The Charro Ride – Reconnection to Western Roots

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: RBC Branch Manager
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 15, 2017
Primary Language: English

Formed in 1961, The Scottsdale Charros are an all-volunteer, nonprofit group of business and civic leaders in Scottsdale, Arizona that support youth sports, education and charitable causes. From the very beginning, the Charros—by their very name—meaning gentlemen riders, embodies the Scottsdale’s 1947 slogan, “The West’s Most Western Town.”. My father is a member of this group and I have grown up around their traditions and celebration of western culture. Most notably, I remember their annual ride, so I asked my father to explain further what it is, and what it’s purpose is.

“We have been doing it {the ride} for fifity five years. We put together the Charro ride where we have 150 civic minded leaders and take them on a three day horseback ride somewhere unique in the state of Arizona, whether it be a ranch, a forest or a desert. We have been all over the state, a different place every year. It is way for people to get to know our state and see places they wouldn’t normally see. A way for us to appreciate our home and its beauty and to engage community leaders with our state and for them to get to know its beauty. It is a weeklong horseback ride because it’s a way to connect with our western heritage and to live life like a cowboy. Day one the guests arrive by bus, and we meet them, then we give them a horse and ride from there to camp, which is a permanent site with tents and a kitchen, and we camp out under the stars and wake up the next day and go on an all-day trail ride. It’s a very traditional ride. There are events for the rookie riders, like each year they have to do something to entertain us like they do funny skits and things to entertain us, someone is in charge of organizing that, and on the last day we all have a gymkana which is a horseback skills challenge, like a mini rodeo, so you’ll race around the track,, run around the barrels, sort cattle and do different cowboys skills challenges. This happens on the last day, then the wives show up and have a big party in camp.”

 

Analysis:

This is a festival of sorts celebrating and performing Western heritage and traditions. It is a group of men from the Scottsdale and Phoenix area who are civic leaders or participants who meet to engage with their shared Western traditions. It is put on by the Scottsdale Charros, a non-profit group, and participated in by Charro members and non-members alike, however they are all men. It is meant to celebrate the cowboy heritage and traditions of Arizona by participating in a long horse ride, rodeo competitions and sleeping out under the stars like herders of yore. It is the same traditions every year, however in a different place, as part of the festival is to celebrate the beauty and diversity of Arizona landscapes from deserts to forests. It is a community experience to reconnect with cowboy culture for people who shape the community and therefore should be in connection with their community’s traditions and culture. It takes place in the fall, just before winter when the heat has died down and for a week. It is performing the identity of being a member of the Scottsdale/Phoenix community and the identity of living in the southwest.

Parada Del Sol, Western Heritage Parade

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: RBC Branch Manager
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 15, 2017
Primary Language: English

The Parada Del Sol is an annual parade in Scottsdale, Arizona. My father is an active, yearly participant since he was very young.

Me: What is the Parada Del Sol?

TC: The Parada Del Sol, has been around for a very long time and it’s the larget horse drawn parade in the country. And it’s also, when I was a kid, the parade coincided with the parade del sol rodeo, so the parade was on Saturday and the rodeo is the Saturday and Sunday. It’s in the springtime and runs through Old Towne Scottsdale. Different equeestrain groups from around Arizona, different government  figures, and civic groups like Native American groups and the Sherrif’s posse and the Scottsdale charros and girl scout groups all walk or ride in the parade. The streets are lined with spectators and it’s an all day affair.

Me: What is the purpose of the parade?
The purpose is to maintain the western heritage of Scottsdale. We are the west’s most western city and have a lot of pride in our western heritage. It’s a combination of our cowboy history, Native American history and Mexican history that makes up the culture of our state and we are celebrating that to remind people of the greatness of our state and to let the kids know where they are living and the history and culture that is found here in Arizona and especially Scottsdale.

Me: Who chooses the parade participants?

TC: A non-profit group has run the parade since the beginning. A committee that runs the parade chooses the participants, it’s a non-government group. It’s a lot of same groups every year with new members, but there is a lot of new groups that pop up.

Analysis:

Festivals and parades are great ways to express identity, whether of a nation or town. They bring together elements they deem important to their identity and display and perform that for everyone to see. The participants are either performing some aspect of their identity or the spectators are watching and passively participating. This festival is expressing the western identity of Scottsdale, Arizona and of Arizona in general by parading members of the community from all walks of life that express western culture. Whether that be an Apache group in traditional dress or the Sherif’s Posse in traditional cowboy dress on horseback. They are expressing and celebrating what they believe is their western culture. People of all backgrounds attend and participate, therefore it is an inclusive celebrating that projects a sense of community around the shared past of the state. It’s put on by a cultural group and participated in by the general public. The parade occurs in the spring when it is starting to warm up again, the name Parada Del Sol in Spanish means parade of the sun, Scottsdale, Arizona is known for its heat and it is something that all Arizonans know and consider part of their identity, that is this shared experience of the extreme heat. Therefore the sun is an important part of their daily lives. The rodeo (it does not happen anymore), is another performance and celebration of Western heritage as Arizona is the birthplace of the Rodeo,which stems from competition based on real life skills needed in cattle ranching. Therefore a rodeo is a large part of the community celebration of western heritage and tradition.

 

A Goat Rope – A Southwestern Metaphor

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: RBC Branch Manager
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: March 17, 2017
Primary Language: English

“That’s a goat rope”

Folk metaphors are comparisons made between two unlike things for effect, in this case a folk metaphor from my father who spends a lot of time on cattle ranches in rural Arizona. He has lived in Arizona all his life, and is an amateur cowboy.

