Dumas, Major, Chabon, Kamen Goldmark

1. Bienvenidos a Newport Beach by Firoozeh Dumas

2. Dumas told a story about moving to New Port Beach when she was a child. In this story she tells what it was like moving from Whittier to New Port and the difference in economic levels at his two homes. This story shows the difference Dumas saw in the neighborhoods and that sometimes to understand how good you have it you had to be less fortunate earlier in you life.

3. "We didn't look like anybody in our neighborhood.. We looked like the gardeners knew that too because they always looked at me kinda funny. It was like they wanted to know how I got in the house." (p. 93)

4. This story made me think about the "rich" area in Santa Rosa, Fountain Grove. One of my close friends lives there and we talk about how you only see certain races living there. The area that Dumas moved to in New Port Beach reminded me a lot of this area of Santa Rosa.

5. Before reading this story I did not know that "vista" means "view of" in spanish.

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1. Cotton Candy Mirrors by Devorah Major

2. In this story Devorah Major tells how her and her friends use to look for money so that they could go to "Playland" at the beach. Major tells us the different attractions and which she liked the best. Her favorite was the fun house, from the mirror maze to the distortion mirrors at the end where she would try to unveil what she really looked like in these crazy mirrors. She then goes on to explain how big of a part those mirrors are still in her life today.

3. "In these mirrors we became monsters, we became clowns, we were lengthened, flattened, rounded." (p. 101)

4. This story reminded me of going to the Sonoma County Fair when I was younger and going in the funhouse. It sounded like the same things were in each funhouse.

5. I did not know that there was a Playland near the beach in San Francisco.

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1. Berkeley by Michael Chabon

2. This short story that Michael Chabon wrote about Berkeley talks about the different kinds of people that live there and how Berkeley is its own unique place in California. Chabon mentions that there is a ton of intelligence in the town from the University and he explains to us how Berkeley came to be. It was built during the 1880's and rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake. Chabon mentions that Berkeley will always be its own unique, old style, town and will never be "hidden" by larger cities like San Francisco.

3. "A business that would never thrive anywhere else, patronized by people who would never thrive anywhere else, in a city that lives and dies on the passion and intelligence, the madness and rapture, of its citizens.

4. This story reminds me of going to Berkeley to visit my sister who attended Berkeley University and after reading this it made me look back and see that Berkeley is an old fashioned town that is very unique.

5. I did not know that Berkeley was the place where the refugees from San Francisco stayed after the 1906 earthquake.

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1. California Honky-Tonk by Kathi Kamen Goldmark

2. Goldmark tells a story about when she was younger and was in a band and about their first gig. Their first gig was at a biker bar and Goldmark explained how the bar was not as they expected and they had all the wrong songs for the croud. Even though the songs were not what the audience wanted the band still kept playing and Goldmark goes onto tell about her many other "gig" experiences, good ones and bad ones and one where she made a great friend.

3. "I have a feeling that if Lil DeMarco heard this one, she'd have loved it." (p. 120)

4. This story made me think of when I was a place playing pool and a song came on that was not the type of music my friends and I listened to. It was fun to listen to different kinds of music because we were in a different setting than normal.

5. I did not know that there were "honky-tonk" bars in LA.

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1. Amanda--This story made me come to think about how valuable California is to a lot of people, and what it means to them

2. Angie-- Tobar talks about how his life can be compared to that of a highway with both it's advantages and disadvantages

3. Brooke--Many citizens are fearful of the measures that may eventually be taken because then Seal Beach becomes just like every other beach town.

4. Catherine--But he soon saw that nothing is immune to change, especially not when there is money to be made

5. Diana--California,aka the Big Sur seems like the perfect place for everyone, and how it is one of the only places that myths of unexplained humanoids can be found

6. Eric--Although he spends most of the essay portraying Seal Beach in an idealistic light compared to its neighbors, he concludes with a description of the various woes the town is facing in exchange for forgoing the development others have wholeheartedly embraced.

