Author Archives: Jacqueline Mendez

White Lighters/ Club 27

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bell, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2013
Primary Language: English

“White lighters are said to be bad luck. The one time I got a white lighter I ran out of gas and someone hit the mirror right off my car…all in the same week. Plus Jimi, Janis, Kurt, and Jim all had a white lighter when they died. Those things are evil. No bueno.”

 

A cultural stigma against white lighters has developed. No one really knows how this urban legend came to be. My informant refers to the Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison- also known as 27 Club. This “club” is the group of revolutionary musicians who all coincidently died at the age of 27 of alcohol or drug related causes. Jimi Hendrix the legendary guitarist and songwriter died of asphyxiation on September 18, 1970 from wine and sleeping pills. Janis Joplin, regarded as the first woman rock star died of an heroin overdose on October 4, 1970. Lead singer of the Doors, Jim Morrison, died of presumed heart failure on July 3rd. 1971. Nirvana front man and icon, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide on April 5, 1994. These musicians are the most notable and well known among many that have died at the age of 27. Most recently, Amy Winehouse has also been considered part of the 27 Club. She died On July 23, 2011of alcohol poisoning. This strange phenomenon has many theories as to why these hall of famers die at such a young age, but none can really be proven.

According to autopsy reports, each of them had a BIC white lighter in their possession. It has also been suggested that when BIC introduced lighters there were only two colors: black and white. Black was preferred among smokers because on the white lighters, ash residue was visible on the bottom of the lighter from pushing down on the bowl of a cannabis pipe. While BIC was not established until after the deaths of two of the Club 27 inductees, it is highly doubtful that the white lighters was the cause of their death. The other reason may or may not be true. Nonetheless it is a widely known legend amongst cannabis smokers.

PLUR Handshake

Nationality: Ecuadorian/Vietnamese/American
Age: 24
Occupation: Grad Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“The first time I went to a rave was in 2010 for New Years Eve. It was pretty insane and an unforgettable experience. People were dressed n neon colors, wearing very little, almost nothing. I remember thinking how crazy these kids must be, not only because they were practically naked but because they were almost naked in 40 degree weather! As I wasgetting used to this “rave scene”, I noticed a lot of the people had beaded bracelets, some from their wrist to the top of their arms. Everyone was really nice and talkative. When I mentioned to one of the girls I met that it was my first time at a rave, she automatically got super gitty. I’m pretty sure she was on something because she just seemed way too happy. But anyways, she grabbed my hand, connecting her pointer finger and middle finger to my pointer finger and middle finger, like the peace sign saying PEACE, then LOVE , curving each hand and connecting to each other to make a full heart, then we put our palms together like a still high five, UNITY, finally interlacing fingers while she slid one of her plastic beaded bracelets from her wrist to mine., RESPECT. The bracelet was colorful, bright pink and blue with lettered beads spelling PLUR, which stood for each of the steps of the swapping. I felt so initiated into this crazy world. She went on to explain how her and her friends, Kandi Kids, get together to make tons of these bracelets before a rave, wear them and swap Kandi with other Kandi Kids. “

PLUR is somewhat of a value system in the rave subculture. It promotes peace, love, unity and respect. The handshake is used to exchange “Kandi”, which are usually bright colored bracelets made of plastic beads and elastic string. Kandi Kids are those who go to raves and practice PLUR and genuinely believe in this philosophy of loving and understanding everyone. By swapping these bracelets, this philosophy is spread to others and a part of each is given to others. My informant learned this at her rave experience, and the girl who introduced her to it was also introduces at her first rave.

Senior Locker Room

Nationality: Costa Rican American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: May 1, 2013

At Mayfield Senior School, there is a designated locker room for the senior class, which consists usually around seventy-five girls. The rest of the school (freshmen, sophomores and juniors) must share two locker rooms and are not able to choose their own lockers. The seniors not only get their own locker room but it comes with a variety of accommodations. One of the perks is getting to choose their own lockers. Another is the senior class, as a whole, must agree upon a theme for their locker room and decorate/paint the room according to the theme. My class had chosen Disney’s Pixar and painted the characters of the movies. Every girl in the class participates even if she is not exactly artistic. The class also gets a new sofa for their locker room. Also, every last Monday of the month, five mothers of the students bring in breakfast and snacks for the class. 

 This tradition has been passed down from many Mayfield traditions. Mayfield is known to be very centered on sisterhood and history of school. They have several traditions and customs that have been kept alive in the school. It is something for the lower class men to look forward too and a kind of initiation. Every year each senior class tries to decorate their lockers better than the year before. It is a space of comfort and to feel at home. 

Headless Priest

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 35
Occupation: Public Relations
Residence: Whittier, CA
Performance Date: March 29, 2013
Primary Language: Tagalog
Language: English

When I was younger my grandfather used to tease and scare me with stories of the Headless Priest.  It is very common in our culture to hear about headless catholic priest. This is said to originate from the idea that catholic priests were hunted fr their head a long time ago. There was a tribe in the 18th century in an part of the Philippines called Luzon. Heads were cut off as sacrifices or to make accessories and jewelry. When Spanish priests inhabited this area, the people felt threatened and angered. The Christians were forcing the native people to convert. If they came upon a Catholic priest, an Igorot headhunter would decapitate the priest.

The story goes as follows:

On a dark evening when you walk alone down a road, and a man dressed in a dark robe appears. He will not greet or bless you. Because he has no mouth.

My grandfather would tell me that the headless priest would come to haunt me if I didn’t go to mass every Sunday. The story was usually told to children to make them obey the rules of their parents.

Like my informant mentioned, the motif of a headless priest is common throughout the Philippine culture. There have been several accounts of people actually seeing a headless priest, mostly in private schools, hospitals, cemeteries or old churches.

License Plate Game

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bell, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2013
Primary Language: English

I like to play the license plate game when we go on road trips. My sisters and I used to play when we would take family trips to Vegas. Vegas was such a good location because people from all over the country would visit Vegas. We would spend hours looking out the windows trying to spot one from New Mexico or New York, whichever cool plate we could find. If we spotted a license plate from another state we get to punch the others while yelling the state name. In scoring the game we add all the numbers on the plate. For example, if there’s a plate dg429f1 the points for that plate would be 16 but it would be 1 plus 6 equaling 7 points.

This game is very common among North Americans. This is not the first person to tell me about the License game, as it is a very common way to kill time while driving on a long road. I think this game is common among younger children as a distraction from boredom of road trips, but adults play it too. It’s est played wth more people in the car because it’s a challenge to be the first one to yel out the state to which te plate originates from.  When asked how he started to play this game, my informant just remembered his dad starting it when he was younger. “I’m sure he got it from his parents, and so on. It’s a just a known road trip game.”