Tag Archives: high school

Toga & Techie Scream

Text: “At my high school, in drama club, before every show, the tech crew had very special and sacred traditions. Now before every show our crew got together in the hallways behind the audortiam and do a little thing called “toga” or “techie yoga” while the actors were away doing their vocal warmups. It was usally led by the stage managers. It was to loosen up before the shows, we would do all kinds of stretches. Following thw toga, was my favorite part, the techie scream. Now this was to get out all frustration from the heavy work of tech week. The stage manager would lift up their hands and you would scream as loud as you can and get out all frustrations. You would conclude the screaming when the stage managers hands were back down. We would do this before every show for all of the 4 years i’d been there. It was started a long time before I got there and am pretty sure it still occurs today.

Context: AL went to Arlington High School in upstate New York, and their drama club was called Admiral Players – as their mascot was an Admiral. The tech crew would do a yoga routine to stretch out and get loose before everyshow and would also finish with a scream to get out any frustration from the grueling tech week.

Analysis: This tradition shows how the tech crew made their own way to bond and deal with the stress of putting on a show. The techie yoga and the techie scream helped people relax, stretch, and let out frustration from a long tech week. Even though it seems goofy, doing it was something everyone looked forward to. Because it was done every year, it also became a tradition that connected different groups of students over time. It made new students feel included and became bonding with everyone during this tradition. It shows how small rituals like this can make people feel closer and turn a stressful experience into something more fun and memorable.

“Dale Boys”

Text:

D: “[at school] We were the Dale boys.”

C: “Because you were bussed in?”

D: “We were bussed in so we didn’t have our own high school so we were bussed in so we were from Riverdale so they call us the Dale boys, the people from the other side of the tracks. People from the other side the tracks were considered poor. And so we were from the other side of track because we weren’t canola, smoke rise, the rich kids.”

Context:

My dad grew up in a poorer town in New Jersey called Riverdale. The town/district didn’t have their own high school, so the kids in Riverdale were bussed into the nearest town’s high school. That town was much wealthier than Riverdale, and classism and elitism were always present between the two groups. My dad and the other Italian kids from Riverdale were called the “Dale Boys” to mock and patronize them for being different and less wealthier.

Analysis:

The name “Dale Boys” is simultaneously both an esoteric and exoteric. It was esoteric in the way that it connected all the kids from the wealthier town and made them “better” than the kids from Riverdale. It communicated a sense of superiority within the group. “Dale Boys” is also exoteric in the sense that it was a way for the bullies to communicate their distaste to the “outsiders” – the kids bussed in.

High School Coming-of-Age Rite

Text:

H: “Each class had its color, like I was the yellow class. So there was like a spirit day where you all wore your colors and at the end of the day, the seniors would jump in [a big fountain on the school’s campus] first and with all their kilts on – like our uniform kilts – and no one else was allowed to wear their kilt. And like they were allowed to go in the water like class by class you went in. So like senior, junior, sophomore, freshman, but like only the seniors could wear their kilt. And that was like a fun thing to jump in the pool ’cause like you weren’t really, the pool wasn’t used. It wasn’t like used for swim practice; it was only used this day. Yeah, it was like a fountain type thing. So yeah, if you were senior, you could wear your kilt. And I remember one year, like a freshman wore her kilt and she was like heavily trash talked, ’cause you’re not supposed to do that. It’s like a respect thing.“

Context:

H went to an all-girls high school in Philadelphia. Every grade level was assigned a color, and on spirit day they would wear their colors and jump into the school’s fountain in grade level order. However, only seniors were allowed to jump into the fountain wearing their kilt – a special piece of the school uniform.

Analysis:

High school seniors exist in a space of liminality: they are in-between youth and adulthood. Because they exist in the doorway between identities, many rites of passages are created to celebrate and commemorate the time. “Communitas” is created because of the special bond seniors form together as they transpire the liminality between youth and adulthood. This establishes sacredness of rites of passage. They are something to be earned that one cannot attain prior to their own existence in liminality. That is why students at H’s school would become very upset if a non-senior wore their kilt while jumping into the fountain – the ritual is being broken and its sacredness is being tarnished.

Spirit of the Woods

Text:
KK: So, in high school, I used to live in a neighborhood that was known for having a soccer field, right? And the soccer field–I never did this, of course–in high school, a lot of people would go to the soccer field late at night to host these things that they would call “wood parties.” Basically, at the end of the soccer field there’s this long path, and you go straight into the woods from there. And people would go into the woods and they’d basically have this free-for-all where they’d drink, they’d do a lot of things, they’d hook up with people, whatever. Late at night, towards the end of my senior year, one of my friends went to one of these wood parties, and she said that there was this person in the woods that would follow the people who would stray from the group. And they could hear, like, the crunching of leaves, and they would hear, like–I don’t know what it was, but they would describe it as this wood spirit, or something, that would follow them if they were not in their group.”

Context:
KK: The context, I would think–I’m not saying she made it up, but– I’m pretty sure that, I think they were nervous cuz they would go pretty deep into the woods to hide from cops and stuff like that (laughs). So, I’m not sure if this wood spirit was maybe like, a manifestation of their fears towards getting caught by authority. But they would say that it would like, take their drinks and it would do certain things–but um, it was interesting cuz I think they were afraid of getting caught so they were very anxious. So people would say that they would notice certain things going on at their wood parties. You know, it was also a bunch of drunk teenagers, so. I don’t know.

Analysis: I think there’s definitely some value to KK’s theories about why this spirit was believed in. For high schoolers rebelling by drinking in the woods, it makes complete sense that superstitions surrounding a spirit of the forest would arise–it’s a very common set-up to spooky stories and horror movies, and the anxiety is understandable. I also think most forests and wooded areas tend to hold a bit of fear and/or mysticism for humans, and the idea of a spirit of the woods is also extremely common.

Acronyms – OCSA

Text: “OCSA” – “IA,” “MT,” “DM,” “CV,” “CMD,” “DMS,” “VA,” etc.

Context: CS is a 21 year-old college student from Southern California who attended the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana. This school is referred to by its acronym, “OCSA” (pronounced “osha”), and is made up of many different acronyms for the different artistic focuses the school offers. CS discusses being identified by the acronym of the school, as well as one’s artistic focus–acronyms, at this school, become a shorthand for what kind of person an individual is, and what stereotype that person might fulfill. For instance, a Musical Theater (“MT”) student might be seen as highly competitive, whereas a Visual Arts (“VA”) student might be assumed to be much more reserved and introverted than other students. Other acronyms listed above include Integrated Arts (“IA”), Digital Media (“DM”), Classical Voice (“CV”), Commerical Dance (“CMD”), and the Dance, Music, and Science building (the “DMS”).

Analysis: It’s interesting how the proliferation of acronyms at this school led to a kind of stereotyping or role-assigning, almost similar to the clique stereotypes seen at other high schools. CS discussed quizzing substitute teachers on the acronyms of the school, and assimilating quickly to the culture of the school through learning acronyms–she also discussed the panic of not recognizing an acronym that someone identified themselves with. The acronyms, at this school, very much make up a part of student identity and represent being part of an in-group. Not recognizing acronyms or not conforming to the common stereotype of one’s acronym could result in ostracization or judgement from peers, functioning as an extension of the high school social eco-system, rather than something passive outside of it.