4a Group #1

Write the story title and author name:
The Big Valley by Mark Arax

Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary: This reading compares the Central Valley to itself across a lifetime. Mark starts off by telling you a story about when he was a kid and how he got lost in the orchards. As the story progresses he talks about how the land has changed. Stores, houses and even clubs now occupy the land he once roamed as a kid. He talks about how people aren’t even really interested in the way life use to have been around those parts; even his own kids are bored by his stories. He concludes his comparison by telling us that he still preserves his past in his back yard, where he secretly (behind his wife’s back) plants something he use to grow when he was a kid.

Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number): “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 has found another world” (Pg 17)

What did the reading make you think of: I thought about of how things change in our lifetimes. He talks about how this place that he grew up in went from being an orchard to “almost the “Inner-city” of Fresno. I always think about how little Petaluma was when I was a kid and how now it has earned the title of city.

What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples): I was not aware that there used to be fig orchards where Fresno is now. It is hard to believe that deep under al those houses and stores is the same soil that used to produce orchards.


Write the story title and author name:
Transients in Paradise by Aimee Liu

Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary: This story tries to explain what Beverley Hills is. The author talks about the people she sees as she walks around. She talks about how she witnesses people at a funeral compare notes on a training regime. Then she talks about homeless people she has encounter. One of which wasn’t actually homeless but lived in a single room hotel. She uses all of her comparisons to try and paint a picture of what Beverly Hills is trying to be. Her conclusion is that Beverly Hills inhabitants are simply transients.

Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph: “Contrary to that first glance, the current between desire and fear runs hard through Beverley hills” (Pg 30)

What did the reading make you think of: The author talks about everyone as being Transients. I think about the people she decribes in the story and how they all spend a small amount of time in the area, but they all fall into stereotype. Richard was a a guy who appeared homeless, so he was treated as such. He actually wasn’t homeless though, just hard on his luck as far as Beverly Hills people were concerned.

What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples): I guess I never really thought that in one community there could be such a vast difference between its people. The story talks about how homeless people flood the streets among the millionaires at shopping complexes, but the storeowners respond with selective blindness. I know this exists in any culture, the story just shows in such a different light for me.

Write the story title and author name:
Showing off the Owens by T. Jefferson Parker

Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary: this story is about California’s Lower Owens River. The author is a fisherman and he got the chance to take his friends to the Owens. The story begins by describing the drive to the river. The author talks about how the last 30 minutes of the drive are so taunting. During the trip his friend develops a rash that is the constant topic of conversation during the story. They meet their guide the next day and experience the beauty of the sport of fishing.

Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number):”Brian cracked that it may have been caused by the color of my Explorer, which was ungenerously labeled “Butterscotch” . (Pg 39) In reference to the cause of the rash

What did the reading make you think of: This reading mad eme think about going fishing with my dad. The author speaks of fishing with uch a divine love for the sport that I can’t help but recall memories of sitting on a lake for hours to catch (Hopefully) one fish.

What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples): I had never heard of the Owens River before. (I guess I do not get out much0. But the description of this place made it very clear that this is a place I need to visit.

Write the story title and author name:
The distant Cataract about Which We Do Not Speak by Mary Mackey

Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary: The story begins as the author describes her mission to sneak up on the ducks in a pond. She recounts her failed attempt and all the wildlife that she sees in the area. Unfortunately as we fast forward to the future she notices there are fewer animals. The cataract that is described in the title is simply a highway that has cars that have seemingly replaced the wildlife. The author does notice common ground among the pats and present when her and her husband watch a traditional ceremony on the water where she once hunted for ducks. The beauty of night time nature and the human presence were in perfect harmony

Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number): “Logically I can not be a log or a beach ball” (Pg 46) this has to do with her confusion on why the ducks never notice her sneaking up on them.

What did the reading make you think of: “But today I make it back to the island without encountering anything but a muskrat” this whole story makes me think about all the things we take for granted as a kid. I too have had experiences where I used to see a vast amount of types of animals and now I cant remember the last time I saw them.

