by Keli Campbell
Published Spring 2001

It’s a casualty. A death of open-minds. Or perhaps it’s a key into a world of belonging and acceptance.

Or maybe it’s simply the razor that disconnects us from the obvious or the fiber that connects us to the inferred. Every day, the Cool casts people aside while glorifying others, but what is cool?

Of course, I can tell you what I think is Cool, and it would be an honest attempt to define the indefinite.

Or, I can tell you that cool is a word made popular in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s by such visionaries like beatniks Jack Kerouac and Dean Moriarty.

But my epiphanies on the Cool define only my reality and my implications. Ultimately, the Cool individually defines itself in each person. Pepperdine, as a community, has a sort of Cool that permeates through the crowds, but no one really knows who belongs to it … or if it’s even Cool at all.

“Cool is confident, classy and aware. It is an inner attitude that must be complimented with a lifestyle led by a balance of passion and reason,” said Marissa Knies, a senior and aspiring fashion mogul. 

Knies currently works for Donna Karan New York as an intern and said she enjoys the atmosphere of the industry. Karan is famous, (in my mind … and a few others I’m sure), for her daring style and uncanny ability to charm. Knies, originally from the Seattle area, might as well be a Hollywood starlet. She respects well-thought-out attire and the finer things in life, and maintains a vast capacity for culture.

Knies draws inspiration for Zen Cool from the artists of the world. She said she respects artists, particularly fashion designers who embody all that’s Cool.

“Coco Chanel was the coolest lady - so feminine and classy, but such a French diva,” Knies said. “She lived only in hotels, formulated to-die-for perfumes and dresses … and wore pearls. How cool is that?”

Compared to Coco’s idea of cool, Knies said Pep Cool might not hit the mark.

"Convocation could be illustrative of a seasonless fashion show at Pepperdine,” she said. “Everyone dresses the same, and to our school that is what’s accepted and safe, setting the standard for what’s cool.”

Aaron Hough agrees with Knies on the Pep Cloning Factory Theory.

“The Pepperdine idea of cool is pretending to be what’s expected,” he said. “Attempting to be cool, attempting to be different by wearing a different style of Abercrombie and Fitch shirt - there are other stores in the world.”

Hough is a senior business major and played on the baseball team. His hair color varies from jet black, to fuchsia, to blue, to … what’s the rest of the color spectrum? You get the idea; he’s coloring outside the lines.

“Cool is defined as a comfort that comes from one’s soul, feelings and virtues,” Hough explained.

This year, Hough and his girlfriend Rebekah got engaged, and he defines her as a perfect example of someone who’s solved the mystery of what is Cool.

He describes her demeanor as impeccable and secure, and said he respects her for her ability to redefine cool in concurrence with all the ups and downs her life presents her.

To some of us, (that means me), Marilyn Manson is scary, disturbed and twisted … but I suppose that’s the purpose of the Cool: to redefine opinions.

Hough said Marilyn Manson exemplifies Cool.

“He expresses his mind and does not follow the footsteps that have been laid down before him,” he said.

Hough’s taste in music reflects his ideas. He prefers The Cure, for their true art and perseverance. He maintains their music comes from the heart, and anything from inside has the potential to create Cool.

“We can create our own reality and in the reality we can reinvent our own definitions of cool,” he said. “Like Willy Wonka said, ‘We are the music-makers and we are the dreamers of a dream.’”

As for Dane Springer, a senior business major from Kona, Hawaii, Cool is simply … simplicity. Springer said that he values people who are not caught up in material things and take the time to respect people and nature.

Books like Daniel Quinn’s “Ishmael” and John Dewey’s “Experience in Nature” have influenced Springer’s perspective, he said.

He also said he respects those authors for emphasizing respect for people and the environment.

“People are detached from nature,” he explained. “Society raises people to watch T.V.”

Springer grew up in the surfing culture of Hawaii. In Kona, he said, people are open and friendly and do not concentrate on what they look like. Cool just happens. It’s not something you worry about. Springer said his family and the attitudes in Kona shaped his ideas of cool.

“The idea of cool at Pepperdine is demented and warped,” Springer said.

“It’s all about Hollywood and fashion and people trying to dress all Guido (Guido: Italian-like, Armani, etc.). It’s very materialistic.”

Springer said he doesn’t blame everyone for their misconception of Cool because society, especially at Pepperdine, has trained them to be that way, and people don’t know any better.

“It’s hard to just do your own thing, but that’s what I think is cool,” he said. “Someone who’s comfortable with themselves, is mellow with the environment they put themselves in, and does their own thing regardless of what other people do or say is cool.”

Julia Steen also narrowed the concept down to one word as well: clarity. Naturally, I asked her where such a profound thought came from.

“My mom suggested it, and I think she’s cool, so I agreed!” Steen replied.

Steen, a senior telecommunications major from Santa Cruz, is a dancer, runner, planner and all-around determination machine.

She currently works as an intern at both MTV Networks and on the set of NBC’s “Friends.”

In her spare time she works, this time for money, as a personal assistant to a producer. It’s no wonder she defines cool this way.

“It’s finding those moments in life when you can step back and observe what’s going on with a clear mind,” Steen explained.

“It’s cool because it gives you a different perspective than when you’re involved in something.”

Steen added it’s important to be clear in love, in friendship and in any endeavor people choose to pursue.

“It’s those raw moments in life when you see things for what they really are, instead of how you feel about them, or how you see them when you’re caught up emotionally that define cool.”

Steen attributes her outlook, like Springer, to her birthplace, Santa Cruz, on the Cali coast.

She said she finds clarity at the beach.

“The ocean is so huge and empowering, that it overwhelms me to a state of silence,” she said.

“It’s one of the few times that I’m ever quiet … and clarity takes a little quiet.”

Mainly, Steen said, it’s cool to be objective and aware of life and its variances. She sees the idea of cool at Pep to be belonging to one group, or being defined as part of that group.

“I think it’s cool to belong to a group, or many groups, but it’s truly cool when you can have an open mind and appreciate all of the different factions.”

So the Cool traveled through four lives and yet, I still find myself lost … but definitely closer to the truth than when I first started.

Every aspect of the Cool reflects one main idea: individuality.

The Cool represents the differences and whether we choose to respect them or not is a blank box we can choose to check or not to check. So what now?

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