Author Archives: Larissa Puro

Tale – Washington D.C.

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington D.C.
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

Tale

The Black Coffin – Washington D.C.

Exact transcription of Lucy telling the Black Coffin tale:

OK, so there’s this guy, and he’s getting read for bed one night, one dark and stormy night in, uh, Vermont—which is a very scary place. And, um, so he’s getting ready for bed. And just as he’s pulling back the covers to sort of wedge himself in between, um, the phone rings. Brrrriing! Brrrrrrrrring! So he picked it up [clicking noises], and he’s like, “Hello?” and um, it’s not that late, you know, so it’s not weird that somebody’s calling him.  And he says, “Hello?” and on the other end he hears, “[crackling noise, and in scary voice] This is the Black Coffin [pause] (I don’t know why the Black Coffin has a Long Island accent). This is the Black Coffin. I am down your street [sound of phone hanging up].”

And, um, the guy’s like, “That’s weird, um,” but he figures that it’s just a prank or something, I mean, how do you react in a situation like that? It’s just strange. So he like, you know, eschews it from his mind [eschewing motions]. So, you know, it’s like, whatever, OK. He gets into bed, and he’s like, you know, sort of propped-up with Harry Potter 5 and a nice mug of cocoa ‘cause that’s what they do in Vermont besides, you know, cow-tipping. And so, um, he’s just sort of drifting of into the first folds of sleep, when, uh, when the phone rings again. He j-jolts awake, Brrriiing! Brrriiiiiing!

He picks up, [clicking noise] “Hello?” And on the other end, he hears, “This is the Black Coffin. And I…am at…your walkway. Click.” The guy’s…mmm…a bit freaked out, not really, but it’s kind of weird. This is not the kind of thing you want to hear before you go to bed at night. I mean, he’s got insomnia, he’s got a big day of work tomorrow, you know, corporate systems analyst kind of thing, it’s a hard job. He doesn’t want to have to worry about shit like –stuff—like this…at night.

Um, so, uh, he’s kinda antsy-in-the-pantsy. He’s not sure what to think. But he decides just to, like, turn on the TV and just try and go to bed. You know, white noise in the background. So finally, a half and hour later, the phone rings again. Brriiiing! He picks up on the first click, and he’s like, uh, “Hello?” and, uh, the “hello” is more urgent this time, “Hello! [more urgently]” and on the other line, you hear, “This is the Black Coffin…and I am at your door.”

The guy hangs up [slams hand repeatedly on desk], just slams it down on the receiver, he’s, he’s, he’s, he’s scared! He’s like the girl in The Ring when she’s like, “Stop calling me!”  He’s pissed off, he’s scared, he doesn’t like this prank. He’s like sitting in bed, the covers are pulled up to his chin, his eyes are darting back and forth like the kind of clockswith the cats and the tails that go back and forth.

So barely two minutes later, the phone rings again, Brriing! He picks up again on the first click, “Who is this!? Who is this?!” and on the other end it says, “This is the Black Coffin…and I am down your hall.” And the guy is fucking freaked out—freaking freaked out—he’s scared. He runs out of bed, he locks the door [sound of locks clicking]. Like all four locks of them, and he puts down the deadbolt [sound of deadbolt]. He pulls the chain [chain-pulling sound]. So he’s scared. He’s sort of dancing around and walking [gets up and starts pacing] like Oh God, I don’t know what’s going on.

Um, he decides not to pick up the phone because he knows it’s gonna ring again. Brrrrriiing! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnng! Finally, he picks up [slames table] “What do you want!? Who is this? What do you want!?” And the voice in the phone says, “This is the Black Coffin…and I’m in front of your door…” Okay so the guy’s scared now. And then, just as he puts down the phone [hanging-up clicking noises], he feels these tendrils of fear grab at his heart, twisting around it like a Cuisinart. He hears at the door [knocking sounds]—ow! [laughs]—he takes a couple steps toward the door, slower and slower, inch by inch, he’s reminded of that math problem where it’s like you take half the amount of space, will you ever get to the point? ‘Cause he’s fucking scared.

