Triangle Partner Help

Henry:

If people would give up on being cool and their need for attention, then they can slowly drift away from it; no longer depending on it like a drug.

Everyone needs attention but if this need for attention cause us to perform in a way in which we do not know how to perform it, then we should give up trying to get that attention. In your example of the guy who was losing public favors, he could not maintain being the cool guy because he did not know what was cool now and at that point, he should give up trying to get the attention. Cool cannot be controlled so we should not try to control it and try to use it to our advantage. By giving up on being cool, we would not need to "bite" people and expose our uncoolness. Trying too hard to be cool is in fact uncool and will hurt one's own identity so it is better not to try too hard.

I feel that your second paragraph does not necessarily prove your thesis; it talks about college recommendations and how cool comes in handy but it does not talk about how or why we should not pay so much attention to cool. Maybe you can give an example of someone who is cool without trying too hard and how that worked out for that person.

Rachel:

Sounds like being cool is to be accepted by others, to become materialistic, and to use our bodies to meet our cultural standards.

Your paper questions what is cool and points out that people have different perspectives on cool; consequently, there are different definitions of cool. One way to fit into our cultural standards and get others to approve us using methods of adorning is to get tattoos. Getting tattoos allow us to meet our cultural standards because our standards tell us to be the one in power and tattoos make us feel power over something (our bodies). While our cultural standards also tell us to become materialistic, companies reinforce this idea by selling us products that seem cool. We all follow our cultural map's meaning of cool and if one's map says to get good grades and go to college, then that will seem cool to one. And if our cultural map does not include getting good grades and going to college, then it will prevent us from doing so. There is no "real" self; we are all put into categories created by society even before we are brought into the world. We have to act accordingly to what our "script" (given to us by society) says and therefore we cannot be "ourselves." Our cultural map shapes what we think is cool, corporations drill the characteristics of cool into our heads, and then make us buy their cool products.

I would say connect your paragraphs back to your thesis; everytime I finish reading a paragraph, I forget the thesis >_<. In reference to the paragraph about the corporations, I think the corporations ARE evil for manipulating people regardless if manipulation is part of the economic system. I think that the last paragraph could become your conclusion. And I think we are supposed to conceal our identity... so... the last names.....

Cool Paper Rough Draft

To be cool is to be doing one's own thing, speaking up for justice, and avoiding drama. The underlying reason for the cool definition is the teenage archetypes that teenagers fall into. Being cool is to feel valued and good about ourselves. To do so, we fill up the hole inside us by masking, manipulating, costuming, adorning, and aggrandizing ourselves. But since this hole cannot be filled, we are constantly trying to find ways to seek attention and approval.

Based on the short stories that we wrote, we see that being cool is to resist the higher authority for a good cause. In Henry's story, the cool person refused to do what the teacher said, resisting someone in the higher power. In Kate's story and Jia Min's story, the main characters resisted the fake cool by embarrassing the bully and standing up for another. All these characters jumped "to the top of the hierarchy by doing something positive" (Amanda) and thus made them cool.

Being cool is all about sticking yourself into one of the teenage archetypes. Whether it is being the hero, the funny guy, or the jock, people know that becoming one of them will attract attention to them. "People pay attention to mythical roles" (Snyder) so by becoming one of the 'mythical roles' one gets the attention one has been wanting. Roles are defined before we are even brought into the world; our parents have this image of who they want us to be and carefully influence us to become the image. Even those who are accidentally brought into the world have their roles chosen. By neglecting them, they are most likely going to fall into the role of loner, loser, bully, or bad ass bad boy.

Roles are inevitable and therefore, our quest to become cool is also inevitable. If one acknowledges that one is playing the hero role and refuses to play any role, then that person is going to be playing the "refusing to play a role" role. Another person might notice that role, think of one as a cool person and then give attention to one while trying to fit into that role. Even the person refusing to play roles want attention. Everyone wants attention by playing roles and some get the attention (like the revolutionary) and some fail to obtain it (like the loner).

Drugs is another method people use to feel cool and good about themselves. Some take heroin to calm themselves down and to people within the same mindset would consider that cool. But taking drugs only gives a temporary feeling of cool. Therefore, another way to go about being cool and feeling important is to get someone else to value you. These people may include friends and family but getting others to value you causes you to become prone to peer pressure. Lastly, there is the "do good feel good" phenomenon; you do something good for someone and you feel good about yourself.

