Tag Archives: Dartmouth Light-Weight Rowing

Bequest – Hard-o Uni

Title: Hard-o  Uni

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material, Customary Folklore
    • Subgenre: folk-costumes, traditions
  • 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: 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 unitard that used to belong to an old light-weight rowing coach. It is the unitard that goes along with the Stabbing and PR legend where a member of the team got mugged one night and did not realize he was stabbed because his adrenaline was pumping until he got home and his roommate pointed it out. The next day he put on the unitard and went to practice without telling the coach about the incident and the wound opened up again, blooding the unitard. This unitard is passed down each year to someone that is very hardworking and goes to extreme lengths to do his best.

Associated Image: Not available to collector

Collector’s Name: Yeonjae Park

Tags/Keywords: unitard, bequest, D150, material folklore

Joke – Weighing Saying

Title: Weighing Saying

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal
    • Subgenre:   Joke
  • 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: Like any folk, the D150’s have a unique series of unifying experiences. One of these is racing against other school teams. This joke comes from constantly interacting and listening to the D150 coach. Since every member of the D150 team is at practice, they all come into contact with the same coach very frequently. As such, they have come up with a collective joke that mimics one of his common sayings.

Cultural Context: This joke comes from everyone on the D150 team constantly hearing the same advice over and over again. Because the coach is a constant figure that last for more than a couple years, he outlasts multiple generations of rowers and allows for this joke to continue. In addition, all the rowers in this folk group seem to understand the humor and therefore make it much more likely that the joke will continue on.

Item: This item is a verbal piece of folklore, specifically a joke. It relies on the fact that everyone interacts with the same person (the coach) on a very frequent basis. The coach’s long tenure as well as the constant mimicry by both new and experienced rowers allows for this joke to continue past generations.

Associated media:

Transcript (11:27 – 12:33):

WK: “So there’s one just with respect to weighing in. It’s, uh, ‘You can’t win a race on a scale but you sure as hell can lose one.’ Uh, that’s just something our coach says basically any time we could possibly step on the scale, um, with respect to racing.”

BC: “Right.”

WK: “… and it’s true. Um, because, we’re light-weight rowers and so there is some weight specification, and if we miss that then we can’t row, and it’s basically the idea that like, you should focus on weighing in effectively but that isn’t the race itself. It’s basically just like punching a ticket to be able to race.”

BC: “Right.”

WK: “So it’s just the first step in that process.”

BC: “So for a slogan like that, do you guys, like, say it to each other also or is it just like something that the coach says?”

WK: “It’s mostly the things that coach says, but then, just to kinda like, have some levity during the spring season, which is kinda hard to come by, a lot of times people will just repeat that line, um…”

BC: “Like a joke?”

WK: “Yeah, and I mean it’s true but it’s definitely a joke on the team. So people will say that just to kinda, I don’t know, mock the coach a bit but also to lighten up the mood.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This internal joke is interesting because it shows that not all folklore is dependent on serious topics like motivation or competition. In this case, this small joke is understood only by light-weight rowers and dependent on their collective interactions with their coach. New rowers who are incorporated, like in the three stages of liminality, learn to recognize this joke after they have spent some time with the team at practices, and it helps bridge the gap between first joining and really becoming a part of the team.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Joke – Fun V

Title: Fun V

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal
    • Subgenre:   Joke
  • 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: Like any folk, the D150’s have a unique series of unifying experiences. One of these is racing against other school teams. This joke nickname for the third varsity boat comes from other rowers noticing now much fun they’re having and consequently giving the name “Fun V”.

Cultural Context: This joke name is contextualized by the underlying competitiveness of racing against other schools’ teams. Because the third varsity boats don’t have to race against the most competitive boats, they can have more fun and be more “playful” as Will describes it – hence the nickname “Fun V”.

Item: This item is a verbal piece of folklore, specifically a joke. It relies on recognizing competitiveness in racing and comparing the first and second varsity boats to the less pressured third varsity boat. It is folklore because it is recognized and preserved by all the members of this folkgroup and is taught to new rowers when they join the team, like Will.

Associated media:

Transcript (10:36 – 11:03):

WK: “We have like a First Varsity boat, which is the 1V, 2V, and 3V. Um… and typically the 3V is also known as the Fun V, just because, like, there’s much less pressure to perform. Uh, and you’re not competing against the best boats at Princeton or Harvard, and so it’s a lot more relaxed, and typically the guys are much more playful and seem to have more fun on the water. So typically it’s like the 1V, 2V, and then the Fun V.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This internal joke is interesting because it shows that not all folklore is dependent on serious topics like motivation or competition. In this case, this small joke is understood only by light-weight rowers and taught to new rowers. New rowers who are incorporated, like in the three stages of liminality, learn to recognize this joke.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Ritual – Down the Line Fist Bump

Title: Down the Line Fist Bump

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary
    • Subgenre:   Ritual, Tradition
  • 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: Like most, race-day rituals, this Down the Line Fist Bump is primarily taught inside the boats. The rowers line up before readying up for the race, and before they begin competing, they send a fist bump from the stern to the bow (front to back), in order to motivate each rower and encourage them.

