Clambake

The book Clambake by Kathy Neustadt is not only about a food festival. It is about tradition, and identity for the people of Allen's Neck. As I was thinking about this book after discussion, it really hit home with me.

This year my family's Thanksgiving changed. My grandfather has suffered a stroke and we lost my uncle to cancer. We couldn't have our traditional Thanksgiving at my grandparents because there isn't room due to the bed in the livingroom, and my aunt didn't think she felt up to the celebration. The rest of the family gathered at another's home and instead of my grandmother and aunt preparing the food, everyone brought something to contribute. It was still great being with everyone and the food was tasty but it didn't feel like Thanksgiving to me. Something was missing. The same people, the same type of food, but what made it different was who and how the food was prepared and where the feast was held.

I didn't realize that so much of the meaning to me of that day was about more than getting together to eat and give thanks.

Well, I guess this is my last post for this class. I just want to say that I have enjoyed Folklore Genres and it has opened my eyes to the world of folklore that I didn't know was out there. I hope everyone in my class finds success in their careers and are happy being folklorists. I think your jobs are important and have a meaningful and contributing place in our lives. Good luck!

Amy Noble

Style Wars

Style Wars was a film I had never seen. The most interesting part about it to me was watching the graffiti artists with each other. Some developed a family like relationship with one another while there was also a large level of competition between groups to go "All City". Some people would look at the graffiti and see trash or vandalism, the bombers would see beautiful, skillfully done art.

I agree with the point in discussion that the bombers used their art to say that NYC was their city too and that it gave them an identity, both as individuals and as part of a group.

I haven't ever been to a big city where graffiti is all around. I wonder how the culture has changed from then to now. It would be interesting for someone to do a follow up film to Style Wars.

I kept wondering where the people in the film were today and then I thought about airbrush t-shirt artists.

Another thing I've always wondered. Do people that write "Jesus Saves" as graffiti on bridges around here feel that because of their message, it makes it okay?

I think the artistic skill of the bombers in NYC is great and that some of their work is fascinating to look at, but I don't think they should be doing it.

One of my favorite topics discussed so far in this class is the one we had Wednesday night about "Beau Geste". A Beau Geste is a private ritual of grief that is performed when someone dear dies. A Beau Geste can be putting a baby blanket in a child's casket so that the child won't be afraid or feel alone, or maybe disposing something near the gravesite, or even sending out to sea an object that has meaning between you and the person who died.

I have been truly fortunate in my life and have not had to deal too much with death, but it is one of my deepest darkest fears that someone close to me is going to die. I know that I would have to take my mourning further than the funeral. People use Beau Geste to prolong mourning and to keep a connection with the person deceased.

I think Beau Geste is related to folklore because there is a folkgroup involved even though one person is alive and the other has passed. The experience has intense meaning for the person performing.

I wonder how knowing about Beau Geste will effect me if the day comes that I will need it?

Fakelore

Fakelore is neither a survival or revival. Fakelore is synthetic writing claiming to be genuine folklore. Paul Bunyan stories are an example because they were written for what some believe to be marketing purposes, and are not originally oral stories told from generation to generation.

Richard M. Dorson was an early "formally trained" folklorist and he spent a lot of his time arguing against fakelore.

After discussion on the issue of fakelore in class, I agree that fakelore is important and plays a part in folklore. One interesting issue discussed is why Dorson talked a lot about Paul Bunyan being fakelore but not the Grimm Brother's collection of fairytales even though the Grimms made changes to the stories. I can understand how it would be impossible to get everyone to regard the Grimm Brothers as fakelore since they are so well known and studied.

It is interesting to me that since I have taken this class, I look at things differently. I would have never analyzed the Blair Witch Project with a folkloric eye before, but now there are a lot of things I see and hear that make me think about folklore and how it relates.

I really enjoy reading everyone's Blogs and all the comments left for me on mine. Blogs are awesome for journal writing and reflecting.

Class Wednesday was interesting and easier for me to understand. Maybe I'm finally getting some of the background knowledge I need to build from. One thing that sometimes throws me though is when other folklorists are mentioned in discussion. Many of them I am unfamiliar with.

There is a new one I will recognize now, Dan Ben-Amos. It's kind of weird that tonight I ran across his name mentioned in one of my resources for the bibliography. It felt familiar.

I found it interesting to learn about changing times in folk studies and how the "Young Turks" were questioning the old beliefs and definitions of folklorists. Every discipline needs a shake up to grow and expand I think. It made sense to me that these young students and folklorists needed more than the "stuff" only found in text. How can you separate cultural aspects from folklore? I am very performance focused because the folklore I hold dear to and identify myself with is very meaningful to me due to the culture and background involved. It's the process, not just "things". That's a line I have in my notes, and I like thinking about this view.

Another Definition of Folklore

I am working on my annotated bibliography and have ran across yet another definition for folklore.

W.K. McNeil, in his book Southern Mountain Folksongs (1993) describes the definition of folklore as material that is passed on orally, informally, and becomes traditional; undergoes change over space and time, creating varients and versions; is anonymous in the sense that most bearers of folklore are not concerned with who the original creator was, or even that there was an original creator; and finally, usually is formulaic.

Oh, now I get it!

I did think this definition was pretty good, except with limiting folklore as being only oral. I thought it did a nice job putting a little description of a characteristic of tradition, by saying it changes over time. Maybe the author only included oral because the book is a collection of folksongs. This person seems to know a lot about folklore, so I'm sure they know what they are talking about. Maybe they were trying to make it easier for the reader.

I had heard, like many of my classmates, most of the urban legend tales as ghost stories during sleepovers or campouts. Speaking of ghost stories, when I was little my family had a "tradition" during the Labor Day holiday when we all got together to camp to walk in the dark to the cemetery on my Grandparent's farm. My uncle Phillip would claim to see the Bell Witch and beg her to leave us alone and not to hurt us. Then we would all gather around Mr. Miller's grave to hear Phillip tell his stories of the ghost. Another uncle or my dad would be waiting at the cemetery to make sounds that go along with the stories. I know it sounds like a weird family tradition, but I'll never forget those times. I don't think they were trying to teach us not to do something, like sneak out of the tent at night (although we didn't, most of the time we weren't brave enough to sleep in the tent after that) but just to scare us to death (and it did).

I know now the characteristics of urban legends and will be skeptical of stories I hear that involve a friend of a friend. It is still entertaining to hear them though and it will be interesting to see when my children start telling me the same urban legends I heard as a kid.

Well, off to study for the midterm. I can't believe that time is already here.