Author Archives: Grace Carballo

The Beaver Call

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Arizona
Performance Date: April 29, 2015
Primary Language: English

In high school on the baseball team, we had this pregame ritual … and we did this thing and it changes from year to year, um, um, on what it’s called. But, usually it’s called the Beaver Call.

We get in a circle behind the dugout and we do this… well my senior year, we tried to change it to the rat call for this guy, “Rat”, and uh.. there are talks of my brother being in the middle next year and they’d call it the Budde Call (pronounced like booty call).

But basically you just jump up and down like idiots and do this chant.

It goes:

Beaver 1, Beaver All

Let’s all do the Beaver Call

(makes noise with mouth)

Beaver 2, Beaver 3

Let’s all climb the Beaver Tree

(mimes climbing a tree)

Beaver 4, Beaver 5

Let’s all do the Beaver Jive

(dances)

Beaver  6, Beaver 7

Let’s all go to Beaver Heaven

(points up, dances more)

Beaver 8, Beaver 9

Stop! It’s  BEAVER TIME!

(freaks out, dances/jumps crazily)

Was the Beaver your school mascot?

No.

Why did you do this?

Tradition. It was just like every year we did it- it’s a pregame warmup. And it hypes you up for the game.

How long has it been a part of your team?

No idea… well beyond my knowledge.

How do you learn it?

Just from older guys on the team before it. Just Varsity does it. So, sort of yeah, a rite of passage.

 

Context: 

I asked my friend to tell me if he had any baseball rituals because I knew he played in high school. This was the only one he had, but he let me record him doing it while he got ready for a formal event, which I thought was very funny. It was supposed to be a one on one collection, but his roommate, a separate informant, was in the room and interjected that he had also done the Beaver Call except at his camp.

Thoughts:

Sports rituals, especially ones that are only for the Varsity team or older players, also seem to be rites of passage. I wouldn’t be surprised if kids on the JV and freshman teams also know the Beaver Call but know not to do it until they are in that inner group and have the honor to dance about.

Also, it was interesting how perfectly he remembered it and told it without embarrassment.

 

 

 

Iowa’s Epic Beach Party version 2

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: business litigator
Residence: Illinois, USA
Performance Date: April 12, 2015
Primary Language: English

Still to this day, the people still talk about that party. It was the best party in the history of Loras College.

My friends and I…we wanted something memorable. I had this roommate and he wanted a really creative party, just wanted something different. So we decided, let’s have a beach party! But, you know, we’re in the middle of Iowa.

So we bought several tons of sand and you know, we stapled tarps to the wood floor, because we didn’t want to ruin the floor. We got a truck, and just shoveled it in through the windows and there was, uh, several inches of sand.

We thought of everything. We had beach balls, sun lamps, there was punch.

Didn’t that cost a ton of money?

Uh, no, I dont’t think so… everyone, we all just pitched in.  It was a great party, you know, just a real nice time.

Did you invite Mom?

I did but she… she missed it, (Laughing) she missed it for a charity dance marathon. But Aunt Pat and Tracy were there.

Why do you think we tell and retell this story?

Because it was such an unusual event. It was really a classic party. Just so different from our usual run of the mill party. You know, there were beach balls and uh, beach music… we didn’t go to school in California!

 

context:

The informant, my Dad, has told us this story a number of times, especially to my fratty brother, probably to try to bond. In this telling, I went home for Easter, and he told it to me one-on-one.

thoughts:

In the first version of this tale, provided by a separate informant, my brother,  the focus is on the parents and their shock at seeing the aftermath of this party. In this version, the informant, my father, focuses more on its planning and what sets it apart from other parties.

The informant does not really come across as a social butterfly so it is sort of adorable how proud he is of this college party. Also it is very telling of both of their personas that the informant’s then-girlfriend and future wife, my mother, was at a dance marathon raising money while he was throwing this party. When she tells this tale, she always emphasizes that distinction.

 

The Dove

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: business litigator
Residence: Illinois, USA
Performance Date: April 12, 2015
Primary Language: English

When my mom died, you know, she died of cancer at home. And all of us kids were home…and she died early in the morning. Aunt Pat was screaming and we were all really upset.

But we all went outside together. And there was this uh, these tracks, this railroad, between the yards and we sat on them. All my brothers and sisters were out there.

And we looked up at the roof of our house and there was a white dove. It just sat there on top of the house.

It was a sign, you know, that she had risen…if you look up the significance of doves, you know, they mean, uh, Resurrection and life.

And that really stuck in our minds as a sign that we was watching over our house…she was okay.

It’s sad, but it’s happy, you know.

It meant that our mother was, a sign, you know that even though she had died she was living on and watching over us. Kind of like an angel…she was still there.

Why do you think we retell this story?

It actually was very comforting. It was weird, uh, we’d never seen anything like that. Just a beautiful bird just perched on the peak of our roof.

It’s true, too.

I’ll try to that for you when I die (laughs).

context: 

I went home for Easter and the informant, my father, delivered this one on one.

thoughts:

I had heard this story before, because their mom died when they were all very young, years before I was born, and they (my informant/father and his siblings) tell and retell stories about her to preserve her memory, often speaking of her like people describe saints. This is a good example of that, as she sent down the dove as a sign and his emphasis on the truth of this story.

Iowa’s Epic Beach Party

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: student
Residence: Illinois
Performance Date: April 12, 2015
Primary Language: English

Version 1:

So I guess Grandma Pat and Grandpa Carballo were visiting Dad at college. And they couldn’t decide if they should check in at the hotel first or just go right to Dad’s house. So they decided to drive by Dad’s house and what they saw was all the furniture was outside and there was sand all over their lawn.

They were having a huge beach party. There maybe was even sand inside, inside the house.

And Grandma Pat just turns and goes, “Maybe we should just go to the hotel.”

 

(see Iowa’s Epic Beach Party version 2 for context and further analysis)

“Just resting my eyes”

Nationality: American
Age: 84
Occupation: retired, former engineer
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: April 19, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant :

So actually, “just resting my eyes”  when I’m taking a little nap, I actually got that from, do you remember, your great-uncle, Dennis?

Well his wife, Rita, she used to work at the hospital. And they have late shifts, sometimes. She was working 3:00 to 11:00 at night. So at night she would call him and say “Now Dennis, I’m driving home.”

In case… she had car trouble or just to have someone know where you are. And every time or almost every time, he’d be asleep when she got home.

So she woke him up and said, “You’re supposed to be listening for me!”

And Uncle Dennis said, “I heard you come in the drive. I was just resting my eyes.”

context: 

Papa, my grandfather, the informant, told me the story behind this family expression, over the phone after I explained to him and my grandma what I was looking for, in terms of folklore. I saw both of them over Easter. Papa takes at least one nap a day and if someone accidentally wakes him up he often says “I was just resting my eyes” to make them feel better or because he knows we think it is funny. The informant told me this one on one on the phone.

 

thoughts: 

It has become a family proverb, but started, ironically enough, as a well-worded excuse for negligence.

 

 

Informant 2, age 22, accountant

Another family expression that Papa always says and now I’ve heard the cousins say is “I’m just resting my eyes.” when they’re actually asleep. But I don’t know when that started.