What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples): This story taught me about the ceremony for the lost souls at sea, but is also done for those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This ceremony is done with floating lanterns on sea. I was never aware of this ceremony

3c Inland Areas

Sacramento vs Fresno

Sacramento and fresno are two cities you hear rarely about nowadays. Niether city is real big and nothing real exciting goes on around them. Each city is rich in culture when you visit them and tie in greatly to the history of California

What are some assumptions/stereotypes you think people have of each location:
Sacramento is best known as the capitol of California, however those who know little about it tend to think it is a town inhabited by cows. People think all people from Sacramento have cows and life stock.

Fresno is constantly overlooked in the great state of California. Many residents of California cant even give you an opinion of Fresno, because they have no information on Fresno.

List 3 things that make each location similar:
Each of the locations has a minor leave (AAA) baseball team.. The teams are transition leagues for major league baseball.

Both of these cities are located in the central Valley. Sacramento is the biggest city in the central valley followed by Fresno, which is the second largest in the Central Valley.

Major California universities are found in each city such as, Davis and Sacramento sate in Sacramento and Fresno State in Fresno.

List 3 things that make each location so different: 1 point
Sacramento has a professional Basketball team (Sacramento Kings) and a women’s team (Sacramento Monarchs). Fresno does not have a major professional sports team.

Sacramento was a major distribution point during the gold rush. Fresno county was not even in existence when the gold rush transpired.

Sacramento is the capital of California, while Fresno can barely make it on most maps.

Questioning:
Sacramento was not the original capital of California, Monterrey was. I wonder what makes it so that a city loses it’s capital status and how out determine a new capitol.

Jeni ( http://jenilyons.blogspot.com/2008/06/2c-san-diego-zoo.html) mentioned that the San Diego zoo has been a pioneer for cage less exhibits. I have not yet experienced this but zoos are a great place to learn about culture. The more natural the setting, the better the exhibit.

Sources:
City of Sacramento: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/
City of Fresno: http://www.fresno.gov/default.htmWikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento, http://en.wikipedi

3b Beaches

Stinson vs Pebble beach

Ever since i can remember the beach has been my favorite form of recreation. Stinson is a place where I visted quite often when I was little and Pebble beach i always saw on TV when I watched golf. Each community ties into humanities since beach communities always tend to have a different culture.

What are some assumptions/stereotypes you think people have of each location:
Stinson beach is a popular destination for people who want to get away from the city life. It is not uncommon to see really nice cars parked along the beach, which gives the impression that this is a high-class beach.

Pebble beach is best known for it golf course. People assume that Pebble beach is just a golf course in a nice location, but there is an actual beach there.

List 3 things that make each location similar:
Each of the locations is an unincorporated beach. This means they are not owned by a single entity, but instead by the county it resides in.

Both beaches have a high concentration of granite rock in their sand.

Since Stinson is a beach you wouldn’t expect there to be any sidewalks, but at Pebble as much as you might expect there to be sidewalks with how big it is, there are none.

List 3 things that make each location so different: 1 point
While Stinson beach is best known as a get away, Pebble beach is more of a crowded beach. With the golf course and resort in the same location, the beach is always crowded

Stinson beach is just a typical beach, but Peble beach is most famous for its golf course.

Pebble beach is roughly 2.5 times the size of Stinson beach.

Questioning:
Since 1952 Stinson beach has had 13 shark attacks, I wonder what types of procedures are taken to avoid such attacks in the future.

Joseph (http://josephfitchsblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/week-2-project-2b_29.html) talked about General Vallejo’s home. I had never heard of this museum before, but it is in Sonoma.. It is a home that furnishes its original furnishing.

Sources
Stinson Beach Online: http://www.stinsonbeachonline.com/
Pelican network http://www.pelicannetwork.net/pebble.beach.htm
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Beach, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinson_Beach

3A world cities

LA vs SF

Theses two cities contribute so much to y culture and the culture of California. California is so big that north and south define two seperate cultures illistrated mostly by these two cities. SF is a town rich in culture and LA is where stars go to be born. That is how this ties into humanities.

What are some assumptions/stereotypes you think people have of each location:

Los Angeles is very commonly thought of as the movie capital of the world. People seem to think everyone who lives there are rich or famous. Los Angeles is thought of as one of the most crowded and traffic filled cities in the world.

