I think cool was taking a vacation from Madison today because my “coolhunt” did not turn up much coolness. Also, my camera is MIA, so I was not able to document any of the cool that I did find.
1. First I started out in the library. I went to the Open Book Café, got a Chai tea, and sat at a table. However, it was only 3 in the afternoon, so there weren’t many people there. The few people that were there, were just studying, which isn’t particularly cool.
2. After I finished my tea, I decided to venture outdoors and walk up State St. What I found was perhaps not cool, but definitely cold. I saw a couple of people who some might call “rebellious” (I would prefer “stupid”) because they were not wearing coats! Yes, despite the fact that it is early March, we live in Madison, Wisconsin (latitude: 43.073N), and it was about 30 degrees out, I witnessed about five people wearing t-shirts. Maybe these brave people were trying to convince themselves that it is really Spring, or perhaps they are innovators, trying to start a new, “cool” trend. However, I think that Barabasi, author of Linked: The New Science of Network, will agree that the “threshold” for this trend will never be met because most will not be convinced to pick up on it. The “spreading rate” for not wearing a coat in the middle of winter, in the Midwest, when there is still about five inches of snow on the ground, is very low (Barabasi 131).
3. While continuing to walk up State St., I noticed that most people (about 75%) were either talking on the phone or listening to their ipod (or some other music player). Perhaps the coolness of having and using these gadgets in public is wearing off because I think that this trend has reached the “late majority” that was mentioned by Malcolm Gladwell in his article from The New Yorker. To not have a cell phone, or at least not use one, is kind of innovative now since it is rare not to see someone chatting away no matter where you are.
4. I also noticed that several stores had St. Patrick’s Day decorations in their windows, and my two very Irish friends were talking about how excited they were for it. I have never really “celebrated” St. Patrick’s Day before, but I feel like I am missing out on something “cool” when I see all of the t-shirts and other merchandise that stores are selling and my friends are wearing, and when I see the pictures of the St. Patrick’s Day themed “Unofficial” party that all of my friends at University of Illinois put on Facebook. I don’t think celebrating St. Patrick’s Day is very innovative since people have been doing it for several years, but I was definitely convinced today to adopt the idea.
Those are the results of my coolhunt. Unfortunately, I think that maybe I couldn’t find very many “cool” things because of one of the rules of cool presented by Gladwell: “….[cool] can only be observed by those who are themselves cool” (Gladwell 155).
4 comments:
First off, let me say great choice with the chai tea. It's one of my favorites. I'm especially fond of the spiced chai. I thought your discussion of people without coats being cool was interesting. Does doing something different make you cool even if others think its stupid. I personally think jumping a cliff on a motorcycle would be stupid, but it would definitely scream rebellion.
I have a friend who, in the dead of winter, will wear shorts. He is easy to spot if you are looking for him, because, besides the shorts, he is 6' 7" and about 250-300 pounds. I'm going to have to say the whole not wearing coats thing can be pretty cool if you are not visibly trembling from the cold. I mean, come on--you're super-human! What's cooler than that?
the whole dumb being cool thing made me think about the jackass guys...i would say basically everything they do is dumb, but people think it's pretty cool to watch people do dumb things. which has worked out pretty well for them. so i guess that makes for winners all around.
I will definitely have to try to spiced chai...
I don't know if doing something dumb but different makes you cool, but, for some reason, I find Jackass really entertaining. But the whole idea of cool is that you might inspire others to join in the coolness. I think that is why it is difficult to consider jumping off a cliff or doing something else stupid as being cool.
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