Saturday, March 15, 2008

I Am as Cool as I Have Ever Been

I was listening to the interview on NPR with Dan Kennedy about his days working in the record business. He tells a rueful tale of being a middle-aged guy who thinks he is still as cool as he was at 17.

This got me thinking: was I ever cool? Certainly not at 17, nor college, graduate school, early married life, making a career. Nope, nerd all the way. So now - as a professor who looks so much like a professor that I am on college billboards, a dad whose children gave him a bumper sticker reading "I [heart] embarrassing my teenage children in front of their friends," a fat guy pushing 50 who holds hands with his wife in public -- now I am as cool as I have ever been.

5 comments:

SPorcupine said...

Sorry, but you're wrong.

Your coffee engagement has gotten you mentioned in the Baku Sun and pictured on websites around the country.

You run a badminton club.

Your former students send you baby pictures and notes on how class readings help them make sense of their world.

Amazing as it may seem, you are substantially cooler than you were 30 years ago.

Anonymous said...

People worth knowing always get better with age.

Does sending your former prof your baby's photos make you cooler?

Gruntled said...

Having the courage to raise babies devotedly is cool in my book.

Mrs. Adkins said...

i liked this post, because it's so right. if i think i'm cool, what does it matter if anyone else does. it's all about perspective. and, from my perspective, you're pretty cool there yourself, Dr. W.

I wish I could see that billboard!

Anonymous said...

Quirkiness is the new cool. Embrace it.