San Francisco is commonly thought of as the gay community. San Francisco has one of the largest gay communities in the country. San Francisco is also commonly thought of as one of the most beautiful cities in the world with such attractions as the Golden Gate Bridge.

List 3 things that make each location similar:
Each of these cities have baseballs teams, who both made their way over from New York in the 1950’s. Even more remarkable is the fact that these two teams were rivals back in New York and remained rivals as they moved across the country.

At one point both cities were respectively considered the movie capitals of the world. Before LA became the place where stars go, it looked as though San Francisco would become the magical movie place. However the constant disaster of natural earthquakes eventually made it so the movie industry would move down the state and end up in LA.

As shocking as this might be, over the past decade the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles have actually had very high crime rates.

List 3 things that make each location so different: 1 point
Even though they are both big cities, the amount of land in the city of LA is almost double the amount in San Francisco. San Francisco is a city that is surrounded by the “Bay” while Los Angeles is surrounded by neighboring cities.

LA has nearly ideal weather. It always seems, as the weather is nice and sunny. While San Francisco still has nice weather almost year round, fog is a big issue. Since the city is right next to the bay, fog usually hides some of those sunny days.

Even though LA is viewed as a rich and famous city, it is actually more expensive to live in the city of San Francisco.

Questioning: I have learned that both the cities of SF and LA have high crime rates, I wonder what each of the cities is trying to do to lower each of these rates?

Last week Denya (http://dbeaudryhuman7.blogspot.com/2008/06/2a-san-francisco.html) wrote her blog about San Francisco. She brought up that San Francisco is rich in diversity and Culture. I, like the most of us, have lived around here for a while, and San Francisco is the perfect mix of culture. San Francisco defines culture.

Sources

San Francisco.com :http://www.sanfrancisco.com/news/

Los Angeles news: http://www.knbc.com/index.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

2c Golden Gate Bridge

Contains a brief paragraph how it connects to your study of humanities.: I think the Golden gate bridge is one of the most recognizable structures in the world. I think people think about it when they think about California. One of the aspects in culture we look at is art and I think that this bridge is an absolute work of beauty.

Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures)does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear. 1 point : I chose the Golden Gate Bridge. I think there is no symbol that is more recognizable than the bridge. I feel like this shows how people can take some thing as simple as a bridge and turn it into a piece of art. The subject of work is a 2.737 mile long bridge that connects San Francisco to Marin County. Normally fog ridden you will notice two tall red towers holding United States second longest suspend bridge up. 220 feet above the San Francisco bay you can peer straight ahead as you enter the city. You can hear tourists and other cars as they litter the sides of you.

Interpretation: What is your choice about? Give specific examples to support this statement in 2 sentences; do so in a way that teaches us something about your choice. Make Paulo Freire proud! .75 point: I think this choice is about leaving a legacy. Only 11 men died while creating this bridge and thousands more were involved in the building of this bridge, which should withstand ages. This is something that some of our ancestors worked on and that alone should make us think about how incredible our ancestors and our culture really is.

Judgment: What led you to your choice? What do you think or feel about this choice? Why do you feel this way? Support your thoughts with specific observations. .5 point: I sat and thought about what kind of places and things define California on my way back from the Exploratorium. Turns out I was riding right over it when the brilliant idea slipped into my head. I feel like the bridge captures the beauty of the city and feel like ti was a good monument to describe a part of my culture. I think that we are best remembered for what we leave behind and those people, who worked on this bridge should be very proud of what they accomplished.

Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience: I learned that 11 men died while construction was going on with the bridge, but 10 of them died due to a safety default near the end of completeion fof the bridge. I wonder what happened to the other guy?

Sources

Wikpedia

Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge

Golden Gate bridge
http://goldengatebridge.org/
5. Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry (http://theladyswang.blogspot.com/2008/06/1c-two-classmates.html) . .5 point. Katie loves theater and acting. This is not a expierence we have shared, although I did have a lead role in the third grade. Culture is very much about theater and itrealtes to this class in both a historical and cultural aspect.