Cultural Context: Like most of the folklore of the D150 Team, this piece focuses on fostering team unity and bolstering motivation. It unites both new and experienced rowers who are in the same boat with the same sending of the fist bump continuously from front to back. In addition, it encourages newer rowers like Will, who may be nervous about their early competitions.

Item: This item is a customary piece of folklore that helps build team unity and motivates/encourages the rowers to try their best. It is customary because it is a single practiced ritual that happens every race in the same way that involves the same people in every boat. It is folklore because it is performed by all the members of this folkgroup in their respective boats and celebrates their commonalities (in this case, them being in the same boat).

Associated media:

 

Transcript (4:04 – 5:15):

WK: “When we’re all lined up ready to go, we typically just, like, start from stern to bow, um just send back a fist bump. So, uh, like, I don’t know, stroke will be uh just, turn around and fist bump seventh seat, and seventh seat fist bumps sixth seat and just send it down to bow. Just to kinda get everyone hyped up and ready to go… and uh I don’t know, just ‘hey, we’re all in this together, let’s go row.'”

BC: “So for something like that, right, like, when you first kinda encountered that, what was that like? Did you just kinda, sit down and did someone tell you, ‘hey, we’re gonna do this,’ or did you just know to do it instinctually?”

WK: “Uh… I mean, I knew to receive the fist bump instinctually, but uh… I forget who it was, probably… who was it…. it might have been Jason Auh, who was a ’17, or someone else. But, like I, uh, took the fist bump and was like, ‘Oh yeah, cool, ready to go,” but then he told me to send it back, and that kinda clicked in my head, ‘Oh, hey it’s a whole boat thing.’ So it’s just like everyone is like getting together and like focusing before the race starts.”

BC: “Right, right.”

WK: “So after the first time, it was pretty clear. Okay, fist bump forward, fist bump back.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Sending “The Fist Bump” is interesting to study because it as simple as it seems, it still provides motivation for each of the rowers, both inexperienced and experienced. This unifying gesture shows the usages/importance of folklore to folk groups, especially when it comes to differentiation of their groups v. others.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Alumni Legends – Josh Konieczny

Title: Legend of Josh Konieczny

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Oral
    • Subgenre:   Folk Narrative, Legend
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Another legend, similar to that of Ian Accomando, is that of Josh Konieczny, who was also a star rower for D150. The D150 Light-Weight Crew team revolves around competition, mainly in the form of races against other college teams. In addition, it is a highly demanding sport that requires near daily practices and continual weight-cutting and exercise. As such, many rowers rely on legends to remind them of past glory and to motivate them to continue with the sport. The legend of Josh Konieczny is told to rowers as they discuss past achievements and compete at races in order to provide motivation.

Cultural Context: Similarly, the legend of Josh Konieczny is passed down verbally from one generation to the next and is an effective way to create a sense of common knowledge and unity within the team. Every team member hears this legend and because the hero is someone that also was on D150, he is easy to relate to.

Item: This item is an oral piece of folklore that focuses on the passing down of a Folk Narrative, specifically a legend, that is suppose to help motivate rowers to live up to the glory of past rowers, and continue their legacy by devoting themselves to the sport. It is shared by every member of the D150 team and is retold whenever rowers need motivation.

Associated media:

Transcript (8:59 – 9:46):

BC: “In regarding the legends for example, right, who are some legends that, um, you guys talk about? Like what did they do and why are they important? And why do you guys keep talking about them?”

WS: “Um… it’s, I think, we all think it’s really important to remember the guys who came before us. Um, especially because a few years ago ten… five, ten, fifteen years ago, we were one of the best teams in the country…

BC: “Right.”

WS: “… and we had some amazing, great rowers on our team. So it’s important – we see it as important – to remember the past rowers who came before us to motivate us to work harder and to remember who were… you know we have this kind of… we have to uphold this legacy that they left us…”

BC: “Right, right.”

