Objectifying the Subject/ Subjectifying the Object

It may shock you, but I enjoy being what one would call a “creeper.” I would not go so far as to say I do it for a living or as a hobby, but yes I find it somewhat appealing and captivating to spy on someone. The act of stalking does not faze me. I took great amusement in our assignment. There was no hesitation or equivocation. However, finding the right person to stalk took a couple of minutes. I plotted beforehand where the perfect place would be to sit without appearing out of the ordinary and being close enough to my target in order to properly monitor him or her. In order to not give myself away completely and ruin the whole investigation, I decided to sit just one seat away from my prey. I sat at one of the tables in the back of the Axinn Library.

My subject was male, white, young, skinny and medium height (from what I could gather from him sitting down). He was characterized by brown wavy hair, a long torso and slender arms and legs. He was wearing a dark blue collared t-shirt that consisted of white stripes running horizontally across the shirt and dark blue jeans. He had on white sneakers with a darker color running along the side and on the bottom. In front of him was a Dell silver laptop which appeared to be relatively new. There was a black labtop case in front of the labtop. He was half sitting on his black jacket that had a blue interior with white lining. The jacket was resting on the lower part of the chair touching his lower back. To his left were a white textbook and a blue binder lying on top of it. His backpack was positioned on the floor to his lower left on the floor. To his right on the table was a black iPhone. In the first few minutes of me observing him, his right hand was touching the bottom of his labtop with his pointer finger extended serving as a mouse and his left hand covering his forehead. His feet were always in front of him touching the floor sometimes with his heels slightly raised. His head was tilted downward constantly staring at his labtop.

My subject’s primary activity was looking and typing at his labtop. In the course of the half hour that I was able to examine the student, he brought out a few pieces of loose leaf from his binder and a workbook from his backpack. He proceeded to focus on these objects still referring back to his labtop and typing in information. Even from just one seat away I could hear the clicking of the keys at this labtop and the ruffling of his papers. At different periods he cracked his knuckles, scratched his forehead and stretched his neck.
The boy was clearly a newer student at Hofstra. From his physical appearance one could claim he is very sporty. He was taking his time to study at one of the back tables in the library probably to escape any noise or disturbance. He was dressed very casually like most students in college and probably shops at places like Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch by the clothes he was wearing. He was relaxed and intently focused on his work. He was constantly working being hardly districted by the people around him. I would wager that he is a very hardworking student that is dedicated to his studies.

I received an abundance of accomplishment from the onsite library writing experience. I solidified my ability to stalk someone without giving myself away. I was successfully able to observe and learn about someone without even having to talk to him. I was able to make inferences about the person based on my observations and data. I used my senses of hearing and sight. Although this does not solve the problem, it is a start. This activity is useful for writers in the fact that writers are always examining the world from all different viewpoints. A writer must have the skill of observation in order to write about a variety of subjects. A writer can invent the university, but with a few observations of their own they are able to create inferences and make sense of something. In the library, all of us were training and practicing our observation skills. We were all strengthening our ability to ask the right questions in order to find out more about our object. This is crucial in being a good writer.