Ethnicity: ½ black, ¼ Mexican, ¼ Japanese

Spanish, English

18, Student

Houston, TX

23 April 28, 2011

Liberal Jokes

1. How do you confuse a liberal?
   1. You don’t they’re born that way!
2. What’t the difference between Carville and a catfish?
   1. One’s a scum sucking bottom-feeder, and the other’s a fish!
3. How do liberal brain cells die?
   1. Lonely
4. What do you call a basement full of liberals?
   1. A whine cellar
5. What is foreplay for a liberal?
   1. 30 minutes of begging

To Mai Ling, these jokes remind her of her close conservative friends. Mai Ling tells the jokes with such nostalgia that it’s clear she misses her home and her friends. She said that where she’s from everyone tells jokes and passes them around. People come up to her and tell her jokes all the time while she’s at school or chilling with her friends. Now more than ever, she finds these jokes particularly funny since she goes to school in California, one of the more liberal states. She doesn’t know where these jokes come from but she tells them and thinks of home.

Mai Ling told this joke as we smoked hookah in Westwood. We were talking about home and started telling jokes. Her jokes focus on belittling liberals and that stems back to her conservative upbringing. This is a classic example of folk jokes and blaison populaire as the jokes play on popular misconceptions about liberals. For conservatives, these jokes are really funny because they belittle their opponent while affirming their political stance. These jokes have a big following and are quickly passed along. Examples of these types of jokes are in the newspaper all the time especially during campaigns.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34^th St. Los Angele CA

Ethnicity: ½ black, ¼ Mexican, ¼ Japanese

Spanish, English

18, Student

Houston, TX

23 April 28, 2011

Mexican Chili’ Recipe

5 whole tomatoes

Some salt

Ground beef 3 handfuls

Chile powder

Some Beans

Onions

Cayenne peppers

Splash of Beef broth

Splash of Chicken broth

Jalapeños

White pepper

Ground cumin

MSG

Red Pepper

Family Taco Seasonings

Tomato sauce

Peppers

This is Mai Ling’s mother’s recipe that has been in her family for years. There are no portions for the quantities but Mai Ling likes it that way because it feels more like a custom then a craft. This meal reminds Mai Ling of home and her Mexican heritage. She also says that her family has adds extra peppers to make her chili extra spicy. She maintains that her grandmother makes the recipe the best but after years of watching, Mai Ling feels confident in her own chili making skills. She said it’s a right of passage as a woman in her family to learn the recipe and pass it on.

This recipe is a great example of folk food culture. The recipe has now serving sizes or portions and Mai Ling said that this will be the first written record. A lot of Mexican families make chilis and develop family recipes to be passed down. Chili is a cheap delicious treat and this recipe is a good example of cooking from memory. Everyone in Mai Ling’s family knows the recipe and until you do, as a girl, you remain an outsider. While you are still learning you’re in a liminal stage where everyone watches and tries to help you. And lastly, once you can make the recipe yourself, you have succeeded and are accepted into the kitchen. Other places you see this is all over the American Southwest and in Mexico.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34^th St. Los Angele CA

Half Chinese half french

French, Chinese, English

18, student

Los Angeles

26 April 2011

Christmas Tradition

Every year on Christmas my family and I put our shoes outside our doors and in the morning they are filled with goodies. This is something my dad tells me he did as a boy in France. The idea was to put your shoe out so that St. Nicolas might come by and reward your good behavior with some special goodies or even money.

To Brandon this represented a part of his heritage and his childhood. Although he doesn’t still practice this tradition it reminds him of his childhood and the excitement he once felt as he check his shoe the next day. The shoe candy or “bon-bons” were a favorite part of his holiday experience and even though he doesn’t know “exactly” how it started he cherishes the tradition. Brandon is French and the tradition stems from the French custom to put your shoes out the night before Christmas. He figures that his family has been doing this same thing for generations on his father’s side.

This folk custom is an example of a tradition that has become part of someone’s identity. To Brandon the tradition of putting out his shoes reminds him of his family and his heritage. People have been putting their shoes out for years. The tradition probably started when France faced rapid poverty. That’s when people left their shoes outside their doors and Pater Noel would put coins in their shoes to ease the times The tradition stuck and people have been putting their shoes outside their doors ever since. Examples and variations of this can be seen in modern Christmas movies like Santa Clause when the kids leave their stockings out for him to fill with toys and candy if they’ve been good all year.

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34^th St. Los Angele CA