Extra Credit

For my extra credit project in my F-121 World Arts and Cultures class, I chose to do a documentary film review. From the website www.folkstreams.com, I watched a documentary called Living Texas Blues. This is a three part series, but because it was so interesting I decided to watch all three. All three parts take place in were filmed by Alan Govenar and deals with the effects that music, especially the Blues, has on people’s lives. The first part of the series is called Battle of the Guitars. Battle of the Guitars is about a Blues band that plays music inspired by the great T-Bone Walker. I especially found this interesting because we studied T-Bone Walker in my History of Rock and Roll class that I took in the Fall Semester. Part one focuses on the Blues band of Pete Mayes and Joe Hughes. Their band has two Blues guitars, one bass, one saxophone, drums, and a keyboard. There are an all black band and the film focuses on their performance for an all black audience. They are somewhat of a tribute band to T-Bone Walker, even though they play mostly their own music. The whole band dresses in nice tuxedos as another way to honor their hero, who would come out onto stage in an all white tuxedo with flashy jewelry. T-Bone Walker’s most famous song is titled “Call It Stormy Monday”. This song tells of the struggles that he goes through, along with many others in the black community. It goes on to say “Call it stormy Monday, and Tuesday’s just as bad. Wednesday is worse, and Thursday’s oh so sad.” He concludes by saying that the weekends they go out and play, and on Sundays they go pray. Being from a different era entirely, I can’t express what this song means to those who heard it then, but it is obvious it carries some weight.
The second part of the series is called Cigarette Blues. It opens with a black artist in Texas saying “Cigarettes…they’re killers.” Then the documentary talks about a sculpture of a huge mountain of cigarettes that the sculpture made with cigarettes that he single-handedly smoked himself. He died from lung cancer, and his dying wish was to send that sculpture to the American Cancer Society in order to display it and teach people what cigarettes do to people. The artist from the beginning is then shown performing his song “Cigarette Blues” about a woman he loved who was addicted to cigarettes. The song concludes with the woman dying and the man saying he will never love another woman who pulls out a cigarette on him. This section of the film ends with a very powerful image of someone filling the cartridges of a gun with cigarettes, showing how they are as lethal as bullets.
Part three of the series is called Deep Ellum Blues. This is the story of a place in Dallas, Texas called Deep Ellum. There are two men in the film, one white and one black, who discuss their lives living on Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum is strip of train track with stores on each side where all the thugs and thieves go to hang out and cause havoc. Both men discuss how people like Pretty Boy Floyd and Bonnie and Clyde were always at Deep Ellum, so it seemed likely that the Blues were always there as well. They go on to discuss how this part of Dallas was different than other parts of the nation because the whites and blacks were closer there than anywhere else. The reason for this was the Blues. In the 1930’s, they said that everyone was playing the same music…and that music was seen as an outcast. Music serves as a device of unity here. The men discuss how whites would play at one place and blacks at another, but once they were finished, they all came out and joined together to hang out and party with each other for the night. But when the daylight broke, they all scurried away from each other and went back to the way things were. But for that brief moment, they were all equal. Color did not matter, only music.
Music can be a powerful tool. This documentary has successfully showed how much something like music can affect people’s lives. It can pay tribute to a legend, show others the truth, or join different people as one. I think that many people only see music as a talent, but it has not always been like that. In order to truly understand music, you have to actually hear what is going on. The Blues is arguably the most expressive and deepest form of musical expression, and this music does justice to its greatness. This has been my response to the Extra Credit opportunity.

