While we have been focusing on what hip is this semester, I think it is also important to think about what hip isn't. A deeper understanding can be reached by knowing what it is not.
For the most part, we have decided that hip is the result of separate cultures mixing together, including social change, within the United States that has spread to other parts of globe. Some obvious example stick out to me that have a large market, pull in large chunks of dough, but don't fit into Leland's definition of hip. As there are different members of society that do not, will not admit that they do not want, or will not acknowledge that they benefit from cultural mixing and social change.
One example that comes to mind immediately is Steve McFarland's Family Guy. While the show is very popular, it also makes an effort to alienate any viewer that doesn't happen to be a White man. The writer's seem to have a fondness for "edgy" humor, which usually just means using humor that could possibly be interpreted as racist, sexist (ex clip 1, ex clip 2,), homophobic (clip), or ableist (clip). He seems to hold an interesting place in culture as most people I have heard from either despise him or completely adore him. This could also be a question of whither or not shows such as South Park and Family Guy could have a category of hip and if hip must always be inclusive. It could also be a situation of the differences between the current and previous generation's understanding of hip as each generation has a different understanding of what exactly each of that entails. However, I think that while edgy humor shows have created a wider allowance of what is and isn't allowed on television, I think they tend to push more towards the popular end of the spectrum as minorities for the most part are often pushed away from humor that directly attacks them. They also seem to make the point that only certain groups of people are allowed to make edgy jokes (clip).
Another example of popularity rather than hip, is the Big Bang Theory. If the laugh tracks are taken out of the show, it's unentertainment value is made obvious (clip). While this show does attempt to try to get at something that could possibly be interpreted as hip through nerds in the tech and science field it does not particularly capture the experience of nerdy individuals very well. At least in my opinion, as someone who has always been kind of nerdy, it more or less creates an impression of what individuals who are not nerdy think nerds are. While I have met younger individuals who watch the Big Bang Theory before, most of the individuals I have met who watch the show loyally tend to be of the previous generation. The impression I come away with is that in part it is an attempt of the older generation to catch a voyeuristic glimpse of the younger generation, particularly those viewers who happen to have nerd children. As hip things are meant to bring about this cultural blending, it's difficult to imagine this show as hip as it seems to draw an audience that has already become more resistant to change.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Mutations of Hip
In chapter 3 of Leland's Hip: the History, he discusses hip has it's origins in the 1910s and 20s as the Great Migration from the Southern U.S. to the Northern U.S. which allowed for the cultural mixing often associated with hip. Personally, I feel that this could not have happened within the confines of a rural setting. While the styles of the time that contributed to jazz originated in the rural South among Black Americans, hazz would not have achieved such a widespread popularity if they did not have access to the record companies and recording technology of the time that was located in New York.
Since most Americans are now born and live in the cities, most hip people, bands, music, and movements originate in the city.
An obvious example is in hip-hop culture, with the origin of rap in the inner city slums. It came from impoverished Black Americans as jazz had, but came from the culture directly within the city. In Bryon Hurt's documentary, which I recently watch in my Women's Studies course, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, he discusses the problematic aspects of hip-hop culture. He goes on to say that while hip-hop has it's origins in the Black community, that 70% of it's consumers are of White descent. As Leland also discussed, the mixing of the two cultures often results in White consumers trying to find out more about Black Americans during their exchange; thus, the artists which discuss songs with stereotypes often surrounding Black Americans is what is what is only allowed to be marketed to consumers on a large scale. As White Americans stole the blues, Eminem and Iggy Azalea stole rap. As there were rap songs that did not glorify gang violence before it became a large part of main culture, it is obvious this has occurred. For the most part, this was driven by money as once an audience reaches a certain point, it has to start catering to White folks if they want to increase their monetary gain. In this case at least, hip was driven by the economy and the interests of the larger money pool.
