“There’s Enough Room in the Sky,” Nigerian Proverb

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 10, 2018
Primary Language: English

Stanley Kalu studies screenwriting at the University of Southern California. He is originally from Nigeria, but has moved several times throughout his life. He spent a significant portion of his life in Nairobi, Kenya and now lives in Los Angeles, California. He recalls hearing a number of stories as he grew up; many of these stories conveyed moral lessons and were told to younger audiences. In the excerpt below, Stanley recounts a Nigerian proverb that discouraged competitiveness:

Stanley: “Growing up in Nigeria, I used to hear this one proverb all the time. It went like, ‘there is enough space in the sky for all of the birds to fly.’”

Isabella: “And what does that mean to you?”

Stanley: “It just means, it doesn’t have to be a competition… There’s enough space for everybody… to succeed.”

This proverb contains a powerful message about cooperation and kindness.  It provides insight to the type of values that are promoted throughout Nigerian communities; rather than encouraging young people and children (the proverb’s main audience) to adopt a competitive approach to life, proverbs such as these encourage cooperation and tolerance. It makes use of animal symbolism for narrative purposes; by using symbolic language, young people and children are better able to digest the message embedded in the proverb.

This proverb mandates collective success, not just individual success, thus marking a critical distinction between Western culture and Nigerian culture.  Stanley (my source) exhibits cooperative qualities in his own life, and I assume that Nigeria’s folkloric traditions helped shape that part of his personality.

Hierbabuena Tea Remedy

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 69
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 18, 2018
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Nicolas Estrada is a Mexican-American lawyer working in the greater Los Angeles area. His parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico before he and his sister were born. They settled in Southern California and quickly began to assimilate to the new culture. Nicolas’ parents imparted both Mexican and “American” customs to him and his sister but placed a stronger emphasis on American culture; for example, they taught Nicolas Spanish, but encouraged him to speak only English in public. This strong emphasis on assimilation influenced Nicolas’ relationship with Mexican culture, but he can still recall some Mexican traditions that were practiced in his home. In the excerpt below, Nicolas describes one of the herbal remedies his mother would use to treat upset stomachs:

Nicolas: “My mother would brew different teas instead of going directly to store-bought medicine… if we ever had upset stomachs, she would make us hierbabuena tea… it was a mint tea. My mom told us it had healing properties.”

Isabella: “How would your mom prepare the tea?”

Nicolas: “She would steep the tea leaves in a pot of hot water and then we would drink it without any milk or sugar. We would only drink the tea in the morning or mid-day, though… never in the evening because it would keep us up. I honestly think it works and I still drink mint tea to this day… although I buy already prepared tea bags instead of steeping the leaves.”

Here, Nicolas describes an alternate form of treatment used in place of traditional medication. His mother was more confident in this herbal remedy because it had cultural significance and was endorsed by other members of her family. The hierbabuena tea remedy is an example of a folkloric remedy for these very reasons; while the medical community doesn’t officially endorse the treatment as an effective means of relieving stomach aches, it is still widely used throughout Mexico—and as Nicolas demonstrates here with his anecdote, it has been exported to different countries.

The “Hodge Podge” Dinner

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 10, 2018
Primary Language: English

Owen Lord studies Anthropology at the University of Southern California. He is originally from Columbia, South Carolina but currently lives in Los Angeles, California while he attends university. Owen’s southern upbringing led him to adopt a number of southern customs. Once he moved to Los Angeles, he was immediately struck by the differences in the way people speak, how they behave, and the traditions they practice. Many of Owen’s favorite folkloric phrases were lost on his new peers in Los Angeles. Below, Owen describes a Lord family custom that involves dinner preparations:

Owen: “When we [my family and I] were younger, my mom didn’t really like to cook. No one in my family really liked to cook, and so a lot of days, my mom would just say, ‘we’re having a hodge podge!’ which I thought everyone did. It meant you would just go through the fridge and the pantry and wherever, looking for food. But I thought hodge podge was a pretty universal word for that kind of fare. And so I’d go to friends’ houses and suggest a hodge podge, and no one understood what I was talking about.”

