Tag Archives: trips

Jewball

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Title: Jewball

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Tradition, Celebration
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

Ethan Isaacson lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, and is currently a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2018. He was born on January 5th, 1996, and is studying chemistry and physics. He went on freshman trips when he was an incoming freshman, was a trip leader his sophomore year, and was on Hanover Croo, known as HCroo, this past fall, so has seen many different aspects of the trips program.

Leigh Steinberg was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was born on April 19, 1996. She is a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2018 and is a history major and plans on going into consulting after graduation. She was a trip leader before her sophomore year of college and was on Hanover Croo, known as HCroo, this past fall.

Contextual Data:

Jewball is an event that takes place every year between all members who help run trips. It serves as a culminating celebration for successfully running a 3 week outdoor program without the help of any adults that 95%+ of freshman go on. It is meant as a way to relax, celebrate their last night together, and see friends who they have not seen in a couple weeks.

Item:

The night trips ends, anyone who worked on a Croo goes to the Lodj for a celebration. There is drinking, celebrating, dancing, and many trips-related activites. It is a great time way for Croo members to spend their last night together and see their friends on other Croos that they have not seen in a few weeks. The next morning, all Croos help to clean the Lodj, as they do not have time to clean it all, so they appreciate all the manpower possible. This has been going on for as long as they know.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

So, um Jewball is, it’s not always called that, but this year it was called Jewball, is the party after trips with all of the crews, so HCroo, Vox Croo, Lodj Croo, Grant Croo, Oak Hill Croo and Climbing Croo all come together and there is alcohol for the first time in three weeks and everyone is very tired and out of trips mode for the first time in 3 weeks, well kind of out of trips mode. And you like do dancing and stuff and night, we all sleep in the Lodj, and you all wake up, disassemble and clean the Lodj top to bottom. Yeah it is basically a big ploy to get all of the Croolings at the Lodj so that they can hold us hostage so that we clean it. Basically, like every other Croo has time to clean everything because of the way the trips timeline works. So we, with a week out, weren’t even sending trips, so welcoming them back after the Lodj is very, very low maintenance, so we were slowly cleaning up everything so by the last day of trips everything was done. But the Lodj sends trippees off and like 5 hours later has this party so they don’t have the manpower or time to clean everything. But it was really fun. A lot of trips songs, we did the dances again, the cleaning wasn’t fun. The directors of trips acknowledge every director of trips, so like the leaders of the croos and the logistic people behind the scenes, and so I don’t know it’s sorta like an in between of everyone wanting to spend their last night together but also seeing friends and people from other croos for the first time in a few weeks, so it’s an interesting balance between all of them.

Informant’s Comments:

They both talked very highly of the events at night, but hated doing the cleaning of the lodj the next day.

Collector’s Comments:

This seemed like a more secretive event, unlike most other things the croos do. I had never heard about it until very recently, and I do not think it is often disclosed to people.

Collector’s Name: Henry Senkfor

Tags/Keywords:

  • Trips, DOC, Celebration, Lodj

The Castle

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Title: The Castle

General Information about Item:

  • Material: Places
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: USA

Informant Data:

Ethan Isaacson lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, and is currently a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2018. He was born on January 5th, 1996, and is studying chemistry and physics. He went on freshman trips when he was an incoming freshman, was a trip leader his sophomore year, and was on Hanover Croo, known as HCroo, this past fall, so has seen many different aspects of the trips program.

Leigh Steinberg was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was born on April 19, 1996. She is a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2018 and is a history major and plans on going into consulting after graduation. She was a trip leader before her sophomore year of college and was on Hanover Croo, known as HCroo, this past fall.

Contextual Data:

The members of HCroo are thrown into the castle immediately, right when trips starts. It forces them to get close, breaks down any barriers, and they learn to live together very quickly.

Item:

Every year, all of HCroo sleeps in the basement of Mid Fay Hall, on 15 cots all crammed in one room that they call, “The Castle.” There is no personal space, everything is communal, and is as close quarters as it gets. It breaks down any barriers immediately, as they are all thrown into the room together and have to learn to live together.

Transcript of Informant Interview:

We call it “The Castle.” 15 cots in Mid Fay basement. Um so there is thin construction paper taped over the windows that makes the lighting in there all orange and weird. Which reminded us of our mood meter journals. And then there were streamers and posters all around. Very campy. We all had a chair for our closet and under bed space. It was very cramped. It was like camp cots, WWI style living. As close quarters as it gets.

