Author Archives: lopezt@usc.edu

Wendigo

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: St. Paul, Minnesota
Performance Date: 4/23/18
Primary Language: English

Growing up in Minnesota, my friend K heard many Native American stories about woodland creatures known as Wendigos. Wendigos, for the common layman, are mythical monster that inhabit the woods surrounding the Great Lakes. A Wendigo is created, according to Algonquin Ojibwe myth, through human cannibalism, or in other versions may be possessed by an evil spirit that makes them a monster. Wendigos were cursed to traverse the landscape with a constant hunger for human flesh. The Ojibwe characterize Wendigos as large creatures the size of trees, have glowing eyes, long yellow fangs, and oversized tongues; it would eat any humans in its territory or transformed them into another Wendigo. This belief persisted for so long that an old medicine man was arrested for murdering 14 people and put in a local jail at a military outpost. He pleaded with his captors, saying that he was killing Wendigos that they were no longer human. K says the authorities did not believe the man and awhile awaiting trial the man committed suicide. Before they could check up on his body, the medicine man turned into a Wendigo, murdered every officer in the jail, and escaped.

For my friend K, she hardly believes that Wendigos are real. She just thinks of them as a spooky story told to kids so that they don’t get lost in the woods and get eaten by a Wendigo. As for myself, I don’t believe the story either as there have been cases of cannibalism reported elsewhere (Queen v. Dudley and Stevens in England) where they didn’t turn into a Wendigo. But if I was a child, I know I’d never go anywhere by myself.

“Mas Rollo que Una Pelicula”

Nationality: Cuban
Age: 58
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Miami, Fl
Performance Date: 4/15/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Cuban culture in general is incredibly vibrant and colorful, with a attentive focus on the arts. With recent tourism to Cuba rising, foreigners often underestimate how vibrant the buildings, cars, and clothes are in Cuba. And this powerful expression also transfers over into language and proverbs. When visiting home recently, my aunt and grandmother came over to share common Cuban vernacular with me. But this one came from my mother.

The idiom is: “Mas Rollo que Una Pelicula”. Phonetically, it’s easy to pronounce since it utilizes the same Latin alphabet. It’s literal translation is “You are more roll than a movie.” However, when one says the idiom to someone they really mean that they act like they’re better than they actually are.

Throughout my mother’s childhood, my grandfather would take her to work with him so that she could slowly learn what it took to run a business. That’s when she would encounter the charismatic nature of salesmen, who knew how to talk the talk but not walk the walk. If my grandfather could see through the ruse–and according to the stories he usually did–he’d say “Mas Rollo que Una Pelicula” to the salesman. For my mom, it means when someone is gloating about their accomplishments, flaunting something they deem valuable, or bragging about opportunities. They just want attention, my mom would say, because their actions don’t deserve the praise they are looking for.

“Tu No Pintas Nada”

Nationality: Cuban
Age: 58
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Miami,FL
Performance Date: 4/15/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Cuban culture in general is incredibly vibrant and colorful. With recent tourism to Cuba rising, foreigners often underestimate how vibrant the buildings, cars, and clothes are in Cuba. And this powerful expression also transfers over into language and proverbs. When visiting home recently, my aunt and grandmother came over to share common Cuban vernacular with me. But this one came from my mother.

The idiom is: “Tu No Pintas Nada”. Phonetically, it’s easy to pronounce since it utilizes the same Latin alphabet. It’s literal translation is “Do not paint anything.” However, when one says the idiom to someone they really mean that something does not concern them.

My mom was the oldest of three children, witnessing and remembering the most out of her siblings. Also as the oldest, more emphasis was put on her by her father to be successful. As a child if she expressed interest in something else besides school, she would be shut down by her father through this idiom. It was also a common retort amongst my mom and her sisters, as they constantly got into fights when they were children. My mother’s personal interpretation for the idiom is that for one to achieve their objective, they must not get caught up in distractions that could get them off task. There’s a time to paint, “pero ahora (but right now) tu no pintas nada.”

“Cruzar el Niagara en Bicicleta

Nationality: Cuban
Age: 58
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Miami, FL
Performance Date: 4/15/18
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Cuban culture in general is incredibly vibrant and colorful. With recent tourism to Cuba rising, foreigners often underestimate how vibrant the buildings, cars, and clothes are in Cuba. And this powerful expression also transfers over into language and proverbs. When visiting home recently, my aunt and grandmother came over to share common Cuban vernacular with me. This one specifically came from my mother.

Her idiom is: “Cruzar el niagara en bicicleta”. Phonetically, it’s easy to pronounce since it utilizes the same Latin alphabet. It’s literal translation is “Cross Niagara Falls on a bicycle.” However, when one says the idiom they really mean that something is incredibly difficult or impossible, like crossing Niagara Falls on a bicycle.

My mom was the oldest of three children, witnessing and remembering the most out of her siblings. Also as the oldest, more emphasis was put on her by her father to be successful. In high school, when she expressed interest in a career that fulfilled her, her father would refuse by using the idiom. She was severely limited, but ultimately found ways to overcome her father’s presence by moving out to seek a college education. She’s such a badass she makes crossing Niagara Falls on a bicycle look easy.

Красота требует жертв

Nationality: Ukrainian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Russian

My friend V typically speaks about her crazy Ukrainian family and their escapades whenever we’re outside of class. Growing up as a first generation Ukrainian-American is a little wild (as a first generation anything for that matter!).

I asked if she had a proverb that really influenced her, and she told me this: “Красота требует жертв”. Phonetically it’s pronounced “Krasota trebuet zhertv”. V said that the literal translation is “Beauty requires sacrifice” with the actual translation being “Without pain/sacrifice, you will not achieve beauty.”

V said that she had learned it from her Ukrainian mom when growing up, and says that it has two meanings for her. The first being that the proverb reminds her of how different and sexist the environment was where her mother was raised. Her other interpretation is that one must go through hard and unpleasant circumstances to achieve good things and have good things happen to them. It’s also a value of hard work for her, as she gave me the example of drawing thousands of dots for a pointillism painting. It’s tedious and one can easily get carpal tunnel, but the ends, to V, justify the struggling means.