Monthly Archives: May 2017

Cops and Robbers

Nationality: United States/Mexican
Age: 19
Occupation: Student Worker
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 3/24/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

In person interview. AM is the interviewee. LJ is me, the interviewer.

LJ: Can you describe how you play?

AM: Oh there’s six of us, so we would all split up. Three people would be cops and three would be robbers. And, um, it would be like hide and seek, like if you were a cop you kindof’ had to tackle the robber and that’s how the game would end. And yea…

LJ: Who taught you how to play?

AM: Um…I don’t remember…probably my cousin, they were older than me.

LJ: Would the winner get anything?

AM: The winner? Let me think. We would just switch, there wasn’t a prize or anything. We would just switch.

LJ: But was there an “oh I won” moment?

AM: Um…for like the guys, it was a bigger deal. So like my brother and my two cousins would be like “ohhh” and throw it in your face. When me and my girl cousins would win, we were just like “ok.” Haha.

LJ: How often would y’all win?

AM: We didn’t really care if we won, so we lost most of the time.

LJ: Haha. How often would you play?

AM: We played after school. I remember playing between 5th grade and 8th grade-ish–when all six of us went to the same school.

LJ: Where did you play?

AM: We would play outside of my cousin’s house. Or in their backyard, they had a big back yard.

Context:

This was brought up at a meeting, but I asked at her about it at a later date.

Background:

The participant is a first year student at the University of Southern California. She was raised in South Central, Los Angeles around the university in a Mexican household.

Analysis:

This caught my attention, because I had only heard of “Cops and Robbers” from television. It is interesting how this game is played in a community that primarily consists of people of color and which has had a high crime rate for the past couple of decades. That it is more of a hide and seek game was also interesting. I assume–although I should have asked–that the robbers would hide, while the cops would seek.

Typically, the male cousins wanted to win, as seen in the transcription above, while the girls were more interested in just playing. Perhaps this has to do with gender norms. If further study was done, I would observe children playing this game now and how/if the interactions have changed. It may help normalize male and female  interactions within the community. The participant played this game around the time of middle school, when many children are going through puberty. Perhaps it helped transition the participant and her cousins into teen years by allowing time away from the changes happening in middle school through this fun, competitive game.

De Tin Marin –Mexican Sorting Song

Nationality: United States/Mexico
Age: 19
Occupation: Resident Assistant/Student Worker
Residence: Los Angeles/Bell Gardens USA
Performance Date: 4/1/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“De tin marin, de don pingue

Cucara marcara, titere fue

Yo no fui, you tete

Que ese merito fue”

It can be translated* as follows:

“From Tin Marin, from two big ones,

Cockroach, mockroach, it was a puppet,

It wasn’t me, it was Teté,

the one who did it”

*edited from mamalisa.com–see citation below

Background:

This was performed by a student at the University of Southern California who comes from a Mexican/Catholic household. She went on to describe this as song “sort of like the ‘inny, miny, moe, except in Spanish.”  Her dad had taught it to her when she was a kid and remembers using it before she would play Freeze tag or other games with her family and friends.

Context:

This was performed when talking about childhood. There was a discussion happening about how growing up as first generation Mexican/Mexican American was different in California as compared to Arkansas. The song was brought up at this moment, but recorded at a later date.

Analysis:

This sorting song is very interesting. I had only ever heard it from my own parents, so hearing the differences caught my attention. The student says “que ese merito fue” as the last line of the song. However, other versions, including my own, end with “pegale, pegale, que ese merito fue.” The difference between these two is the “pegale, pegale” which translates to “hit (him/her), hit (him/her).” This difference might have to do with the student’s parents being highly religious, as noted through my interactions with her. Encouraging to harm another person would not have fit within her household.

The song itself has little actual meaning. The words rhythmically go together well and are structured so that it is easy to point at people on each syllable (like other sorting songs). It is also interesting that towards the end, it sounds like someone is accusing someone else of whatever action got the song started. For example, the “pegale, pegale, que ese merito fue” can alternatively be translated to “hit him, hit him, because he did it.” The blame ends up falling on whoever was pointed at last.

Website:

Songs and Rhymes from Mexico “Tin marin de does pingue.” Retrieved from Mama Lisa’s World “International Music and Culture.” website. mamalisa.com

Quiroga, Mexico–Sangre Preciosa festival

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 20

Main Piece:

The participant is marked as EC. I am marked as LJ.

LJ: Are their any traditions in your some town?

EC: So, in this place called quiroa its not a pueblo or a rancho…its an articsal town it ahs the be st cranita. in early uly leate jlaty called preciosas sancgres…usualy it hanign tin the curhch the main church  but during the cvcrimanoy they take it down.

they contract musicains osme pay for few. for the weekend they just have the musicians and this huge tower of fire works. And people will put them in these cones or figure ines. all of this is done as a thank you to God for having sacrifices himself. For having given his Preciosa Sangre–his precious blood.

Context:

The participant and I were having a general conversation when this came up. This was recorded then.

The participant is part of the Multicultural Greek community and has first hand knowledge about how to use these terms.

Background:

The participant is a student at the University of Southern California. They were raised in a Mexican/Catholic household.

Analysis:

 

Multicultural Greek Traditions/Terms

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 20
Occupation: Research Coordinator
Residence: N/A USC
Performance Date: 4/20/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

The participant is marked as X. I am marked as LJ.

LJ: What can you tell me about Latino Greek Organizations.

X: So, Multicultural Greek Organizations, not all of them, but some of them…have historically been founded with the help of the National Pan Hellenic Council or people who are members of the National Pan Hellenic Council…also known as the Divine 9. So the original 9 historically black Creek lettered organizations, um…so what separates multicultural Greek organizations and the or you see on the Row are that…the multicultural organizations are culturally based. so, their practices and the things that they work on are in relation to their cultural heritage. This can be in the programs that they put on or in the values that they live on.

And within these, um, organizations there this certain slang that is used. There’s an entire culture. but part of the slang is burning sands. Sands are people from different organizations that become members in the same semester and year…this is also known as crossing

Context:

The participant and I were having a general conversation when this came up. This was recorded then.

The participant is part of the Multicultural Greek community and has first hand knowledge about how to use these terms.

Background:

The participant is a student at the University of Southern California. They were raised in a Mexican/Catholic household.

Analysis:

 There is a lot of different levels to the terms that Latino/Multicultural Greek Organization use. It helps differentiate between who is part of the Greek and non-Greek communities. The traditional “on the Row”  Greeks may fall within the non-Greek sphere for some since so many of the traditions are so different. These organizations have a deep history and pride in their own traditions that do  not belong to other organizations.

There is also an obvious link between the traditionally Black Greek Organizations and the Latino based ones. It parallels the dual cultures that have emerged as these two groups have constantly been near each other and have had to fight similar battles.

Parody of Happy Birthday song

Nationality: American
Age: 8
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose, CA
Performance Date: 3/19/17
Primary Language: English

Happy birthday to me

I’m a hundred and three

I still go to pre-school

And miss my mommy.

My mommy’s at work

She thinks I’m a jerk

And I told the teacher

The dog ate my work

 

She heard it from multiple friends at school, during another classmate’s birthday party and after they sang the traditional Happy Birthday song. She likes it because she thought it was funny, and it was fun to try adding on new lines with her friends.

I have never heard of this song before, though I remember hearing lots of parodies and variations of the Happy Birthday song while growing up. It’s such a prominent song in kids’ lives, with the childhood importance of growing older, so it makes sense that new variations are still happening today.