Our need to feel cool is caused by this hole inside us that we constantly try to fill up by talking down on others, applying makeup, using nicknames, etc. But after talking down on one person or getting the ears pierced, the emptiness comes back and others things need to be done to fill it up again. Other things may include talking down on more than one person or getting piercings in other places. This cycle prevents the hole to be filled up, because the hole cannot be filled up. Regardless, people cannot accept this emptiness as it is and are unable to give up the journey to become cool.

Cool is the quest to seek attention and to fulfill what is missing inside us. We fight the people who have more power than us so we can be the one on top, with the power. In doing so, we push ourselves into inevitable roles and these roles help us get the attention we want. We also try fill the emptiness inside us by seeking approval through drugs, acting unnatural, or dressing ourselves up. Unsatisfied with anything that we do to reach our goal, because cool changes as time progresses, we can never be the cool we want to be.

The Cool Pose and Various Approaches to Life Rooted in Class, Race, Gender, Age, etc.

As said, our friends are like our second family. We care strongly about what they think and feel because they come up as frequently as families come up in our lives. My friends may say skinny jeans and sunglasses are cool and to fit into their "group," I may choose to wear skinny jeans and sunglasses when inside, don't like to wear sunglasses. According to Goffman, I may think that I am being myself and not notice that I am actually influenced by my friend's expectations of me. They may also say that having shirts tucked into pants are uncool and that will tell me that I should not be having my shirts tucked in. And while my friends approve of skinny jeans and sunglasses, my mom says sunglasses make you look like a gangster (which, in her case, is uncool). Because my mom (the real family) overpowers my friends (my second family), I choose to wear sunglasses. Foucault believes that this happens because we are constantly being watched so we have to act for our audience.

Cool does not just affect one particular group but every group. Every group has different definitions of cool and they must act to these definitions to become cool. It is not only African Americans who have a cool pose, which include skipping school and lurking late (Brooks). The white's cool pose include having some of the black's interest (hip hop) and balancing study time (Patterson). But why are white kids interested in black interests but black kids are uninterested in white interests? What shaped their cultural map to include some of the black's interest and how come the blacks do not have study time in their cultural map?

I think we should work with old cultural maps that contradict each other to make a new and better cultural map. But then, people make different cultural maps so in the end, we might have a ton of cultural maps with not enough people to initiate new maps based off off the new ones made. For example, Asian parents think that their kids should get A pluses on all their classes because A's are unacceptable (A is for Average, not Awesome). They think that their kids should go straight home and hit the books, no leisure time, no breaks, and no games. On the other hand, their peers from other cultures with different cultural maps may say that Asians work too hard. They suggest that Asians take breaks, hang out more often, don't freak out when they do not get A pluses, etc. With these two maps, one may say that the new cool pose would be to take five to ten minute breaks every hour, hang out once a month, games for a certain number of hours a week, etc. By taking two contradicting cultural maps, a new and better (containing elements from both) cultural map is born.

Cool Paper Outline

People constantly try to be cool. The dictionary defines cool as being trendy and socially adept. Back then, those who were hard working were those that modeled the word cool. Others use drugs to calm themselves and feel cool about themselves. There are three different aspects to define cool and those are the aspects many target to make themselves look cool.

1. Some are define as cool through their physical actions.

• lecture 12/8: getting someone else to value you; do good feel good phenomenon
• lecture 12/16: talking down on people; judging others; sound intellectual; gait; volume
• being skilled at something, whether it is good at dressing oneself or working well with others
  

2. Others do things to feel cool (emotionally)

• lecture 12/8: taking heroin (drugs)
• lecture 12/15: doing things to fill the emptiness inside
• lecture 12/22: human need a sense of personal significance in a larger meaningful story
  

3. Masking, costuming, and aggrandizing using the body (physical appearance)

• 12/1: major element of being cool is fashion
• 12/16: putting on makeup, clothing, piercings, tattoos, plastic surgery, being "fit"
• blog 12/2: cute = cool
  

Tattoos

To some people, like my mom, NOT having a tattoo is cool. Rather, having a tattoo is not cool and is considered against our values. Because tattoos are related to violence and gang-members, my mom strongly opposes the idea of getting tattoos.

