“Four-Square” Rules and Children’s Social Space

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 5/1/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

B: So basically, there’s four squares. So each square has a name. So the first square is “baby,” the second one is, “jack,” the third is, “queen,” and the last one is “king.” So basically, the king, serves the ball to the other square, and the ball can only hit your square once. If it hits your square two times then you’re out. And then if it bounces in your square and you hit it to the other square, and if you get that person out, then you move up a square until you’re King. and then all the lines are out, and if the ball hits the line then you’re out. 

Background: 

My informant is my cousin’s 10-year-old son, who is in the fourth grade. He lives in a suburban neighborhood near Des Moines, which is the capital of Iowa. He goes to a public elementary school in his district, where he learned how to play this game from his friend in the third grade. He tells me that he likes this game mostly because of its social aspect; he plays with his friends and converses with them, telling each other stories while they wait for their turns.

Context:

This is a transcript of our conversation over the phone. Lately, he has been telling me stories about what goes on during school, though this conversation was prompted specifically for this collection project. I was curious about what kind of games he plays during school with other kids, and four-square was unsurprisingly brought up.

Thoughts:

Growing up also going to a public elementary school, four-square was a popular recess activity. I was curious about what kind of different rules his school might have for their version of the game and was surprised about how simple and similar it was to my school’s version ten years before him. The main difference was how his school named the squares, which seem to go along with the suits in a deck of cards, aside from “baby.” Our version simply numbered them from 1 to 4, with 1 being the top position (which would be their “king.”) The most fascinating aspect of his story is how four-square was not just a physical activity for kids to burn off the calories of lunch and antsy-ness built up from sitting in class all day, but how it was also a highly social activity. Within our larger conversation, he revealed to me that it was through playing four-square and waiting in line to play four-square that he learned about many other folk stories such as “bloody mary” and the phenomenon of killer clowns from 2016. Thus, children’s games such as this game of four-square can be much more than physical activities to burn off energy. They can represent social spaces where children test each other’s fears and courage.

“Bloody Mary” Test of Courage

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 5/1/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

B: So when I was in kindergarten or first grade, during recess my friends and I would play four-square. So, I was- there’s a line and I was waiting in the line to play. And I heard two boys talking about Bloody Mary. They said you have to say “bloody mary” three times into a mirror, and then she comes out or something.

Me: Could you do this in any mirror or did you have to go in a specific room?

B: You had to do it in the bathroom. But I tried it and nothing happened (laughs the kind of laugh you do when you try something silly).

Me: Why do you think kids tell each other this story?

B: I think part of the reason is because they want to scare each other. And I feel like part of it is also that, they got told it and they got scared, and they want other people to know because they want them to be aware or something.

Me: What thoughts did you have when you tried this?

B: I didn’t have any thoughts, I was like, I’m gonna do this, and I went in the bathroom and turned off the lights and shut the door, and then I started saying it? And then I was like, “this is fake,” and went back out.

Background: 

My informant is my cousin’s 10-year-old son, who is in the fourth grade. He lives in a suburban neighborhood near Des Moines, which is the capital of Iowa. He goes to a public elementary school in his district, where he heard this story. He then tested the theory in the bathroom at his own house. He insinuates that he was never fearful of this story nor did he believe it, and carries this tone throughout his telling of it. 

Context:

This is a transcript of our conversation over the phone. Lately, he has been telling me stories about what goes on during school, though this conversation was prompted specifically for this collection project. I was curious about whether his generation still knew about bloody mary.

Thoughts: 

I was pretty surprised that “Bloody Mary” is still an ongoing tradition/ritual for kids in my informant’s generation. In class, we learned about Dundes’ theory on Bloody Mary’s connection to fears about menstruation in young girls, which explained why so many of my female classmates also knew about this ritual, and how they learned of it when they were in elementary or middle school. Thus, I was slightly surprised that my cousin’s son also knew about Bloody Mary, and that he learned about it from other boys. In this instance, the story of Bloody Mary doesn’t seem to attest to girls’ fears about menstruation, which is a potentially scary and traumatic first experience if not well-prepared for it, but rather, a sort of test of courage for boys. My informant’s commentary on the reason the story is told, which is that the relayer was scared themselves, suggests that some fear may be alleviated when the story is passed onto another person. The act of trying it, then, tests your courage to face this alleged horrifying sight of a bloody woman, which fully alleviates your fear when nothing happens.

For Dundes’ work on Bloody Mary, see:

Dundes, Alan. Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics. University Press of Mississippi, 2002. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2tvfn2. Accessed 1 May 2021. 

The “Golden Rule”

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 5/1/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

B: The golden rule is like “treat others the way you want to be treated,” so that’s the golden rule.

Me: How did you first learn about it?