7. Jacob--He explains how he feels that if he shares now only a few will seek out his utopia and hopefully will be respectful enough to treat it like their paradise

8. Karl--I learned just how troubled our state would be without freeways allowing people to commute to work everyday.

9. Lori-- He writes about the California being all things to all peoples and then instantly it changes from pastures to mega-shopping centers

10. Wendy--The freeways are a source of order

Tobar, Steinbeck, Humes, Warshaw

1. Ode to CalTrans by Hector Tobar

2. In this short story by Hector Tobar he explains how dangerous driving fast can be dangerous and how in other countries their roadways are not set up as well or have any safety laws like in California. Tobar, growing up in Los Angeles explains the importance of driving and the evolution of the freeways and how well kept they are by CalTrans.

3. "My mother and father were car-less for the first year or so after their arrival from Guatemala in 1962." (p. 58)

4. This story reminded me of my friends house in LA. When I went to visit her I remembered being amazed by all the driving she does everyday and how she knows what time to commute so she does not hit traffic. It also reminded me of her because of the mention of the Rose Hills because you can see that sign on the hill from her house.

5. I did not know that CalTrans would put up a picture of a white CalTrans helmet everywhere someone died on the highways.

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1. Montalvo, myths and dreams of home by Thomas Steinbeck

2. In Thomas Steinbecks story about his love for California he talks about Spain in the 1500's and the lack of publishing there. In 1510 a man named Garcia Rodriguez de Montalvo who was a French translator for romantic novels wrote a book called "Las Serges de Esplandeion". This book became a bestseller and has myths hidden in the text. Steinbeck continues to talk about California and how wonderful it is and how so many people wanted to come here and no on cared about the other states.

3. "In a lifetime of travel I have become acquainted with hundreds of people who dreamed of coming to California. Most of them couldn't have cared less about the other forty-nine states..." (p.65)

4. This story reminds me of the state that I live in and how other people in my country look at California as a great place.

5. I did not know about Garcia Rodriguez de Montalvo

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1. The Last Little Beach Town by Edward Humes

2. Edward Humes starts off by explaining the small town of Seal Beach in Southern California and how in larger cities people do not trust one another like in Seal Beach. Humes explains in this story that Seal Beach use to be full of people staying in the track homes of the 1950's and was a normal city and it has begun to move backwards in time becoming an old fashioned city where people walk to "non-starbucks" and "even talk to each other along the way".

3. "Imagine walking into City Hall in LA or Santa Monica or Santa Ana or anywhere else this side of Mayberry and having a clerk tell you, take it go ahead, I trust you." (p.70)

4. This story made me think of going to Fort Bragg when I was younger. I remember going there and it felt like such a small town by the ocean where you could say hi to anyone and people were more old fashioned. I think of the way our state is divided and that there are different cultures within the same state and even a few miles away from each other.

5. I did not know that there was a town named Seal Beach in Southern California.

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1. Surfacing by Matt Warshaw

2. Matt Warshaw tells us about a kid who was a surfer and went to half moon bay to catch a huge wave and travels on a ferry to get there and once he gets this huge wave he wipes out and breaks his board. He traveled back to his house to get a new board to go back and try again. He ends up catching many more waves that day. Warshaw also mentions hot surfing spots in California in San Francisco and Santa Cruz.

3. "Forty-five minutes later he caught another wave, nearly as big as the first one, and made it." (p. 88)

4. This story reminds me of going to Santa Cruz with my family and watching all the people surfing at the boardwalk and how it was a whole different lifestyle than I am use to.

5. I did not know that Half Moon Bay was not a "hardcore surf town"

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In these four stories about California the authors had different stories to tell. They are all based on the experiences each individual has had in California. The differences are from turning the sport surfing into a message to not give up, another to explain how a town can go form big to small town feel in a matter of 50 years, another author shows how much he loves California in his story and how he believes everyone else does as well and last the structure of California and the need for transportation in the big city of LA.

