Author Archives: Stacey Badger

The Haunting of Bakersfield High

The Haunting of Bakersfield

Personal Background:

Ashley is a 19 year old student at the University of Southern California. She grew up in Bakersfield and went to Bakersfield High School. She had a family that had a lot of American culture, as well as Japanese culture since her mother is Japanese. She is able to bring bits of each into her every day.

Local Legend:

Ashley says there have been rumors for as long as she can remember about her old high school being haunted. It is a very old school, built before the city even had a name. She has heard multiple stories from others that there were strange things happening around campus, specifically in the auditorium. Before the high school was a high school, it was a college, and before that it was a hospital, and it has been haunted ever since. Many of the students there are bodies buried underneath the school. Or that certain people who died in the hospital now haunt the school. There are also a lot of different rooms through the school that have not been opened for years. There are  underground tunnels that have not been used since the hospital was there, so people has their suspicions of what could be down there.

With the auditorium being the place with the most haunted things, people try not to go there very often alone. It has been heard that there have been strange noises and doors shutting without other people being there. This was due to an apparent death during a play of Peter Pan. One of the wires broke, killing the person who was attached to it. This person is known to be the one who is haunting the auditorium.

There is also a rumor of a couple who broke up and committed suicide on campus. They are also haunting different areas of the school at night. Ashley says that this is way to keep all the “stupid people” off campus at night. All of these stories come from people Ashley know and trust, and this is why she believes the what she has heard.

To Ashley, these stories are a fun way for people to spread rumors in school. It is a way to bring the community together, and a way to scare the young kids from going to the high school at night. It is a way to keep a story going through the high school, even after the people she know and who know her have gone off to college.

Analysis:

To me, these stories are way to keep the past and present connected. It is a way to connect the students and give them a common legend to follow. They can talk about it with the students from the past, as well as the current students. It can be a way of initiation to the newer students coming into the school. They may need to know the stories in order to be part of the theater groups or other groups that spend a lot of time within the auditorium. This is a type of urban legend that has the town keeping up with the things that are happening in the high school. It has a lot to do with the belief of the people in town, and nobody has been able to disprove any of it. The rumors that are very specific are what make it a legend. They have to do with historical events that may or may not have actually happened. It has created a belief within the school that seems to connect the student body.

An Armenian Greeting

An Armenian Greeting

Personal Background:

Arthur is a freshman at the University of Southern California studying applied math. He has grown up in Los Angeles with major Armenian influences. He is fluent in the language, and he speaks it at home with both parents. With a decent Armenian population in Los Angeles, he is able to practice some of his traditions more frequently.

Traditional Greeting:

One very specific rule one must follow in Armenian culture is to respect elders. One way of doing this is the traditional greeting Armenians do. They shake hands, as well as kiss each other on both cheeks. Kids must start doing this when they turn about 14. When they do not, it means whoever is the younger party is, is disrespecting their elder.

The greeting is also a way to show closeness with someone. When it comes to the people who are closer in age, they do not actually kiss each other on the cheek. It is as if they “fake-it.” They only touch cheeks and kiss the air. Arthur says he will only greet Armenians this way, and not people of other ethnicities. He also says he does not need to greet his younger cousins this way, unless they are close in age. It is something that has made him feel close to his roots. He loves being able to use his traditions that are not ones he uses every day.

Analysis:

This greeting is a ritual. It shows respect when it is done, as well as it is something that meant to be special. It is something only Armenians do with other Armenians. It is something that comes with age, and it is not meant to be taken lightly.

To me, this is a way to connect as a culture. Armenians have this greeting nobody else has. Other countries do have other greetings, but they do not have the same ones. It is a way to feel one is part of a heritage.

Time to Investigate

Time to Investigate

Personal Background:

Tiara is sophomore at California State University, Long Beach and she is studying accounting. She has grown up with Japanese and German influences since she has a mother from Japan, and a father who grew up in a German household. Even with her diverse family, she loves being part of American culture.

Joke:

Tiara loves telling jokes that have a pun involved. She works with children, so a lot of the jokes she hears are from kids.

Tiara: What do you call an alligator in a vest?

Me: What?

Tiara: An investigator!

She loves being able to tell this joke. She had heard it from one of the kids she works with, and she decided to tell the joke to a group of her friends when they went to a reptile museum. She thought the timing was right since there was an alligator in the museum. All of her friends gave her really good feedback from the joke. When asked about the connection with the joke, she said she really liked the little girl she heard it from, but the day Tiara used it herself was a day her friend was able to conquer her fear of snakes and hold one. She feels really happy when she thinks about it because it reminds her of a day she was able to make her friends feel good.

Analysis:

This joke is part of folklore because of the way it uses its words. Jokes are a way to use the power of words and how they can affect the punchline. Jokes usually involve using words that sound similar to get something different for an outcome.

To me, this joke is bringing childhood into adult world. We are still able to laugh at jokes from younger kids. They are always coming up with new ones, and they are always going to be changing.

Deer Crossing

Deer Crossing

Personal Background:

My sister, Katie, is a senior in high school in Huntington Beach, California. She has been very involved with cross country and track and field in her school. She will be graduating this year, 2014, and will be studying art when she gets to college.

Joke:

There is one joke Katie uses whenever people ask for jokes.

Katie: What do you call a deer with no eyes?

Me: What?

Katie: No eye deer!

What makes this joke so important to my sister is that she heard it from my brother a few years ago, and she thought it was hilarious. She is not sure where he heard it, but it may have been on TV for from a little kid. What made it great was the fact that three of us would try to make each other laugh by saying the punch line in a new and funny ways. The more someone sounded like they were from the south, the better it was. The goal was to see who could be the funniest. They now use it as an inside joke or say it during awkward situations.

Analysis:

Jokes are a great way to spread folklore. They are all about speech, and how speech can be changed in order to get a different answer than what was originally thought. They are very similar to riddles in that sense.

To me, this joke is a way to keep the family connected. It keeps my brother, sister, and me close, even when we are all living in different places.

 

Girl Scout Memories

Girl Scout Memories

Personal Background:

My sister is a senior in high school in Huntington Beach, California. She has been very involved with cross country and track and field in her school. She will be graduating this year, 2014, and will be studying art when she gets to college.

Folk Song:

When Katie was in girl scouts in elementary school, there were songs all the girls sang when all the meetings were finished.

“Make new friends but keep the old/ One is silver and the other gold/ A circle is round, it has no end/ That’s how long I want to be your friend.”

This is sometimes repeated a few times, depending on who is leading the group. While the girls sing this song, they are holding hands. One of the girls starts a trend of squeezing one of the hands from a girl next to her. It then goes around the circle until everyone’s hand has been squeezed. It was a way to make sure everyone there knew they were friends. Katie was able to feel a connection with the rest of the girls after all of this was done. She said she does not really remember being taught the song, it was just something everyone knew. The leaders started it and the girls just started catching on. It definitely had an impact on her life since she is still able to remember it about ten years later.

Analysis:

This is a folk song because it is not something that is copyrighted. It is a simple song for young girls to remember, and it is filled in with small rituals to end the meetings. It is only a song a girl scout would know, making it very exclusive to be part of the group.

To me, this is a way to show important friendship can be to young girls. It can inspire them to really help their community. I feel it is also important to let them know as they change, keep some things the same.