Monthly Archives: May 2016

Pong

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jeremy-and-peter-at-the-dartmouth-college-beer-pong-tournament-in-season-three-of-the-mindy-project

Informant Information: Duncan Robinson is from Houston, Texas and a member of the Class of 2016 at Dartmouth College.  He is a member of the baseball team and Beta Alpha Omega.

Joe Purritano is a member of the Class of 2016 from New Jersey.  He is also a member of the baseball team. Joe has been single for one year at Dartmouth and had a long-distance relationship for three years here.

Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore (Game), Dance

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: Pong is one of the most important games to the Dartmouth dating life.  Pong provides an opportunity for a first date and is also a great socialization game.  This allows for a couple to break the ice without the formality of a traditional dinner date. 

Associated File:

 

Transcript:(Duncan: 1st video) “You said a lot of time guys and girls meet in basements, I assume you mean like fraternity or sorority basements. Are there games or how do they engage with one another?”

“Pong, pong date is always a classic. You play your date, play pong with her or him and hopefully that leads somewhere even better.”

(Joe: 2nd video) “I would say that pong seems to be a great date night here. Really not a whole lot to do on campus outside of fraternities. So I think people save the actually dinner date for the later steps and get right to it with pong, a pong game.”

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Collector’s Comments: The majority of our informants claimed that a game of pong was a great tool to break the ice with girls. Pong was always the first thing mentioned when asked about how people meet at Dartmouth.  It is also customary for partners (dates) to incorporate handshakes or dances after hitting a cup to make the event more intimate (see pong dance/handshake video).

Dartmouth Decade

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Informant Information: Anonymous female member of the Class of 2017 from Houston, Texas.  She is also a member of Alpha Phi sorority. She is currently single.

Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore (Customs)

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: Dartmouth’s proud and dedicated alumni base is evident when you see hundreds of graduated students flock to campus for reunions or party weekends. These alumni often continue to interact with current students, especially the first few years following their graduation. This interaction makes it possible to have a romantic encounter with an entire decade of Dartmouth students. The Dartmouth Decade has become one of the most well-known challenges on campus. Although this challenge is very difficult to complete, each informant seemed to have a friend or know somebody who is either very close to completing this challenge or who have successfully done it.

Associated File:

Transcript: “Another one is the Dartmouth Decade. Which is to hook up with someone from each year within a decade. It doesn’t have to be five years ahead of you and five years behind you, it just has to be the whole decade. I have a couple of friends who are ending with ‘19s but started with 09’s.”

“Really?”

“Yeah it just has to be ten years. I know a couple people who have one or two gaps left in their decade, and it’s usually achieved via reunions or when people come back to visit during big weekends.”

Collector’s Comments: This challenge includes a very wide age range, so it seems that the only people with a chance to complete the Dartmouth Decade are alumni who are still extremely connected to Dartmouth immediately following graduation. This ritual is well rooted in Dartmouth culture and continues to illustrate the hookup culture generated by this campus.

Say “No” to the Charms

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Title: Say “No” to the Charms

Informant info: Informant name is Jason Laackmann. Jason is twenty-eight years old and attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Jason served in the Army for five years in active duty and continues to serve in the Minnesota National Guard. The locations in which he has served are Fort Bend, Georgia, Fort Riley, Kansas, and overseas in Eastern Afghanistan.

Type of lore: Customary Folklore, Superstition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. He was asked to talk about any superstitions he may recall during his time in the army. Informant did not state how he obtained the meals regarding this superstition, but focuses more on the content of the meal rather than the way in which he received them.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (start at 2:38)

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Um, so one of the things that you do is, uh, when you’re in the woods, if you get a piece of candy called a charm, you, you throw it away immediately, you never open it. Because that’s you know, gonna bring rain and you never want to train when it’s raining. It’s, it’s a terrible feeling, ‘cause you don’t want to be cold and you don’t want to be wet, and you definitely don’t want to have a combination of the two.

Informant’s comments: Jason stated that it seems funny when you hear about it for the first time or when you don’t know much about it, but to them it’s something they take seriously, especially since these charms are considered to bring bad luck rather than good.

Collector’s comments: Jason chuckled when telling the story, but I could also sense how feared the charms were during his time in the Army.

Bootcamp and Training

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Title: Bootcamp and Training

Informant info: Informant name is Jason Laackmann. Jason is twenty-eight years old and attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Jason served in the Army for five years in active duty and continues to serve in the Minnesota National Guard. Jason also served as a paratrooper and attended and graduated flight school. The locations in which he has served are Fort Bend, Georgia, Fort Riley, Kansas, and overseas in Eastern Afghanistan.

