Blessed Are the Uncool

Source Material

Throughout the book I mentioned artists and historical events many people might not be familiar with. Hopefully you’re curious to find out more! Explore my primary sources, plus videos, pictures and more. Stay tuned this fall as I add feature articles, interviews and other supporting materials.

Chapter 1 - You Got To Wear Your Sunglasses
Chapter 2 - Rebellion On Stage
Chapter 3 - The Caucasian Storms Harlem
Chapter 4 - Faith-Based Cool
Chapter 5 - The Tao of Jesus
Chapter 6 - Re-Enchantment
Chapter 7 - Compassion
Chapter 8 - Deep Uncool
Chapter 9 - Beyond Cool

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Chapter 1 - You Got To Wear Your Sunglasses

- This chapter's title comes from the Parliament song "P-Funk," off the Mothership Connection album.

Written in the mid-seventies, the line goes:

Yeah, I dig!
Let me put my sunglasses on.
That's the law around here, you got to wear your sunglasses.
So you can feel cool.

This is a surprisingly honest description of the fragile nature of cool emotion. What was not cool one moment became cool with the addition of mere sunglasses. I find this a revealing comment, and it's a great song to boot.

- The book Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude was very helpful in getting the historical basics together. I ultimately went a different direction in my definitions, but Dick Pountain's work is much more historically thorough than mine.

Pountain is English, so there is a more international awareness to the book than most books by Americans.

- On page 15 I quote Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a story of a 21st-century type in a nineteenth century world: the narcissist. Long before 25 year-olds started writing memoirs, Oscar Wilde did it.

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Chapter 2 - Rebellion On Stage

- Whenever I discuss boredom I am refering to Lars Svendsen's A Philosophy of Boredom. This is a really impressive, and very pop-culture-aware book.

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Chapter 3 - The Caucasian Storms Harlem

- The Economist story "The Shaming of America" can be found here, but is premium content (for subscribers only).

- The Tom Skinner quote on Black Power and faith comes from his 1970 speech in Urbana, Illinois, transcribed here.

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Chapter 4 - Faith-Based Cool

- John Jeremiah Sullivan's article in GQ, "Upon This Rock," is here.

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Chapter 5 - The Tao of Jesus

- The book Courage to Hope: From Black Suffering to Human Redemption is an incredible collection of African-American theology of suffering.

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Chapter 6 - Re- Enchantment

- The Native-Born vs. Foreign Born numbers from the 1870 US census can be found on PDF here.

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Chapter 7 - Compassion

- Corner Pocket's song "Stay in Step" can be downloaded (for free) here, on download.com.

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Chapter 8 - Deep Uncool

- Philosophy Professor Claudia Card's "The Case Against Marriage" is published in Hypatia, vol 11, no. 3.

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Chapter 9 - Beyond Cool

- Page 122: Bob Morris' discussion of hope can be found here, at Urbana.org.

posted by locutus est @ Sunday, January 01, 2006