Author Archives: Matthew Seals

Recipe

Nationality: German
Age: 54
Occupation: NICU Nurse
Residence: Stevenson Ranch, CA
Primary Language: English

Recipe: White Trash

WHITE TRASH:

9 cups of mixed chex cereals
4 handfuls of pretzels
16 oz can of salted nuts (peanuts, cashews or mixed)

Melt 1 stick of butter or margarine. Pour over above mixture-toss to coat. Bake on cookie sheet 45 min-1hr @ 250 degrees, stirring occasionally.Remove from oven, allow to cool.
Melt 16 oz Nestle’s white choc chips. Pour over cereal mix. Add 16 oz of M&M’s, stir to coat. Spread out on waxed paper to cool.

The recipe for White Trash is one that has been used by my Mom, Marcia Seals, for as far back as I can remember. Even she has trouble remembering where she obtained the recipe from originally, only being able to cite “a friend from work a while back” as the source. Although the recipe is nothing extravagant and the ingredients are nothing exotic or traditional, white trash has become an expected part of my holiday season. Usually, the first batch of White Trash is cooked up in the week or two before Christmas Day, which would only add to our excitement as little kids. Not only did we get a sweet treat, but also because my Mom made White Trash, we knew Christmas would be right around the corner. Once we finished the first batch of White Trash, it was usually approaching New Year’s Eve. In the days leading to the New Year, my mom would concoct a second batch of White Trash, which could not be touched until the actual night of a New Year. This is because we would normally have guests over, whether friends of my parents or friends of my siblings and I, to enjoy the night together.

For me, White Trash is a tradition in my family that usually appears on schedule. Now that I am no longer a little boy, it helps to have such a reliable treat to remind of my youth. Whenever my Mom presents the first batch of White Trash, I’m instantly transported back to my boyhood years. This really helps to keep the same spirit and excitement alive for holidays because I have associated the recipe with the Christmas time of year for so long.

Prank

Nationality: African-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Stevenson Ranch, CA
Primary Language: English

Pranks on the Mind

Said to another person: “Say ‘silk’ 5 times fast (wait for the person), now spell ‘silk’ 3 times fast (wait again), now quick-what does a cow drink?”

Said to another person: “Say ‘pots’ 3 times fast (wait for the person), now spell ‘pots’ 5 times fast (wait again), now quick-what do you do at a green light?”

I learned these pranks when I was middle school, from 2000-2003, but I forgot who taught them to me. Normally, if done well enough, the answers to the questions should come out wrong, “Milk” for the first one and “Stop” for the second one. The progression through each question must be done at a such a pace that whoever is being asked the question doesn’t have enough time for their brain to stop and process what is being asked of them or why. That way, when the last part is delivered, the answer should be the first thing that comes to mind. Usually it is the wrong answer because the person tries to respond quickly in an attempt to maintain the quickness of prompt and response. Therein lays the trickery of course, because trying to achieve the fastest possible reply also causes the person to mishear the final question.

So how do the first prompts of each trick come into play? Well, they focus the person on a certain formula, letters and sound pattern for instance. The spelling and repetition of each word gets the person being tricked into a rhythm, they become accustomed to the sound pattern or letters of each word. Although I am not certain, it is my belief that word association comes into play for the first trick. The human brain naturally connects similar things, such as milk to a cow, and because milk rhymes with silk, the instinctive response is milk even though cows drink water (which is the correct answer). As for the pots and stop, I feel like spelling of pots gets the brain used to those letters. Then, when asked what to do at a green light, the subconscious mind automatically rearranges the familiar consonants and vowels into “stop” instead of taking time to search for the letters in “go.” Sounds odd, since “go” only has two letters, one of which is used in “pots,” but the mind has been trained to say four letters at that point, not just two.

The success rate of actually fooling people with these pranks is very high. Normally, they are not expecting to be tricked at the last minute, so they are not suspicious of what is being asked. However, I have sometimes tricked myself and ruined my own prank by asking, “What do you do at a red light?” This I believe is a result of word association for me, because I already know what is coming and what the answer should be so my mind automatically asks the wrong question, which receives the right answer. It just goes to prove how tricky these pranks really are.

Tradition – University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

Nationality: African-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Valencia, CA
Performance Date: MArch 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

UCLA Tradition: The Undie Run

This particular tradition is actually something I was able to take part in, even though I attend UCLA’s rival school USC. My brother enrolled in UCLA as a transfer student and therefore came in a junior. He commuted his first quarter, so it was not until his second quarter when he moved into on-campus housing that he began to experience the life and traditions of a UCLA student. One such tradition is the undie run, undie being short for underwear of course. This event takes place on the Wednesday of finals week when students strip down to their underwear and make a mad dash across campus. There is no particular reason for the run other than a way to burn off energy and relieve a little bit of the tension and stress associated with finals. After the run, students normally gather in the quad and exhibit school pride, whether cursing their cross-town rivals or partaking in other Bruin traditions such as the UCLA 8 count.

