final paper

Bryanna Wight 1-20-10
11-D4
To me there are different reasons why someone is cool or why someone wnats to be cool. They can be cool because they have money, because they are pretty or cute, because they can have a talent that a lot of people wish they had, or because are the bad boy/girl, and yea sure there are other reasons why someone could or wants be cool, but why do these things matter? I sometimes wonder why. What about what someone wears shows who they are deep down inside? Just because they do not wear what I wear does not mean that they do not have the same goals and dreams that I have. In class we talked about being cool and someone said that we would be lying if we said we don't care if we are cool or not. I feel this is not true, I don't care if people find me to be cool, I feel that people have to take me they way I am but I do care if people respect me which is different then being cool or is it the same? I would like to know who made the idea of what is cool and what is not cool? The affects usthat cool has on us. The reasons why we feel like we need to be cool.
Some would agru that cool is just being “you”, that cool is all about how you carry yourself, and that cool is something that they don’t care about. And then there are people like Andy who actully sit down and think about things otherin life, they think about why we do the things that we do. So when Andy started the unit he shared his thoughts and at first I did not agree with what he was saying it. Until I started to interview people. Everyone that I interview all said the same thing, “My definition of cool is being yourself.” Then when I interview friend and classmate Javon Perry this what he had to say,
“ Me: Do you think you are cool?
Javon: I would not say that I am cool but a lot of people tell me I am.
Me: What makes people tell you that you are cool?
Javon: People say that it is the way I dress and the way I carry myself.
Me: What makes you dress the way you dress?
Javon: The media and my friends and family. But I think that the people I look up to help me come up with my fashion.
Me: Who are the people you look up to and why do you look up to them?
Javon: Pharrell and Kanye West and I like them beceause to me they are different. To me no one dress like them and no one acts like them.
Me: So how much does your whole outfit cost?
Javon: Ummmmmm.... Well this is 330 and the his 700 and this 800 so I going to say that it all cost 3000.
Me: Why do you spend so money on clothes, is it because you wnat people to thing you are better then what you are?
Javon: I always was dressed this way. Since I was 5 I always had on name brand things. That is just the way I like to dress and it is not to make myself feel better for or for other people to think I better then them, it is just because I like to look good. If I had to wear clothes with holes them ans had stuff on it and food on the shirt I would not feel like myself.” So then atfer talking to Javon as I started to see what Andy was talking about. I saw that people wanted to be different that kind of ended up saying that same thing and looking like they were alike.
When I saw that everyone was starting to think and talk a lot I begin to notcie that we are all alike each other and that no one was reallly different. Like the fact that we all get tattoos. Which brings up why do we get tattoos. Is it to be like each other,or to be different. I believe that there are many reasons behind why people get tattoos. Some would say that they get it to look like they are bad. Some have no reason on why they want it they just want it because it seems "cool". But to me the reason why I want a tattoo is to always remember my friends or some kind of moment that I had in life. See the tattoos that I want is a symbol that I will always have to remember my best friends so that no matter how far we go I can always just look at my are or my leg or where ever I put it and think of them. Think of all the good and bad times we had, to think about when life gets rough they were always there to help me. But I think the main reason is that so that I wouldn't feel alone. Which comes back to to the whole cool and being empty inside.
I agree that people get tattoos to tell stories and some feel why do we all tell stories in the same way, and I feel so that we are not different. Yea we all say that we want to be different but what we really want is to be the same. Think about it, we go through life with people just like us. Best friends, family, co-workers, and lovers. People may not want to believe it or say it but we look to be alike. When we make friends we make them off of what we like to to do, eat, wear, and how we act. With co-workers you may think that you guys are different and you guys maybe but you both either had the passion or drive to do the say job or you both just want with the flow and took any job you could get. And then with your lover you want someone that is like you or someone you want them to be which in some way is how you are. So when you think about it we want to be the same so that is why we do things like get tattoos or plastic surgery, hair extensions, piercings, make-up, lifts, body-building, etc.
When Mr. Fanning came in he said that he got tattoos to have build this new person and show that he is who he is and can never go back to his old ways. Which I thought was cool because we all do that in some kind of way. We want people to know that the person they see in front of them in the is the real thing that this is who they are. I think that what is more crazy is the fact that we will not say this but we all seem to think it. What is the real problem with saying things that is wrong with us and take it as it is? Why is so bad to think about thinks in a deeper way?
From this whole cool unit I learned cool is what you make of it. That we all go around trying to give off the idea that we are different and that we all have something great to give to life, which maybe true but at the same time we all have the same thing to give. Like my Uncle Jay said “Cool is when you can relate too all types of people and all types of situations , yes I do think I am cool because I can relate too all types of people and all types of situations. The coolest thing I have is my brain and my heart because I really enjoy living and learning”. Instead of worrying about how to be cool and are we cool we should look more on living and learning.