Thanks to the hard work over the course of the past couple of days, we have successfully passed RAAM’s set of tests and examinations. Every team must pass these tests to compete on Tuesday. Check out the video recap!
Here are a couple of pictures of the weekend’s activities! This poster was at our hotel, where a good number of RAAMers are staying as well.
RAAM had their headquarters down near the beach.
Oceanside has been absolutely wonderful. Cool mornings and evenings, and hot in the day time. Throngs of people flock to the beaches to surf and spend time in the water and on the sand, and the smell of the sea mingles with the aromas of homemade ice cream stalls, hot dogs, burgers, and fries.
With almost timely frequency, pelicans fly in formations between the palm trees, dipping down on occasion near the water.
It isn’t hard now to understand why people come to SoCal and never want to leave. The Beach Boys didn’t sing and write about some fictional world – they were the travelling minstrels of a tangible and real subculture with roots that still go very deep. Waldon and I found ourselves realizing the same thing – that surf culture is an embodied, fleshed-out culture still real for people, even those who are older. We couldn’t count the numer of times we spotted people in their 50s and 60s ridng cruiser bicycles in surf shirts with old tattoos, hanging around surf shops with each other, often some with their families. There are pictures of surfing and old surfboards in restaurants and shops – we talked to one guy who remembers having surfed with board designer Jim Weldon back in the day. Turns out it wouldn’t be difficult to find our Weldon a board with his name on it!
After so many American films and so much American this and that – all coming out of Hollywood and political news coverage – I can only wonder what other glimpses of real embodied American culture we’ll encounter in the next two weeks between here and Maryland.
