Hw 34

Cool is a very general idea that is specific in different people lives. However for many there are general common ideas of cool. It is very common for the people with similar ideas to be of the same race, economic class, neighborhood, etc. For example a white rich kid who goes to a private school most likely wont be dressing the same as a poor black kid who lives in a project building. These two people who grew up in completely different environments value different things due to the environment they grew up in and currently live in and the expectation that are supposed to meet. Basically these two kids have completely different maps. These maps are constructed what people in their situation did in the past and what they are expected to do by their parents and peers. I don't think any of the types of cools can be considered cooler than others because to that specific group their identity of cool is considered the coolest and anyone who doesn't fit this runs the risk of being ridiculed by others.

I am not sure that coolness compensates for having less in life for all people. However in certain cases specifically with people who are poor cool gives them a meaning and outlet to turn to. For example someone who is poor and lives in the projects but has 500 hundred dollar shoes is giving off the image that they have money to the people around them and are therefore considered cool in their neighborhood or group of friends. In other groups the ones who do the best in school and get in tot he best college and end up making the most money are considered the coolest and most successful.

The idea of cool and the reason for putting on our cool performances and the situation cool puts us in are two contradicting things. We put on cool performances to seem cool yet many times cool restrains from getting the places we want to get or of having a good life(good life meaning in terms of todays idea of good life ie: a lot of money, pretty wife, etc.). People who start out poor play the cool roll which most often includes not caring about school and therefore many times not going to college or even finishing high school. When people are rich and they value money and power and are very greedy they lose a lot in relationships with others and miss out on certain parts of life that people who have different vales experience. No matter the case trying to be cool will hold us back from living ways many of us might like and cool is something that we are virtually stuck in.