In our reading from week 2, hipsters were discussed. One article in particular, "What Was the Hipster" discussed the hipsters of the 2000s. In the beginning, they seemed to draw largely from sytles associated with '70s suburbia. While they were drawing inspiration from a culture that was not within the city, they still spread had the ability to spread those influences within the structure of the city. Theoretically, those ideas would not have spread with the same ferocity if the group happened to be located in Pueblo, CO. They most likely would have been labeled the weirdos in that particular community. Particularly since the internet did not have the same reach or influence in hip as it does now. Their ideology mostly likely would have not made it past the confines of Pueblo to become the next big thing. To a certain extent, it was probably easier to market this for a larger profit as many of it's styles involved simple styles like plaid flannel shirts and neon-yellow framed, plastic sunglasses.
In one of my previous posts, I discussed difference between the hip and the nerdy. For the most part, nerd culture seems to be becoming part of hip and the mainstream as super hero movies are smashing the box office. This opposes the traditional idea of the lonely nerd that feels misunderstood and alienated by society. If I was taking this class ten years ago, I most likely would not be doing most of my assignments on a blog. Part of why I believe this is changing is caused by the rise in importance of computers in our culture. It has become a key way in our communications and the way we do business. It is hard to deny a subcultures power when their skill set becomes necessary to power the economy. In this case, nerds were able to become integrated into hip culture as the typical idea of the nerd is one who's known for computer programming. As such, it may be possible that other things typically associated with nerd culture are becoming increasingly popular as each is lumped in with the culture. While it was not true in the past, it may be the nerds are part of the current hip group. This is where hip seems to have taken a turn as the nerd community is not limited by location. It mostly takes place on the internet away from the rest of the world. It has grown and has become ever more common for people to admit to having an interest in things stereo typically unacceptable by society (i.e. Bronies). While I'm not entirely sure if it is completely true, nerd culture for the most part seems to have become part of hip with the rise of technology, despite a long period of the two being complete opposites of each other.
As Leland quoted Tower of power (and perhaps stolen from Tim's paper):
Since most Americans are now born and live in the cities, most hip people, bands, music, and movements originate in the city.
An obvious example is in hip-hop culture, with the origin of rap in the inner city slums. It came from impoverished Black Americans as jazz had, but came from the culture directly within the city. In Bryon Hurt's documentary, which I recently watch in my Women's Studies course, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, he discusses the problematic aspects of hip-hop culture. He goes on to say that while hip-hop has it's origins in the Black community, that 70% of it's consumers are of White descent. As Leland also discussed, the mixing of the two cultures often results in White consumers trying to find out more about Black Americans during their exchange; thus, the artists which discuss songs with stereotypes often surrounding Black Americans is what is what is only allowed to be marketed to consumers on a large scale. As White Americans stole the blues, Eminem and Iggy Azalea stole rap. As there were rap songs that did not glorify gang violence before it became a large part of main culture, it is obvious this has occurred. For the most part, this was driven by money as once an audience reaches a certain point, it has to start catering to White folks if they want to increase their monetary gain. In this case at least, hip was driven by the economy and the interests of the larger money pool.
In our reading from week 2, hipsters were discussed. One article in particular, "What Was the Hipster" discussed the hipsters of the 2000s. In the beginning, they seemed to draw largely from sytles associated with '70s suburbia. While they were drawing inspiration from a culture that was not within the city, they still spread had the ability to spread those influences within the structure of the city. Theoretically, those ideas would not have spread with the same ferocity if the group happened to be located in Pueblo, CO. They most likely would have been labeled the weirdos in that particular community. Particularly since the internet did not have the same reach or influence in hip as it does now. Their ideology mostly likely would have not made it past the confines of Pueblo to become the next big thing. To a certain extent, it was probably easier to market this for a larger profit as many of it's styles involved simple styles like plaid flannel shirts and neon-yellow framed, plastic sunglasses.