B: So basically, during soccer, this kid bumped into another kid, because he was trying to get the ball from him. But the other kid- who got bumped into- thought it was on purpose, and he thought the other kid was trying to hurt him or something- so he like- he thought it was on purpose so he tackled him. And then a teacher- she saw it so she came over and she said, “Don’t do that anymore,” and then after we went inside, the principal went to every classroom and said, “Treat others how you want to be treated. If you treat somebody good then they will treat you good back.” So that’s the whole story.

Background: 

My informant is my cousin’s 10-year-old son, who is in the fourth grade. He lives in a suburban neighborhood near Des Moines, which is the capital of Iowa. He goes to a public elementary school in his district, which is where this soccer incident happened. At the time, he was in the 1st grade, and the lesson from it still stays with him today. He tells me that believes in the golden rule, and has applied it in his own life to resolve issues between friends. He explains that every year, he and his friends have a nerf war that involved building forts. Each time, his friends would get into an argument about where and how to build the forts. He tells me that one year, he was tired of them fighting and told them the golden rule, which made them stop, and in his words, “hear each other out.”

Context:

This is a transcript of our conversation over the phone. Lately, he has been telling me stories about what goes on during school, though this conversation was prompted specifically for this collection project. I was curious about what he learned the “golden rule” to be.

Thoughts:

I remember learning about the “golden rule” when I was also in elementary school, though it came from another child on the playground. Often, it was said in an instance where someone was being mean to another person. Hence, it was used as a sort of chiding for bad behavior. It was interesting to find out that my cousin’s son understood and believed the rule to be “treat others how you want to be treated,” as it was relayed to him by teachers, and to also continue the lesson to his friends since another variation I learned from other students was “do unto others how they have done to you,” as a way of justifying revenge. Because the “golden rule” is so ubiquitous, the choice of what its definition is can be very telling of what principle or virtue is valued. In my cousin’s son’s case, kindness is most important. 

Grandma’s Phở Bò Recipe

Nationality: Vietnamese-American
Age: 81
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 4/2/2021
Primary Language: Vietnamese

Main Piece:

*preparing for 15 servings
*total time from start to finish: 3 hours

  • 1lb of beef bones
  • 400g of brisket
  • 250g of beef tenderloin (fillet)
  • 2 large onions
  • 3 limes
  • Thai chilis, green onions
  • Basil, cilantro
  • 50g hoisin sauce
  • 20g sriracha
  • Salt, pepper, MSG or chicken sugar (chicken bouillon)
  • 1lb of rice noodles
  • 300g of raw mung bean sprouts
  • 1 whole ginger = char the skin
  • 3 pieces of star anise
  • 1 small piece of cinnamon or one seasoning packet
  1. Beef bones: soak in warm water to drain the blood out, dump the water and repeat many times
  2. Wash the brisket with water until clean and let the water drain out
  3. Wash the beef tenderloin with water until clean, dry with a paper towel, then put in the refrigerator
  4. Raw mung beans, fresh herbs, Thai chilis and lime: prepare right before serving

Making the Phở Broth

  • Pour 12 large bowls of cold water or a little more in the pot and bring to a boil, at the same time, cook the beef bones and brisket in the pot on medium-low heat while it is uncovered. Watch the pot. Film will occasionally form at the top of the broth, skim it off and discard the film. Skim the film many times. 
  • Turn up the heat little by little so all of the film can form at the top to be removed, keep skimming it off until the water becomes clear. At this stage, you can put in the ginger and onion which should be charred right before putting them in the pot. Season by taste with chicken bouillon, a little salt, and MSG. Lower the heat.

Page Two

  • Use chopsticks to pierce the brisket to test if it is cooked properly. If it pierces through, take the brisket out and rinse with cold water and leave it until it completely cools down, then slice it.
  • Slice the beef tenderloin

*Taste the broth to adjust seasoning as needed and lower the heat to keep the broth at a simmer.

Plating the Phở

  • First put the raw mung bean sprouts in a strainer. Then put the uncooked rice noodles on top, blanch them in boiling water, strain the water and plate both the mung beans and noodles in a bowl. On top, plate the brisket, fillet, sliced onion, and green onion. Also include one piece of green onion about 2-3 inches long cut from the bottom up. 
  • Pour in the broth (brought to a boil before serving), until the raw tenderloin is covered. Add blanket tripe or honeycomb tripe.

Pho has to be eaten very hot with hoisin sauce and sriracha, lime, sliced chilis, cilantro, and basil. 

*Do not use fish sauce to season the broth. It will make the broth taste sour.

*Only add fish sauce to your bowl when you’re eating, if you want to. 

*The seasoning packet is ground star anise and cinnamon. Only add to the broth when the broth is clear (all the film was removed). Leave it in for one hour, then taste for proper seasoning. If it’s good, remove the seasoning packet. 

