4b - "My California," Classwork Reflection

1.) Choose any 1 classmate that wrote about your same essays and briefly compare/contrast their choices and ideas versus what you said (eg "In my readings of these same authors I found that BLANK and my classmate also thought BLANK. An interesting point of view I didn't think of that my classmate said is BLANK")

For this assignment, I decided to compare my responses with Monica Badgley. We both read the same essays from the My California book. The authors were Arax, Liu, Jefferson Parker, and Macke)

For the essay by Arax, Monica reached similar if not the same conclusions that I made concerning the importance of farming and the pervasive commercialism in modern day, rural California. One of the primary differences between our observations however exist in our unique writing styles and the techniques that we employ. Whereas I was trying to encapsulate the essay and grasp key points, Monica has seemed to implement a thorough summary style that is very effective in conveying the essence of the stories. Are techniques of writing remained constant for all four of the essays.

For the second essay, we both realized similar points about the veritable realities behind places like Beverley Hill. We both had the same sentence quoted as our favorite. The impressions that the story made made on each other was different, however. Monica said it reminded her of a recent trip to the city. I didn't think of any particular city, but thought of the cities in general that possess transients of one kind or another, and that they are found everywhere.

The third required reading by Jefferson Parker was my least favorite of the four. It talked about a fishing trip and I thought maybe I missed something in my original read because I came to the conclusion that it was simply an anecdote about angler fishing on the River Owens. Monica was able to extract more from this reading than I was able. Unfortunately, I didn't find this account to be particular fascinating, it reminded me of nothing remarkably familiar, and I found it rather ponderous in general.

The final story was my favorite and was written by Mary Mackey. We seemed to have a similar experience with this reading and both enjoy the company of water fowl. I used to have a home near a large pond where the ducks and geese lived, but have moved from there a while ago.

2.) Choose any 1 classmate that wrote about a different set of essays and tell us one thing you learned per author presented.

I choose Kendra to learn about the second set of essays.

From the essay by Hector Tobar entitled Ode to Cal Trans, I learned an interesting fact about the white-helmet portrait. The workers of Cal Trans supposedly place one of these picture where ever a worker dies on the job. An appropriate and respectable homage to the employees of a well known union of California.

The second story by Thomas Steinbeck called Montalvo, Myths and Dreams From Home, I learned about an interesting – albeit mythical – California known as Big Sur. I found this amusing and I actually read the essay myself.

I learned in the third essay that despite being in Orange County, California, Seal Beach has managed to successfully maintain a small-town look and feel. Quite a formidable task for any city/town in that area.

From Kendra's writing I learned some interesting things about Maverick's in Half Moon Bay. I already new that Half Moon Bay was the oldest city in San Mateo County, however.

3.) Like number 2, choose any 1 classmate that wrote about a set of essays that you didn't read.

I checked out Alfredo Ramirez's blog to do the third part of this week's assignment.

From the first essay by Firoozeh Dumas, I found the pool keys as a symbol of freedom an interesting concept concerning a family from Iran.

Cotton Candy Mirrors by Devorah Major was the second essay required for group three. I didn't learn anything particularly relevant, so I decided to read the story myself. It was simply an amusing account of childhood occurrences in a neighborhood when one day they decide to investigate a fun house. It was a fun read like many are within this book.

Berkeley, written by Michael Chabon immediately caught my attention. From Alfredo's web log, I learned that this was an excerpt about the atmosphere of the town of Berkeley and being on the town University campus. I also read this myself and found it really neat comparing and contrasting one area from another. The quote that Alfredo chose was also one of my favorite from the reading.

The final essay is by Kathi Kamen Goldmark and is entitled California Honky Tonk. Prior to the reading, I didn't know we had that type of bar atmosphere in the area. I know there exist bikers, but the “biker bar” wan an interesting concept for liberal California.