Bequest – Row2K shirt

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Title: Row2K shirt

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material, Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Grant McArtor ’19 is a 21-year-old caucasian male student from Spartenburg, South Carolina in the United States. He was originally born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He has been rowing light-weight crew for five years (since junior year of high school) and has rowed on Dartmouth’s D150 varsity team since his freshman year. He has recently left the team.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: As with any bequest, this item is traditionally passed down from graduating seniors to underclassmen on the rowing team who are deemed most fit to receive the object. This exchange happens annually in the spring after the competition season has come to a close. The event involves the whole team and requires presence for several hours, as each senior may give away several bequests, each with a description of the significance of the item and why it goes to the recipient underclassmen. During the process, teammates must wait until they either bequeath or are bequeathed an item. It is a spectacle for the team and is often humorous and emotional. Underclassmen express gratitude through words and little physical contact as to expedite the process. It has been compared to receiving a Christmas present.

Cultural Context: Bequests are handed down through a line of rowers throughout the years. This line is connected through a common trait (e.g., captainship, knowledge of statistics, heavy weight). The bequest links generations, creating team cohesiveness through history. The bequest indicates a unique importance and role in the team and generally shows that the recipient upholds the values of the team. Rowers wear bequests to exhibit that they are deserving of the honor bestowed upon them.

Item: This bequest is a white t-shirt with black lettering that says “Row2K.” Row2K is an online forum and news resource for rowers. It has results and statistics about rowing across the nation. This bequest is given to the athlete who knows the most about rowing statistics.

Associated file:

Informant’s Comments: This is his bequest.

Collector’s Comments: The receipt of the bequest resembles a rite of passage. Before the ceremony, the rower is a freshman member. He is then separated from his fellow freshmen as he is called up by the senior. During the transition phase, he receives the bequest and shows gratitude to the senior. He is then incorporated back into the team as a new version (labeled by the bequest) of his old self.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: D150, Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing, Bequests, shirt, Row2K

Bequest – No Weigh Day shirt

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Title: No Weigh Day shirt

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material, Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Grant McArtor ’19 is a 21-year-old caucasian male student from Spartenburg, South Carolina in the United States. He was originally born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He has been rowing light-weight crew for five years (since junior year of high school) and has rowed on Dartmouth’s D150 varsity team since his freshman year. He has recently left the team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: As with any bequest, this item is traditionally passed down from graduating seniors to underclassmen on the rowing team who are deemed most fit to receive the object. This exchange happens annually in the spring after the competition season has come to a close. The event involves the whole team and requires presence for several hours, as each senior may give away several bequests, each with a description of the significance of the item and why it goes to the recipient underclassmen. During the process, teammates must wait until they either bequeath or are bequeathed an item. It is a spectacle for the team and is often humorous and emotional. Underclassmen express gratitude through words and little physical contact as to expedite the process.

Cultural Context: Bequests are handed down through a line of rowers throughout the years. This line is connected through a common trait (e.g., captainship, knowledge of statistics, heavy weight). The bequest links generations, creating team cohesiveness through history. The bequest indicates a unique importance and role in the team and generally shows that the recipient upholds the values of the team. Rowers wear bequests to exhibit that they are deserving of the honor bestowed upon them.

Item: This bequest is a blue tank top with neon pink letters that say “No Weigh Day.” It is traditionally given to the heaviest freshman rower.

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

  • Image unavailable

Collector’s Comments: The receipt of the bequest resembles a rite of passage. Before the ceremony, the rower is a freshman member. He is then separated from his fellow freshmen as he is called up by the senior. During the transition phase, he receives the bequest and shows gratitude to the senior. He is then incorporated back into the team as a new version (labeled by the bequest) of his old self.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: D150, Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing, Bequests, shirt, No Weigh Day

Myth – Lone Pine

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Title: Lone Pine myth

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal Folklore
    • Subgenre: Myth
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Sam Lee ’18 is a 21-year-old male from Turlock, California. He has been rowing since joining light-weight crew in college as a walk-on.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This myth is told to freshmen by upperclassmen. It can be told by any number of upperclassmen to any number of freshmen at a time; there is no formal or specific location or time to tell it. Freshmen take the story seriously when first hearing it. They often realize later that the story makes no sense in reality.