It’s been like this as long as I know. But it’s fun. The barrier is broken down totally immediately. Like you walk in and you are sleeping in a room with like girls and guys, these 15 people I’ve never met. We’re sleeping here, waking up here, all of our clothes are thrown everywhere. We are sharing clothes. Like all of these things that make a group inherently close were all there.

Informant’s Comments:

It was extremely cramped and there was absolutely no personal space the entire time.

Collector’s Comments:

While they both spoke positively about this experience, it seemed like there was some tension they were not talking about. They dropped some hints about some issues that went on behind the scenes, but overall they liked the experience of The Castle.

Collector’s Name: Henry Senkfor

Tags/Keywords:

  • DOC, Trips, Sleeping, Castle

Flair/Dyed Hair

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Title: Flair/Dyed Hair

General Information about Item:

  • Material: Clothing
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: USA

Informant #1 Data:

Ethan Isaacson lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, and is currently a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2018. He was born on January 5th, 1996, and is studying chemistry and physics. He went on freshman trips when he was an incoming freshman, was a trip leader his sophomore year, and was on Hanover Croo, known as HCroo, this past fall, so has seen many different aspects of the trips program.

Leigh Steinberg was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was born on April 19, 1996. She is a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2018 and is a history major and plans on going into consulting after graduation. She was a trip leader before her sophomore year of college and was on Hanover Croo, known as HCroo, this past fall.

Informant #2 Data:

  • The informant is a Dartmouth ’18 male. He went on a first-year trip in September 2014 and was a member of Lodj Croo in September 2017.

Informant #3 Data:

  • The informant is a Dartmouth ’18 female. She went on a first-year trip in September 2014, was a member of Lodj Croo in September 2015, and served as one of the two Lodj Croo Captains in September 2017.

Informant #4 Data:

  • The informant is a Dartmouth ’18 female. She is active in the Native American Community on campus, SPCSA, and Sigma Delta. She is a Government and Native American Studies modified with Anthropology double major from Martha’s Vineyard. She went on cabin camping in September 2014, but never led a trip or was on a croo.

Contextual Data:

People are wearing flair and have dyed hair from the first moment freshman arrive on campus. Flair is also prevalent during many other times at Dartmouth, like weekend social events and club meetings. It is used as a sign of expression and individuality at Dartmouth.

Item:

All Croos are known for wearing a lot of flair during trips and also are known for dying their hair wild colors. They do so in order to try to teach the incoming freshman to have a good time and not worry about what other people think about them, as the Croos all look ridiculous but they do not care. It also serves a practical purpose, as it helps distinguish who the Croolings are versus who are trip leaders and trippees. This tradition has been going as long as they know.

Transcript of Informant #1 Interview:

So part of it is that we look crazier and more embarrassing than they ever could. There’s a line in the safety show that goes, “nobody cares about your clothing. Look at us we look like clowns.” And I think that’s partially true that it’s a cool approach that they can’t look more ridiculous. Um but also the craziness is an interesting part of trips culture and Dartmouth culture and it’s just the sense of them being inducted into this very insular and weird community that accepts them fairly unconditionally. And that the crazy colorful appearances are a physical manifestation of that.

I think it also has a practical application of really distinguishing us from trip leaders and trippees. It’s like a more fun neon staff shirt.

Informant #1’s Comments:

  • She sees flair as one of the integral parts of trips to make people feel more comfortable

Collector’s Comments:

  • Flair seems to be more common at Dartmouth than any other school I have heard about

Collector’s Name: Henry Senkfor

Transcript of Informant #2 Interview:

“Another thing Lodj croo does is that we dye our hair and wear flair at all times. No normal clothing, and many of us dye our hair a different color. I went blue. The reason we do that is so that the trippees don’t feel like the weirdest or most awkward person in the room. If we’re making a fool out of ourselves, it’s easier for them to feel confident in themselves.”

Informant #2’s Comments:

  • Informant sees flair as a fun part of trips.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Informant #2 has a large flair collection and kept his hair dyed for a long time.

Collector’s Name: Roshni Chandwani

Transcript of Informant #3 Interview:

“One of the biggest ones for croos and Dartmouth is flair, obviously. Everyday, we get into a new costume, and that’s definitely a really fun part of trips and makes the incoming class realize how important flair is to Dartmouth, and that will carry out throughout their time at Dartmouth beyond trips. One that’s important to croos would be dying your hair. Dying your hair is really important. The point of it is that you can be easily identified as a crooling, as opposed to a trip leader, so if something’s going and you’re not sure, you can find somebody with crazy hair and ask them questions. That, paired with the flair, helps croolings stand out from everyone else involved with trips as people who are a little more self-deprecating and willing to make fun of themselves, and that helps freshmen feel more comfortable as they come in. And even though they’re awkward and embarrassed, we’re all weird and awkward, so it’s fine.”

