Date Collected
Fall 11-30-2018
Place item was collected
Logan, Utah
Informant
Cory Hafen
Point of Discovery/Informant Bio
Cory Hafen is a graduate student at Utah State University studying engineering. He is from Las Vegas and enjoys doing anything outside, including canyoneering and repelling. We met through mutual friends and have since gone on lots of adventures rock climbing, and repelling around Utah.
Context
Cory has been suffering from a nasty cold the past few days, so his comments and actions are stuffy and he coughed a few times. We are standing in his living room, using his pool table as a stand so he can fold his paper accurately.
Text
Cory used a piece of graph paper that was 11 x 8.5 inches. He had holes on one side with plastic reinforcement on it. (see attached picture)
Texture
Cory is sick and coughing lot, so it was a stress to go inside the same room as him. He started off by wanting to put on a beanie to look better. After I said that I was recording he insisted on me deleting the recording, which I didn’t. But he proceeded to take the paper and begin folding. He stated, “Ask your questions.” So, I asked who taught him how to make a paper airplane. He didn’t know, thinking that it was “some kid at school, because [he] didn’t think it was his parents.” He stared at the piece of paper for a few moments, thinking about how to make it. He hummed to himself through his teeth making a “tsssst” sound clearly confused on how to make this specific piece of origami work. He then picked up the piece of paper that was lying on a pool table and folded it in half. He said he has never taught anyone how to make a paper airplane and hasn’t made one in years. He made a unique double-inside fold where I said “woah!” and told him how intrigued I was by all the different ways I had seen people making their paper airplanes. He asked if I was being sarcastic (which I usually am, on a extreme level with Cory) but I assured him I wasn’t being sarcastic, but genuine. He messed up a few times, refolding some of his previous folds to get it right. His roommate is usually with his fiancé which he stated, and although he is sick his roommate has come into the apartment. At this point Cory picked up his airplane to admire it and said, “it’s not done yet”. He made a few side folds and said “I’ve never been good at arts and crafts, and its not like how I envisioned it. And this has never flown super duper well. He walked into the kitchen and started adjusting his stance and throwing skills. I told him to aim right at the camera, but when he threw it made an extreme sharp turn a foot in the air and slammed into the door at his side. I laughed hard at this point, and he picked it up, adjusting a few more folds. After some rude comments and plenty of “shut ups” he threw it again with the same result. When I asked to take a picture of the airplane he said “sure, can I flip you off?” and so concluded his paper airplane making session.
Course
ENGL 2210
Instructor
Dr. Lynne S. McNiell
Semester and year
Fall 2018
Theme
G8: Toys
EAD Number
5.9.2
Recommended Citation
Smith, Courtney, "The Stuffy Airplane" (2018). USU Student Folklore Fieldwork. Paper 292.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/student_folklore_all/292