WS: “… and to remember them. So some guys that I can name are Josh Sans, Ian Accomando, um, Josh Konieczny…”

Transcript (10:07 – 10:31):

WS: “… Josh Konieczny was in the Olympic boat that came fifth at the last Olympics, um…”
BC: “Right.”
WS: “… and so having him on the world stage, and knowing that he was once in our shoes…
literally in our shoes, and uh…, we’re wearing his kit, um…, is… is really motivational and makes
you work harder. Like you can be this good if you work this hard.”
Collector’s Comments:

  • Similar to the legend of Ian Accomando, this Alumni Legend also claims to be historical and portrays an actual person or event. Josh Konieczny is a former Olympian who prominently won fifth at the last Olympics, so it’s easy to see this legend using his image and heightening it to build motivation in current rowers.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Alumni Legends – Ian Accomando

Title: Legend of Ian Accomando

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Oral
    • Subgenre:   Folk Narrative, Legend
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: The D150 Light-Weight Crew team revolves around competition, mainly in the form of races against other college teams. In addition, it is a highly demanding sport that requires near daily practices and continual weight-cutting and exercise. As such, many rowers rely on legends to remind them of past glory and to motivate them to continue with the sport. The legend of Ian Accomando is told to rowers as they discuss past achievements and compete at races in order to provide motivation.

Cultural Context: The legend of Ian Accomando is passed down verbally from one generation to the next and is an effective way to create a sense of common knowledge and unity within the team. Every team member hears this legend and because the hero is someone that also was on D150, he is easy to relate to.

Item: This item is an oral piece of folklore that focuses on the passing down of a Folk Narrative, specifically a legend, that is suppose to help motivate rowers to live up to the glory of past rowers, and continue their legacy by devoting themselves to the sport. It is shared by every member of the D150 team and is retold whenever rowers need motivation.

Associated media:

Transcript (8:59 – 10:06):

BC: “In regarding the legends for example, right, who are some legends that, um, you guys talk about? Like what did they do and why are they important? And why do you guys keep talking about them?”

WS: “Um… it’s, I think, we all think it’s really important to remember the guys who came before us. Um, especially because a few years ago ten… five, ten, fifteen years ago, we were one of the best teams in the country…

BC: “Right.”

WS: “… and we had some amazing, great rowers on our team. So it’s important – we see it as important – to remember the past rowers who came before us to motivate us to work harder and to remember who were… you know we have this kind of… we have to uphold this legacy that they left us…”

BC: “Right, right.”

WS: “… and to remember them. So some guys that I can name are Josh Sans, Ian Accomando, um, Josh Konieczny. And Ian Accomando is now a coach at Harvard and we see him now and then, but he was known to be just this amazing rower who would go and party hard, but he would show up regardless of how tired he was…”

BC: “Uh-huh.”

WS: “… or how busy he was…”

BC: “Right.”

WS: “… and he’d show up and be the best on the team and work harder than anyone else. So it’s showing that you can balance your life, and you can show up and work really hard.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • These Alumni Legends are interesting because much like the typical legends we see in Folk Narratives, they claim to be historical and are meant to portray an actual person or event. Ian Accomando is an actual person who was on the D150 team, and continues to see the team as a coach at Harvard, so it’s easy to see this legend using his image and heightening it to build motivation in current rowers.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Ritual – Sprints Night

Title: Sprints Night

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Races are incredibly competitive for lightweight rowing, mainly because the team competes directly with other college teams and because all the weekly practices/weight cutting is in preparation for these races. To relieve the pressure, and celebrate the completion of a season, rowers all join together to observe Sprints Night.

Cultural Context: Sprints Night is a regular ritual that occurs every year after the New England Championships to celebrate the ending of another successful season and to build team unity. It is observed by all members of D150 and is passed down from each generation to the next.

Item: This item is a customary piece of folklore that focuses on the passing down of a ritual that is suppose to help build team unity and celebrate the conclusion of another successful racing season. It is customary because it is a single practiced ritual that happens every year in the same way that involves many different people within the folk group. It is folklore because it is performed by all the members of this folkgroup and celebrates their commonalities.

Associated media:

Transcript (8:49 – 8:58):

WS: “We have a thing called Sprints Night which is after our New England Championships, where we have a sort of, like a big team party, get-together.”

BC: “And that also happens like every single year after the last championships…”

WS: “Every year, yeah.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Sprints Night is very similar to Freshmen Fun Night in that the sharing and passing down of this ritual focuses on all members of the folk group. All members of D150 crew participate in this ritual and it helps remind them of who they are and why they are similar to each other (celebrating the end of their common season). This also reinforces the ritual itself because a stronger more unified team is more likely to want to participate in these pan-folk group rituals and to preserve them.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Ritual – Freshmen Fun Night

Title: Freshmen Fun Night

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Races are incredibly competitive for lightweight rowing, mainly because the team competes directly with other college teams and because all the weekly practices/weight cutting is in preparation for these races. As such, to combat the pressure, rowers observe certain rituals outside of pure racing that build team unity and provide motivation to help them prepare for team cohesion during races. Freshmen Fun Night is an end-of-the-term ritual that takes place to initiate new rowers and incorporate them into the team.

