cool

I'm reading scholars talk about "cool" in the young black man's code of the street. And I'm seeing it in the walk of young black men near Bradford Street. Some strike me as genuinely cool to the bone. Yesterday I was inspired to try walking cool. It is slower, more sensual, very alert, yet casual, sexy, and ready to fight. I mostly relate to the sensuality of it. When you walk like that, life is so sweet, it is ok to die soon. You know you have walked cool, and that is enough.

But I do not plan to walk cool on Bradford Street. No, I plan to walk with prupose, quick and deliberate. I plan to walk like I am minding my own buisness. Not staring at others, but staying alert and watching my back. I am practicing ways of looking back. One is to cross the street, which requires looking back.

My plan is to stay out of fights. The problem with cool on Bradford is that it can get you in a fight. I'll be cool in the privacy of my own house, or in a nice save neighborhood, or in the woods.