In one of my previous posts, I discussed difference between the hip and the nerdy. For the most part, nerd culture seems to be becoming part of hip and the mainstream as super hero movies are smashing the box office. This opposes the traditional idea of the lonely nerd that feels misunderstood and alienated by society. If I was taking this class ten years ago, I most likely would not be doing most of my assignments on a blog. Part of why I believe this is changing is caused by the rise in importance of computers in our culture. It has become a key way in our communications and the way we do business. It is hard to deny a subcultures power when their skill set becomes necessary to power the economy. In this case, nerds were able to become integrated into hip culture as the typical idea of the nerd is one who's known for computer programming. As such, it may be possible that other things typically associated with nerd culture are becoming increasingly popular as each is lumped in with the culture. While it was not true in the past, it may be the nerds are part of the current hip group. This is where hip seems to have taken a turn as the nerd community is not limited by location. It mostly takes place on the internet away from the rest of the world. It has grown and has become ever more common for people to admit to having an interest in things stereo typically unacceptable by society (i.e. Bronies). While I'm not entirely sure if it is completely true, nerd culture for the most part seems to have become part of hip with the rise of technology, despite a long period of the two being complete opposites of each other.
As Leland quoted Tower of power (and perhaps stolen from Tim's paper):
" Hipness is -- What it is!
And sometimes hipness is
what it ain't!"
Since culture is constantly changing. Something that wasn't hip 20 years ago could easily gain steam in current our current culture.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Revision Plan
For my first essay, I chose to define hip with the locale coffee shops, Jive's. There are two Jive's locations so comparing them works well for defining hip and not hip.
After I got critique from my intelligent peers, it helped me to realize what improvements I had to make to this piece. At least one thing I should consider is to change the voice from serious and intellectual to laid-back and casual as the atmosphere of a coffee shop would be. I have a habit of writing all of my school assignments in that intellectual tone, and this was something I should have thought of before. Thanks for the feedback.
Another thing I plan to do is maybe change the organization of my essay slightly so that the essay is not ending on a negative note with the comparison of the Northern location and the first location as my opinion of the second location was bleh in comparison to the first one, so it would be better to end on a positive note.
I also think I need to work on solidifying my Kairos in this essay. I think part of my issue is that before I started working on this paper, Jive's had been suggested to me a few times but I never got around to going there. In part my paper is based off of initial reactions from going to each of the locations twice and putting the paper together from my limited experience. I probably should have picked a place that I had more experience with, but this was the first place I thought of. My plan is to try to visit each of the locations at least one more time to try to form a more solid opinion of both of the locations. I believe my Kairos will be focused on how this is good for the city's economy in general but how the second location is selling hip the idea of hip rather than producing hip.
Another thing I plan to address is the cultural mixing involved in each of the locations as cultural mixing was a central point in Leland's definition used in my piece. It's difficult to find diversity in terms of different racial backgrounds in most places in Colorado Springs. (Or maybe it is just the areas I am used to going in Colorado Springs?) Jive's did not seem to have very much racial diversity, but there was plenty of diversity in terms of world views. As Wednesday was open mic at the first location, there were some live music and some poetry reading. The vast difference that stuck out to me was one of the readers started their introduction with: "I felt Jesus really lay it on my heart to share this with you all tonight." Another reader read a poem about the issues surrounding the LGBTIQ community and one of the lines in his poem read, "I don't understand why someone has to die so you can feel comfortable." While it doesn't always mean the two are opposing each other, it is a good place to start in terms of the cultural mixing that happens at Jive's.
Other things I plan to focus on are an introduction of Leland, more exploration in the idea of Starbucks losing/changing its culture, and lots of grammar/sentence structure editing. Assuming I'm writing this for someone outside of our class, there is a chance they have no idea who Leland is. It'd be good if I included that for them so they don't spend the entire article wondering who in the world I'm talking about. While this isn't the main part of the paper, I should consider how to properly integrate the Starbucks idea into my paper and put more consideration into how it has become mainstreamed. Is it possible that process is starting with the North location Jive's? That is something I should explore. Well, the grammar sentence structure part is something that we all have to do. If you say you don't, you're lying! Haha!