Me: When you say something’s a goat rope what does that mean?

TC: It means that something not right, that it’s a mess or it’s too difficult to be bothered with. Something that you cannot change, but is something annoying to deal with. Something that is difficult and not easy and not quite right.

Me: When would you use it?

TC: When I saw something that wasn’t right or was a mess or a situation that is irritating. For example the parking lot at Costco today was a goat rope, because it was crowded and disorganized and people were driving stupid.

Me: Where did you learn it?

TC: I don’t know where I learned it from. I mean, have you ever tried to rope a goat? It’s hard and they are smelly and irritating. Therefore, a goat rope. Maybe I learned it on the ranch, I don’t know.

Analysis:

Folk similes are usually connected to tabooistic vocabulary, that is words we arrant supposed to talk about, however in this case it is most certainly not. It is almost an occupational or niche simile as it has to do with ranching. The average person has never had to rope a goat (referring to the practice of tying a goat’s legs together either for competition or transportation) and therefore would not understand the difficulty of roping one, and therefore the meaning of the simile would be lost on them. Therefore, it almost becomes an identity simile, those who have worked on ranches would understand its meaning,, but an outsider would not. The simile is applied to non-ranching circumstances like an irritating parking lot or a busy airport, this fact is interesting as it is the person using their ranching identity outside the ranch and most likely to a person who would understand.

 

The Room cult movie experience

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Cinema Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: February 4th, 2017
Primary Language: English

The Room is an authored film that is colloquially known as the worst movie ever made, so people now go to it and taken out of it’s context by the people. The audience has made up responses for actions that happen on scene. It hasn’t come from the filmmakers, but an experience created by people. At certain moments the audience yells things, repeats lines, or moves to a certain part of the theatre. It’s at the same theatre in Westwood every first Saturday of the month. I interviewed a friend who has been to several screenings and who brought me to one in February.

Me. “Please explain the experience of attending a screening of The Room.”

LD: “People go to a screening of The Room, which has turned into a cult film and you say certain things at certain times. You throw plastic spoons at the screen when the picture of the spoon appears on screen. You go to the screening at midnight and it’s in . . . what’s it called Brentwood? No Westwood, and you bring a ton of plastic spoons and um the movie starts and, there are certain things you yell at certain parts of the movie, it’s all super improvised by the people who go, every time you go it’s a different experience, the best part is when you throw spoons at the screen when the picture of the spoon comes on. Every time you see water, you yell water. Every time they leave the door open, you yell shut the door. It’s the worst movie ever made, so you are making fun of it the whole time. “

Me “How did you hear about it?

LD: “I had friends who had started going to it, then they invited me, then I went. I like it because it’s funny and it’s like a community experience and it’s just like um you and all your friends and it’s interactive and entertaining and different and super weird. It’s just like a fun niche film thing to do.

Analysis:

Laura took me to this event one Saturday and it was quite an experience. I came prepared with plastic spoons and zero expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. Our crowd of “hecklers” was apparently very creative, coming up with creative catcalls that aren’t a part of the usual experience. Throwing spoons at the screen felt like spoons were raining down upon you. You got the feeling that people were repeat goers and knew the ropes. I eventually got the hang of it, and was able to participate, but you pretty much had to know what was going on to participate. It is an indoctrinating thing, you automatically know who has done this before and who hasn’t. It isn’t the same experience every time, depending on the showing and the people, different catcalling goes on. So there is multiplicity and variation going on and it is something that originated from the fans. It is similar to the experience of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Annotation: If you desire to participate, there are screenings of The Room all over the country. In Los Angeles here is the link:

https://www.landmarktheatres.com/los-angeles/regent-theatre/film-info/the-room

 

Southwestern Simile

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: RBC Branch Manager
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 15, 2017
Primary Language: English

“It’s hotter than a snack’s ass in a wagon rut.”

I first heard this simile at a gathering of cattle ranchers in my home town of Phoenix, Arizona when I was quite young. I didn’t understand at the time and it had to be explained. I asked my father to explain what it meant again, and when he would use it.

Me: “Explain what this means, it’s quite a weird saying.”

TC:  “When it rains in the desert, the wagons or cars make ruts in a dirt road, and in a desert those ruts dry and crack and the bottom of those ruts gets really hot, hotter than the road and snakes like to sleep in them because they like hot surfaces and their belly’s are their ass and that is what lays in the wagon rut so, it’s hotter than a snake’s ass in a wagon rut.”

Me: “When would you use it?”

TC: “I would use it when it is really, really hot outside. Not just an average hot day, like an August day in the desert at one hundred and fifteen degrees dry heat.”

Analysis:

Similes are used to compare two unlike things and therefore, this folk simile is comparing the underbelly of a snake in a wagon rut to the extreme heat of a desert. The informant being from a desert is important here as truly only desert dwellers would understand or speak about the extreme heat to one another, therefore this becomes performing one’s identity of being from or living in a desert. Additionally not everywhere has snakes so again, part of the desert dweller identity of speaking of desert occurrences. It is a clever and fun way to speak about the horribly uncomfortable heat and create community by expressing disdain for the heat in a group. Additionally, this phrase was heard among cattle ranchers and other outdoorsmen and therefore again could have stemmed from people spending time out in the desert and then passed on to people in the city.

Annotation: This simile can be heard in the film Good Morning Vietnam, by Robin William’s character Adrain Cronauer when giving a weather report for his radio show.