Tag Archives: USC

The Legendary Quarterback from Troy

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student, Part time facilities attendant at on campus gym
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/27/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant told me the following legend about a Quarterback from Troy. It parallels the football career of USC quarterback Matt Barkley:

There was once this historic quarterback, came to the land of Troy, meant to do big things, but, little did he know, some things behind the scenes would be changing the outlook of his career. As a result, two of his four years ended without much public knowledge, but his last one, he meant to go out on a good note. He came back for the championship, yet, fate was not on his side. Little injuries added up, the teams on schedule beat him up, so it came to an end as a disappointment – but that wasn’t the only disappointment. When looked upon to go onto the next level, the once highly esteemed most wanted quarterback, had to wait three days, going from a projected top ten to the 98th overall pick, yet, that is just another beginning to the story, as he can do so much more now that he has no expectations, on one looking over his shoulder, let’s see if he can make the Philadelphia eagles fly.

The above story obviously parallels Matt Barkley’s career at USC, chronicling his first two years in relative obscurity, his glorious Junior year, and then his disastrous Senior year, in which, he became injured, and then went late in the NFL draft. However, the tale expresses optimism that he will return to greatness in the NFL, and once again rise to prominence. This piece of folklore is interesting insofar as it takes a piece of recent history and turns it into merchen. My informant claimed this story was in his Fraternity’s book of legends, which is a collection of the great stories in the land of Troy. Apparently, at some point, someone turned the history of Matt Barkley into merchen, and recorded it as such to be passed down as Epic.

USC Fountain Run

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student, Part time facilities attendant at on campus gym
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/15/13
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Here the informant describes USC’s tradition of the Senior fountain run, and what it means conceptually to the USC community:

     Every year the seniors go on a fountain run, where they run through every fountain on campus. So every year the seniors of USC go on this fountain run, where they run through every fountain on campus, and they just get wasted, and they carry around, like, squirt guns full of tequila and handles and all this crazy stuff, and they dress in like the most ridiculous costumes, and its just kind of like a way for all the seniors to say goodbye to campus and like celebrate the end of their four years here and kind of leave their mark in terms of USC.

     I’ve heard about this tradition through my own personal experience: in having witnessed it and followed seniors around who needed help, and also, just through, like, you know, grandparents and parents talking about how, like, they did their fountain run several years ago, or not several…  decades ago! And it’s just pretty amazing It’s still a tradition today.

 

As can be seen from her impassioned description, the fountain run and USC’s traditions in general, mean a lot to both the informant and a great deal of USC’s community. With the fountain run having been practiced for decades, it is now an integral part of USC lore. As the informant says, it is an opportunity for bonding, and she claims to have been one of the students who follow the seniors help those who need it. Given the familial nature of this event, she too told me she will undoubtedly take part in this tradition her senior year, and expects to be followed by underclassmen then, just as she followed the seniors as a freshman.

Tok-Lore

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 22
Occupation: USC student
Residence: Venice, California
Performance Date: 04/28/12
Primary Language: English

My informant told me of various rumors circulating the USC campus about Folklore professor, Tok Thompson. There are many suspicions of Professor Thompson’s wild nature outside of the classroom. She stated that she has overheard some of her classmates talking about beliefs that he could be a vampire or a werewolf. Their suspicions seemed validated by his hatred for garlic. The dead giveaway though, as she explained is the red bull and coffee that he comes to class with everyday, without fail. She stated that he must be in need of a pick-me-up after being up all night prowling the streets. Furthermore, his knowledge of vampire and werewolf folklore is suspiciously extensive.

Her belief as to why this legend about professor Thompson is passed around is because of how unusual a professor he is. Students need an explanation for a Professor who has dedicated his life to the discipline of folklore.

How Free Speech Was Saved

Nationality: European mutt
Age: 24
Occupation: filmmaker
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: some Swedish, Spanish, and Farsi

This is pre-co-op early days. The year was 2006, so it was one year before the house was created. This was when certain people who were influential to the house lived at what was called the Phi Omega Tau house, or the green house, and so did Strawberry and Wave, who named the Technicolor Tree Tribe from a brain wave she had. (laughs) They lived at the Phi Omega Tau house and they had participated in a free speech zone protest because USC made up this thing, like, a couple years ago where we only had a free speech zone from 12 to 2pm at Tommy Trojan. So they had made this sign and painted it and stuff. After the protest they took it back to their porch and hung it up on their porch and it’s a really nice porch and that they were hanging out on. And so, they were just hanging out on the porch one day and this girl comes by and starts talking shit and she sort of identified herself as a USC college republican and she had a lighter and like tried to set the banner attached to their porch on fire. So, they like brought out a hose and Strawberry was apparently in the background yelling, “if you’re gonna bring fire, we’re gonna bring water!” And they basically sprayed this girl and her dog with a hose and then she came – well, they don’t if she came back – but someone came to the house that night and set the banner on fire and the smoke alarms went off and like they got up and luckily woke up and sprayed the thing out, but there were burn marks all over the porch. Yeah. So they pretty much knew it was this girl, but they couldn’t like call the cops or anything, because apparently like you don’t really invite the cops over to something called the Phi Omega Tau House…because if you know what those Greek symbols mean (laughs) Phi Omega Tau kind of spells out ‘pot.’ That’s Strawberry’s story. I think the girl knew about the protest during the day and like was against that or just this house.

 

After finishing the tale, my informant went on to say that free speech was ironically practiced by the girl who had thought that the people at Phi Omega Tau shouldn’t have expressed what they believed. This situation is an example of the tension, division, and struggle between people who believe in different ideals and how students opposed to certain USC policies also collide with other students.

Fight On!

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/20/12
Primary Language: English

My informant for this folk term is a student and tour-guide at USC, and told me a bit of history and context of the saying:

“Fight On!”

He tells me that it’s been a term for the University of Southern California ever since the early 1900’s, when USC came back from behind in a football game and the next day a sports writer proclaimed that the USC football team “fought like Trojans” to come back. After that, the saying was commonplace; meaning that no matter whether you are behind, or the odds are stacked against you, fight on until you succeed.

This mantra has caught on heavily here at USC, and has lasted the test of time and is still a vital internal and promotional term for USC. My informant told me that he says it on every school tour that he gives to prospective students and parents, and feels that it is a special thing that sets USC apart from other universities. “It bonds us together as a community. It’s something we all know and is a part of our lives here,” he said.

Now, the term is applicable in many different areas of university-life, including academics, athletics, and social life. “Whenever I’m on my tour, my friends will see me and yell “Fight On Curt!” with their two fingers in the air making the fight on symbol”. Both the symbol and phrase are equally well known, he says. Recently, USC has launched a campaign that reads “Fight On For a Cure”, in reference to finding a cure for women’s breast cancer. My informant said that it was “cool” to see how it has progressed from just being derived from the wording of a sportswriter to such a vital part of the Trojan community. It is one of the first things you learn on your tours and orientations, and it is one of those things that you will remember about your college experience in the future after graduation, he says.

Being a USC student, I had heard that story on my own tour as a prospective student when I was on my tour around campus. I believe that it is a phenomenal symbolic message to the USC community, and that it is an important piece of folklore that not only has a plethora of different applicable meanings, but also joins us all together as the Trojan community.