UCLA is not the only school with such a tradition however; there are many variations of stress-relieving traditions organized by the student body that garner high participation on other college campuses as well. Typically, students come together, like those at UCLA, en masse and create some sort of commotion or ruckus as method of coping with the rigors of finals. In fact, USC has its own version of the undie run. Deemed the Fountain Run, seniors and other upperclassmen run around campus, looking to jump in one of USC’s many fountains during the last week of class. This is because they are almost done with school entirely and therefore fear no disciplinary repercussions.

I feel these traditions create feelings of school pride and are a welcomed spectacle, even if they cause a large commotion. Each school has its own customs unique to the campus, which students feel makes them closer to the school for having experienced such an exclusive event. Although I have not witnessed or partaken in a USC Fountain Run yet, I am excited for when I finally do get the opportunity.

Greeting/Farewell – Costa Rica

Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Evanston, IL
Performance Date: May 01, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Costa Rican Greeting/Farewell/Philosophy of Life

“Pura Vida”

“Pure Life”

“Full of Life”*, “Purified life”*, “This is living!”*, “Going great!”*

My friend Mari and I were each working on individual assignments together, her on a research paper and I on my folklore collection. The fact that it was late and we both had our deadlines looming caused us both to be stressed out and nervous about finishing on time. Whenever Mari got frustrated at her progress or fed up with working, she would mutter “pura vida Mari, pura vida.” After a few times of hearing this, I asked her what it meant and she replied, “Pure life.” She went on to explain that “pura vida” is something started by Costa Ricans, but is now used by most Spanish speakers, that represents a philosophy for a stress free way of living. Mari said that people in Costa Rica say to it one another in passing, both as a greeting and as a farewell. The phrase goes beyond a simple salutation, she said, and is actually how people try to live their lives, without stress or worries. In Costa Rica, those two words generate feelings that emphasize “strong community, perseverance, good spirits, enjoying life slowly, celebrating good fortune.”*

I understand the meaning and connotation of the phrase but do not necessarily see how two simple words could be a philosophy for life. For me, I need a little more to go on than just two words for the way I wish to live my life. However, if it works for the Costa Ricans, then that is all the matters in the end.

*Annotation:

“Culture of Costa Rica.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Apr 2008, 00:07 UTC.

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 May 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Culture_of_Costa_Rica&oldid=209121606>.

Dance – Portland, Oregon

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Portland, Oregon
Performance Date: October 30, 2007
Primary Language: English

The Crip Walk

An explanation of how to Crip Walk, or C-walk, is very difficult but videos can be obtained by going to www.youtube.com and simply searching for C-Walk.

Jude Graves is a friend of mine at USC who experienced quite a bit of gang culture back in his hometown of Portland. Most of his friends were affiliated with the notorious Crip gang, known for wearing the color blue and having a feud with rival gang Bloods who wear red. Jude told me that gangs are all about street credibility and respect, so in gang lore, any chance you get to disrespect a rival or assert dominance over an area, you take it. One way Crips stand out over Bloods is by performing a dance, called the C-walk, where they insult their rivals by spelling out Blood with their feet and then crossing it out. Crips also spell out their own names or their gang name, add special moves to the walk, or gesticulate gang signs with their hands while performing. Jude says the C-walk is not just performed to insult Bloods though; it can be used to show allegiance to the Crips, it is done at initiation, or in celebration of a robbery or killing of rivals.

The C-walk became mainstream around the same time as the infamous West Coast-East Coast Rap war was going on. Artists like Ice T, Snoop Dogg, and WC helped make the dance famous by performing it at concerts and shows or on television. Because of this, the C-walk caught on and quickly became a popular method of dancing to any kind of Hip-hop or Rap music. Since the 90’s, when the C-walk began gaining popularity, new variations have been added to it such as the V, the Shuffle, the Heel-Toe, and the Snake.

Jude actually taught me how to do the dance, which is not difficult to learn. Although it was once used only by the Crips to intimidate others and assert their name on the streets, it has now reached a level of popularity that dilutes the seriousness of its origins. The C-walk can be seen performed at parties and dance competitions alike, for it has steadily shifted from gang lore to mainstream Hip-Hop and Rap.