Chapter 7 Reflection Question

After reading chapter seven in our book Living Folklore, I have been motivated and actually get out and experience a culture rather than discuss it out of a book. Page 202 of our book states that Ethnography is the process of studying and learning about groups of people, as well as the written description and analysis of those observations. If I had the resources necessary, I think that I would go to Europe to study art that I have enjoy over the past years. I would go to The Louvre first and study all the amazing works that they possess there. But then I would travel to Figueras, Spain so I could study my favorite artist, Salvador Dalí, in his hometown. I have always had an interest in his work, and I figure that there is no place better to study his life’s work than in the place where he created most of it. Before I left, I would figure out where exactly I should go to learn more about him. If there were any museums dedicated to him, I would find them and try to schedule a tour of it. Then I would try to find his birthplace, houses he lived in, and finally his grave. I figure that all of these places would have valuable information about him. Truly understand his art does not come from just starring at his paintings for hours, you have to figure out where he was coming from and what he may be trying to portray. This work would definitely be worth doing. In college, my goal is to study things that most interest me. I have the rest of my life to worry about money and bills, now is the time to discover what is central to me. I figure that if I were lucky enough to take this trip I could find out if art like Salvador Dalí’s is enough to persuade me to go to art school or something of that sort. If you never try, you will never know. I suppose that this goes for any other culture or tradition that I may want to understand better. You have to go and experience it for yourself in order to have any sort of inside knowledge about the subject matter.

Peer Response #2

For my second Peer Response post, I have decided to respond to Ian’s encounter with the Tibetan monks’ performance at the Unitarian Universalist Church. I found this very interesting because I have never heard of a live performance by Tibetan monks, especially at a church. He did a great job breaking down everything that occurred in this performance. Through the use of very descriptive adjectives, a clear picture was painted in my mind as to what exactly they sounded like. I especially liked the part where he took to time to explain to origins of the chanting using multiple tones at the same time. This technique came in a dream to the Tibetan lama Je Tzong Sherab Senge. He also discussed how they used trumpets call dung chen to give a solid tone and drums, gongs and cymbals to give a stronger rhythm to the chanting. I had no idea that Tibetan monks used trumpets in chanting, especially ones up to twenty feet long. My favorite part of the post was how at the end he distinguished this performance from a concert. He described how the monks’ outfits helped put the chants into the context of their lives, which I thought was very cool. Finally, to wrap up the response, he posted a video of a Tibetan monk performance to give the reader an idea of what exactly was going on which was very helpful. All in all, it was a nicely done analysis of an exotic performance. He was thorough and has peaked my interest in witnessing one of these events. This is my response to our second peer response for my Folklore F-121 World Arts and Cultures class.

Chapter 6 Reflection Question

Upon reading the text in chapter 6, I have decided which of the approaches to interpreting folklore is best for me. When I started this class, I had a brief understand of what folklore was and how it affected my everyday life. Now I have no trouble discussing folklore because I think the easiest way to interpret and understand it is through the Structuralism approach. I live a very structured life, so obviously it is easiest for me to recognize structure in folklore when I am trying to understand it. On page 179 of Living Folklore, it states that structure is more than the plot; it includes the characters and actions they perform, places, names, repeated words and phrases—any basic elements that make the story more recognizable. Although this is just talking about the fairy tale stories discussed previously in the section, it can easily be seen how structure can help understanding folklore universally. No matter where you are in the world, what language you speak, or festivals you celebrate; there is always a structure that makes it recognizable. F.A. de Caro says that a structural analysis reveals a basic, underlying patter which accounts for the whole. This is easy for me to understand, because I feel that if you can characterize certain aspects of something and see similarities and differences between separate events or groups, than you truly understand that subject. In my schoolwork, I go about studying and understanding through looking at similarities and differences, so naturally the structuralist approach comes to me easily. The book goes on to use the example of a knock-knock joke to show how words can be used as “markers” in order to indicate that the joke is about to start. If someone says “Knock-knock,” you automatically know what is coming. Just as if someone says “Once upon a time,” you are most likely going to hear a fairy tale. Structure is the most compelling to me because it connects all types of folklore. Whether it is ritual, performance, tradition, or anything else worldwide, it is easy to strip it down to its core and see how the structure can relate to a concept more essential to you. If I witness a religious event in some foreign country, there is a good chance I would be completely lost. But if I can look at it from a structuralist point of view, I will definitely be able to see something I can relate to. This has been a response to the Chapter 6 Reflection Question for my blog in F-121 World Arts and Culture

Cirque du Soleil

Recently I attended a festival called Cirque du Soleil that was very new to me. Over Spring Break, my brother and I flew out to Seattle and then to Portland in order to visit my aunt whom we rarely get a chance to see. Upon arriving in Seattle, she told the both of us that she had bought us all tickets to go see this event. Prior to this trip, I had no experience with Cirque du Soleil and had relatively no idea what it was all about. If you are in the same boat as I was, I will try to do this magnificent event justice as I explain it to the best of my abilities. Cirque du Soleil means “Circus of the Sun” in French and was originally sprung out of Quebec. There are several different shows that tour all around the world and each one is different. Basically, Cirque du Soleil consists of world-class athletes performing unbelievable fetes for an hour and a half. To say it quite boldly…it was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life.

