Assignment 4a-Human7

1. Write the story title and author name. .25 point

Ode to Caltrans by Hector Tobar

2. Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary. Remember that your classmates will rely on you for this information. 2 percent


Hector wrote about his childhood growing up in the LA area watching Caltrans build the freeway and looking through maps of plans for the freeway. He commented how dangerous the freeways are and how when he was bringing home his wife and first born child he decided to take alternate routes off of the freeway because the back roads were so much safer. He pointed out that people in LA drive very fast and they do not put up with drivers that do not know what they are doing sometimes that means even road rage. It was interesting how he talks about his parents being immigrants from Guatemala and how they had no independence in LA at first because they had no car. If you have no car it is hard to get around and until you do have a car you really do not have much freedom in LA because of its vastness.


3. Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number)? 1 percent

On page 53 Hector Wrote:


“In California we drive too fast, but at least there are enforceable rules; there is a logic and highway etiquette respected by eighty five percent of the driving public and enforced by a relatively incorruptible Highway Patrol. If the Buenos Aires commuters who make a habit of straddling the dotted lines on the Highway of the Sun tried the same thing on the Santa Monica, they would either be pulled over for a roadside sobriety test or find themselves targets of road-rage justice. In Los Angeles, we don’t suffer traffic fools well, because we drive almost as much as we breathe; we understand that the hours we spend outside the shell of our vehicles are mere episodes between the daily freeway slog. The Law of Evolution has dictated our adaptation into homo californius mobiles, and clever tool making---- the hands-free cellular phone, the multi-CD player, and the radar detection device----has saved our breed from extinction.”



4. What did the reading make you think of? (be specific eg "There is a bridge in SF that spans 4 miles from SF to Oakland and in the middle of the bridge it crosses an island called Treasure Island. This story makes me think of that specific little island where I can see the entire city and bay area. That city was also in the news recently where .... ) .75 percent


This reading made me think of my childhood. I grew up in Southern California and when I first remember seeing the major freeways I was amazed. I thought” I am sure glad I do not have to drive and I hope my mom can remember how to get home.” It was such a maze that I was sure that we would get lost somehow. My mom was self confident and since my dad was not around she learned to be very independent and had no problems going to the city on the weekends to shop or go to a function.




5. What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples)? 1 percent


I did not know that Caltrans created maps of where they were going to put the freeways. I thought the maps were available to the public after the freeway was built not as they were building it.

1. Write the story title and author name. .25 point

Montalvo Myths and Dreams of Home by Thomas Steinbeck

2. Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary. Remember that your classmates will rely on you for this information. 2 percent

Thomas Steinbeck writes about the early 1500’s in Spain when articles were first written by the church. Then French and Dutch novels were smuggled into Spain for their racier content. Later, local Spanish printers began translating the novels to Spanish. Finally, one of the translators was Garcia Rodriguez de Montalvo started writing his own novels. He wrote “Las Serges De Esplandian”. It was a hit with the people. In this novel he named his paradise “California”, after that for many years to come many people including Cortes began looking for their “California” or their paradise. Steinbeck writes that California is everyone’s version of their own personal paradise. Steinbeck’s paradise in California is the Big Sur. He enjoyed hiking, camping, horseback riding and even mule riding over its passes. Even strange sightings of the great Sasquatch and The Dark Watchers were part of the myth of the Big Sur.

3. Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number)? 1 percent

On page 64 Steinbeck wrote:
“ This mythological distillation of numerous classical fantasies charmed the public’s need for distraction to such an extent, that even as late as 1533, Cortez and his motley gang of metal-clad head-bashers knew the story well enough to name the longest western peninsula yet discovered after Montalvo’s whimsical creation California.”
4. What did the reading make you think of? (be specific eg "There is a bridge in SF that spans 4 miles from SF to Oakland and in the middle of the bridge it crosses an island called Treasure Island. This story makes me think of that specific little island where I can see the entire city and bay area. That city was also in the news recently where .... ) .75 percent
This reading reminded me of the first time I visited Yosemite National Park. I was so amazed and elated and would describe this as my paradise in my California. The trees and the wildlife and the sounds of the night were so amazing and beautiful. It was my favorite place to visit by far.



