I Like your Cut-G

Informant: The informant is my sibling, a Mexican American boy who is 14 years old and currently an 8th grader at a charter school in Los Angeles California. 

Context: The following transcript is a conversation between him and me and his explanation of why he got hit on his head that day at school. I will be referring to him as J in the following transcript of our conversation. 

Transcript: 

Me: Can you explain what exactly was done to you today?

J: Today I got hit on the back of my head by one of my friends. He said he did it because I got a new haircut and he liked it. This is usually done to someone who gets a new haircut at school. What happens is that when someone has a new haircut they get hit in the back of the head. The person who hits the person with the new haircut, yells: “I like your Cut-G! I think it’s sort of like meaning that they like your new haircut, but instead of coming upfront and telling each other, we hit each other. Most of this is done with only the guys because the girls don’t hit each other, nor do they come up to us guys to hit us. There are also even videos on Youtube, and I think it even became a trend on TikTok reactions or something. Like even there are sounds for this.

Analysis: I really didn’t find this meme to be all that interesting, but upon analyzing it a bit more, I noticed that this meme stems from stereotyping of boys/men. Men/boys are always taught to never really reveal much of their feeling or talk too much because “that not what men do.” This meme demonstrates how instead of kids and male adults telling each other that they like their haircut, there is this “touch love idea” or more of bro code that is being made when they out of a sudden hit their heads. There is this idea that because it is tough that it is cool.

Bubble Gum Bubble Gum in the Dish

Informant: The informant is my sibling, a Mexican American boy who is 14 years old and currently an 8th grader at a charter school in Los Angeles California. 

Context: My informant explains that this verse is usually present when there has to be an “it.” For example, when playing hide and seek or tag. In addition, he also stated that this rhyme is more common with the girls.

Transcript:

J: “When you are going to play a game of hide and seek or freeze tag and you need to choose a person, everyone has to put their shoe in the middle (puts foot in middle) then you say …” Bubblegum bubblegum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?” Each syllable goes around someone shoes. Whoever it lands on has to pick a number and then it continues until that number is reached. Whoever it lands on gets out until the last person is left. and that last person is choose as the “it””

Analysis: I’m surprise that this verse is still used up to this day. I would have thought that this would have died a long time ago, but it hasn’t. This is due to the fact that children teach other children how to go along with these rhymes. In this rhyme it is evident that it is performed in order to be fair and has this element of destiny to it. It prevents children or even teenagers from fighting because there is no way that there could have been cheating.

Freeze Tag

Informant: The informant is my sibling. A Mexican American boy who is 14 years old and currently an 8th grader at a charter school in Los Angeles California. 

Context: The following excerpt is a conversation that happened when both of us were discussing some of our favorite school recess games. One of them froze tag and the following transcript describes how he remembered playing freeze tag in elementary school. In the excerpt I refer my sibling as J.

Transcript:

J: “When my class or group of friends played, I remember specifically that it was always a girl vs boys tag. It was really fun because it was always a competition to prove who was the best. The tagger is chosen at random, and they have to try to run around as quickly as possible to catch or freeze the runners. When someone was tagged what happened next, is that they are frozen there on the spot and they have to be unfreezed by their teammates. If you see your teammate being freezed, then you have to make the decision of either risking yourself.”

Analysis: Having played this version when I myself in the past brought a lot of nostalgia. My sibling and I have an age difference of 6 years old. Therefore, seeing how much this game has kept the same demonstrates just how much this game has become almost like given tradition. Freeze tag is something that every child should or at least all of them experience. Because there is a lot of running: the child who is the “it” is able to develop critical thinking skills to “touch” the runner. In addition, there is a lot of social skills that are developed as there has to be communication between the runners in order to save themselves from the “it.” When it come to the competition of both sexes, I think it just demonstrates how both are being able to explore their identities.

