Author Archives: Alex Bozzo

Contemporary Legend – Akron, OH

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Akron, OH
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Haunted Locker Room

Jimmy told me of this unnatural occurrence that happened at his high school in Akron, Ohio. Apparently in the 1950’s there was a student who felt extremely picked on and really just didn’t like his life. So one day he went into the boy’s locker room down below and hung himself from a pipe in there. Since then people have claimed to be in there alone and find all the showers turned on so the place steams up. Others have reported being there alone and hearing the toilet flush. Others simply feel a presence as though something else is there. Jimmy tells me this locker room always scared him not because of the haunting but because it had no windows and seemed like a cellar or prison to him. He did tell me his younger brother was in there one day by himself and felt a cold chill come over him followed by several lockers being slammed shut. He couldn’t believe it, it did not make sense because of the fact there were no windows. Both Jimmy and his brother were skeptical about the ghost until this happened.

Jimmy told me his thoughts on this haunted locker room commenting that it’s a great urban legend that some people take seriously, yet others believe to be just that, an urban legend. He himself was a skeptic until the experience his brother had. Now he tells me he feels you just never know what is possible. There could be this insanely powerful force out there and one part of that force is causing things like this to occur. Its all pretty mind blowing. Its definitely a story that will live on for a long time.

In my opinion, this story definitely has all the characteristic aspects of a ghost tale as far as a person loathing his life, dying and haunting the location where he roamed. This idea is often portrayed in movies and haunted houses at carnivals and amusement parks. We have a strange fascination with the idea of ghosts and the afterlife because it is one of those unknown topics. We create these ideas in our head in order to cope with the possibility of what lies in store for us when our time here is done.

Contemporary Legend – Texas

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Houston, Texas
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

Reid revealed to me a phenomenon he experienced first hand when he was 19 in South Texas outside of Houston. Reid is originally from Oklahoma but when he was a student in college in Texas and some of his friends that were from the area told him about an urban legend of mysterious bright lights visible on a lone highway. Reid said he was very skeptical at first but wanted to examine it firsthand just to say he had done it. He recalls driving down the highway for quite some time down in the empty flat land late at night. They pulled to the side of the road and looked to the east toward some hills and in the distance Reid said he saw green glowing lights just above the hill. This is an urban legend that many people in the area have attributed to seeing.

According to Reid many people speculated about what it was, and in the beginning it caused quite a stir as a great number of people presumed we were being invaded by aliens. When I asked Reid what he thought phenomena might be; he agreed saying he would certainly think that something very large is coming this way. The actual explanation is a reaction of certain gases in the air and light reflection which causes this green glowing effect in the night sky.

I agree that this example falls into place with many other common urban legends about us being invaded by aliens. The universe is so complex and we are so small that we yearn to discover any other possibility of life out there. So, when an opportunity like this occurs people are very quick to jump to the probability of extraterrestrial activity. Reid’s experience here is a prime example of a Von Sydow “memorate”. He had heard of his occurrence from his friends and decided to see it for himself creating a personal experience. I feel that urban legends like this gain such popularity because of man’s desire to see if intelligent life exists out there aside from ourselves. This is the reason why UFO urban legends and supposed sightings are common practice. An event like this certainly lends itself to be a prime example.

Pop culture over the last century has caused a increased fascination with lengends of extraterrestrial sightings and invasions. Dating back to the H.G. Wells radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds, humans have been attracted to any notion of other intelligent life in the universe. For the most part the portrayal of the aliens was extremely negative such as the vicious aliens seen in the blockbuster film Independence Day. To my knowledge the only recent positive depiction of aliens in popular culture would be E.T. Regardless of how aliens are depicted in the media, we have developed an utter fascination with them, which leads to the vast popularity of any form of urban legend surrounding visitors from another planet. Reid although skeptical at first still felt the urge to witness whatever those green lights could be. We do not like to hear the scientific facts behind issues like these because we would rather have our imagination run wild.

Recipe – Italian

Nationality: Italian
Age: 70
Occupation: Retired
Residence: San Jose, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

Fretelli-Italian Fried Dough

4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cube butter

t tsp salt

1 tabl sugar

1 cup regular milk

Melt butter and place in a (warm) bowl

Add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk

Knead contents in bowl until dough is thoroughly mixed and forms a ball

Add more milk if necessary….

Rest dough in bowl covered with a towel for 15 – 20 min.

Work with small chunks of dough (a soft-ball size in your hand) to handle more easily

Roll out dough chunks with rolling pin to about 1/4 ” thick

Cut in diagonal sizes about 2-3 ” long

Heat Crisco vegetable oil in deep saute pan about 1″ of oil to cover bottom of pan

Fry , turning frequently to avoid burning (about 2 min.) to a light golden brown

Place on paper towels to drain excess oils.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Serve with cold cuts and don’t forget the Vino! or beer if you are a gringo!

My Grandpa John (whom I will refer to as Papa because it is a part of our heritage, a main theme in this piece) talked very fondly about this dish. It is a Italian fried dough that is served with cold cuts either before or after the meal. You know in our family we only make it during Christmas because we like to have it when our entire family is around. I learned this recipe from my mother who was born and raised in northern Italy. It is a very common dish over there but unfortunately we only make it once a year. But that’s why it is so special in my mind. We get to enjoy it together as a family. Italy is a beautiful country with beautiful people who truly appreciate the family and sharing their delicious food. This is why we always make the traditional foods like fretelli because it reminds of us our heritage and the fact that we do it with our family makes it even better. It is so important to remember your past and who you are, we are so happy that our children and now grandchildren embrace their heritage.