The show I saw was called Corteo. It was the story of a clown that was envisioning his own funeral. The show was filled with clowns, midgets, giants, and other figures related to the circus. The performers used props ranging from see-saws to trampolines, and from big brass rings and chandeliers to tight rope walkers. Each act was as amazing as the next and I could not turn my eyes away. Some of the performances were so breathtaking and dangerous that I honestly felt like I was about to witness somebody die…fortunately that was not the case. There was a live band playing throughout the program that would truly orchestrate that feeling that the show was portraying at the time. Leading the band were two phenomenal singers that sang in Italian, though most of the dialogue was in English. Corteo also did a great job of getting the crowd involved. Many times, there would be a few of the actors run into the audience and dump popcorn on a crowd member’s head, or something along those lines to get everyone laughing. At one point in the show, one of the two midgets, or small people, was tied to several huge balloons and then cast into the audience where people could literally pass her around like a volleyball. Cirque du Soleil is absolutely brilliant, and I am determined on seeing at least one more of their several shows. They are guaranteed to make you laugh, cringe, and applaud as you witness one of the greatest spectacles on Earth. This has been my response for the forth Encounter Project for my Folklore F-121 class.

Details on Performance

Upon completing the reading of Chapter 5 in our book Living Folklore by Sims and Stephens, I have a very different idea of what a performance is. I used to see a performance as a very rigid and constructed event that mainly deals with the person who is performing. For example, when I go to concerts I only picture the artist as the only person involved in the performance. Chapter 5 of Living Folklore shows that the audience is just as important as the performer. How the audience interacts and gets involved in a performance is a vital part of the performance. The main way that my idea of what a performance entails is the definition of what a performance can be. I always picture a performance as being a large social gathering in which everything is based around the performer. The book shows that a performance can be anywhere from a world-renowned concert to a person using a proverb in a small conversation in everyday life. Performances can be planned far in advance and be prepared for and anticipated over for several months, or just pop up out of nowhere. On page 128 of Living Folklore it states that most often performances of folklore happen naturally within daily conversations and situations. There are many aspects of performance that help to frame the act of performing. For instance, there is usually a saying of some sort that acknowledges the beginning or ending of a performance. The book also discusses the “texture” of performance that deals with the literary, linguistic, or physical characteristics of performance. Examples of texture in performance can be anything from metaphors and alliteration to the very way someone physically performs the events. Context of a performance deals with where and in what social situation a performance arrives. The geography as well as social context have a large effect on how a performance goes. All of these aspects have greatly changed my perspective of what a performance is. No longer will I be ignorant as to think that a performance can be classified into such a small class.

Chapter 4 Response

Rituals are a very important part of everybody’s life. Whether it is being sworn in as president of the United States of America, or being paddled in order to join a frat, I never did quite understand that, everyone has undoubtedly been part of a ritual. On page 94 of Living Folklore the definition of ritual is given. Rituals are ceremonies or performances that enact deeply held traditions or values. Rituals are very organized events, and page 95 discusses how each ritual may reflect values in many other types of folklore. One event in my life that I would consider a ritual would be when my high school soccer team won the State Championship and the ritual that was performed at the end of the game to show that we were the best in the state. Pages 98 and 99 talk about certain aspects used to classify rituals. Winning the State Championship would be an example of a high-context, invented ritual. It his high-context because the attire is always the same at the end of the game the leaders of the IHSAA (Indiana High School Athletic Association) congratulate the victors. The leaders always have suits and ties on and the players always have their sweaty uniforms on. It is invented because it is used to classify us as the best in the state as well as symbolize a passing of the torch. What happens in the ritual is the leaders of the association walk out to the center of the field where all the players are lined up horizontally in front of all the fans. The leaders then walk down the line and individual shake every player’s hand and then place the State Championship medal around the players’ necks. The State Championship trophy is then handed to the tournament’s MVP and everyone celebrates. On page 119 of our book it is stated that an initiation ritual is one that expresses a person’s entrance into membership in a group. In order to win the State Championship every single member had to give their all and work everyday at practice in order to be good enough to win the tournament. I know this is not the same as being initiated into a fraternity or some cleanly-outlined club, but we all became a part of a group containing all the former teams that were good enough to be crowned champion. This is a response to the Chapter 4 Reflection Question for my F-121 World Arts and Cultures class.