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1. Gabby--This story makes me think of every piece of fruit or vegetable that I have ever eaten and how much hard work goes into farming and producing crop

2. Jeff--Beverly Hills may be high society and wealthy, but they are still people

3. Justin--I never knew that the American River had such extreme cultural significance

4. Jerad--I feel that it is very important to see the world, after all it may be in your own backyard

5. Karen--Aimee Liu, a resident of Beverly Hills, sees through the glitz and glamour of the town and actually looks at the people and their relationship between fear and desire

6. Lori--I learned Hollywood is not excluded from problems of homelessness or any other issues we have to face in our daily life

7. Amanda--This story definately made me think about how today's society is slowing filling up all our agricultural land with coperations and buildings

8. Brooke--It seems that Beverly Hills and cities like it portray a certain image and it attracts more people to it for that reason.

9. Nicole--All Mackey wants to gain from her bird watching is to be able to live among the birds and be one with them

10. Eric--Like anything human, it has two sides to it

Week 8

Short Story #1

1. "The Big Valley" by Mark Arax

2. This short story called "The Big Valley" is about Mark Arax growing up in Fresno. Arax discusses how Fresno in 1968, when his father claimed his first piece of land was full of fig orchards. He tells stories he remembers from his childhood. He use to ride his mini-bike around the orchards that were big enough to get lost in until one day his mini-bike overheated and him and his cousin had to push the bike back home. Mark's grandfather told him about when he had first come to Fresno when J.C. Forkner was still planting his fig trees and that Henry Ford had come to watch his tractors work the ground of the fig orchards, it was the most ford tractors that ever worked on one piece of ground. Mark's grandfather had bought a vineyard in the San Joaquin Valley and his father had grown up on that vineyard. He discussed how now the fig orchards of Northwest Fresno are gone and replaced by homes and chain stores. Although Mark lives in the city he still plants his garden of vegetables and a small vineyard. Throughout the transformation of Fresno it has gained the dirtiest air in the nation. Mark went to the Ag Expo in 2004 and looked at the tractors and the different types, remembering when there was only one brand. Marks father was caught up in the city life and turned his small bar into a nightclub and brought in actors from the city. Although they lived in the suburbs of Fresno his father could not stay away from his farming either, he had a garden in his backyard.

3. "One afternoon I ventured too far and got lost. It couldn't have been more than three or four miles, but it seemed as if I had found another world." (p. 17)

4. This reading made me think of how many different cities use to be small towns with farmers until it turned into a huge city. It also made me remember the time i traveled out to the Fresno area, and where I was all there was was orchards and farms.

5. I did not know that Fresno was "the dirtiest air basin in the nation" (p. 21)

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Short Story #2

1. "Transients in Paradise" by Aimee Liu

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Short Story #3

1. "Showing off the Owens" by T. Jefferson Parker

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Short Story #4

1. "The Distant Cataract about which we do not Speak" by Mary Mackey

2. This story is about the Sacramento area in California. Mary Mackey talks about going out to the American River Parkway in Sacramento and watching the different animals that surround the river. She explains how the river is commonly used to commute to work, for religious rituals and many more things. The cool thing about this river is that it is in the middle of a huge city, the state capital. When at this river you cannot see any remnants of the city that is right around the corner.

3. " We hear the sounds of The Distant Cataract About Which We Do Not Speak. Of course, it is not really the sound of a cataract. It is the roar of rush-hour traffic, half of it crossing the Howe Avenue Bridge, half of it crossing the bridge at Watt." (p. 48)

4. This story made me think of an area next to my house. It the Santa Rosa creek that the city fixed up into a walking area and instead of making the walkways all perfect looking they tried to make it blend into the scenery and some of the pathways are covered by water in the very rainy season.

5. This taught me about what rivers are in Sacramento and where they all meet.