HW 31

Kiana:
we were talking about the various methods that people use to mask, manipulate, costume, adorn, and aggrandize ourselves. As we discussed in class on Friday, we said that everyone somehow does one of these things whether it's subconscious or not and everyone has a different way of covering up their "true" selves. That is why i was wondering which one you think you are and why?

HW 30

One big idea of "cool" is that everyone wants to do it. As long as we have media and technology and other people telling us what the latest, newest thing is, we will always have cool. People are considered accepted when they follow these rules and everyone wants to be like them because part of being "cool" usually means you have a lot of friends. One can deny that they have always tried to go "against cool" but that is not true because no matter what we do, something is considered cool, for instance tattoos or piercings. I was thinking about the question: does emptiness in some people cause them to do or behave in a more "cool" way to be accepted and fill in that emptiness or does the "cool" just add to the emptiness?
As i was doing research, I found psychiatrist Anna Freud's mother and child separation theory to be good and I agreed with it. That theory states that if a mother and child are separated at womb, it could really have a great effect on the child and how they will react and behave in life-especially with their mother. Here is a quote: “I therefore decided to present some of her ideas on the importance of the mother during the child's earliest years in the development of a ‘psychological’ object, culminating in the attainment of object constancy by the time the child reaches his second birthday, an achievement which is of great importance in permitting the child to go on to develop human relationships with all the emotional richness and complexity with which we are familiar.”

This quote states how mother/child separation really usually begins during the "terrible twos" and if parents don't show attention to their kids, then that will most likely affect how the kids will be with their parents when they are older and when the kids have kids. Some kids will also do "bad" things or things to get that needed attention from other adults in their life. They then start to do "cool" things to get noticed and attention which all relates back to emptiness. But if they want attention and they do "cool" things to achieve that, then they might feel more empty because they aren't being true to themselves and if they aren't showing their true selves, they might be feeling emptier than before. All of these things relate back to each other and this made me wonder if everything cool or not cool" we do revolves about what society and our peers want of us?

HW 25

Thank you for the comments Kiana and i agree that my story could be made more in depth and i could have worked harder on it.

HW 24

i decided to interview my aunt for my family interview because i think she is one of the coolest family members i have. The 1st question i asked her was what she thinks being cool means. She said that being cool means being able to express who you are and staying true to yourself. She also said that being cool is a person who can interact well with others and not hold a grudge. She also believes that superficial cool will only get a person so far and relationships cannot be based on shallow things like that-they also need to have a good personality. I then asked her what being uncool meant to her and she said that being uncool means being a nasty person who doesn't work well with others, someone who thinks they are above everyone and someone who always judges books by their cover. The next question i asked was if she was cool in high school and she said that she was somewhat cool because she was a cheerleader but that unlike all the other cheerleaders, her family didn't have much money so she couldn't buy clothes that were as expensive as the other girls, so that was the part that made her slightly "uncool" to her peers. She said it was ok because she had other friends to that liked her for her-not for her style or superficial things like that.

I definetly agreed with everything my aunt said.

HW 28

http://www.mindfields.org.uk/blog/?p=140
(gives tips on how to be cool)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1088699,00.html (describes how kids/teenagers strive to be cool by being rebeliious)

http://www.copyblogger.com/be-the-cool-kid/ (shows mostly about cool kids and the effect on them later in life and what goes on in a "cool" kids head.)

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Cool (how to be cool in general and there are tips in this article, too.)

HW 27

person one:

Me: I see you are holding a magazine with michelle obama on it. Do you think her style looks cool?
Person: Um..maybe because most of the first ladies don't dress that way and don't show their arms but she does and it looks comfortable and polished and nice.

Me: Would you dress like her?
Person: Personally it's not my style but considering she's a first lady, she looks good. She's more chic than the rest.

Me: So how would you describe your style?
Person: I'm not sure i guess i would call it kind of girly kind of homeless (laughs). I think it looks nice.

Me: We like it. Did you dress similarly to this in high school? if so, did it look cool in your peers opinion?
Person: This is sort of funny: I was a goth type person in high school and people made fun of me for that but i don't care what they say. I don't have to always be cool. I believe that cool is different because everyone has different perceptions about it.

Person 2:

Me: You are dressed in a fancy sort of way. We were wondering if you had a car?
Person 2: Yes i do. I have a Mercedes.

Me: Do you feel that because you have a Mercedes your car "speaks louder" than your personality to some people?
Person 2: Well, I'm sure my car plays a role in how people percieve me