Encountering Jokes

Everybody likes a good joke. Jokes are a form of verbal art that allow anyone to have an opportunity to express themselves. You don’t have to possess a unique talent to tell a joke and yet if your joke is good, you can feel like you’re on top of the world if only for a moment. The other day I heard a joke that got me thinking about jokes in general. The joke goes like this. “Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.” Now if you are not familiar with this new breed of Chuck Norris jokes, you will be completely lost right now. Chuck Norris is an actor who is famous for his martial arts ability as well as just being a rugged tough guy. Somewhere along the line, somebody decided to make up a couple satirical jokes poking fun at this. The jokes are meant to make Chuck Norris seem like a god among men and are mostly so unbelievable that they are funny. These jokes really got famous when Conan O’Brien would make fun of the show Walker Texas Ranger on his late night show. I heard this joke the other day from one of my friends. Me and a couple of my friends were hanging out and listening to music when somebody told a joke. It was funny, so somebody else had their go at it. From then on, we just rotated telling jokes for a while and it was a lot of fun. What I find interesting about jokes is their ability to spread so fast. The word of mouth is a powerful tool, and can turn some joke you just made up in your head into a plethora of similar jokes worldwide. The Chuck Norris fad is only a couple of years old and has spread to any place that knows of the amazing “talent” possessed by Chuck Norris. Once people heard these jokes about one celebrity, many jokes on other celebrities have risen as well. Now people tell jokes about anyone from Mr. T to Bob Saget that all have the same structure as the Chuck Norris jokes. This just proves my point that jokes have this type of “multiplying” ability that allows them to spread. This is my post for our 3rd Encounter Project.

Reflection On Traditions

Chapter Three of the book Living Folklore gives an accurate definition as to what exactly a tradition is, as well as the importance of a tradition in the way one identifies themselves with a group. One of the most important concepts in understanding a tradition is the idea of continuity. The longer a tradition is practiced and appreciated, the more attachment and importance that tradition has on our lives. Many traditions have been going on for a very long time, but now seem to lose importance or disappear. One example of this would be the high school senior prom. I cannot speak for everyone, but I have noticed a disappearance in the importance of the high school senior prom. In my high school, we did not even have a senior prom…we had a junior prom. And everyone just looked at it as another excuse to party. As some traditions fall off, others only get stronger and more central to us. One tradition that is increasingly central to me is my family Thanksgiving. I have written about my family and this tradition previously, so I don’t think I can explain their importance to me any more than I already have. My family has a specific routine every Thanksgiving that’s continuity adds to the significance of this event. One tradition that I have participated in that has a relevance to Indiana University is the Little 500. I have gone to Indiana University to participate in the Little 500 weekend events twice. While I cannot tell you the winners of either of those races, I can’t stress enough the importance of those few days to the city of Bloomington. This has been a response to the Chapter Three reflection question for Folklore F-121 World Arts and Culture.