Type of lore: Customary Folklore

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. He was asked to talk about his boot camp/training experience during his time in the military. Due to his serving in various locations over the past couple of years, Jason didn’t go into much detail, but rather gave a general summary of what his bootcamp/training experience was like.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (start at 0:45)

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: The training experience was… was pretty simple, pretty cut and dry. It was sixteen-week officer basic course for infantry. Uh, it centered around tactics, um, platoon and squad level operations and then how to write orders, um, and then how to plan those operations. Um, I did eight of the sixteen weeks where we’re out in the woods actually training where the other ones were just either refitting, uh, resetting your gear and doing, like homework assignments. Um, the officer basic course is much different than the original, uh, basic training of boot camp that enlisted soldiers go through. Um, but I did do a, uh, a basic training as well at Fort Knox, Kentucky where the drill Sergeants come after you, attack you for no reason, verbally. And uh, build the core which they desire.

Informant’s comments: Jason stated that he vividly remembered being yelled at by his drill sergeants. He commented that at the time it was a bit intimidating but the yelling had the purpose of molding them to be strong soldiers.

Collector’s comments: The informant was straight to the point when recalling his experience, but smiled when he remembered being yelled at by his drill sergeants.

Keeper of the Wings

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Title: Keeper of the Wings

Informant info: Informant name is Jason Laackmann. Jason is twenty-eight years old and attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Jason served in the Army for five years in active duty and continues to serve in the Minnesota National Guard. The locations in which he has served are Fort Bend, Georgia, Fort Riley, Kansas, and overseas in Eastern Afghanistan.

Type of lore: Customary Folklore, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Jason was interviewed at Dartmouth College. He was asked to talk about any traditions he could recall during his time in the Army. The informant discussed a tradition for the youngest members at airborne school.

Associated File: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KcnEdk7Q4 (start at 3:58)

Transcript:  [I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: Um, yeah, at airborne school they also have this thing called the “keeper of the wings”, where they give the, the badge to the youngest person in the, in the class. And it’s their job to maintain it and keep it with them throughout the whole three-week training. And at the end, they’re the first ones who get their wings pinned on them, and I think to this day, the youngest person has never failed the course. Uh, which is pretty cool.

Informant’s comments:  Jason commented that this particular tradition has a lot of value to the point that no member to be a part of the tradition has broken it. He has a lot of pride in this fact and believes it to be one of his most memorable traditions.

Collector’s comments: Jason is big on tradition and this idea of passing down a meaningful item to the younger members who come after the older.

First Year DOC Trip Raid

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Title: First Year DOC Trip Raid

Informant info: SuHyeon Kim is a ’19 currently enrolled at Dartmouth College. She is from Daegu, Republic of Korea, and is hoping to do a double major in Government and Economics. She is currently the chair of BSLS (Big Sister, Little Sister) and works for the McLaughlin snack bar.

Type of lore: Customary, Prank

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. The informant was asked to retell any rituals she knew associated with any aspect of the Dartmouth Outing Club.

As an international student from Daegu, Republic of Korea, coming to Dartmouth was SuHyeon’s first time coming to the United States. Although she is proficient in the English language, SuHyeon is not used to the American culture that coming to college came to her as a big transition. In the process of the transition, she participated in the Dartmouth Outing Club trip, the Organic Farming section. During her trip, she heard from her trip leader various folklore related to the Dartmouth Outing Club trips, including this raid prank.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)

Item: When we were having lunch on our second day, I heard this story from my trip leader. Our trip leader told us that when she was having her trip, she and her tripmates were hiking to their campsite. They were heading to the cabin camping section and while they were walking, they walked by a random topless hiker with a huge beard. The trip leader, when the hiker passed by, told the tripees that there were violent hippies that lived in the mountains nearby and that they attacked and robbed many innocent hikers. They were walking and walking when they finally arrived near their cabin and the campsite. They found that one of their other trip leader was tied to the tree, injured, screaming “Run, run away!” And two other mysterious looking people came out of the forest, threatening and chasing the tripees. So the tripees ran away for their lives. And later they found out that this was a joke prepared by the trip leaders. But the thing was that one of the tripees was a varsity marathon runner and that he ran too deep into the forest that the trip leaders had a very hard time finding him. From then, this joke was banned from the trips.

Informant’s comments: 

Sadly, she did not experience a prank as such during her own DOC trip but heard from her friends who were tricked into similar pranks.

Collector’s comments:

Tags/Keywords: prank, raid, Dartmouth Outing Club, trips

Doc Benton Legend

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Title: Doc Benton Legend

Informant info: SuHyeon Kim is a ’19 currently enrolled at Dartmouth College. She is from Daegu, Republic of Korea, and is hoping to do a double major in Government and Economics. She is currently the chair of BSLS (Big Sister, Little Sister) and works for the McLaughlin snack bar.

Type of lore: Verbal, Tradition, Legend

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. The informant was asked to retell any Dartmouth Outing Club rituals she knew.

As an international student from Daegu, Republic of Korea, coming to Dartmouth was SuHyeon’s first time coming to the United States. Although she is proficient in the English language, SuHyeon is not used to the American culture that coming to college came to her as a big transition. In the process of the transition, she participated in the Dartmouth Outing Club trip, the Organic Farming section. Although she could not recall other rituals associated with the DOC, she could clearly remember the Doc Benton legend. She heard of the legend with all the other tripees on her last day of the first year DOC trip at the Lodj from a trip leader, whom she does not know the name of.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Item:

This is a story annually told to first year DOC trip tripees on the last day night of their trips. Everyone is gathered in front of the Lodj to be told a story about Doc Benton, who is a doctor gone wrong, rumored to murder people. This folklore’s biggest feature is that it has nearly never have been documented nor written down. The only time it was written down was for a scholarly journal, according to the Dartmouth Outing Club Wiki. Another feature is that at the end of the story, the trip leaders surprise and scare the tripees by screaming at the climax.

Informant’s comments: SuHyeon stated that as she is recalling the general plot of the legend, she is not sure about the details of the plot.

Collector’s comments:

Tags/Keywords:  Benton, Dartmouth Outing Club, legend, scary story, prank

Music as Communication in the Classroom: “Days of the Week”

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“Days of the Week”

Informant information:

Lauren Grant is a 20 year old woman from Andover Massachusetts. She attends school at Quinnipiac University in an occupational therapy program. She has worked at the Recreational Education Center, an after school and summer care program for children with special needs, for the past four years. She has sent some examples of songs that the teachers use to engage with the students during “circle time”.

Type of lore: Verbal

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context:

At the Recreational Education Center in Peabody, Massachusetts, an after-school and summer care program for children with special needs, the following songs are sung by teachers of children with special needs in order to engage with the students. The students sing these songs along with the teachers. They are sung during “circle time”, which is an activity in which the the entire day center joins together, and all of the kids and teachers do an activity together instead of working one-on-one. It is a period for learning and socializing.

Transcript: 

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week *clap clap*

There’s Sunday and there’s Monday,

There’s Tuesday and there’s Wednesday,

There’s Thursday and there’s Friday,

And then there’s Saturday!

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week *clap clap*

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week *clap clap*

Informant’s comments:

This song is sung to the tune of the “Addams Family” theme song.

Collector’s comments:

We categorized this piece of folklore under verbal lore because it is sung. This song is authorless, it also contains repetition and rhyme for easy memorization. This song is specific to this center for children with special needs. Such a simple concept as the names and sequences of the days of the week can be difficult for these children to grasp, which is why the song was created. This song especially has clapping in it – this invokes interaction from the children and helps develop a communication channel between them and their teachers.

Tags/Keywords: Song, Music, Special needs

Pre-Meet Pasta

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1. Title: Pre-Meet Pasta Superstition
2.Informant info: Catherine (Katie) Harmon (19) has just completed her freshman year while swimming for the club team at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.  UMD does not have a varsity collegiate team so they receive some preferential treatment as far as facilities useage when compared to other club teams.  Katie has swum competitively in MD for most of her life starting on a local neighborhood summer team, then a small local club team, eventually a high school team, and now the UMD club team.
3. Customary: Superstition
4.Language: English
5.Country of Origin: MD, USA
6.Social / Cultural Context: When something works well, swimmers have a tendancy to do it everytime to preserve their chance of success (going a best time).  In this case, the UMD club team beleives that if they don’t eat the same dinner the night before every meet, and the same breakfast before every meet, then they will not perform well.
7.No Audio, transcribed Skype interview
8.Transcript: team dinner the night before every meal, always pasta either home cooked or restaurant.  They then have bagels in the morning of before every meet.
9.Informant’s comments: It is Katie’s beleif that if they don’t have this meal before a meet then they will not perform well
10.Collector’s comments: This is similar to my own club experience and from what I know about other informants as well.
11. Tags/Keywords: superstition, meal

Club Team “Fight Song”

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1. Title: Maryland Club Team “Fight Song”
2. Informant: Catherine (Katie) Harmon (19) has just completed her freshman year while swimming for the club team at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.  UMD does not have a varsity collegiate team so they receive some preferential treatment as far as facilities useage when compared to other club teams.  Katie has swum competitively in MD for most of her life starting on a local neighborhood summer team, then a small local club team, eventually a high school team, and now the UMD club team.
3. Customary: Ritual
4. Language: English
5. Country of Origin: United States
6. Social / Cultural Context: Katie stated that every team at UMD does the same fight song to emphasize unity among the athletic teams at UMD.  Usually club teams do not have to participate in this tradition but since there is no varsity swim team, their team is encouraged to do so.
7. No audio, transcribed Skype interview.
8. Transcript:
“Maryland, we’re all behind you
Raise high the black and gold
for there is nothing half so glorious
as to see our team victorious
we’ve got the team boys
we’ve got the steam boys
so keep on fighting don’t give in
M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D maryland will win!
(and then three rounds of GO MARYLAND! with fake drum noises)”
9. Informant’s comments: Every varsity team and Katie’s club team perform this distinctive fight song
10. Collector’s comments: I have seen the Maryland football team perform this fight song when watching games on TV.
11. Tags/Keywords: Pre-Meet, Ritual, Fight Song