I guess five years ago, that is also how I see it. When I would see someone with a tattoo, I would quiver in fear because I would think that they are related to violence. But if you personally know someone who has a tattoo and is not violent, then you break free from the stereotype of tattoos. I see some people with tattoos and know that they are not related to any gangs, therefore, while I know that tattoos do not mean violence, my mom does not. Maybe the fact that having a tattoo and not being related to any type of violence is cool, to some people. To gang-members, having a tattoo and being a "wimp" or not being tough is against their values because they might associate tattoos with violence.

Tattoos are also cool because it makes those who have it feel rebellious. I know a lot of parents who do not want their kids to have tattoos and the kids insist on getting one. They say that once they become 18, they will get a tattoo regardless of what their parents say. For one, it seems like a rite of passage, something that must be done when you are legally an adult. Tattoos also represents rebellion against parents and the freedom from parents; the point when parents cannot tell their kids what to and not to do anymore.

Being someone who has tattoos is like fitting into another role. As teenagers, they might feel empty and feel the need to fill up that hole by being rebellious or obtaining their freedom. Therefore, at the age of 18, they express their freedom by getting a tattoo. But once they get it and the hole is "filled," they look back to the day they got their tattoo and wonder what they were thinking. That hole becomes empty again because in the spur of the moment, they rush to fill that role and then afterward, realize that getting a tattoo is not the way to fill that hole.

John's tattoos are associated with rites of passage. His tattoos represents his moments in life, moments that he wanted to remember through tattoos. One of his tattoos symbolize his joining into the band. The first time he got a tattoo was when he was 17, a time when most teenagers start to demand independence. He got his first tattoo, his mother freaked out and his father was pretty chill about it. John had more tattoos after that and he said that it was then, that his parents could not protest against what he did. His first tattoo symbolized his independence from his parents.

Extra Credit 2

Ivan Ilych gets married because of money and social approval. His wife, Praskovya Fedorovna, has “some property” and is “well connected.” The marriage is “considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates.” Because Praskovya has property, which means that her family has money, Ivan decides to marry her. Her money fulfills his “personal satisfaction.” Praskovya is also connected to others who Ivan sees as potentials to advance in his work life. Ivan’s highly placed associates approve of the marriage and Ivan therefore believes that the marriage will aid him in his work life.

However, he begins to live an unpleasant life with Praskovya. Praskovya gets “jealous without any cause, expected to devote his whole attention to her, found fault with everything, and made coarse and ill-mannered scenes.” If Ivan had not married Praskovya for her money and the opportunities to obtain a higher status in his work life, he would not have to deal with his wife’s unpleasantness.

After becoming more ambitious, Ivan starts to spend time with his colleagues as a way to block out his problems at home. Praskovya’s temper worsens as she delivered her first child, causing Ivan to seek external comfort. But because Ivan chooses not to face and attempt to solve the problems at home, his wife grows “more irritable” and two of their children die. If Ivan had focused on his family and not on his social life, he would probably live a better life.

Soon after, Ivan begins to have conflicts in his work life. Ivan has “declined several proposed transfers while awaiting a more desirable post.” He declined the jobs that did not offer as much money as he had wanted. Unexpectedly, Ivan’s desired position was not given him; he then “became irritable” and perceived his superiors as cold. If Ivan did not chase after the higher position, he would not have been disappointed when the position was given to someone else.

Ivan’s quest for status has caused him to have high expectations. People around him, including his father, regard “a salary of 3,500 rubles as quite normal and even fortunate.” However, Ivan sees this as the “most cruel injustice.” Ivan expects to get paid a lot based on his high status and spends more than he earns which leads him into debts. His journey for status in society drives him to expect a higher salary. Ivan becomes depressed when he gets unemployed. He moves in with his brother in law in order to save money. His ambitions are keeping him from sleeping at night.

After getting reemployed with a salary of 5,000 rubles, Ivan wanted more, buying a house and decorating like how other houses are. He concentrated on his work rather on his family. The distance between Ivan and his family is getting farther away and more fights happened between the wife and husband. The family doesn’t seem to care about Ivan much except for the money that Ivan brings back. As his health gets worse, Ivan became depressed, and knows that the family is having a hard time around him. He feels lonely and knows that he had given a bad time to his family.

