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.