Bombs Bursting in Air: CHaSS Alum Recounts an Aggie Firework Fable
Dale Z. Kirby earned an undergraduate degree in German in 1963. Here he reflects on a rather "explosive" campus event he helped to pull off in 1961.
In Fall 2021, Professor Jeannie Thomas and her English 2720 students compiled a book titled American Folklore: Class Cookbook & Foodways. The book grew out of a unit on foodways, where students would gather dishes and analyze them for patterns. For example, the students in the class would look to see if there were any trends among classmates eating similar things and how their recipes fit in with their everyday foodways. This would lead to a lesson on how to present a fuller picture of culture based on food. Some of the recipes shared in the book include “Jesus Cheetos,” “‘elite’ ramen,” “Filipino lumpia,” “pretzel jello,” and “gulaschuppe.” Jeannie says, “I wanted them to see the difference between recipes and foodways and how documenting their actual foodways is such an important way to understand their everyday food cultures.”