all things californian

"THE" Dream...

The greatest Californian dreams ranging from hopes for riches and fame to those who wish the impossible, these dreams are mostly put in the head of younger children and teenagers. For not being the individual that the society in California wants, for example, not being financially empowered or the unwilling of a young teenager to receive an education, the creation of a machine has been molded. These examples are just two of many more of how the California dream has been created to benefit a small handful of people. Who might those people be? It might be those men and ladies living in big fancy houses that look down on the blue collar working class. The idea that California should be represented as the greatest place has created a world where all the wrongs and bad things such as drugs sexual exploitation crime or basically anyone who is not the owner of the big fancy house. In California the idea that every individual is molded into being a college student is unrealistic, ok the world does need educational leaders but the same world does need just as bad the working class. From plumber’s landscapers and anyone who may fit in between, these where the creators of the great land of California and in a sense California has lost the backbone in which it was created on. The selfish California dream is the real reason to why many pursuit all the great things on this golden state. If you take a look around almost everyone at this time is out to get theirs in a sense, what I mean is that we all do what we do in a selfish manner and that what I do will better me in a way. A teacher might say that he is in it for students but in reality he or she might just be happy knowing that "I" did something and now "I" feel better. My California dream of survival in an injustice world :)

This is all I was able to write after having writers block so yeah. . . (P.S. not intended to be offensive either)

From Invention to Draft: My California (Class Notes)

Ideas about sources:

• Public Art
  Photos / painting / sculpture / film / music / tv / advertising / street art / architecture / public spaces

Thesis Question:

• Identify a specific California dream that you are going to discuss. In particular, you are going to ask this question: What do these works of art tell us about competing versions of the dream of __________ in CA?

Topic Sentence Guiding Questions

• What do this specific work of art tell us about competing versions of the dream _______ in CA?

Strategies for Developing Your Paragraphs

• Ask the question how--how does the art say what it says
• Develop your interpretation with details from the art itself
• Connect your interpretation and the work of art to a quote or concept from the reading
• Explain your ideas--in particular the relationship between the art and the message as fully as possible

Audience, Purpose, and Format for Blog Posts

I have seen a few things on the first few posts that I wanted to comment on so that those who have already posted could rework things a bit and those who have not yet posted could add some changes to their posts.

1. The thinking I am seeing is interesting and the ideas are quite promising.

2. Remember the goal is 200 words-significantly less will result in not receiving full credit; too much more runs the risk of losing your readers.

3. Format Your Material Appropriately: a) give your post an interesting name that provides your reader a sense of what you are discussing, b) remove things like paper headings or other material that blog readers who are not in the class (and even those in the class) will find distracting and unnecessary), c) assign your  post at least one category so that readers can find it later in the course.

4) Carefully paragraph, quote, and document. Your reader should know where to find your sources--art and text-- when they finish reading your post. Citations and a work cited list are one way to do that; hyperlinks are another very interesting way to correctly attribute and they allow your reader to move quickly to your source. Hyperlinks should not substitute for citation but they can beautifully supplement it.

What all of these ideas have in common is a sense of your purpose and audience. On the blog, you write for an audience beyond the class and you must take steps to respond to that audience and generate material that is interesting and accessible to them.

Finally, please bring two print outs of your blog post to class on Tuesday--just as you do for all of the other writing in our class.

Quote Response #2

I have received some helpful emails with questions over the past few hours, so I thought I would post some further guidance on the second quote response due tomorrow.

The writing assignment for Thursday is the same as the writing assignment for Tuesday with only two exceptions.

First, the quote that you are responding to should come from the "mustang colt" section of the McWilliams handout and should respond to a new piece of art (by the way, Made in California is on open reserve in the library).

Second, for the assignment due tomorrow, you want to try to correctly use the paraphrase, direct quotation, attribution, and integration skills that we talked about in class on Tuesday. This should include a parenthetical citation in your paragraph and a works cited citation at the end of the paragraph.

Use the library pages on citation techniques for format guidance. And in general, do your best to try out these new ideas and techniques.

For your works cited list you will need two sources. The first will be the book that the "Mustang Colt" chapter comes from, and I include that here:

McWilliams, Carey. California: The Great Exception. New York: Greenwood Press, 1949.

The second will be the source from which you obtain whatever piece of art you decide to comment upon. And that you will have to find and document for your self.

I hope this helps. You can try emailing and calling before class if you have questions that i have not addressed here.

Quote Response #1

The goal of this activity is to help you take concepts and/or quotes from course readings and apply them to writing topics.

In this case, I am asking you to choose one quote or passage from the "Carey McWilliams's California" essay and build a paragraph around that quote.

First, type out the quote on a word document (include a page number reference).

Then below that quote write a paragraph long reflection in which you elaborate upon the meaning of that quote and then apply all or part of it to a work of art of your choosing.

Your goal here should be about 200 words--certainly no more than 300.

You will want to bring two copies to class--one for you to read with classmates and one to turn in to me.

Some ideas that might help you develop your paragraph:

• You can spend part of your paragraph defining, summarizing, or explaining your quote, but the bulk of what you write should be spent on applying the ideas to the piece of art you have chosen.

• The quote probably will be your main idea, but I can imagine approaches in which a quote would be used to present a larger idea or theme that would then create a broader focus for the paragraph.

• Devote as much of your paragraph as possible to exploring the meaning of the work of art. Consider this question, "what is the relationship between the quote you chose and what the work of art you chose says about California?"

Here's an example of how I might approach this: I could imagine some interesting ways that I could apply some of the concepts Starr presents in his essay or some of the quotes from McWilliams into a paragraph about the album Hotel California as a work of art (I could look at the album cover itself or the lyrics of the song--or a combination of the two!

I could also imagine looking at an architectural landmark such as the Balboa Park or an important public space--such as the gaslamp quarter--or one building within those sets--and doing the same thing. And don't even get me started on film and the visual arts! Explore the texts, the web, your imagination--you will encounter untold numbers of representations of California in art that you can discuss.

I hope these ideas help. See you tomorrow!

Responding to California Art

Our first writing assignment has two parts.

1) locate a piece of art about California that interests you

Here are a few ideas:

• • Use google to find something interesting on the web (various searches for California art followed by a click on the google images button are a good way to start). If you go with a web image, make sure to print out a copy to show your group in class.

• Choose an image from Made in California or Reading California (if you do, just bring the book in with the image to share with your classmates)

• Pick a song that you like that is about California (if you do, remember to bring the lyrics).

• Feel free to experiment with other forms of art--pop art like ads, posters, and street murals; film and television; architecture and public space art...anything that interests you, but remember to bring an image of what you choose to share with your group.

2) When you have chosen a piece, write a 500 word reflection on what the piece of art that you have chosen tells us about California. You may find that the guiding question on the syllabus and/or the lists of things we like/love and problems/dislikes from class today may help you.

Remember to bring two copies of your work: one for me to look at and one to share with your classmates.