Week Seven: People watching

I’ve really enjoyed the Friday morning seminars with the program and I was surprised by how much I’ve learned from the seminars alone within such a short period of time.

One experience within the DCBRP that has stood out to me was a small assignment that was given to us during one of our seminars when we were learning the benefits of observing our environment and of taking notes on what happens around us. Our assignment was to go outside somewhere nearby the UM Detroit Center, find a place to sit for ten minutes, and take notes on our observations within that time.

For the first half of my time outside, I was just really appreciating everything around me and realizing all of the little things that I don’t usually pay attention to in my environment. With less than five minutes left, suddenly so much happened and my perspective switched. Instead of analyzing nature, objects, or just the appearance of people, I was suddenly witnessing moments in people’s days, watching events unfold, and feeling involved as players’ emotions grew. I helplessly watched as one stranger’s emotions swiftly crossed an emotional spectrum from happy, to annoyed, to playful, to angry. Not just his mood, but his day completely changed in moments. What began as a nice day spent reading on the corner turned into him storming away.

I realized how much can happen within a minute or two and that sometimes I am powerless as to what happens around me. As much as I’d like to always diffuse a situation or step in the cheer someone up, it’s not always my place.

While I was refraining from interacting within that stranger’s situation, I found it relaxing for the rest of the time to be observing and wondering. I observed as many strangers entered and exited my environment within those ten minutes and wondered about each and every one of them.

Here are some pictures of my adventures!