Our Folk "Circles:" 1st Post By Krystal Sweitzer

I carried my history, my present, my faults, hopes, dreams, mistakes and success with me

as I walked around this new campus, and yet, I realized that none of these qualities were immediately visible to any of those strange faces that I passed by. My first day of classes at a civilian institution (23 August) seemed completely focused on the attire I donned, my Air Force blues with brand-new sparkling Lieutenant rank. I felt as if I sent a beacon of self-confidence, and yet my insides were shaking like a leaf and I was simply shrouding the overwhelmed person wearing the uniform. As I was sitting in our Folklore course I thought of the assumptions people all make, of the silent story that I wore on my body, one shaped by my appearance, my walk, and my attire. I walked outside of any of those comfortable circles that shared my same folklore, and I felt alone, the only one with no choice in what to wear on my Tuesday trips to the classroom.

And it was only when musing that evening I realized that everyone that day was walking outside of their primary circles, many new students, some entirely new to the area (country, region, or continent for that matter). I was not alone in my walk outside my circle, I was joined by a pattern of concentric circles all ready and willing to merge knowledge as we progress throughout the semester. We may carry our “folklore” on our sleeves, but that quality is always forming, adapting, and changing as we meet others with different circles than our own.  It seems then a folklorists primary duty to capture those circles, and describe the meaning to those unaware.

Our readings centered on the slippery definition of that difficult and elusive topic upon which we as new students to the field are ready to explore. The fact that folklore is a broad term is, of course, quite an understatement, and needs no lengthy reiteration here, and underneath that large and bright umbrella many of us may be clinging to our “favorite” definition, affectionately highlighted and circled among our printed out (or computer) pages. I clung to the notion that: “The province of folklore is one of the mind and spirit” and that further, this exploration challenges itself to uncover how people (read: culture, groups, societies, clans, etc) express their ideas and therefore work at expressing their unique, and collective souls (Bayard 9). That the term itself is elusive and a tempestuous academic undertaking seems all the more appropriate because a mind and spirit is never visible, no matter how long one stares into another’s eyes. As a woman looking at my soon to be husband across the table, I know that no matter how many anniversaries pass or how many memories we share, I will never SEE that intangible quality which makes me stick around. It is frustrating, and in some ways, a challenge, much the same as the folklorists look to their task and a never ending longing to explain that which cannot be shown; the invisible circles we all carry with us.

My reaction, like many of you, is to work at understanding the academic definitions in context of my burgeoning attachment to the topic. Welcome all to a new semester of study!