Cultural Context: This myth ties rowing to Dartmouth culture by connecting Dartmouth’s symbol to their own sport. It incorporates freshmen into the school’s culture. It encourages team bonding and creates excitement for the sport.

Item: This item is a myth describing the origin of crew at Dartmouth. Using the prominent Dartmouth symbol of the Lone Pine, the story connects freshmen to their new home.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTjUjf41xBs&feature=youtu.be

Transcript of Associated File:

Once upon a time, Dartmouth was covered in trees, but as Dartmouth developed and people moved in, they they started to cut down all the trees until Dartmouth was basically a landscape.
But there was one tree and it was by – kind of by where the the statue of Robert Frost is –  there’s a tower there and it’s the one tree that stayed there as the tallest among all the trees. Because all the trees were starting to be cut down, this was like the one tree that was left. It was the Lone Pine. The people of the town of Hanover were really proud of this tree because it was like the one last pine tree that they had after people had cut down all the other ones. And this stood the test of time for like 50 years until one day during a particularly bad storm a lightning bolt came and struck the tree and split it in half, and a lot of people were confused about this, like “What are we gonna do about this? Like this is like our Lone Pine, this is our symbol and it’s now split in half. What should we do with it? Like we should just like cut it down and we should just burn it or something.” And the rowing team at the time realized that this was gonna happen and they decided that one night they were gonna before the town had a chance to cut down the tree they decided that they were going to go out with axes cut down the street and make a boat out of it. And that’s what they did.

Informant’s Comments: There might be more to the story. He has only heard it once before during his freshman year. It might change between people as they tell the story with variations, but he doesn’t know that for sure.

Collector’s Comments: This myth is an etiological myth, as it describes the origin of rowing at Dartmouth. It might be regarded as truth for a moment, but it is more of a sacred story than a story to be followed as actual truth.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: Light-weight rowing, crew, D150, myth, Lone Pine

Weight-cutting rituals

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Title: Weight-cutting rituals

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Will Allan ’18 is a 21-year-old white male from Southhampton, New York. He has two brothers, a mother, and a father. He has been rowing for eight years and has been rowing light-weight crew since being recruited for college.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: For many people, the need to cut weight to be eligible to row for light-weight crew begins in college. Older members of the team, captains, coaches, and alumni teach new members what strategies work and do not work, acting as a resource for the freshmen. Although weight-cutting is a solitary, individual process, there are many components of the ritual that involve others. For example, the team eats together at the dining hall, and upperclassmen guide freshmen through dietary choices in the space. Freshmen are encouraged to heed the advice “because the way they cut weight impacts the performance of the team.” Rituals such as restricting certain foods and liquids, sweating together, spitting, and urinating are all performed with the purpose of creating a qualified team for competition.

Cultural Context: Weight-cutting rituals are not only to qualify the team but also promote bonding through hardship among the teammates. Additionally, while no one (including the coaches) wants the athletes to damage their health and go below “normal weight,” the athletes often must do it in order to fit into the category of light-weight crew. The maximum weight limit of 150 lbs is thought to have been created to separate lighter men from heavier men, eliminating the advantage in the boat for lighter men. That standard has expanded to 165 lbs, although the name D150 references the original limit sticking with sport tradition. Weight-cutting might not have been as significant in the past, as people might have only maintained low weight rather than changed their weight.

Item: To be allowed to compete as a light-weight rower, athletes must prove that they are of a low maximum weight preceding a race by recording their weight at Weigh-In usually at 5PM on Fridays. There are many strategies for cutting weight, and they all depend on the person. If an athlete only needs to cut a little weight, he can simply have a light breakfast and restrict fluid intake. If an athlete needs to cut more, he might limit or eliminate sodium and carbohydrate intake three to four days preceding Weigh-In and flush out those chemicals by drinking lots of water. Constant urination and sweating are used to eliminate water from the body to lower weight. On the day of Weigh-In, an athlete might have light, calorie-rich foods.

Informant’s Comments:

  • Athletes have about three days of eating what they want before they have to start thinking about the next Weigh-In.
  • “As soon as you’re done [weighing in], the goal is to get back to your normal weight.” Athletes immediately eat and drink everything they couldn’t eat before and recover before the race.
  • The team glorifies heavy athletes to make them feel better about doing more work to cut weight, calling them “Thicc boiz.” They are viewed as heroic and impressive.

