HW 25- Short Story Comments

HW #25, Part 1: Blog Comments

Charles,
I really liked your story. I thought it was funny as hell, and really was a pretty productive way to get back at Andy for using you as an example of an ignorant consumer. By using Andy as the consumer character in your story, you made me think more about how I would actually feel if I was headed for the Gucci store to cop some new kicks. Truthfully, I would have to say that I would be hyped, kinda like Andy was in your story (but not quite as enthusiastic).

------

Lauren,
I liked your story when we read it in class because of the concise plot, and simple insights that I absorbed just after one read through of it. You definitely captured a pivotal moment in your story with a unique point of view.

Reading this story on your blog made me analyze it more than I had in class. After the second reading, I noticed that you made your narrator a kind of "authority on cool". The character Regina could be interpreted as either clueless, or just unconcerned in her demeanor. It is because the narrator says "Hmm I think I might talk to her tomorrow." that I came away from the story with the opinion that this girl Regina must be pretty cool.

------

Henry,
Your story was quite vivid and your descriptions really kept my attention throughout. Certain phrasings were slightly awkward and confused me, but other than that, you got your point about "cool" across very well.

Like Marco said in the above comment, I also liked how you used the persons intellect as a device to demonstrate her strengths that made her "cool".

Particularly, your use of character interaction between you and the new girl, brought her down to earth so that the reader saw her from a first person point of view. Describing her smile at the end of your story was pivotal in that I almost felt like I was the person she was looking at. Anyway, really good job Henry. Keep it up.

------

Alicia,
Damn Alicia, this is actually a really good story. No gas. I thought you incorporated a whole range of writing techniques in your story which greatly differed from others which only used one or two techniques.

You started off your story with really descriptive wording and set me up for the rest of the story with an image of place and time already in my mind. Later in the story, I thought you switched gears a bit, and your story became kinda humorous, using realistic dialogue that poked fun at a very generic conversation at SOF after the weekend.

The cool character was Nate evidently. I assume it was him, because of his alternative interests and lack of connection to the common activities of teenagers on the weekend. He also came off as pretty socially accepted, giving Nate a third dimension of believability. Great job Alicia, I will definitely try and look at your work in the future, as this story made a really good first impression to me of your writing talent.

------

Chloe,
Nice story. I thought it was kinda funny because I am almost positive that pretty much every senior has had an encounter with Mr. Marks such as the one in your story by now.

I like how you pinpoint the "coolness" of the character by having Sofie defiantly ignore the dean and get into the elevator anyway. On a deeper level, Sofie seemed cool to me also because she "knew her place" in a sense. She was aware of her success as a student and therefore knew what leeway she had with the school administration.

What I took away from your story, was that a part of "cool" is being aware of who you are, and who people actually think you are. For example, had Sofie been kicked off the elevator by the dean, than Sofie would not have seemed as cool, because she didn't correctly assess the dean's attitude towards her. She did, and that's partly why Sofie [you?] was [are] pretty cool.

-----------------------

HW #25, Part 2: Recurring thoughts on "coolness"

In the stories that I read, and the stories that we looked at in class, I think that the character theme of "renegade" seemed prominent in our depiction of "cool". The idea behind "the renegade" is by my definition a person who goes against the common rhetoric and does what they want for their own reasons.

My story depicts a renegade in the sense that Matt is concerned about himself, getting the "BMW M3" and about what he needs to do to get it. He doesn't ask himself whether or not people will think it's a cool car, because Matt "knows" its a cool car. Being a renegade does not necessarily mean that you need to be a rebel, because a rebel is a person who sets out with the intention of doing the opposite of what everyone else seems to be doing.

In Alicia's story, the cool character also seemed to be a renegade because he was interested in reading and being intelligent rather than parties and getting shwasted. The character is not being a rebel, because no rebel would sit in class, and than go home and learn on their own. What Alicia's character shows, is that he does what he does because he wants to, but doesn't try and separate himself from everyone else. Basically, Nate is nonchalant, and not really concerned about the trivial weekends of his peers. At the same time, he doesn't act superior to them because he learns while they party

Part of being a renegade, is also being accepting and nonchalant. Being nonchalant seems to be one of the coolest personality traits that one can have. It puts forth the image that you are capable of something, but choose not to do it. For example, a "nerd" and a smart person differ on the simple principle of appearance. A "nerd" comes across as socially inept, while a smart person can compete mentally with the "nerd", and also maintain a social grace that the "nerd" simply cannot compete with.

Nonchalant attitude is nothing if it is not coupled with ability. Being false in appearance, or fake, is really "uncool". Having ability socially and mentally is something prevalent in most of the stories I read, but the character was not definitively "cool" until he or she was put to a test. Such a test is usually done by observing how an individual interacts with others and approaches a problem. This test I believe is supposed to demonstrate yet another quality of "cool"; confidence.

Lastly, I want to say that confidence is unconditionally "cool" because you really cannot fake confidence. Being confident can be misguided, but even if it is wrong, it still seems cool at the time. The people who are truly "cool" are those who show confidence in themselves and others around them. You make people feel cool if you have confidence in them, and you are cool, if others have confidence in you. This is not to say a person is right if they are confident, and wrong if they aren't, because that would be a horribly flawed and highly incorrect statement.