Isabella: “Would you consider this family folklore?”

Owen: “Yeah, its an example of family folklore… you think everyone else has it until you realize that it’s a completely made-up word that your mom uses when she’s feeling lazy.”

Here, Owen reflects on a custom that was unique to his family. Though it is likely that other families practices this tradition, they did not call it a “hodge podge” like Owen’s family did. For this reason, the “hodge podge” is a unique Lord-family tradition. The phrase carries its own set of associations for Owen and the rest of his family—it is a uniting factor between them and represents a shared experience.

“How the Tortoise’s Shell Cracked”

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 10, 2018
Primary Language: English

Stanley Kalu studies screenwriting at the University of Southern California. He is originally from Nigeria, but has moved several times throughout his life. He spent a significant portion of his life in Nairobi, Kenya and now lives in Los Angeles, California. He recalls hearing a number of stories as he grew up; many of these stories conveyed moral lessons and were told to younger audiences. In the excerpt below, Stanley recounts a folk tale he heard as a child:

Stanley: “So back when I was young, my mom would tell me a story of how the tortoise got his shell cracked. And the story went like this: the tortoise, being the most intelligent animal in the animal kingdom, during a drought said ‘hey birds, let’s go to heaven. You can fly me up there and I’ll talk to God, and everything will be fine, we’ll all get food, it will be fine. But in heaven, we’ll all have different names. So my name will be all of you, right? My name will be all of you.’ And the birds agreed, so they flew him up to heaven. And then, they were talking to God, who brought a huge feast with him. And then God said, ‘this food is for all of you,’ and the tortoise said, ‘oh, that’s me!’ so he ate all of the food, and all the other animals got upset. So, they left him in heaven and he had no way of getting back down to Earth. So he had his wife place a soft pile of feathers on the ground to break his fall, but he missed. Then he cracked his shell and he had to piece it back together. And that is how the tortoise got his cracks.”

Isabella: “Does that communicate any sort of moral lesson?”

Stanley: “Yes—don’t be sneaky.”

The transcript above details a Nigerian folk tale. Stanley recounted the story as we sat at a café after class one day, and he appeared to have the story committed to memory entirely; this suggests that he heard the story frequently as he grew up. The tortoise story warns against deception and “sneakiness” by illustrating the consequences of such behavior. It serves as a template for other tales—the message is universal in a sense and the motifs are interchangeable.

Italian Wedding Soup

Nationality: Italian-American, Irish-American
Age: 60
Occupation: Special Needs Teacher
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2018
Primary Language: English

Joanna Estrada is a special needs teacher living in Los Angeles, California. She is 60 years old and has three daughters. Joanna has lived in Southern California since birth, moving from Redondo Beach to Torrance in her mid-twenties. Her father was Irish and her mother was Italian; as such, she grew up surrounded by multiple cultures and was brought up in the Catholic tradition. In the excerpt below, Joanna describes a type of soup that is prepared and served during Italian wedding receptions. The soup is served to everyone at the reception—including the newly married couple—and is a hallmark of Italian weddings.

Joanna: “Someone would make Italian wedding soup… It was usually the bride’s grandmother but anyone could make it… And they would make a huge amount of it to feed the entire wedding party and all of the guests.”

Isabella: “What was in the soup?”

Joanna: “It had tiny meatballs; those were always homemade, they had to be homemade. And the other main ingredient was egg pasta. It was a special type of pasta made from egg, just like it sounds. It was cut up into little pieces… never the full noodle, it was chopped up into small bits. Then there was a lot of Parmesan cheese. The more cheese, the better. And the base was chicken broth. It’s a traditional dish but I’ve seen it in the supermarket sold in cans. That’s obviously not authentic.”

Here, Joanna describes a traditional Italian soup that is prepared specifically for weddings. As Joanna notes above, the recipe has become so popular that soup companies (think Progresso or Campbells) have adopted it and started to mass-produce it. It is advertised in supermarkets as “Italian wedding soup,” which acknowledges the cultural origins of the soup and also attests to how popular it is amongst Italians.