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.