2b The Exploratorium

Contains a brief paragraph how it connects to your study of humanities.: Science is very much a part of any culture. The Exploratorium is a museum that is dedicated to science. Part of a culture is finding out how things became the way they are. The Exploratorium has been a staple in California for learning about science.

Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures)does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear. 1 point : The Exploratorium in San Francisco is the pace I chose I feel like this is a place that makes it cool to learn about science. It presents a very fun atmosphere as it displays science through playing. You learn through your experience. You feel a lot like a kid at an amusement park. You just want to try everything and don’t know where to start. The exterior of this building is built like old ruins with beautiful trees growing around; this alone makes the place worth viewing. Once you enter the building you feel like you are at the worlds biggest science fair. Different display booths and science equipment litter the building just waiting for you to play with them.

Interpretation: What is your choice about? Give specific examples to support this statement in 2 sentences; do so in a way that teaches us something about your choice. Make Paulo Freire proud! .75 point: The choice is about the power of education. The Exploratorium has won the Webby award 5 times since 1997, which is given to the place with the best online experiments or sites on the web. This means that you don’t have to pay that toll and gas cost to have fun and learn, you can simply type in a URL.

Judgment: What led you to your choice? What do you think or feel about this choice? Why do you feel this way? Support your thoughts with specific observations. .5 point: I chose this place, because I have been there countless times. I think this place gives a great view into our past as well as our future in the scientific realm. This place helps you learn a lot about yourself through exhibits like “The Tactile Dome”. The Tactile Dome is a room where you must find your way through a maze that I pitch black.

Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience: I learned that the Exploratorium has over 20 million webisite vistors a year, I wonder what kind of new online displays they will put up to keep that number so high?

Sources
wikipedia Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratorium

The exploratorium web site
http://www.exploratorium.edu/

5. Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry (http://josephfitchsblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/hello-my-name-is-joey-and-i-am-taking.html) . .5 point Joesph loves sports as do I. I am sure he has been to plenty of ball games. This is a very common expierence that i have also expierenced. Sports are related to the culture so it does relate to this class. I think sports are part of the historical context.

2a Bodega Bay

Contains a brief paragraph how it connects to your study of humanities.: Bodega Bay is where I grew up, and I feel this is a place that has contributed to my understanding of my own culture. Since the overarching concept of this class is to understand culture, no culture is more important to me than my own. I also live very close to this place and go there quite often.

Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures) does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear. 1 point : I chose a place “Bodega Bay”. When I think of this place I think mainly of the beaches and the beautiful coastline. I can also hear the ocean waves rush up to the coastline and wash away the sand. When I first stepped foot on the beach, I could hear the sound of seagulls in the distance. That sound combined with the sound of the waves and kids created the tantalizing feeling of fun. The sand through my feet felt warm. In the distance you can see the waves crashing ashore. The beach is always crowded during the summer time so the sounds of chatter and laughter feel the sea breezed air.

Interpretation: What is your choice about? Give specific examples to support this statement in 2 sentences; do so in a way that teaches us something about your choice. Make Paulo Freire proud! .75 point: My choice is about proving that as crazy as things can get, nature can always relax you. In our culture today time seems to fly by, but if you take a second and watch the waves you might find yourself lost in the beauty. Culture has as much to do with painting and such, as it does on how people simply take time off.

Judgment: What led you to your choice? What do you think or feel about this choice? Why do you feel this way? Support your thoughts with specific observations. .5 point: I was led to this choice by examining something that was important in my culture. I feel this place was a good choice to visit because it is someplace I have visited a lot and never really viewed in a cultural perspective. I never noticed how quickly the landscaped changed throughout my life. I also noticed music is always playing in some form or another. That music mixes with the natural sounds of the beach to create the beautiful sound of culture in Bodega Bay.

Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience: I know Bodega was founded in 1775, by Juan Francisco de la Bodega, however he left soon after this areas discovery. My question would be why did he never return?

Sources
wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodega_Bay

The Bodega Bay Website
http://www.bodegabay.com/

5. Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry (http://granizo599.blogspot.com/2008/06/lucia-is-biochemistry-major-who-is.html) . .5 point

I learned that Ryan loves baseball. This is something i have in common woth him. Baseball is a part of american culture so i assume it would be related to this class.