I certainly share my Papa’s sentiments on how special this dish is because of its ties to our heritage. He has always been very encouraging about embracing our heritage and for the most part this has been done through different food. I chose to discuss this one because of the fact that my family always has it sometime around the Christmas holiday when my whole family gathers at my grandparent’s house. My Papa is the original bearer of the recipe and usually cooks them but is also helped by his wife my Grandma Joann (Ama). My mom and her sister also know how to make the dish and all of them help when the holidays are around. As mentioned above this dish is very common in Italy and can be served any time. This past summer my entire family traveled to Italy and we went to the villa of my great great aunt who made this for us, because we typically associate the dish with Christmas time, eating them in June was a little odd but delicious none the less.

This food speaks to me in several ways. First and foremost I feel connected to my family when eating it because many members of my family work in making them and I share in their deliciousness with all of them. I feel very proud to be of Italian heritage and that has been instilled in my mind very strongly by both my grandparents and my parents. In terms of folklore it would be important to note that this dish is quite popular in Northern Italy, how it becomes Italian cooking would lend itself to the fact that Italy was once composed of city states and the idea of a unified Italy would involve not having regional diets but rather categorizing it all as Italian food.

Gift Giving Custom

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 44
Occupation: Mother
Residence: San Jose, CA
Performance Date: March 22, 2008
Primary Language: English

Bonacorsi Family White Elephant Gifts

I asked my mother Cathy Bozzo about this particular family practice because we always perform it with her side of the family and not my dads. The tradition known as “gag gifts” to my family is also known as “white elephant gifts” to many other people. We always perform this tradition Christmas Eve or the night of Christmas day depending on who we are with. Every one in the family brings a gag gift that is not delivered to any one in particular, but rather it directed at certain genres. For example, if it is something extremely perverse like the extra large pair of leopard print underwear that my uncle brought one year it would be marked “Adult.” However we also have a lot of small children under the age of 14 so many of the gifts are tame but still amusing such as the robotic hamster dressed up as a ninja that sung “Kung Foo Fighting.” The way that my family in particular runs the event is there tags with a number on it for each person there. The tags are places in a hat and the eldest person in the room, usually Grandpa chooses his number first, after that everyone else pulls a number to set the order of the picking. When it is your turn you carefully peruse the gifts which are wrapped up, but my mom noticed, and I agree, that usually you see one gift that seems to be destined for you. And often many people bring a certain gift with the hopes that one particular person will choose it. My family also has a couple of special rules that allow for the tradition to become rather competitive. After a gift is chosen by someone it is not necessarily off the market. Each gift may be stolen by another person when it is that person’s turn. If a gift is stolen from you, you go back to the pile and choose another gift. Usually there are often a few gifts that are very popular and are stolen quite often. Therefore we established a rule stating that gift may only be stolen twice, after that it is officially off the market. Therefore it is at your advantage to be near the end of the rotation so that you may see all of the gifts that are already in circulation and you have the opportunity to steal them if they catch your attention. By having this rule the tradition becomes a very competitive game and further adds to the fun of the tradition.

My mom recalled doing this even as a child with all of her cousins and aunts and uncles. According to my mom their family was pretty thrifty so often times the gifts were homemade or from other sources, for example the pair of dentures my her dad (my grandpa) used as a gag gift. The point of the gag gifts my mom emphasized is celebrate the love of family. Gathering together with all her family for this when she was younger was one of her favorite holiday traditions. She loves the fact that tradition has continued now that she has her kids to share the tradition with. She has always emphasized the importance of family in our life. When you have no one else to turn to you will always have your family.

I absolutely agree with my mom that this tradition reflects the importance of family. Also in this tradition people get to display their sense of humor which is typically essential to forming their own personal identity. Personally, I have a very twisted sense of humor which is displayed quite evidently during this tradition. While the idea of white elephant gifts may not be specific to my Italian heritage I do feel it reflects the emphasis on family values my family has always demonstrated, and is typically a trademark of the Italian culture. Times like this with my family have always been one of my favorite memories and I certainly intend on continuing this tradition with my children when that time comes.

Folk Tradition

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 28
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: San Jose, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Don’t Step on the B

Dmitri is a teacher at Bellarmine College Preparatory and an alumnus of the class of 1998. While we are both very familiar with the tradition surrounding the “B” I interviewed trying to see if he could offer any more insight. The “B” is a blue and white tile art piece located in Leo J. Lucas Quad of the campus. The tradition at school is that no student should ever step on the B out of respect. The “B” is visible in the bottom right corner of the picture above. The guardians of the “B” are a group of senior friends who sit on the stone bench at break and lunch protecting the “B”. Dmitri feels the “B” is just another unique part of the campus which makes our school so great. He is particularly fond of the “B” as his office window looks just outside where the “B” is located. This school has a long tradition of school pride and in a way it is reflected in the way the “B” is treated. The “B” has been there for as long as Dmitri could remember. He does not recall how this tradition got started but it has been alive and well for many years.

Dmitri went on to say that the pride of the school has always been something special to him and he is glad that the “B” is treated with such respect. Bellarmine is a proud institution that has been around for over 150 years and is respected by people throughout the bay area, California and the country for our achievement in academics, athletics, speech and debate and robotics. The pride and passion we have for our school is displayed in the fact that we respect our campus and a prime example of this would be the tradition of not stepping on the “B”.

I also have a particular inclination toward the “B” because my senior year my friends and I would serve as the guardians of the “B”. If any unknowing freshmen would step on the “B” we would be quick to yell at them and reprimand and remind them never to do it again. There are no consequences such as bad luck for seven years that you might find in other superstitions but it is still highly discouraged. I feel this piece is also an example of occupational folklore. Those that are upperclassmen know already of the tradition, the freshmen are ignorant to this ritual. So, even if it takes them being yelled at us to not step on the “B” after learning this they become a part of the group because they know the traditions involved with the school.