Interaction in the City

This was an overall much easier process than what I previously thought. Due to some complications this weekend, I wasn't able to go to Seattle Center and speak to strangers (as silly as that sounds). But I actually ended up having an experience that's probably the equivalent. This Friday, I was out for hours. I first went downtown and did some window shopping with Teiji. We got a bite to eat and met up with some other friends. It was delightful. But as time passed we got bored and decided to go to Southcenter Mall. Now an unexpected problem came up while we were on our way to the mall – my phone had gone and decided to drain through 30% of its battery in a 10-minute span. (The frustration felt when my phone dies.) Now for those of you with parents who constantly need to be in contact with you and a very active presence on social media, you understand how terrifying it is for your phone to just die on you, especially when it's unexpected. We got the mall and were ...

  Well I did it....mostly at least. I went out and I spoke to strangers. Teiji, Anise, and I. Odd to think about now that I'm typing it out though. We went to Southcenter mall, held up a sign that read "Can I get a hug?", and just waited. But not for long.   When we first got to the mall we kind of post poned the entire experience. We just stood about, went to a few stores looking at clothes, just did anything we could to avoid this soon to come very awkward social situation. We talked about what was going to go down and just how we were going to go about it. We even made bets discussing who was going to get the most hugs depending on how approachable they were. Of course we all thought of Teiji. The man has a massive baby face.   I chose this approach to start because I first wanted to see if I could get other people to approach me. I will admit I chose this due to being nervous. Just walking up to someone and engaging with them is always nerve-racking. But e...

Conversations in Seattle...(They don't happen.)   Growing up in Seattle, it was the norm to not say hello to strangers on street. Keeping your distance from others and just overall avoiding any type of interaction as a whole. But as I began to grow up and travel more I began to that see the anti-social habits that Seattleites and other major cities people have was nowhere near the norm. I remember times where I'd be walking down the street and when I'd make that "horrible" eye contact with someone, I would give them a smile and they'd look at me as if I committed some huge misdeed. Ridiculous right?!   To tackle this some friends and I are going to be going out and asking people for interaction. Beating out our own social anxieties and trying to break this weird social border society has. My name is Jerald Flowers, and I'm going to be tackling the issue that is social interaction in big cities.  My goal is to get a better understanding ...