And, um, he gets up do the door. He takes off the three locks at the top [three slow clicks]. He takes off the deadbolt [deadbolt sound]. He takes off the chainlock [sound of chain]—have fun transcribing that. He slowly turns the rusty New England knob [creaking sound]. He starts to pull the door open and light sort of filters in as he pulls it [another creaking sound, though much longer].

“I am the Black Coffin….I am HERE TO GET YOU!!!!!!!! [screams this last part]”

Lucy’s dad told this joke to her first. She was “freaked out” and also wanted to tell somebody else. Ever since, she has been  telling the story.

This scary story makes good use of popular culture references. This helps the audience relate to the story and get more into it. The extensive use of little details—like Lucy’s metaphors and descriptions—lulls the audience into a false sense of security.

My favorite part is when she slowly goes through each step of the man unlocking the door. When I am scared, life seems to slow down just like that, and every step seems to take a thousand years. By slowing the story down piece-by-piece, Lucy forces the audience to pay very close attention, only to be shocked and surprised when she shatters the silence by screaming “HERE TO GET YOU!”

Festival – Thousand Oaks, California

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Louis Obispo, CA
Performance Date: April 19, 2008
Primary Language: English

Festival

Scandinavian Festival – Thousand Oaks, CA

On April 19-20, Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA hosted a Scandinavian Festival, put on by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation.

On the first day, they erected a Maypole and danced around it, singing traditional songs. Some other events included productions of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, soccer clinics, Krubb (an ancient Viking game), regular folk music and dance performances, and a variety of folk arts and crafts. The arts and crafts offered were paper cutting in the style of famed Danish fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen (Denmark), friendship bracelets (Finland),  paper volcanoes (Iceland), card wool (Norway), and Dala horse puppets (Sweden).

The first thing I noticed was how everyone was dressed. The women all wore traditional Scandinavian clothing—long dresses with embroidered aprons—and had their hair braided and encircled with rings of flowers. The men wore short trousers and billowing tops with vests and stockings. Everyone was in character. In the Viking area, an authentic-looking Vikinc camp was set up with tents and beds made with fur. Animal skins hung everywhere and rough-looking tables displayed heavy tools, chain mail or other hand-made wares like furniture and jewelry.

One of the vendor’s tents was filled with dolls that looked a lot like my idea of Santa Clause. When I asked the vendor what they were, she said they were indeed Norwegian and Danish Santas, called “Nisse.” Nextdoor to her was an impressive display of clogs, mostly hand-painted.

Down in the food court, I got a “Norsk plate” which consisted of Sweedish meatballs, Lefse (Norwegian flatbread), potato balls, and boiled red cabbage. For dessert, I tried some delicious Aebleskivers, which are like hollowed out pancake balls with strawberry glaze and powdered sugar.

Overall, I really enjoyed the festival. I had no idea what to expect because I know nothing of Scandinavian culture. I was especially shocked at the sheer size of the festival. There were hundreds of people in costume, many of them actually Scandinavian. Massive amounts of hand-made Scandinavian goods were being sold. I never realized how much of a presence Scandinavians have in America.

The festival did a good job in exposing me to Scandinavian culture. A lot of the items, costumes, food, and music were familiar to me, but I had never known what culture they originated from. It looked like everyone was having a good time celebrating their heritage and reviving their ancient customs.

Drinking Game – Seattle, Washington

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Drinking game

King’s Cup/ King’s– Seattle

You spread out and mix up a deck of cards, face-down, on a table surrounding a big cup or bowl. Everyone playing the game (usually a group of five or more) needs a few drinks, like a beer. Going around the circle, a person will pick up a card and, depending on what card it is, complete an action. Each card is assigned a rule:

Ace –  Social: everyone drinks

2 – Fuck You: the player picks another person to drink

3 – Fuck Me: the player must drink

4 – Hit the Floor: everyone must touch the floor with his or her hand

5 – Guys: all guys must drink

6 – Chicks: al girls must drink

7 – Heaven: everyone must point upward

8 – Mate: the player picks another person to drink with him or her

9 – Rhyme: the player must say a word and everyone in the circle must rhyme with it

10 – Waterfall: when the player takes a drink, everyone else must start drinking and can only

stop when the person to their left stops drinking

Jack – Make a Rule: the player gets to make up a new rule

Queen – Question: everyone around the circle must ask any question

King- King’s cup: whoever draws this must pour some of their drink into the cup or bowl. Whoever chooses the last king must drink the King’s cup. Then the game ends.