Cultural Context: Freshmen Fun Night is a ritualistic ceremony that occurs every year and in the same way. It focuses on building team unity and reinforcing the commonalities between the rowers by not only initiating new rowers and incorporating them into the team formally, but also by identifying more experienced rowers who act as the ritual’s performers.

Item: This item is a customary piece of folklore that focuses on the passing down of a ritual that is suppose to help build team unity and ultimately bring later success at a race. It is customary because it is a single practiced ritual that happens every year in the same way that involves many different people within the folk group. It is folklore because it is performed by all the members of this folkgroup and celebrates their commonalities.

Associated media:

Transcript (8:00 – 8:48):

WS: “We have an event, uh, in the spring, between the Cornell, end of, right after, the Cornell race… between the Cornell race and the New England Championships where we have – it’s called Freshmen Fun Night…”

BC: “Right.”

WS: “… and it’s sort of a… initi… I’m gonna say initiation but not in the negative term. It’s a way for the freshmen to be initiated into the team – not through any means of harassment or any negative means but really a positive um…”

BC: “Like a ceremony.”

WS: “Yeah, a ceremony if you will, where the freshmen really become lightweight rowers…”

BC: “Right.”

WS: “… and that is very ritualistic and it’s done the same way every year. Um… and it involves talking about past rowers on the team and like past ‘legends’ on the team.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The sharing and passing down of this ritual is interesting because it focuses on all members of the folk group. All members of D150 crew participate in this ritual and it helps remind them of who they are and why they are similar to each other. This also reinforces the ritual itself because a stronger more unified team is more likely to want to participate in these pan-folk group rituals and to preserve them.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Ritual – Breaking it Down

Title: Breaking it Down

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Races are incredibly competitive for lightweight rowing, mainly because the team competes directly with other college teams and because all the weekly practices/weight cutting is in preparation for these races. As such, rowers observe certain rituals outside of pure racing that build team unity and provide motivation to help them prepare for team cohesion during races.

Cultural Context: The practice of “breaking it down” after practice is something that the D150 team does after every practice. It makes them feel like a single unit and builds motivation for the rest of the day/season.

Item: This item is a piece of customary folklore that focuses on the passing down of a ritual that is supposed to help bring later success at a race. It is customary because it is a single ritual that happens after every practice. It is folklore because it is performed by all the members of this folkgroup and celebrates their commonalities.

Associated media:

Transcript (7:02 – 7:33):

WS: “As a team, one ritual that we do that I forgot to mention is after every row we do something called “Breaking it Down”. We, um, we just start; its like a clap… a slow clap but it gets faster and faster and faster and we break it down, and it’s something that we do after every practice and it’s a team thing that we know we have to do.”

BC: “Is that mainly just to build team unity?”

WS: “Yeah, it’s… it’s a feeling of like coming together and it’s like completing the day… and uh everyone does it… and it’s motivational almost.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The sharing and passing down of this ritual is interesting because it focuses on all members of the folk group. All members of D150 crew participate in this ritual and it helps remind them of who they are and why they are similar to each other. This also reinforces the ritual itself because a stronger more unified team is more likely to want to participate in these pan-folk group rituals.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

Ritual – Testing the Emergency Light

Title: Testing the Emergency Light

General Information about Item:

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

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Races are incredibly competitive for lightweight rowing, mainly because the team competes directly with other college teams and because all the weekly practices/weight cutting is in preparation for these races. As such, rowers observe rituals before or after races to bring good luck.

Cultural Context: The practice of testing the emergency light after practice is something that Wyatt created that helps him feel ready and prepared for the day. After observing him, several younger rowers started copying his ritual to also bring good luck.

Item: This item is a piece of customary folklore that focuses on the passing down of a ritual that is suppose to help bring later success in a race. It is customary because it combines the ritual itself as well as the underlying superstition about bringing success.

Associated media:

Transcript (5:15 – 5:40):

WS: “After every practice I have a ritual that I do where there is this… like um… it’s like an emergency light that sits on the wall, and in case the power goes out the light will turn on, and it has a little red test button. And after every single practice, I press that test button and it flickers the light. And I don’t know, it’s just some weird thing I do, but I do it, and if I didn’t do it, it would be not a good day.”

Transcript (6:37 – 6:48):

WS: “Actually, some guys have started doing it [the emergency light testing] too since I’ve been doing it.”

BC: “Oh really?”

WS: “Yeah, and it’s not weird at all. Everyone has their own little quirks. Um, so now that I’ve started doing it, I’ve done it for around a year or so, some guys have started doing it too.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The sharing and passing down of this ritual is interesting because it shows that certain traditions or rituals can be individual in origin but diffused and shared among a certain folk over time. It is interesting also that we can study folklore genesis in modern settings like these because it allows us to consider overall folklore parallels like monogenesis v polygenesis ideas.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal