacent, and relaxed with their play ultimately losing the game.

Another thing I had found in the Highmore homework that had caught my attention was his analysis of the Doing Cooking reading.  I felt that he had the exact same reaction to it as we did in class as far as what he thought the author was trying to do and how he perceived the reading overall.  Also it made you think about the whole reading a lot more when he went deeper with the overall idea of cooking and really investigated the hidden meaning of cooking.

Routine and Social Aesthetics~ ~ ~

I really enjoyed reading Highman's essay- I felt as though the mundanity that we are subject to in routine really is a large part of our lives, and we should be able to acknowledge this, and be able to possibly veer away from our routines in order to add to our experience.

Routine makes life predictable, and it gives us order and control. How often do you find yourself taking a different way to work, or a different way to class? How often do you wake up t the same time, eat at the same time, do things according to a set schedule? Each and every day, people are living and performing their everyday routines, interacting with the same people and following the same pattern of routine.

When routine is enacted upon us, we can finally relax (309). The stress and the worry is brushed away, because we created that sense of security for us through routine. We are the rhythm of the machine, we are the assembly line.

This is is; this is life. This is all we have to look forward to. The routines that we are tired of performing, and the detours of these routines we never take the chance to take, is what is slowly making this world miserable. This isn't a phase, this isn't something we grow out of. We lose old problems and gain new ones- bills, jobs, family, politics instead of school, popularity, tv shows and who knows what else will be popular in 20 years.

Highmore'a Homework

I thought Highmore's take on the everyday was very interesting. He talks about this repetition that we go through in our everyday lives. He is highly critical of this routine we all have by calling it a "straightjacket of dull repetition." I was puzzled by this view of routine. We are creatures of patterns. Our brains like to find repetition and patterns to help conceptualize the world we live in. If we were to completely break our repetitive everyday routines each time one is created, would we be able to survive? Could we live a full life without any type of structure?

When it came to discussing childcare, he acknowledged that it is important that children learn about routines. He also said that this routine can be straining between parents who are "exhausted" from work and children who want to get their attention. He points out that even though these interactions can be frustrating, they are also tender and joyous. My initial observation here was "well duh." These interactions are more than just routine, they are connections between people who care about each other.

My overall reaction is that even though normal routine may seem constrained when you are doing it, when you look back at what you were doing, it seems special. Going to elementary school was extremely boring when you are seven, but looking back at it as an adult, it was a very special time of your life. I think this could be said for many of the normal routines we have.

Highmore and Defining Experience

Ben Highmore

HOMEWORK

Routine, social aesthetics and the

ambiguity of everyday life

Highmore is most concerned with everydayness and routine in terms of social aesthetics.  I understand social aesthetics to mean the nature or appreciation of social behavior, as it exists within the everyday, particularly in a domestic context.  One concept I would like to understand more extensively is the “relationship between experience and expression” that Highmore suggests with regard to Giard’s essay on “Doing Cooking” (318).  Does anyone have any further thoughts on this topic?

This goes back to the underlying question: What constitutes an experience?  Highmore quotes Dewey several times throughout his essay, but the one passage that really resonated with me says, “There is an experience, but so slack and discursive that it is not an experience. Needless to say, such experiences are anesthetic.” (316)  The tension between daily, routine experience and an experience is an essential issue to understanding and appreciating the everydayness of the everyday.  How do we separate and understand the two concepts individually when there is such a vast gray area of experiences to consider?

I found it interesting that the dictionary defines homework as “paid work carried out in one’s own home”, while Giard and Highmore understand homework to be simple housework, not recognizable as compensated effort.  In “Doing Cooking”, Giard reminds us that homework is only “women’s work, without schedule or salary (except to be paid off through service to others)” (323).  This “service to others” is the center of alienation in today’s capitalist society.  Where is the value in doing service that fails to produce self-satisfaction?  Highmore touches on this when he speaks of the capitalist reason that shrouds the everyday in profit motive and deprives us of authenticity in modern life.