Abby said that every time she played, the rules were different, and that the goal of the game is to get people drunk. She said it’s fun because you have to remember all the rules and try not to mess up (because then you have to drink). Also, she mentioned, if people have all different kinds of drinks, the King’s Cup can get pretty disgusting.

From my observations, this game is popular among underage drinkers, probably because it is quick and fun.  This may be because it is quick and fun. Also, the rules vary from person to person and region to region. The rules Abby told me, for example, were different from the rules I heard of living in California.

Perhaps why this game is so fun is because everyone is constantly messing up. The more complicated the rules, and the more everybody drinks, the more mess-ups. It just gets funnier and funnier because everyone becomes more forgetful and slow. In the end, this game is highly successful at achieving its intended purpose.

Game – Seattle, Washington

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, Washington
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English

Childhood Game

The Pony Game – Seattle

In this game, you stand in a circle around a person. Everyone claps and sings the following while the person “gallops” around the circle:

“Here I go, on a pony.

Riding on a big fat pony.

Here I go on a pony.

All around the circle”

Then the person stops where he or she is standing and turns to the person nearest him or her. The two, facing each other, start dancing together and singing, “Front-to-front-to-front, my baby” (shimmy movement), “Back-to-back-to-back, my baby,” “Side-to-side-to-side my baby. All around the circle.” During this last line of the song, the two partners switch so the new person is galloping around the circle now. The songs starts over from the beginning.

According to Abby, this game is played when you’re bored and have nothing else to do. Also, it is a good way to keep kids occupied, she said. Originally, she learned the game at a choir camp, and her choir group in high school continued it ever since. “I love this game,” she said. “It’s excellent.”

To me, this game sounds suspiciously like one of those “get to know each other games” one plays at camps, leadership conferences, orientations, etc. However, Abby told me this isn’t so, and that it’s more just for fun and to keep people occupied.

I suppose the variation possible in the dancing and speed of the singing keeps its participants occupied for a very long time. If this is its purpose, I can see why now, in hindsight, games like these were always so popular in my elementary schools. Perhaps for a those years, my teachers were just trying to control us. Too bad, they didn’t know the Pony Game!

Holiday Tradition/Ritual – Japan

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cypress, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Holiday Traditions/ Rituals

Japanese New Year

On the Japanese New Year, Dana said all the food has some kind of meaning to it. Each year, her grandmother puts together big circle trays with seven different foods on it. The black beans are supposed to bring good health for the coming year. The black seaweed brings happiness. Bamboo brings luck. As for the rest, Dana cannot remember the purpose but does recall that the other foods are supposed to clean out the eater’s systm.

For breakfast, Dana and her family make a soup called Ozonu. First they make mochi by pounding sticky rice into mounds. The broth is made with vegetables. After adding the mochi to the broth, it melts. During the rest of the day, they eat sushi and Mochiko chicken, which is fried with a batter and soy sauce.

Mochi is a big deal on Japanese New Year, because it is only to be made on three days: the 28th, the 20th, or the 31st. Because the number 29 is unlucky in Japanese culture, the mochi cannot be made on that day. The first batch of mochi is offered to their ancestors. They make a large mochi and put two smaller ones on top. On top of this, they put tangerines, with one leaf. Dana is unsure why they do this. The whole thing is left for a couple of days and then thrown out. She enjoys this holiday very much and enjoys sharing the food with her friends who don’t celebrate the Japanese New Year.

This celebration is very detail and ritual-oriented. After doing further research into the significance of the stacked mochi and orange, it seems the purpose has been lost over the years and is now done solely out of tradition. However, many of the other rituals and traditions have very distinct functions.

I like how food is used to bring people together, symbolize a good, healthy life and to make offerings to ancestors. This holiday seems very family-oriented.