5. What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples)? 1 percent

I did not know anything about the Big Sur and I learned that Steinbeck has camped there before. I have never actually been there but it sounds like my kind of place to visit. I love to see nature and camp in the woods with my family. I know that there are many areas in California that I have yet to discover and someday I know that I will get the chance to do so in the future.


1. Write the story title and author name. .25 point

The Last Little Beach Town by Edward Humes

2. Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary. Remember that your classmates will rely on you for this information. 2 percent


Edward Humes writes about his discovery of a small little beach town named Seal Beach that was able to save itself from commercialization and stay small without huge Condos, major big box corporations and cement parking structures. It is a small town that was able to keep its charm despite its neighboring cities growth. Now the need for money seems to put this city in a bind. It wants to stay small but it needs funds to keep it going.


3. Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number)? 1 percent


On page 78:
“I can’t help but remember Crystal Cove and its vanishing paradise, and just how fragile our dreams and myths truly are, at least the ones that count.”



4. What did the reading make you think of? (be specific eg "There is a bridge in SF that spans 4 miles from SF to Oakland and in the middle of the bridge it crosses an island called Treasure Island. This story makes me think of that specific little island where I can see the entire city and bay area. That city was also in the news recently where .... ) .75 percent


This reading made me think of Rohnert Park when I first moved to the North Bay in 1996. It was such a small town it seemed to me. It now seems to have grown by leaps and bounds. I remember how they used to have a baseball team, minor league I think, and how everyone in town it seemed was a big fan. It felt like a small town near a large city that was able to stay small even though Santa Rosa was so much larger.

5. What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples)? 1 percent


I did not know that Seal Beach was so small. I just grouped it with all the nearby beach cities like Long Beach or Newport Beach. When I was younger my favorite beach was Newport Beach because I enjoyed walking down the large pier and fishing with my brother. I guess I never visited Seal Beach and wonder how it looks today and if it is the way that Humes describes it in his story.


1. Write the story title and author name. .25 point


Surfacing by: Matt Warshaw

2. Summarize the reading in one brief paragraph; be specific in your summary. Remember that your classmates will rely on you for this information. 2 percent


This story is about surfers who call themselves the Vermin and who leave in the Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay Area. They are just in time for a major storm that is expected to have very large waves larger than they had ever encountered in that area before. One of the newer surfers 16 year old, Jay Moriarity faced the danger of almost drowning in that storm trying to surf those large waves. He survived thankfully and made his way into history with that large wipeout. Warshaw writes a little about the history of Half Moon Bay and how it was not really known for its surfing history but was instead known for its small town feel and its locally grown crops. Santa Cruz was known as the world’s greatest surf city. Three Hawaiian teenagers were going to a local military school, handmade their boards out of redwoods, and became the first surfers in America. Soon many famous surfers would follow and help create Santa Cruz’s rich surfer history.

3. Which was your favorite sentence or paragraph (include entire quote; use quote marks and page number)? 1 percent


Page88:
“Either way, there was nothing banal about what Moriarity did for an encore that morning. After tossing the pieces of his broken board onto the deck of Lizzie-Lynn, he took a short breather, grabbed his reserve board, ran a bar of sticky wax across the top for traction, and paddled back into the lineup. Forty-five minutes later he caught another wave, nearly as big as the first one, and made it. In the next five hours he caught eight more waves and made them all.”


4. What did the reading make you think of? (be specific eg "There is a bridge in SF that spans 4 miles from SF to Oakland and in the middle of the bridge it crosses an island called Treasure Island. This story makes me think of that specific little island where I can see the entire city and bay area. That city was also in the news recently where .... ) .75percent


It made me think of watching the surfers when I was younger and thinking that one day I would learn how to surf. I never learned but I still can if the opportunity does present itself. I used to sit on the beach and watch them and wonder why they were not afraid of the sharks. My mother instilled fear in me about the sharks so that we would not wander too far in the water. It worked and I would not go in farther than my waist. I wanted to make sure that I could swim back quickly just in case. I always admired the surfers and thought they were really brave.

5. What is one thing you did not know before you started the reading that you now know (again, be specific using concrete examples)? 1 percent


I did not know that Santa Cruz was the home of the first American Surfers. I was amazed. I thought for sure Hawaii or Southern California would have taken that title easily. That is what happens when you assume that you know something when in fact you don’t. I am sure we all make assumptions about many things. I am glad that I now know this information and next time I visit the area I will have some trivia to talk about.