Encounter with a rondavel

Architecture is one of the most important aspects of not only folklore, but life in general. Buildings are used for a number of uses running from the very practical use of providing shelter or a place of business, to providing a unique form of art for people to admire. Vernacular architecture deals with buildings that are built in a specific way according to a culture’s traditions. There is a “recipe” for building a certain style of building, and the steps to do so are rooted in a culture’s past. One example of vernacular architecture is the rondavel. A rondavel is a traditionally built style of house common in the southern parts of Africa. It is a relatively small, circular house that is constructed from materials easy to find in their raw form. The walls of the rondavel are made from stone and stacked up in a circle about five to six feet high. The mortar, which is used to hold the stones in place, is made up of either dirt or sand which is then mixed up with dung to keep the mortar thin and smooth. The floor of the rondavel has to be made very smooth so a different mixture of dung and sand is made the make the floor. Branches from nearby trees are cut down into equal lengths and set-up in a conical shape on top of the stones to make a skeleton of the roof. The actually roof is made out of a thatch of grass that is tied down to the branches with the use of rope. The thatch is the most difficult part to make and is usually made by a talented artisan who has done this for years in order to master the skill. The thatch has to be waterproof, so depending on how talented the thatch-maker is, this process could take as little as a couple of days, or as long as a year. This specific type of vernacular architecture found in the southern parts of Africa is very interesting. Many skills and talents are passed down from family members to children at a young age so they can master the skill and teach it later on in their lives. The skill of building a rondavel is learned more on an apprentice-master basis in which one learns under a teacher until they eventually become the teacher. The rondavel, along with many other types of vernacular architecture, are very unique traditions that would serve no purpose or sentimentality if people began to use modern machines to make the labor easier. It is the labor and unwillingness to change that make this one style of house special to a culture, and different from all others. For anyone interested in more about rondavels, I got most of my information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondavel as well as www.britannica.com/eb/topic-509086/rondavel.
This is my post for the second encounter assignment for F-121.

Chapter 2 Reflection Question

Chapter 2 of Living Folklore discusses the true nature of folk groups. Just like folklore, there exists no universal definition of folk groups. This book simply defines a folk group as any two or more people that share a common folk. Each folk group portrays the many genres of folklore that have been previously discussed in this book as well as in class. The most important folk group in my life is definitely that of family. My family is the single most important thing in my life, and as I begin to understand folklore more and more, I can begin to truly understand the roots and make-up of my own family. My family raised me with certain morals and traditions that make us different from any other folk group. Chapter 2 also says that to be a member of a folk group you must possess special knowledge of its language, behavior and rules. This does not mean that you have to pass a test to get into a folk group, but rather emphasizes that folk groups are based around people with the same interests, traditions, rituals, and much more. For my family, we have many traditions that I have practiced for my whole life that define my family as a folk group. Every year at Christmas my grandmother takes the honor of giving out the first present which is always a Christmas ornament that she has hand selected to give to each child to hang on the Christmas tree. The second most important folk group in my life consists of the people in my social life. Ever since my first day of school in kindergarten, I have been associating myself with people who have similar interests and beliefs as I do. Whether it has been kids I play sports with, kids who laugh at immature jokes as I always have, or just kids who have been labeled into the same groups as me…my whole life can be told in chapters of folk groups I have either been placed in or have placed myself in. I think that folk groups are an essential part of life. No matter who you are or what you see yourself as, human nature always tends to link ourselves into groups with people just like me. I think that going through life with people like yourself makes everything more enjoyable and is essential to living. Chapter 2 closes by saying that it is only within groups that folklore has meaning. Groups bring folklore to life and, in a way, make everything worth while. This entry is my response to the Chapter 2 reflection question.

Peer Review #1

After reading many of my classmates’ posts on their encounter projects with the world, I have been able to settle on one that I especially liked. On “Alex’s Blog” I was able to read about her encounter with a joke that her boyfriend told her to make her feel better when she was sick. I thought that this post was an excellent example of what folklore is and how it affects us. This joke goes something like this: A guy walks into a doctor’s office with celery in his nose, and carrot in his ear and a banana under his arm. He tells the doctor that he does not know what is wrong with him. The Doctor tells him that he knows what is wrong with him, and that he is not eating right. I found this joke very amusing mostly because it hits on multiple levels. One, the guy is eating improperly by missing his mouth…that one is obvious. The other level is that many people get sick because they do not eat healthy. I thought Alex did a great job with this because improper eating is a big problem for college kids because we do not have out parents’ to feed us anymore. The joke that her boyfriend told her is also a great example of folklore because her boyfriend heard it from his dad. This shows how we learn and hear jokes…they are passed down to us through word of mouth. Who knows how many generations that joke has been passed down until she was able to hear it? And now she has shared it with our class, which will in turn lead to our class telling it to various people we know. It is amazing how the phenomenon can occur so quickly, and the easiest way to understand just how this happens is through the study of folklore. This is my first response for the peer review post in my Folklore F-121 class.

