HW 29

Many older people intellectuals, professors, scholars and so on believe that advertising should be banned to young people. To that point I answer what about our economy? Isn't our economy something to be valued and protected. Given the fact that young people are the largest consumer base in this economy its crucial to protect the freedom of advertising so that the only large scale group of consumers still buying during the recession can continue to prop up our consumer driven economy. Furthermore I'm not convinced that heavily regulating advertising to teenagers will solve the problem. That would become just another excuse for teens to hate the adult world and the culture they live in. It would be viewed as a violation of their freedom; and would they be so wrong? For many being in between the ages of fourteen and twenty is practicaly a prison cell. Filled with mindless routines and exercises that seem to have no end. For these people a ban on advertising to them would just further distance them from what most would call normative society.
Regardless of what people say they love advertising. They love the feeling of the advertisment going for them. To put it simply people love to be loved, and for us commercialization fills the role in many ways. People also love the fact that they know its not good for them. People have historically loved things that aren't good for them. Especially in the United States which has the highest drug prevelance of any western country. But even though these ad's fill our heads with total crab and feed our addictions its still necessary to protect the rights of advertising so as to fill our constitutional obligations.
In conclusion I think that teens have long been manipulated,cheated,screwed over, and I don't think thats going to stop any time soon. Therefore I don't think that banning advertising will do anything to stop the problem in fact I think it will just make it worse. Teens should be allowed to think for themselves. If there old enough to drive, fight in wars, and drop out of school then I think there old enough to handle some advertising and at least make some sort of judgement thats not pre-determined.

HW 28

Reed, T.V. "Popular Culture: Resources For Critical Analysis." Washington State University (1997): n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2009. .
Lack, Tony. "Consumer Society and Authenticity:." n. pag. Web. 8 Dec 2009. .
http://stereogum.com/archives/nmes-25-bands-making-america-cool-again_011791.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)

These sources listed above are all insights into what is precieved as cool. Some of the sources give insights into certain sub-cultures which over time have been percieved as cool while other sources talk directly about the modern day image of cool. These sources are important to look over because they give some background information on not only what is cool but why certain things are cool and the history of these phenominons.

Hw 27

Going out onto the street and talking to people who I don't know is not something that I particularly looked forward to, but then going out and talking to people was actually quite interesting. Even though I only talked to a couple of people they both gave very different answers. The first person I talked to was a thirty something hispanic male who was standing outsside an office building smoking a cigarette. After aproaching him and exchanging pleasentries it became clear that he was rather uncomfortable with the subject and not interested in having a long discussion. I asked him to define cool, he took a breath and put on an uncomortable smile and said "I don't know.......somebody who has a lot of friends and has good taste". Then I asked whats the connection between cool and conformity? Then he really looked irritated. He said that he thought that most "cool" people were conforming with society. Basically he gave answers that were expected. After talking to him we came across another person who seemed to have a totally different attitude about cool and was totally willing to talk to us. By the look of him he seemed as though he was homeless or at least close to being homeless. However he didn't seem angered or bitter but joyfull and personable (much happier seeming then any walking suit we tried to talk to). The homeless man was almost eager to talk to us and looked quite happy to be recieving the attention. We started out by asking him who he thought was cooler the Pope or the President. He answered the Pope. I was surprised by this answer because since the president certainly holds more popularity then the pope in this country and he didn't seem to be a particularly well educated person; but he was able to adequatley justify his argument. He said that the pope is chosen from such a wide range of people that it surely is impressive to be chosen (especially since all of the competition is made up of men of god). He then elaberated on his definition of cool and what he found cool. He believed that alternative rock, individuality, and a cool crowd is what makes someone cool. Overall he gave answers that were not only unique and interesting he was able to (at least somewhat)break his archtype.

HW 24 Short Story

He didn't want to go to the party. He knew that he would end up doing the same old shit. It was all getting a little boring for him. he was getting sick of seeing the same old people and doing the same old thing. He wanted to go somewhere new and original get away from his own little ground hog day and change his ways. Even though he was thought of as real smart guy he had a reputation of doing everything that wasn't smart. As he entered the party he got all the greetings as if they hadn't seen him in a year. Even though he thought he should feel good about how everybody felt about him he didn't. In fact it made him rather frustrated and upset; it wasn't the fact that everybody liked him that pissed him off it was why they liked him that got him angry. He was tired of being viewed as the funny guy who can slam down a lot of liquor. He wanted to be viewed as original, new, and inteligent. Unfortunetley for him he knew that he couldn't keep his status and be viewed a different way.

HW 25 additional thoughts

Some of the trends that I noticed throughout the stories I read were fairly typical and somewhat expected. However many people cofronted these aspects in very different ways. For starters in every story I read cool and popularity are in the same catagory. Basically if you are popular you are cool and visa versa. Also I think that attention played a great role in defining cool. The main characters in all of the stories are constantly getting attention and putting themselves into situations where people will give them the attention they seem to desire even if the deny they want it. I think attention plays such a big role in the story because it plays such a big role in our lives. High school is home to some of the most conceeded people you will ever meet; I mean it's not their fault but thats just how it goes. Popularity, cool, fresh whatever you want to call it if knowbody gives you the time of day then they will never know that your cool, therefore we need this attention to express our coolness and connect with the people around us.
Even though mmany of the characters in these short stories cary many of the negative aspects of teenage life, none of them seem to be particularly mean or bad people. I think that we all have somewhat of a desire for the people around us to be nice caring compassionate people even if we don't project that in our own lives. I think that it speaks somewhat highly of the people in our school that they have the desire to have compasionate caring people instead of controling ego maniacs. Also groups seem to be a recouring thing throughout the story. All of the cool people in these stories seem to have a group of followers who basically work at the cooler persons behest. In conclusion it seems that all of these stories have a recouring message that is not said upfront. People want loyalty appreatiation and recognition. However these catagories seem pretty hard to fill and thats why most of the recognizable popular kids don't fill such rolls.

HW 25 comment 5

Amon, I liked your story because you covered an aspect of cool that most people didn't cover; the affect of recreational drug use on popularity/cool. I think that in many high school drinking and useing drugs (especially marijuana) is a right of passage and can dramatically affect someones popularity in school. Even if someone is not especially well dressed or talks the talk sometimes there party savy can make them cool anyway. Furthermore I think you also covered the unfortunate side of such drug use which gave your story a accurate perspective.
Everyone has heard a story about someone getting "too fucked up". Great work.

HW 25 comment 4

Jin, I really hope you don't find this person to actually be cool because this persona (or possible alter ego of yours) is the biggest douche bag on the face of the planet. Anyway I did like your story because I think that you were able to capture a common view of cool; the cocky all out kind of guy. Furthermore I think that the style you wrote your story in worked with the length.
Nice Work