Ivan bought a house for his family and made a great effort to decorate it. One time when he was putting up the drapes, “he made a false step and slipped.” Ivan’s house represents his status and his fall represents his downfall from attempting to obtain the status he wants. He spends a lot of time decorating his house, flaunting his status to society and in the end, it will become his downfall.

Ivan finishes decorating his house and suddenly feels empty. The rest of his family has come back from Ivan’s brother in law and took part in decorating the house. After both Ivan and his wife were satisfied with the house, “it became rather dull and something seemed to be lacking.” As the house continues to represent Ivan’s status, the completion of the house seems to be a metaphor for Ivan’s success in achieving his desired status. After obtaining the status, Ivan will get dull and his life will still be incomplete. It is useless for Ivan to complete his goal because it will make no difference in making his life meaningful.

Not only did Ivan feel empty, the house also seemed to bother him. After spending so much time and “trouble to arranging it all that every disturbance of it distressed him.” Ivan now has a house and has devoted so much attention to it that it suddenly became Ivan’s downfall. His status, like his house, will become a downfall for Ivan and will not contribute to Ivan living a meaningful life.

Ivan’s quest to seek approval from society continues to become a downfall for him. Ivan and his wife hold a party and while Ivan wants “expensive confectioners,” his wife wants to save money. He wants society to know that he can afford to order too many cakes but this only led to problems with his wife. Ivan and his wife get into a fight involving her name callings and his threats to divorce. His need for approval causes disputes between him and his wife, leading Ivan to a meaningless life.

Extra Credit 1

Being cool includes having a skill, maintaining calmness, and leading a group of people. Schwartz, in The Death of Ivan Ilych, possesses these characteristics. His skill includes communicating physically instead of verbally. He is able to detach himself from situations to maintain his calmness and he refuses to conform to other groups.

Schwartz is able to communicate without words. Others are able to understand him through his actions. When Peter Ivanovich pays a visit to Ivan Ilych, Peter finds Schwartz walking down the stairs. Schwartz stops and winks at Peter, “as if to say: ‘Ivan Ilych has made a mess of things – not like you and me.” Winking is considered a cool action; an action of approval, conveying a sense of likableness. When Schwartz winked at Peter, the readers know that Schwartz approves of Peter, that he is fond of Peter. This also puts Schwartz in control; Schwartz was the one to approve someone and not the other way around. Being cool also means to be in control of an individual or a group of individuals. Schwartz is also able to convey his thoughts without saying them, a skill that not many possess. By winking to portray his thoughts adds on his coolness.

Schwartz does this action again when Peter allows two women to walk up the stairs before him. At that time, Schwartz does not move from his position at the stairs and Peter was able to understand that Schwartz wants “to arrange where they should play bridge that evening.” All Schwartz did was stand still and Peter was able to receive his message about playing bridge.

During the last time the readers see Schwartz, Schwartz again reveals his coolness physically. When Ivan’s wife takes Peter to talk alone, Schwartz winks at Peter again and gives Peter a playful look that said “That does for our bridge! Don’s object if we find another player. Perhaps you can cut in when you do escape.” Schwartz does his cool move by winking at Peter and by Schwartz’s look, Peter was able to tell that he lost his seat to play bridge.

As a cool person, Schwartz did does not allow others to influence him. On the way to see Ivan’s body, Peter finds the “playful, well-groomed, and elegant” Schwartz. Peter concludes that Schwartz is “above all these happenings and would not surrender to any depressing influences.” Schwartz’s ability to maintain his playfulness, elegancy, and well-groomed figure and Peter’s conclusion implies Schwartz’s ability to be unaffected by Ivan's death. As a cool figure, Schwartz must maintain his tranquility and detach himself from depressing situations.

Schwartz does not conform to the people who weep and mourn over death. Peter passes Schwartz to see Ivan’s and Schwartz proposes “that they should meet for a game at Fedor Vasilievich’s.” Schwartz is different than others so instead of being depressed like everyone else, he decides to lighten up the mood by playing bridge. As a cool person, Schwartz must lead his own group and not conform to others’ groups.

Schwartz is the cool figure in The Death of Ivan Ilych. His wink and his ability to talk to Peter using his actions and facial expressions support his coolness. During Ivan’s death, Schwartz was the only one who did not weep but offered to play bridge. He did not allowed death to affect him and tried to recruit others to play cards with him.