Tag Archives: kids

“Please Take One”

Context: While in class, a student and I discussed creepy Halloween events that occurred when we were kids. They shared with me that there was one old house that always had a bowl of candy in the front, but it never looked like anyone was in the house.

Text:

“During Halloween, we would always go to my friend’s house — this was in middle school — she lived near a swamp in Connecticut. All the houses were very spaced out, and so trick or treating would be really fun because we would always chat and play music in between each house. But it would be scary because it would get dark and we’d have to sprint from one house to another.

There was always one house that was haunted on the walk because it had a basket outside. It was probably an old lady that didn’t want to come to the door, so she’d leave some candy outside, but it was always good candy.

So each year, we would force someone to go and we’d always stand outside like ‘Okay…who’s going to do it?’ And they would sprint up to the house and grab the candy as fast as possible. We’d make them go for everybody, and we’d always look in the windows because we were scared. The basket had a sign that said “please take one”. So we’d take one and then we’d be like [to the person who’d been selected] you have to get another one.”

Analysis:

This was a humorous tale that reminded me of Halloween kids in movies, who always naturally name the house that doesn’t look like the others as “haunted.” It’s so interesting how children can come up with monsters and their own cautionary tales. Despite knowing the risk, they still advocate for the cause, which in this case was the candy. On the flip side, I’m curious whether the possible adult in this case recognized the repetitive initiation and played along by letting the kids be kids. Additionally, our discussions about popular culture’s influence may have encouraged kids to test this theory more often during a scary event (movies like Scooby Doo and Goosebumps).

Sparkling Cider


Text: “A family traditional of mine is that the sparkling apple cider to me is such a special thing because I used to only drink it during like holidays and stuff and like family get-togethers. I would drink it at Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter. Basically anytime that there was like a holiday dinner. I didn’t drink sparkling apple cider unless it’s a holiday or something. Even still today I only have it at special occasions, but now I’m an adult I can choose when is special. Like my friends and I we did a little gingerbread house night and I brought it. I brought a bottle just cause I was like this is a special event to me, so I’m gonna bring this. But my grandma used to get us these little glasses that we would use for kids so that we had our own fancy glass instead of giving us a wine glass. My dad would do the same thing for us at New Years, so when the ball drops and it starts the new year we all drink the champagne, even though it’s sparkling cider, but it made us feel like we were drinking champagne.”

Context: AL’s parents and grandparents would by them and their sibling sparkling cider for every holiday. It would be in fancy glasses and made the kids feel like they were drinking champaign. Despite being an adult now and being legally able to drink champaign, AL still sees sparkling cider as a fancy drink. They now get it themselves for whatever they deam a special event – whether with family or with friends.

Analysis: This beverage became a tradition that was not just fun, but made kids seem a part of adult culture, such as making them have similar looking drinks on New Years like champagne, and made kids feel included. This tradition became so beloved after being repatead a plethora of holidays for years that it became a huge part into positive and important celebrations that now AL has transported the beverage to have it at multiple fun events that they deem important. Therefore expanding the tradition. This can show that tradition can be expanded from repition and positve beliefs around the topic.

Star Wars Game

Text: When my mom was a kid she says she and the neighbor kids would play a lot of Star Wars. They would use finger guns and run around and chase after each other and shout. “I mean, it wasn’t very sophisticated.” She said there were probably at max 5 or 6 kids. I asked if they would pretend to be storm troopers and her memory of it was that they all wanted to be all the heroes, and so nobody was really the storm troopers. It wasn’t like a show and picking roles, it was kinda just climbing the fences and being weirdos. “What I remember most is kind of like running up on the dirt hill and leaping off of it. you know, kind of making noises and throwing your finger guns in the air. You know, I mean, it was just very… ridiculous and innocuous and probably look stupid as could be.” My mom was always resistant because she wanted to be Luke, but since she was a girl everyone wanted her to be Leia. 

Context: My mom is 49, white, and when this story was taking place lived in North Idaho (she moved to Washington when she was 9). I asked if when they played they would reenact the movie? Her response was that they had only seen it once, not the 82,000 times we can today, so someone would go “I think this happens, then someone else goes, no, it was this way, and no one really knows because you’ve only seen it once.” 

Analysis: In this childhood memory we see the folk taking back canonized culture. They had probably only seen the film one but that didn’t really matter. They took this commercial media and made it their own, creating a game that was inspired by the original media but took off on its own from there. They are active consumers in the decoding of this media, as Stuart Hall would say, even if they didn’t know it. My mother even used it to start negotiating identity, not wanting to be boxed into playing the princess because she was the only girl, something she has mentioned multiple times. The Frankfurt school was worried about cultural hegemony, and while there is a point to be made that this might be an example of a way that mass media can be used to influence children at a young age I would argue this is actually people at a young age taking media and turning it into something of their own. Creating their own personal variations of something they love even when they only saw the movie once.

