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.