Johanna Kelly
Activity #1: “Be a Flauneur”
On a Saturday evening, I took a trip to the Manhattan Mall. I observed the people shopping around the various stores circulated in the mall. I presumed that the majority of the people shopping in the mall were middle class and they seemed to be residents of New York City. They were shopping in stores such as: Strawberry, Aéropostale, Foot Locker, and most of all, JCPenny. The crowd all seemed like they knew where they were going. They looked very concentrated on their shopping however; they also seemed to be very energetic. The age groups of the people varied. I mostly recognized a lot of teenagers shopping together. I noticed a group of young girls shopping and they looked like they were having fun. They had shopping bags from Victoria’s Secret, Strawberry, JCPenny, etc. I realized how diverse the mall was. As I gazed upon the numerous people walking amongst each other, you could tell that they were a mix group of people ranging from white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. However, because I live in such a big city, I tend to overlook the immense diversity present. As Jane Jacobs states in her book, “Diversity is natural to big cities” (Jacobs, 144). I have lived in New York City ever since birth and thus, diversity is natural to me because I am surrounded by it all the time.
I observed that there were many families shopping together. There were a lot of kids tagging along with their parents while they were racing from store to store. The only spot where I saw the kids the most excited was when they were entering or exiting Toys’R’Us. So I assumed that these types of families must enjoy taking their kids with them while shopping because I know I would rather shop alone in serenity. I assumed that there were a lot of families shopping together because it was Saturday evening so parents were off from work and they had leisure time.
As I was observing the crowd, I noticed a young guy and girl going down the escalators. They looked about in their teen years, maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. They were standing neutral next to each other and I couldn’t figure out if they were siblings, friends, or a couple. However, as they were reaching the end of the escalator ride, I could tell by their body language that they were not siblings and they were a little more than friends. The way they moved off the escalator showed how their bodies were very close to each other and neither of them looked uncomfortable because of that. I was fascinated in how much you can figure out people and their relationship to each other by just observing their body language.
Then I spotted a family walking towards the store JC Penny. The mother was walking with the daughter in front while the father was tagging along in the bag. The daughter looked about nine or ten years old and she looked like her father. She was carrying an American Girl Palace shopping bag so I presumed that her parents had just bought her an American girl doll. By the way the father was walking behind them you could tell that he didn’t feel so motivated shopping and that he would rather be somewhere else rather in a crowd of people.
Later on I noticed a young woman, maybe about in her early twenties who was walking with her iPhone and cell phone in both her hands. I didn’t quite understand why would she have both since the iPhone allows you to listen to music and speak on the phone. However, it looked as if she was looking for somebody because she had her cell phone in her hand as if she was waiting for a phone call. So I assumed that her iPhone was only used for listening to music. She then approached the security guard for directions. He was pointing her in a certain direction and you could tell that he was trying to make conversation with her. He was a young guy and the outfit she wore made it hard not to find her attractive. She was wearing tight sweats that outlined every curve on her body. She was wearing a tight shirt and a tight jacket on top of that but the jacket did not seem to do any justice since it didn’t even cover her stomach.
Overall, the scene at the mall was interesting to watch because I saw different groups of people but who had one common interest, and that was shopping. Even though it was very crowded in the setting, the people managed to walk in a way that there were no collisions. Thus, you could tell that they all came from the city because they did not seem overwhelmed of the crowd. I noticed that majority of the people that like to hang out in Manhattan mall are teenagers or families. I guess malls seem very cozy and friendly since there are no cars or other interruptions.
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