The “Phantom Gator” of Fort Myers Florida

Nationality: Phillipino
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Fort Myers, Florida
Performance Date: 04/04/23
Primary Language: English

Text: “According to this legend, The Phantom Gator was once a real alligator that roamed the swamps many years ago. One day, it was caught in a poacher’s trap and killed. However, the spirit of the alligator refused to leave its home in the swamp and instead stayed behind as a vengeful ghost. It is said that The Phantom Gator can be seen on quiet nights, swimming through the dark waters of the swamp, its ghostly form visible just beneath the surface. Those who have seen it describe it as an eerie sight, with glowing eyes and a shimmering, translucent body. There was also a related story about a neighbor boy being attacked by the ghost of this alligator and I was told as a child to not go near the reserve where this attack occurred. I obviously didn’t really believe in the ghost alligator necessarily but I was absolutely terrified of the reserve and the whole swamp area and did not go near it.”

Context: It sounded as though this legend was more of a friend group thing but interestingly enough JD claimed it was first told to him by one of his cousins when he was very young (8 or 9). JD, being superstitious was adamant in telling me he “never went near the swamp” that the phantom gator reportedly resided in, even though he was not too quick to believe a ghost alligator was the true danger. But, out of his friend group he seemed to believe the story the most and feared the swamp it related to the most. He said some of his friends had went over near the swamp to explore but he didn’t come along just because he didn’t want to risk anything. He thinks he was so afraid because he got told the story when he was young and only told his friends about it later in life when they were already more mature and grown up.

Analysis: When being told this legend I thought it was very possible that it may have been created as a cautionary tale to warn people about the dangers of the swamps and the alligators that inhabit them. Alligators are common in Florida and can be dangerous if approached or provoked, especially for children who may not be aware of the risks. In this context, the story of the Phantom Gator may have been a way for parents and elders to scare children into staying away from the swamps and avoiding dangerous situations. By instilling a healthy respect and fear of the alligators, parents may have hoped to protect their children from harm. It was likely that the story would have been passed down orally through generations, with each teller adding their own embellishments and twists to the tale. It may have also been shared among different communities and social groups, becoming a popular topic of discussion and a way to bond over shared folklore and mythology in a more general sense. This definitely seemed like a more small scale legend, but because the group that spreads it believes in it and it has yet to be proven untrue, it should be considered a legend. I also think it is likely that similar legends pop up all around Florida by parents hoping to deter their kids from wandering into potentially dangerous areas like swamps.

El Cucuy-The monster: Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 3/23/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Text: 

Me: “Within your Mexican culture, did you grow up hearing any scary stories?”

EC: “um yeah, it’s pretty crazy how affected we were by it actually. My parents always used to tell us about El Cucuy. My parents used to use it to scare me and my siblings from going to unsupervised places. It’s supposed to be a monster that scares kids”.

Me: “Ok, so was it like a generalized monster? Like did it have a name?”

EC: “yeah, it’s super generalized, El Cucuy literally translates to monster so it didn’t have a name. My parents would just say “don’t go over there! The Cucuy will get you!”

Translation: “The monster”

Context (informant’s relationship to the piece, where they heard it, how they interpret it):

-EC’s relationship to this piece stems from her Mexican culture within her childhood home considering this legend is said primarily in Mexico, Spain, and other Latin American countries. EC would hear this legend at home, at family gatherings, from her aunts, or from a random person that was attempting to warn her from going anywhere she wasn’t supposed to. EC interprets this legend as a scaring tactic that parents use to control the ways in which their kids behave. Not to mention, EC interprets this legend as a light-hearted joke that tells kids to ultimately listen to their parents. 

Analysis (what kind of personal, cultural, or historical values might be expressed) YOUR interpretation:

-The overall cultural value within this legend stems from the various origin stories that can be told considering it is a popular phenomenon among Mexico, Spain, and other Latin American households. Not to mention, the cultural value can be seen within how these Latin American cultures raise their kids within their similar lifestyle values. Not to mention, the personal values that can be expressed within this legend is the way parents raise their kids regarding their own personal beliefs and customs. I see this legend as an overall motive to control bad behavior in children and to scare them into following the commands of their parents. I interpret this legend as an idea of obedience as scary methods can be made considering this legend showcases a parent’s overall motive to scare their children from going anywhere alone. Considering that I have heard about this legend myself and grew up with it, I ultimately interpret El Cucuy as an embedded concept that is directed towards children in order for them to be scared of the unknown. Given the fact that this entity is nameless, leads me to think that this scary tactic allows children to interpret this monster in any way they choose which can determine how scary they make it seem in their own perceptual minds. One similar legend that has similar qualities to El Cucuy is the legend of La Chupacabra considering that they are creatures that are intended for behavioral motives. However, the main difference between El Cucuy and La Chupacabra is that there have been actual sighting reports on La Chupacabra while there hasn’t for El Cucuy. This leads El Cucuy to be represented as an imaginative creature in kids minds. The overall idea of El Cucuy can fall under the concept of an ostension considering actual kidnappers can be placed as the given ‘monster’ that can take you if you go wander around places unattended.