Nick NeSmith
81796434
Assignment 2
Leisure is defined as free time or use of free time for enjoyment, and although it has changed a
bit over time it remains unchanged at its core. It is still used for primarily the same reason which
is to help individuals relax and strive to attain peace of mind for a period of time. Leisure plays a
crucial role in maintaining a healthy and balanced life, it can also be seen how leisure tends to
follow certain generational trends depending on the time period. For this assignment, I found that
while not all of my interviewee’s experiences reflected the trends that were discussed in the
lecture, some of their background did actually reflect a few of the trends that were discussed. My
interviewee’s father was in the Air Force so they lived on an air base for most of their younger
years. While living there they didn’t necessarily travel off base much, this prevented them from
experiencing first hand a lot of the trends that were going on at the time. Trends such as the drive
for equality, rejection of the work ethic, and recreation’s antipoverty role, as well as others were
not reflected in their experiences because they were sheltered from them for the most part while
living on base. However, some of their recollections about what leisure was like when they were
young does actually reflect a couple of the trends discussed in lecture. For example, a lot of my
interviewee’s past leisure activities at the time all seemed to involve either playing outside,
playing sports, or exercising. This reflects the emphasis on fitness trend that was occurring at the
given time where schools were strengthening their physical fitness programs and public
recreation departments were also expanding their fitness offerings. My interviewee also enjoyed
drawing and painting during their leisure time, as well as attending different museums or
festivals. This reflects the trend at the time where there was an increased interest in the arts as
well as an increased participation rate. Community arts activities also started to become a thing
at this time and the National Endowment for the Arts was founded as well. Although not all of
my interviewee’s experiences about what leisure was like when they were young reflected
certain trends that were discussed in the chapter. A couple of them did in fact reflect some of the
trends that we read about and actually had a rather strong connection to those trends as well.