Author Archives: Carolyn Bradley

Baseball Superstitions

Abstract:

This piece is about superstitions a baseball player had before games in high school.

Main Piece:

“S: One baseball superstition I had was when we were on a hot streak, I would play the same exact songs, in like a 20 or 30 minute ride, I would play the same exact songs. In the same order.

C: Did that get old?

S: No, it was getting me hype because I attached it to baseball.

C: Did the order change every year?

S: Yeah so, every season the songs would change. But during the season it was those songs. Once I got on the field, the songs would change because they would be different songs. I would let it fly.

C: So this was on the bus?

S: No, those would change too if we rode the bus. I would drive myself to games and when I was younger my parents would drive me. There is one song I remember, Kiwi by Maroon 5. If you would talk to my parents today, they would know that song and that I would scream Kiwi on the ride. So yeah, same songs. Another baseball superstition is to not step on the foul line. If you talk to any baseball player they will know that. No one really knows why, just don’t step on the foul line. Because then you’re going to lose. And there are certain things like during the playoffs if we were winning or I was doing really well, I would wear the same outfit.

C: Every game? Or every day?

S: Every game we’d play it’d be the same thing. And you don’t wash your uniforms during the playoffs if you’re doing well. I would even go so far as to wear the same outfit to school the next day.

C: To make sure the luck was there?

S: Yeah I was very a superstitious guy.”

Context:

The informant is a 20 year old from Bentonville Arkansas who has played baseball since he was 9 years old. He continues to play baseball for the USC Club Baseball team.

Analysis:

I think it makes a lot of sense to have superstitions and precautions when preparing for a game in any sport, but it seems like baseball has a lot that you wouldn’t realize unless you played it. I think it is important to have superstitions because they bond people together through this belief. If everyone has the same superstitions, then it becomes something people can be “checked” on too. It creates a team sense of identity and if you don’t follow or believe in the superstitions, it makes you “other.”

Streaking the Lawn at UVA

Abstract:

This piece is about a tradition at UVA (University of Virginia) about streaking the lawn at the Rotunda, a very specific building on the campus.

Main Piece:

“L: So I don’t know if this is a custom or tradition or just a rite of passage, but UVA students do this thing where they streak the lawn of the Rotunda which is part of Thomas Jefferson’s setup. And so how you do it, it’s actually really long. You have to take off your clothes on the steps of the Rotunda and then run all the way down to the other building where there is a statue of Thomas Jefferson. And you have to spin around 3 times and then say something and then you run back. And you’re completely naked. So I did it this winter, and you do it at night so you don’t get caught. But I feel like so many people do it now that you can’t get in trouble for it. Like what? You’re going to arrest one kid who got caught doing it when thousands of people have been doing it.

C: Is there something that prompts it? Or do you just have to do it if you’re a student there?

L: I think it, like if you’re in clubs or something then maybe one of the activities or initiation or something might be to go streak the lawn with your club or something. Because my friend who goes to UVA did it for the first time last semester and she’s like “oh yeah I’ve been doing it every week.” It is like a really long run, I didn’t even make the full run because I got so tired.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old from Charlottesville, VA who has lived near the UVA campus her whole life and has many friends who attend the school. She personally learned this and participated in the tradition over winter break in 2018.

Analysis:

I think these kinds of traditions at universities are a way to bond a community or feel a deeper connection in clubs, like in initiations. This tradition of streaking reminds me of fountain hopping at USC. Fountain hopping happens on people’s birthdays or at graduation. Streaking seems more vulnerable than jumping into a fountain fully clothed, but both seem to be ways students rebel against administration and have some fun.

Pool at the Top of the School

Abstract:

This piece is sort of a legend or belief that there could be a pool at the top of Albemarle High School. It is a prank or joke that the upperclassmen pull on incoming freshman.

Main Piece:

“L: For our high school, they tell the incoming freshman that there is a pool on the roof. You guys didn’t have that?

C: No, I’ve never heard of that.

L: So what they tell you is that “oh you can’t get onto the roof, but there is a secret, exclusive pool that if you make friends with the janitors or something, you’ll get to go up and see the pool roof.” So my brother, he’s at SCA here, but he made the video that they show to eighth graders at the end of the year when they come into the school as incoming freshman and, um, he was playing around with Final Cut and they went up to the roof and he figured out how to CGI a pool on the roof to trick all the eighth graders. And at lunch they were all like “omg there is really a pool on the roof.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old girl who has lived in Charlottesville, VA for her entire life before moving to California for college. She attended Albemarle High School for all four years and first learned of this “pool on the roof” when she was an incoming freshman.

