Notes on Cool

13. Cool people may sweat, but they do not show it. Cool may involve high levels of artifice -- heavy makeup, hard-to-find clothing, carefully planned hair -- but it's unseemly to be seen pursuing coolness too vigorously. Desperation is never the hip new emotion.

Confidence is always cool -- confidence in your clothes, in yourself, in your taste, in your friends. A few weeks ago, after work, a pack of Buffalo Exchangers went to hear rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson. Shawn wore his favorite H Bar C shirt, a vintage marvel of rhinestones and embroidery, and in a Polaroid taken that night, you can see Leslie snarling at him because he was running late. She looks terrifying -- dressed all in black, hair lacquered back, dark makeup ringing her eyes, a raccoon turned predator -- but it's a play snarl, a winking snarl, a snarl between friends.

Deron Neblett

Arbiters of cool: Melissa Cantu (seated on floor) and (from left) Treasure Hance, Shawn Stevenson, Leslie LeCroy and Rain Ferguson.

Deron Neblett

Today's fashion: Shawn and Leslie don't worry about what hip people will want six months from now.

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In the picture, Shawn is smiling. Everything is cool.

E-mail Lisa Gray at lisagray@alumni.rice.edu.