I'm going to keep mulling on this and see if there are more changes I should make. Thank you all for your feedback. If any of you have any more ideas I'd be happy to see/hear them. I look forward to reading your papers! :)
After I got critique from my intelligent peers, it helped me to realize what improvements I had to make to this piece. At least one thing I should consider is to change the voice from serious and intellectual to laid-back and casual as the atmosphere of a coffee shop would be. I have a habit of writing all of my school assignments in that intellectual tone, and this was something I should have thought of before. Thanks for the feedback.
Another thing I plan to do is maybe change the organization of my essay slightly so that the essay is not ending on a negative note with the comparison of the Northern location and the first location as my opinion of the second location was bleh in comparison to the first one, so it would be better to end on a positive note.
I also think I need to work on solidifying my Kairos in this essay. I think part of my issue is that before I started working on this paper, Jive's had been suggested to me a few times but I never got around to going there. In part my paper is based off of initial reactions from going to each of the locations twice and putting the paper together from my limited experience. I probably should have picked a place that I had more experience with, but this was the first place I thought of. My plan is to try to visit each of the locations at least one more time to try to form a more solid opinion of both of the locations. I believe my Kairos will be focused on how this is good for the city's economy in general but how the second location is selling hip the idea of hip rather than producing hip.
Another thing I plan to address is the cultural mixing involved in each of the locations as cultural mixing was a central point in Leland's definition used in my piece. It's difficult to find diversity in terms of different racial backgrounds in most places in Colorado Springs. (Or maybe it is just the areas I am used to going in Colorado Springs?) Jive's did not seem to have very much racial diversity, but there was plenty of diversity in terms of world views. As Wednesday was open mic at the first location, there were some live music and some poetry reading. The vast difference that stuck out to me was one of the readers started their introduction with: "I felt Jesus really lay it on my heart to share this with you all tonight." Another reader read a poem about the issues surrounding the LGBTIQ community and one of the lines in his poem read, "I don't understand why someone has to die so you can feel comfortable." While it doesn't always mean the two are opposing each other, it is a good place to start in terms of the cultural mixing that happens at Jive's.
Other things I plan to focus on are an introduction of Leland, more exploration in the idea of Starbucks losing/changing its culture, and lots of grammar/sentence structure editing. Assuming I'm writing this for someone outside of our class, there is a chance they have no idea who Leland is. It'd be good if I included that for them so they don't spend the entire article wondering who in the world I'm talking about. While this isn't the main part of the paper, I should consider how to properly integrate the Starbucks idea into my paper and put more consideration into how it has become mainstreamed. Is it possible that process is starting with the North location Jive's? That is something I should explore. Well, the grammar sentence structure part is something that we all have to do. If you say you don't, you're lying! Haha!
I'm going to keep mulling on this and see if there are more changes I should make. Thank you all for your feedback. If any of you have any more ideas I'd be happy to see/hear them. I look forward to reading your papers! :)
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Jive's Pitch
Hello Scott,
In a city with few
places for the cultural mixing ideal of ideal of hip, does Jive's
Coffee serve that role for the Colorado Springs area?
Jive's is a local
place I heard about through the grapevine. It is a local coffee shop
with live music on the weekends and open mic nights on Wednesdays or
Thursdays depending on which location one chooses as their preferred
location; either the Old Colorado City location or the N. Nevada Ave.
location. They also display and occasionally sell art community
artists. As it is a coffee shop, it tends to serve as a place to
communicate and share ideas by it's nature. However, the live music
and community art push the shops into more of a hip location in my
opinion as they allow for the development of a sort of local hip.
Coffee shops are to the spreading of ideas as bars are to rowdy
shenanigans, which sort of means that coffee shops are the
introvert's bar.