My Encounter With China

I have only been enrolled and attending Folklore F-121 for a couple weeks, and already it is challenging me to truly get out there and experience cultures not similar to my own. The idea of an Encounter Project is to go out into the world around you and experience a new culture. I decided to try a new cuisine. Now you may not know, but I am a very picky eater, and I rarely venture to foods out of the ordinary. In my opinion, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. And the food I eat has always been pleasing to me, so I rarely go out looking for something new. For this project, I decided to go to a true Chinese restaurant and get a dish representing their rich cuisine. The restaurant is called Fortune Cookies, and it is a small “mom and pop” Chinese restaurant that has a great atmosphere, and even better food. When I chose this place to eat, I wanted to eat true Chinese food and nothing like a “Super China Buffet” that serves very poor meat. I went to Fortune Cookies with two of my friends so we could all try different things. I ordered the Sweat and Sour Chicken with white rice. One of my friends ordered the Kung Pow Chicken, and unfortunately my other friend was picky and ordered the same thing I ate. The restaurant was brand new, but still it was very busy. This did not stop the waitress from being very professional and offering great service. The Sweat and Sour Chicken was amazing and the exotic music playing overhead only added to my wonderful experience with Chinese cuisine. My friend’s meal really put the “pow” in Kung Pow Chicken, and it was as good as it was hot. Upon the conclusion of my meal, I loosened up my belt buckle and talked to my friends as I awaited my check. Along with the check came a couple chocolate fortune cookies…which is a sign that the planets have aligned as far as I am concerned. We ate our “dessert”, left a well-deserved tip, and retired for the night. I strongly recommend eating at Fortune Cookies to anyone who either loves Chinese food, or has yet to try it. The food was delicious, and only made better by the service and atmosphere. This is a response to the Restaurant Visit Project for the first Encounter Project in my Folklore F-121 class.

My Family Thanksgiving

Folklore is involved in everyone’s individual lives, but many may not realize how so. It is amazing to me that at a place with such a vast variety of culture as Indiana University, that many people either do not know what folklore is, or have never even heard of it. The reason for this is probably because even folklorists who have studied this field for years still can not place a concrete definition on what exactly it is. Folklore focuses on the knowledge that people learn from each other rather than a textbook. The arts and crafts, jokes and riddles, and even the ritual you go through everyday when you wake up are all part of folklore. Opinions on folklore vary from person to person because culture varies from person to person and everything is constantly changing. The list of genres included in folklore is very vast, but I would like to choose one that is especially important to me. Rituals and celebrations are part of everybody’s lives. Whether it is how you celebrate a birthday, a lucky way of preparing for a basketball game, or simply how you eat dessert after your main course…ritual is a huge aspect of culture and life. For all of my life, my family has gotten together at my Grandparents’ house for Thanksgiving. I know this may not seem out of the ordinary from what many others do, but there are certain activities that my family does that have never changed. Every year, no matter how busy you are or what tragedies you have going on, on Thanksgiving everybody shows up to my Grandparents’ house for Thanksgiving lunch, not dinner. We all show up, talk and reminisce for about an hour, and then eat. The food is always the same, and yet it tastes better each year. There are noodles, turkey, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and two different types of cranberries. After lunch, the men of the family retire to the couch for the football games like clockwork. This will always result in my father taking a nap, and my mother usually cracking a joke about him. After football, we will all participate in a game or two of euchre…and like clockwork, my Grandmother beats everybody resulting in everyone losing their urge to play. I swear, for someone who is in their early eighties, she can be fierce. After euchre comes our dinner consisting of leftovers, and finally, everyone will part ways. For my entire life it has been this way, and I would not change one thing about it. This is so important to me because it is nice to have a constant like this in my life. My family has undergone sickness, divorce, anger, new jobs, new homes out of state, and just about everything under the sun, but no matter what, we always get together for Thanksgiving. I learned this ritual from my parents, who learned it from their parents, and it continues on and on farther than I will ever know. But I do know that this tiny part of folklore in my life is also one of the most important occurrences for each member of my family. This blog entry is my response to the Chapter One Reflection Question.