What happens when a literal Professor of Coolness begins to feel like he's losing his edge? ∆ Originally published as a hypertext story on Philome.la ∆ Updated with new images in March 2016. ∆ A Wattys 2016 visual story nominee.
Officially, JP Reyes taught an elective called Cultural Capital in Popular Media, but the kids who signed up for his class knew better. They called it Coolness Studies.
What else would you call a subject that discussed the aesthetic roots of kawaii and neo-Marxist readings of normcore fashion?
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Frankly, he was slightly baffled that the College of Letters approved it at all. He guessed that the Jesuits who run the university wanted to put up an image of academic laissez-faire, and his pet topic seemed quirky but inoffensive enough.
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A decade ago, it might have been appropriate to call him a Scholar of Coolness. At grad school in Melbourne, "reviewing related works" meant tracking down obscure French New Wave films on Kazaa. Back then, he could pass off going to a Belle and Sebastian show as field research.
Now the moniker just seemed ironic for a guy who spent most of his non-work hours toddler-proofing shelves full of accumulated vintage baubles, and looking up the relative health benefits of different infant formula brands.
But it wasn't even just the "Coolness" part that seemed off. It had been years since he last gave a public lecture (on video bloggers as Gramscian organic intellectuals) and even longer since he published anything noteworthy.
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(Those pro bono articles for PopMatters didn't count.)
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Granted, during the period in question, his wife Alex had been delivering almost the same talk about community-based permaculture farming in Nueva Vizcaya, at different conferences and TEDx type events around the "Global South".
At least it felt like her ideas were actually making a difference among decision-makers and thought leaders. JP was genuinely proud of her success, but it also made his professional credentials seem as relevant as a Kriss Kross Mini-Disc single.
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