However, it could be
questioned whether or not Jive's has lost some of it's hip status as
it no longer is a singular local place. Starbucks was once a hip
place, but seems to have lost that status as it has developed into an
international chain. Rather than the place were creative hipsters buy
coffee, it is now known as the place were rich White girls in Ugg
boots buy mocha frappachinos. However, Jive's hip status has another
reason to be debated. I have only been able to go to the Nevada
location but it seemed to act more as a study hall for UCCS students
than a hip meeting place. It's hip status is a matter of debate. It
would be an interesting topic to explore.
Would this work?
Regards,
Emily
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Rhetorical Tactics of Emerson
In Emerson's Divinity School Address, he makes good use of different rhetorical tools and his word choice as he addresses the graduates of the Divinity College of Cambridge in 1838. As he is addressing the graduate class, he takes more of a formal tone that suits the idea that they are passing on into the next stage of their lives. This address also seems to be written in a divine tone, and feels deep and true; particularly in the introductory paragraph.This tone goes in line with the public speaking of the time as pretty much all public speaking was through speeches or sermons, more the latter than the former. As his audience is a group of graduates who will presumably become pastors, it makes sense to give them their own sermon to mark their transition to learning from doing God's work, or what they perceive as moving on to perform their sacred duties.
Emerson also displays a skillful use of Kairos, or perfect timing. His address is speaking on how the role of the pastor or minister must change in society. This is before the Civil War, and many were pushing for social changes, as well as Emerson. Society wouldn't continue on with the constant struggles between the North and the South U.S. Change was going to happen at some point, and suggesting a change before everything falls into chaos generally goes over better than when everything has fallen apart.
Emerson also makes use of Ethos, or a persuasion based upon his character, as he is a known speaker and is a divinity school graduate. He is able to take on the tone of one who would normally give a sermon because that is what he learned to do throughout the equivalent of his college education. In this cause, he is using a situated discourse as his character was most likely known to his audience. In terms of Ethos, character is made by your position in society, moral habits, and reputation. Emerson was able to give a speech to those graduating from a divinity school because of his known Ethos. Unfortunately for those organizing the ceremony, it appears they were unaware of his change in beliefs.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Ethnopoeia
Now
a loving person is an individual who tries to make the lives of those
around them easier through their his or her efforts. A loving person
will not accost someone for a small mistake; such as: dropping a
glass, and shattering it on the floor. A loving person will
drive a U-haul two hours south to be diverted in circles by a car
show on the street their full-grown child's new home is located on
their day off. A loving person will rearrange their life
so their parent does not have to live in a nursing home. A loving
person will accept anyone into their life regardless of their gender,
race, sexual orientation, creed, appearance, or weight. A loving
person will make an effort to talk to their peer who always seems to
be alone. A loving person will give part of their lunch to their
friend who nothing to eat. A loving person will make sure their drunk
friend isn't left alone at a party. A loving person will continue to
support their financially struggling family member but will confront
them about their out of control spending habits. A loving person will
give their children what they need instead of what will make them
stop crying. A loving person will share their dessert with a friend
who said they didn't want anything. A loving person will babysit with
only one or two hours notice. A loving person will purchase Mary Kay
products to support their friend despite rarely using cosmetics. A
loving person will donate to the girl scouts when they don't wish to
purchase cookies. A loving person will repeatedly evaluate their
siblings homework despite having to babysit said kid.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Ethos
This
is what you shall do: Love those whose opinions stand opposed, hate
what has convinced you the others speak only lies, embrace the
moments you have now, put all distractions aside, connect without
removing yourself from humanity, embrace your flaws, proclaim your
attributes, reveal the raw nature of your soul, put off all falsehoods, stand when it
is easiest to stay down, remove refuse from your heart, admire the
natural most often ignored, dig up forgotten roots, amend old wounds,
unite all for the good of all, know the history of the oppressor and
the oppressed, gain wisdom from all, embrace the humanity of those around you, balance all facets of your life, do all with meaning, feel the weight lift from your muscles, bone, flesh, let the wind cut into the sharpness of your cheeks, and allow peace.
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