Subject 4: The Reclamation of Cool is Hip

That is hip.

Let’s talk about COOL

In comparison to HIP

Hip is a state of enlightenment or awareness.

Cool is composure or balance in an individual, or stability in a group.

“…cool begins the journey to hip. “In the African sense,” Thompson says, “I would argue that cool is the mask of mind itself.” Hip, then, is the process behind the mask.” (Leland 58)

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Hip-History-Mr-John-Leland/?isbn=9780060528188

Cool is connected with hip.

The ancient “hip” that resided deep in the plaid and polyester bellows of my 90’s hippie youth surfaced and motivation came to create the official

reclamation of my coolness in this very moment of realization.  I thought it was

 hip

to realize

that I needed to be more cool.

Days later or not…time doesn’t matter in the mind of a hipster….

there she was, staring me in the face under the blaring lights and bargain section of a local Barnes and Nobles Bookstore.  An ugly orange book titled,

“How to Be Cool.”

http://www.johannaedwards.com/

It was a gift from my heightened awareness.

I begin the process of reclaiming my coolness by studying such chapters as,

 “Cool Rule #3. Always play the part of the one who cares the least,”

and

“Cool Rule #21. Cool people are sometimes down, but never out.”

MUSIC.

 I don’t talk about it as much as it deserves to be brought up.

It is hip

and cool.

“Within the aesthetic of the cool, Thompson notes, this interplay of the musicians and dancers suggests a philosophy of

beauty and ethics.

Its underlying values are spiritual.

Through rhythm and inflection,

It signals stability in the social order and composure in the individual, even amid the hottest of blowing.

In other words,

Cool.

“Perhaps one reason many American Negroes sing a sad song happy

and

some whites sing it sad,”

he writes,

“is that the Negro is an heir to an aesthic of the cool and the latter is not. 

It is cool

 to sweeten hurt

 with song and motion;

it is hot to concentrate upon the pain.”

(Leland 67)

 

May there be happy day love birds and marvelous Monday free birds.

Enjoy this dedication to you all on this

Valentine's

evening
occassion.