La Senora de Blanco

Informant: My informant is my Mexican dad, who grew up in Puebla, Mexico. Although he has had many experiences with seeing spirits or potentials ghost, he retells me an interaction that he had with potential with a ghost on a day that he went to work at the same apartment in which we have been living for the past 21 years. 

 Context: This event happened in 2019. The following transcripts come from a conversation between me and my dad (S). He retells the story of a potential ghost that he might have seen one day when he left to work, and how he recalls this interaction to not have been scary, but rather more of a surprise to him. He recalls that in this interaction, it felt almost as if he knew the woman in white, or at least they had interacted in the past. 

Text: 

Me: Oye papá, cuéntame algo interesante. Nunca te has topado con un fantasma o has oído de una historia de fantasmas? 

S: Si, si me he topado con uno. No se si te acuerdas pero te había contado tu y tu mama de esa señora de blanco que me la encontre aca abajo de la escaleras donde vivimos. Eran las 4:30am de la mañana y ves que me voy temprano al trabajo. Pos ese dia era como cualquier otro dia. Me bañe, me cambie, y los dejó dormidos. Iba yo bajando las escaleras y luego vi una señora de blanco. Era con una estatura de casi igual que yo, flaquita y como con vibra buena. Bueno y cuando me la tope, le dije buenos días. Y medio me contestó pero no le podía yo ver la cara para nada, porque estaba tapada como con un reboso. Y ves como los que se ponen aya en pueblito. Después, le abrí la puerta, y se pasó. Nomas que vez que yo camino para el carro. Ella se fue de la tercera, y yo me fui para la seis. Ni un minutos paso y ya no estaba! 

Translations of the text: 

Me: Hey dad, tell me something interesting. Have you ever encountered a ghost or have you heard of a ghost? 

S: Yes, I have come across one. I don’t know if you remember but you and your mom had told you about that lady in white that I found here downstairs where we live. It was 4:30 in the morning and you see that I leave early for work. Well, that day was like any other day. I showered, changed, and left you guys asleep. I was going down the stairs and then I saw a lady in white. She was about the same height as me, thin, and with like-good vibes. Well, and when I ran into her, I said good morning. And she half answered me but I couldn’t see her face at all, because it was covered as if with a shawl of some kind. You know like those in my little town. After, I opened the door for her, and she walked outside. You know how I walk to the car. She left through third street and I left to the other side of our street. Not even a minute passed and she wasn’t there anymore! 

Analysis: I believe this ghost story because there are so many people who have claimed to have seen a woman in white as well. Although it is of course not with the same textures of clothes or in the same place, it all just seems to be really due to the fact that my informant remembers every detail of it. Due to the fact, that my informant states that they weren’t really scared of it, but much more felt some sort of warmth to this spiritual being came to a surprise. If I had been in the shoes of my dad, I would have tried to not even talk to the woman, due to the fact that she was stranger. However, based on his spiritual encounter it proves to see that not everyone is prone to be scared of these experiences.

Mexican Riddles

Informant: My informant is my Mexican dad who grew up in Puebla, Mexico.

Main Piece: Soy negrito cuando me prenden me pongo rojito…que soy? 

Transliteration: I’m black when they catch me I wear red

Translation: I’m black when I light up, but then I turn red…What am I?

Context: This riddle can be present anywhere, but it mostly present whenever there are festivals or birthday parties. My dad learned this when he was in Mexico, and it was told to him by his friend during the 1980’s. The answer to this would be coal.

Analysis: I don’t know where exactly this riddle originates from, but I am more than sure that there has to be some racism or stereotyping to this kind of riddle. I believe this because based on the date in which it was told to my dad, that was when racism was pretty heavy in the U.S. In addition, it was also a times were the Latino community and the black community would come to find themselves to come clashing a lot to each other. Although, my dad is not aware of this, when he presents this riddle, he innocently believes that there is nothing wrong. Of course, if you don’t know history of the U.S, then yeah you are left in the clouds.