Terin CraneFollow

Date Collected

12-2018

Place item was collected

South Jordan, Utah

Informant

Megan Monson

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

Megan Monson was born in Rexburg, Idaho but was raised in South Jordan, Utah. She went to Bingham High School. Megan is an undergraduate student at Utah State University who is pursuing a degree in English Teaching. She served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Washington Tacoma Mission. Megan is a fellow student of mine in the English Program.

Context

Megan and I did this interview over text as it was easier for the both of us. Megan wanted to assist me with my collection project, so she just sent me some random pieces of folklore that she had that were typically shared among her high school friends. I was at my apartment when I received her messages. Each of us are used to texting and using our mobile devices, so this was an easy and natural way of communicating. This piece of folklore can apply to those who have jobs early in the morning and who have a song that gets them through it.

Text

“When I was a senior in high school I was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and the only time we had outside of class to put together the newspaper to be printed was 6 AM. So the 5 other editors and I would get to school WAY early and start putting together the newspaper, trying to fit all those words on the pages they belonged on was like a ginormous puzzle that couldn’t be solved. Any way, we always listened to the same 2 songs every morning to pump us up. We were all practically zombies until we turned on ‘Classic’ by MKTO and ‘Come on Eileen’ by Dexys Midnight Runners. ‘Come on Eileen’ is actually a really dirty song so we would make up reasons for the lyrics, like ‘they need to go change their clothes so they can read scriptures.’ We came up with all sorts of explanations while we were half awake.”

Texture

The use of all italics on the word “WAY” put an emphasis on the fact that early meant really early to Megan. While reminiscing, Megan added another little anecdote regarding the ritual of the two songs: “It was literally the only thing that kept us going some days. One of the editors even named her computer Eileen because it was so slow that she would have to cheer it on with a solid ‘COME ON EILEEN!!!’” There were a few grammar errors, but I attributed it to the fact that she got caught up in her story, she was in a hurry when she typed this, or that she simply doesn’t care about mistakes in grammar when she is texting as long as her message gets across. After she had sent me this, I texted back and told her how I had also been the editor-in-chief for the school paper at Snow, and how that was one more thing we had in common. Our conversation was very casual and comfortable because we are fellow students and have developed a friendship this last semester.

Course

ENGL 2210

Instructor

Dr. Lynne McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2018

Theme

G1: Groups/Social Customs

EAD Number

3.1.8.0.2

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