Informant #3’s Comments:

  • Informant noted that the purpose of flair is to make everyone feel comfortable in being wacky.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Informant #3 has a large flair collection that she still uses.

Collector’s Name: Roshni Chandwani

Transcript of Informant #4 Interview:

“Its funny cause you drive up and your parents are in the car, and they’re like why are these people wearing ridiculous outfits? And then so you move and they kind of just drop you off. Then when you get assigned to your trip leaders, they are also dressed in ridiculous outfits per usual. And, as a senior, the concept of flair is still going strong. Especially once you enter a Greek house and such.”

Informant #4’s Comments:

  • Informant has a large flair collection given to her by graduated members of her sorority. Today, as a senior she sees flair more within the personally relevant frame of its place at Dartmouth within Greek life and theme parties. She sees flair as a way for Dartmouth students to show their playful side.

Collector’s Comments:

  • It’s interesting how this aspect of DOC Trips folklore continues to be relevant to Dartmouth students throughout their time at the school, regardless of their subsequent participation (or not) in the trips program. In this case, the informant is not involved in trips after her own trip or even the outing club.

Collector’s Name: Clara Silvanic

Tags/Keywords:

Flair, Dyed hair, DOC, Trips, Clothing

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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Legend                                                                                                     Mark Widerschein

“Doc Benton” (Verbal)                                                                                            Hanover

5/07/2016

 

Informant Info: Mark Widerschein is from Cleveland, Ohio and is a student at Dartmouth College. He is a English major with a minor in environmental science in the class of 2017. Outside of the class room he is a lightweight rower for the Dartmouth Rowing Club and a member of Chi Gamma Epsilon.

Contextual Data:

Mark is a very active member in the Dartmouth Outing Club. He attended First-Year trips during the end of the summer of 2013 and led a trip during the end of the summer of 2015. Every DOC First-Year Trips, the students end their trip at the Moosilauke Lodge before college orientation. Since the 1920s/1930s, the first night at Moosilauke ends with the storytelling of the legend of Doc Benson. There are numerous contextual styles to the legend and the legend is passed down from generation to generation by members of the Lodge croo orally.

Type of Lore: Verbal, Legend, Urban Legend

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social Context: This video was taken in his room in Chi Gamma Epsilon in a relaxed setting and conducted in English.

 

Item: The Legend of Doc Benton- There is this kid who grew up in Warren. He was an extremely smart child and would hike over Mt. Moosilauke to go a different school and eventually to Germany for medical school. Doc Benson finished his studies and was very involved with studying the idea of eternal life. He returned to Warren and became the town doctor but a pandemic killed a significant portion of the town, including his wife and kids. Following he receded from the town and hide in his shack in the woods. He was rarely seen by the town and only returned for supplies when necessary and became the town ghost. He developed a reputation as a strange and mysterious old woodsman in the area.

One Halloween, a group of boys decided to visit Doc Benton’s house on a cold foggy night. They approached the house to find bright lights coming from all the windows and approached the window to barely see anything because of the dense fog. Doc Benton notices the boys and stares at the adventurous boys as they run back to town.

The following winter was a brutally cold with a terrible amount of snowfall. For no apparent reason, animals have been randomly dying throughout the town with a white scratch behind the ear and a red dot on its head. The town is freaked out by the brutal winter and odd number of animals dying with strange signs. Later in the winter, a schoolgirl named Mary is disappears in her back yard and her mother notices footprints leading into the woods which make it seem like she was dragged out by an adult. Her mother panics and rounds up the entire town to search for her. The town follows the footsteps which led to a boxed canyon at the top of Mt. Moosilauke. There would be nowhere for the kidnapper to go since there are steep cliffs at either side. However, they get to the end of the canyon and do not find Mary! But, they look up and see Doc Benton climbing up the cliff with Mary on her shoulder with incredible ease until he gets to the absolute top of the cliff and throws her off.

(At this point the lodge croo screams and all of the trippees are frightened!)

Mary is then found dead at the bottom of the cliff when a white scratch behind her ear and a red dot on her head.

There have been other stories throughout the years from caretakers at Moosilauke and other people in the area that claim they have seen Doc Benton wandering the woods and haunting local townspeople and hikers.

 

Collector’s Comments: This is probably the most well-known Dartmouth legend because every student on DOC First-Year Trips has heard the story. It was very interestsing to get some more background and context to the legend and the more recent account of Doc Benton.

Tags/Keywords: Doc Benton, trips, Moosilauke, legend, hiking