Collector’s Comments: It seems antithetical for the athletes to have to cut weight so drastically if they are only going to gain weight again before the race even happens. The goal of weight cutting is to satisfy an arbitrary standard (expressed by informant) set by a rowing organization in order to be qualified to race, but the weight doesn’t actually impact performance. Further, athletes are weakest when cutting weight, so they feel the need to gain weight again before the race.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: D150, Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing, weight-cutting, ritual

Post-practice chant

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Title: Post-practice chant

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal and Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: chant
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Will Kaufman ’20 is a 19-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Boulder, CO. He is the middle child between two sisters. He started rowing his freshman fall upon entering Dartmouth. As a walk-on rower, he came in knowing nothing about the sport.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The chant occurs at the end of each practice. It involves a huddle, hands in toward the center, one person leading the chant, the whole team responding, throwing up the hands, and breaking from the circle. Afterwards, teammates go to dinner together, take showers, or split up. The coaches are not involved in the chant.

Cultural Context: In the athletic team culture, everything is about the group, not the individual. The rowers are a cohesive group that spend a significant amount of time together in the effort of creating strong bonds and success in competition. This chant helps bring everyone together at the end of practice to show that they are part of one team with the same goals. Their effort is beyond one practice or one individual.

Item: This chant occurs at the end of each practice. In a huddle the teammates put their hands in toward the center, recite the chant, throw up their hands, and break up.

Associated media:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaI34nMCWuc

Transcript of Associated File: “Let’s get a ‘Green’ on 3! 1, 2, 3 GREEN!”

Informant’s Comments: The informant emphasized the regularity and importance of this chant: “It feels weird if practice ends and everyone leaves” without doing the chant. That never happens.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The chant is a formal indicator of the end of a routine time of bonding.
  • The informant noted that when first learning this chant, the walk-on rowers are separated from the rest of the team, learn the chant, and are incorporated with the rest, where the entire team can perform the chant together. In this way, the events centered around the first chant resemble elements of a rite of passage.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: D150, Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing, Chant, Customary, Verbal

Bequest – Pocock belt

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Title: Pocock belt

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material, Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: folk costume, traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Will Kaufman ’20 is a 19-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Boulder, CO. He is the middle child between two sisters. He started rowing his freshman fall upon entering Dartmouth. As a walk-on rower, he came in knowing nothing about the sport.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: As with any bequest, this item is traditionally passed down from graduating seniors to underclassmen on the rowing team who are deemed most fit to receive the object. This exchange happens annually in the spring after the competition season has come to a close. The event involves the whole team and requires presence for several hours, as each senior may give away several bequests, each with a description of the significance of the item and why it goes to the recipient underclassmen. During the process, teammates must wait until they either bequeath or are bequeathed an item. It is a spectacle for the team and is often humorous and emotional. Underclassmen express gratitude through words and little physical contact as to expedite the process. It has been compared to receiving a Christmas present. This specific bequest is passed down from walk-on rower to walk-on rower.

Cultural Context: Bequests are handed down through a line of rowers throughout the years. This line is connected through a common trait (e.g., captainship, knowledge of statistics, heavy weight). The bequest links generations, creating team cohesiveness through history. The bequest indicates a unique importance and role in the team and generally shows that the recipient upholds the values of the team. Rowers wear bequests to exhibit that they are deserving of the honor bestowed upon them.

Item: This bequest is the Pocock belt. It is a strap used to tie down boats now repurposed as a belt. Pocock is a rowing brand originally made by an Englishman working out of the University of Washington. This bequest is passed down from walk-on rower to walk-on rower. This bequest was given to the informant by Widerschein ’17. The belt is thought to have originally been taken from the Dartmouth boathouse. The bequest is worn during meetings and important events such as socials and an end of the year celebration.

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: Names on the belt are Widerschein ’17 and Kaufman ’20.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The receipt of the bequest resembles a rite of passage. Before the ceremony, the rower is a freshman member. He is then separated from his fellow freshmen as he is called up by the senior. During the transition phase, he receives the bequest and shows gratitude to the senior. He is then incorporated back into the team as a new version (labeled by the bequest) of his old self.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: D150, Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing, Bequests, Pocock

Jetboil

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Title: Jetboil

General Information about Item:

  • Material Lore
  • Informant: John T. Brady
  • Origin: United States
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: United States

Informant Data:

  • John T. Brady is Dartmouth student in the class of 2019. John is from the suburbs of Chicago, IL. He grew up north of the city in a nice suburban town which he described as very “bubbly.” John was part of a boy scout group growing up in the Chicago area. Every summer for about one week, John and his fellow boy scouts went backpacking. They backpacked all over the United States. His scout troop went to New Mexico, California, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and other places. One of his earliest backpacking trips was actually a section of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina and Tennessee. The trail started out of Hot Springs, NC. His early experience with the Appalachian Trail sparked an interest for John to conquer the entirety of it.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The Jetboil is a piece of cooking equipment that is used by almost every hiker on the Appalachian Trail. It can cook water in less than two minutes which is very important for hikers that need a quick, hot meal after a long day of hiking. This piece of material folklore is used by nearly every hiker and could be considered essential. Hikers pass down suggestions and tips to people starting to hike the trail. One of these suggestions surrounds items like the Jetboil which makes cooking along the trail easier.
  • Cultural Context: This type of cooking equipment is common among all hikers around the world. The Jetboil is not simply used in the United States but is most commonly seen amonglong-distancee backpackers that need a reliable source of heat to cook food.
  • Overall Context: John Brady’s early experience hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail encouraged him to later attempt to complete the whole thing. With his boy scout troop, he hiked a 40-mile section of the Appalachian Trail (AT), but he knew that the trail consisted of over 2,000 miles. He said that he saw some “weird looking Hippie dudes” as he described them, and thought that he may want to hike the entire trail between high school and college. John said that people are on the Appalachian Trail because they are in between things in life. “You are either in between school, love, or jobs,” John said. For him, he was in between graduating from high school and starting his new life at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH. John hiked the Appalachian Trail from March 5th until July 29th. Starting on March 5th was early in the season, but not too early where it would be uncomfortably cold. He also started early to avoid the large crowds that start the AT between mid-March and mid-April. It took John 149 days, or just under five months, to complete the AT. John’s preparation consisted of “googling” and asking knowledgeable backpackers about how they prepared for the trail. John did not spend a lot of time physically training for the journey but instead made sure he had a good plan of attack for the first month of the trail, which is most important according to him. Some people try to get ahead and complete many miles quickly but end up hurting themselves. John made sure that he set a pace that would allow him the most success. John starting hiking the AT with a lifelong friend of his that was also in his boy scout group. His friend was from the same hometown in Chicago, IL. His friend hiked for about three or four days before he got sick with a stomach illness and had to stop hiking. He hiked with many different groups of people going Northbound. The most prominent person that John hiked with was a man with the trail name “Werewolf.” Werewolf was from Tennessee. He was a grocery store manager and recently divorced from a long time wife. John and Werewolf got along very well given that Werewolf was around 40 years old. He also hiked with a mechanic named “Macgyver” from one of the southern states. He also hiked with two brothers named “Link” and oddly enough “Folklore.” the brothers were twins and were known on the trail as the “Arkansas twins.”

Item:

  • Jetboil (cooking)
    • The Jetboil is a lightweight portable stove. It is easily packable which is important for long-distance backpackers. The Jetboil can boil water in just over two minutes and is used by many long-distance backpackers.

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

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I used a Jetboil minimo while I was hiking the Appalachian Trail. It uses isobutane or some sort of canister fuel. They call it the ‘minimo’ because it is fatter and shorter than the original Jetboil, which was too tall to cook things in. It is the stove I used for pretty much everything. I was one of the few people who consistently had hot breakfasts and I attribute that to me using a Jetboil. It made boiling a half of cup of water for oatmeal and hot chocolate very easy. One of the problems with the Jetboil is if I was feeling a starch-heavy night I would cook ramen and put a thing of instant mash potatoes into it. And occasionally I would end up with too much food for the Jetboil. I would try to add water because the potatoes would be dry and the ramen would be hard. It was very easy to clean and made eating on the trail a whole lot easier.”

Collector’s Name: Colton French

Tags/Keywords:

  • Jetboil

Charles Emerson

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Verbal/Material Lore – Gravestone Epitaph
“Charles Emerson”

English

Charles Emerson
Cemetery Lane Graveyard – Hanover, New HampshireUnited States
November 1st, 2017

 

Informant Data

Charles Emerson was born in Norwich, Vermont on September 21st, 1799. He died in Hanover on January 16th, 1884. Given that he is buried next to several other Emerson’s (described above), it is likely that he was part of that same family. However, I could find no positive evidence of a familial bond.

 

Contextual Data

Emerson’s epitaph was taken from Proverbs 10:7, as written in the King James version of the Bible. Is is worth noting that most biblical epitaphs in Hanover are taken from the books of the prophets, Revelation, or Psalms, not from Proverbs. The reason this epitaph was selected is unknown.

 

Text

“The memory of the just is blessed.”

Edward Feist, 21
11 Crimson Oak Ct, Niskayuna, NY
Hinman Box 0459, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall of 2017

Roswell Shurtleff Emerson

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Verbal/Material Lore – Gravestone Epitaph
“Roswell Shurtleff Emerson”

English

Roswell Shurtleff Emerson
Cemetery Lane Graveyard – Hanover, New HampshireUnited States
November 1st, 2017

 

Informant Data

Roswell Shurtleff Emerson was born February 20th, 1846, and died February 13th, 1890. He was the son of the aforementioned Joseph and Anna Pope Emerson, and appears to be named after his grandfather, also Reverend Roswell Shurtleff.

 

Contextual Data

This epitaph does not appear to be taken from the Bible, but is definitely a religious statement. Who gave this epitaph to Emerson, and why, is unknown.

 

Text

“We will ever be mindful of His covenant.”

Edward Feist, 21
11 Crimson Oak Ct, Niskayuna, NY
Hinman Box 0459, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall of 2017

Bequest – Captain’s Henley jacket

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Title: Captain’s Henley jacket

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material, Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: folk costume, traditions
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Grant McArtor ’19 is a 21-year-old caucasian male student from Spartenburg, South Carolina in the United States. He was originally born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He has been rowing light-weight crew for five years (since junior year of high school) and has rowed on Dartmouth’s D150 varsity team since his freshman year.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: As with any bequest, this item is traditionally passed down from graduating seniors to underclassmen on the rowing team who are deemed most fit to receive the object. This exchange happens annually in the spring after the competition season has come to a close. The event involves the whole team and requires presence for several hours, as each senior may give away several bequests, each with a description of the significance of the item and why it goes to the recipient underclassmen. During the process, teammates must wait until they either bequeath or are bequeathed an item. It is a spectacle for the team and is often humorous and emotional. Underclassmen express gratitude through words and little physical contact as to expedite the process. It has been compared to receiving a Christmas present. This bequest is passed down from current captain to future captain.

Cultural Context: Bequests are handed down through a line of rowers throughout the years. This line is connected through a common trait (e.g., captainship, knowledge of statistics, heavy weight). The bequest links generations, creating team cohesiveness through history. The bequest indicates a unique importance and role in the team and generally shows that the recipient upholds the values of the team. Rowers wear bequests to exhibit that they are deserving of the honor bestowed upon them.

Item: This bequest is the Captain’s Henley jacket. It is green with white trim and has a D150 patch on the breast pocket. It is from the Henley Royal Regatta, a rowing event held annually on the River Thames in England. The jacket is a high honor on the team, only given to the rising captain of the next year.

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: He expressed that bequests are not limited to clothing items, but clothing is a common way to exhibit membership to the team. He said that the Henley jacket is one of the highest honors in terms of bequests.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The informant recently left the team.
  • The receipt of this bequest in particular resembles the marking or transfiguration of the hero in Propp’s list of fairy tale functions.
  • The receipt of the bequest resembles a rite of passage. Before the ceremony, the rower is a freshman member. He is then separated from his fellow freshmen as he is called up by the senior. During the transition phase, he receives the bequest and shows gratitude to the senior. He is then incorporated back into the team as a new version (labeled by the bequest) of his old self.

Collector’s Name: Sam Gochman

Tags/Keywords: D150, Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing, Bequests, Henley