Hw- 34 The Cool Pose and Various Approaches to Life Rooted in Class, Race, Gender, Age, etc.

Our life is made out of decisions and choices. How we choose is up to us. Is it really? We make decisions based on the type of background we have, the culture/sub-culture that we are most conformtable in, which are all influences. So are we really making our own decision, or is it that our influences make it for us.

A huge influence in our americanized culture is your status level of "cool" and how we get to it. There are various amounts of "cool" in our culture because of the many different cultures, religions and ethnicities that exist in our society. In each different culture we have "cultural maps" that we follow to guide us. Usually most cultures follow their route on being "cool" but the "cools" are entirely different because of the environment and background that that person grew up in. The different "cools" could be bad when looked through a lens of a dominant culture, such as a "cool" that garentee success, for others though it does not. For example, Blacks in housing projects mainly tend to feel comfortable with being on the corner, hanging out on the block, etc. because of the type of environment and what is exposed to them daily as a "cool thing." Through the lens of a dominant culture, this cool is looked down upon because it does not fit its criteria. But can you really blame the children or adults for looking at their cultural map for "their cool." No. Because the given oppertunities that these children and adults get are the only and easy oppertunities that they can have, so in that case, they direct themselves towards it. My own personal experience of being black in this society is totally different because of the type of environment and oppertunity that I was born into. I live in a good neighborhood, I go to a good school, so my "cool" is good. They way I was raised and environments I grew up in are my influences that help structure my "cultural map" of cool in a good way.

Do you call this situation luck? Is it unlucky then for these teens and children who are born into poverty having a lower chance of becoming successfull? Is it lucky for those who are born into wealth and better oppertunity? In our society we have this thing of blaming those for our loses. We look to see who we can blame for our aversions, but instead we should look to it in another light. Such as "How I can help? What can I do to make it better?" If cultures looked to it in this light, maybe there wouldn't be things such as racism or class because everyone would be looking out for each other, but we don't.