Analysis:

These kinds of pranks on “new” students or freshmen remind me of initiations that happen at clubs or in Greek Life. I think it is an event that students have to go through and the original belief is what bonds them together as the “new” student class. Going through that shared belief and realization that it is a joke helps bring the students into the community that has also gone through it.

Rain Song from Living Earth Camp

Abstract:

This piece is about a rain song that is sung at Living Earth Camp when it hasn’t rain in awhile. It stems from “native” songs, but there is no evidence.

Main Piece:

“L: I went to like a nature camp in the years I was in middle school over the summer. So it was like a sleepaway camp, but it only lasted a week. And it was weird because it was mostly white people, but they’d be like “oh this is the ancient song, this ancient rain song.” I don’t think they realized how problematic it was. We had this one time when it hadn’t been raining lately, like we we in a drought or something, so they took us down to the river and said “so we’re going to sing this rain song.” So you sing this when you are splashing the water around and it goes like “wishita-do-yah-do-yah-do-yah, wishita-do-yah-do-yah-do-yah. Washa-ta-day-ah-day-ah-day-ah.” And you do that over and over again. And it actually ended up raining the next day.

C: Wow, so it worked?

L: Yeah, so now I have all this white guilt singing it.

C: What is the camp’s name?

L: Living Earth Camp. And it was or felt very spiritual and connected to nature. But it was still like a $500 camp for a bunch of kids to cover themselves in mud.

C: Where was it?

L: Like an hour away from where I lived, so still in Virginia.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old girl from Charlottesville, VA. She attended this camp for 3 years in middle school and learned this song the first year she was at the camp when she was in 6th grade.

Analysis:

Rain songs that are based on “native” traditions never seem quite genuine, but the intention behind them is interesting. I thought it was curious that a rain song has to have roots in “native” folklore, and not from somewhere else. This reminds me of learning of tourist items that were labeled as “authentic” or “native.” I think a lot of people try to go back to the roots of Native culture because of it’s connection to the Earth and spirituality. Though there is more to Native culture than that, in today’s popular culture that is what is most projected. Since children are little, we learn that there are certain things to sing to cause things to happen. When we want the rain to come, we sing things like this – the rain song, to bring rain. When we want rain to go away, we sing “Rain, Rain, Go Away.” It is important to recognize when songs are a bit problematic like the informant did as well.

Ghost in McCarthy Honors Dorm 3107

Abstract:

This piece is about a ghost sighting in USC McCarthy Honors Dorm Room 3107. A white figure sleeping with the informant in bed was spotted by her roommate and told to her later.

Main Piece:

“L: Last year I was in the dining hall and one of my friends that wasn’t one of my roommates was making some joke about my room being haunted. And I was like “what? No. Don’t tell me this.” And my friend was like “Oh did your roommate not tell you this?” So it was my direct roommate. So one night we were all hanging out and watching movies or something and the next morning my roommate asked that friend, “why did you sleep in my roommate’s bed last night?” And she was like “I didn’t sleep in her bed last night.” And my roommate said “No I definitely saw a really pale bed laying next to her at night.” So it was laying with me.

C: That’s the creepiest thing I’ve heard.

L: So I think it’s because I have all white blankets and maybe it’s because I had all my blankets pushed to one side and maybe looked like a person. It happened in May of last year, so I only had a few more weeks left in that room.

C: And you lived in the village so they were new?

L: Yeah they were new. So no rumor of them being haunted. But we were watching Buzzfeed Unsolved, so maybe she was super paranoid or something.

C: What room were you in?

L: 3107. In the lofted double. So we were high up. Like you can barely see each other from the beds because we are so high up. She thought it was my friend who was really pale, but then we thought it was a ghost.”

Context:

The informant is a 19 year old sophomore who lived her freshman year in Room 3107 in McCarthy Honors Dorm at the USC Village. She was the first year of students to live in the newly built dorms, so there was no rumor that there could be ghosts from past students or people.

Analysis:

Unlike the informant, I had heard rumors about ghosts being at the USC Village before. Though these ghosts were not trying to haunt students, it was more of the idea that they were haunting the school for taking over the neighborhood due to gentrification. I had heard from people in the community the continuing dislike of the expansion of USC, especially the USC Village. I have heard of ghosts from Denny’s that couldn’t afford to get a place in the Village due to this type of sentiment as well.