Background:

This is my grandmother’s recipe for Phở Bò, which is rice noodles in beef broth. It is an iconic dish of Vietnamese cuisine, however, she only started to make it after immigrating to the United States in the 1990s. She explains that in Vietnam, there were phở restaurants everywhere, so there was never a need to make it yourself at home. Further, since the dish takes so long to make and requires so many ingredients, it was not convenient or accessible for the normal citizen to make it themselves. Unless you owned a phở restaurant, you were not cooking this dish at home. Thus, after immigrating, because the abundance of phở restaurants and general Vietnamese cuisine was no longer a given, my grandmother, like most other Vietnamese people in the diaspora, had to learn how to cook certain dishes themselves. It was through sharing knowledge with others and the coming of the internet that helped my grandmother develop her recipe over time. It is a loved dish for her to make and share with our (very large) family.

Context:

I have been able to visit my grandmother from time to time during the pandemic. It was during one visit where she shared this recipe with me.

Thoughts:

This is one of my favorite foods to eat, so I am delighted to have my grandmother’s recipe. Phở has always been a source of comfort and also healing for when I’m sick. Because so much effort and time are poured into the dish, as well as eating it while it’s practically boiling, the warmth of the cook shines through the meal. I also love phở because a person’s recipe can tell you a lot about their history and where they came from. The inclusion of fresh herbs, lime, among many other toppings shows that this particular recipe follows the style of phở from the southern region of Vietnam. I’ve also had the northern version, which is also delicious, but slightly different in its simplicity: very few toppings are included and the broth is made with a stronger spice base. Furthermore, this dish has changed drastically over time as new variations appear along with newly gained access to more ingredients. The Huy Fong Sriracha is now a staple topping in the southern style phở but clearly was not included in the earlier versions preceding its creation in 1980. Now, you may see variations of phở adorned with lobsters, other seafood, accommodating vegetarian or vegan diets, and many more. Tracking the differences in these variations can thus reveal changes in people’s circumstances, tastes, and trends.

High School Senior Prank

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Iowa
Performance Date: 4/12/2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Me: So at your high school, senior year, some of the kids made a slip and slide?

J: Yeah… so basically, right by the cafeteria there’s this.. ramp? For some reason? And people would just (laughs) set up the slip and slide there and they got– I think they got like water, or maybe it was– no, I think it was water. And they just created this slip and slide and they all just went down it. And a lot of people recorded it on their snapchats but I did not partake, because I was a good student. And also, I did not run in those crowds, so I wouldn’t do something like that (laughs) so uh… I didn’t participate but I did see it happen. I think another thing people did was… I heard stories about people, like, setting like, baby chicks into the hallways (laughs) and letting them roam through the school, but I’m not even sure if that’s true. But I feel like I heard about that. 

Me: So the slip and slide thing, it wasn’t like a slip and slide that you could buy? People just set up water and went down the ramp?

J: No, I think they set up a tarp, or some sort of rubber or something– but then they ran– I don’t know if it was water or… it was some sort of liquid or some sort of substance and then they all like ran through– they all dived down the ramp (laughing). It was like all the popular kids at my school, like all the jocks and whatnot. 

Background:

My informant is a senior at USC as of the year 2021 and is from the same state as me (Iowa) in a city not too far from my hometown in the capital. He attended a public high school in a suburban neighborhood, where he witnessed this prank during his senior year. He expresses that he did not participate in the prank, as a certain “crowd” of students were the ones who initiated and participated in it. He explains that it was started by the “popular” kids at his school, who were mostly the student-athletes and other kids who were infamous throughout the school for pulling such pranks. He tells me that he recalls administrators bolting past him in the hallways, which he now realizes was in response to this prank. It is now a funny memory for him, though he was never one to participate in it.

Context:

This is a transcript of our conversation over zoom. My informant has been a mentor for me throughout the year, and this story came up during one of our bi-weekly meetings where we catch up with each other on life and school.

Thoughts:

I like this story because it is something that I never got to experience. Unfortunately, my senior year of high school was cut short due to the pandemic, so the opportunity for a senior prank was slim. However, it’s nice to hear others’ stories because these pranks are almost always humorous and can get outrageous. I also feel that this senior prank is a good example of the liminal period. Because high school seniors, in their last stretch of high school, are in the process of transitioning from one identity to another, they are caught in a state of being identity-less. They are not quite high school students anymore, but they also have not assumed the identity of a college student, or have started a professional career yet. Being identity-less can bring great freedom, but also feelings of tension and stress. Pranks are thus a vehicle for relieving this stress. Creating a slip and slide in the middle of a hallway in the school is a clear example of a prank that can alleviate the stress of this transition while enjoying the rebellious freedom of finishing high school. Further, I also find the dichotomy of the participants and the observers in this story interesting. Rather than being a prank that all seniors partook in, the prank was mostly controlled by a group of students that are stereotypically thought of as more powerful than other students. This may suggest that the freedom to rebel may not be something that all students feel they possess. Despite this, all of the seniors enjoyed the prank whether they participated in it or observed it.