Assignment 5a Group #3

The Un-California by Daniel Weintraub
This story explains how Sacramento the States capitol, really is nothing like the rest of California. The people although very powerful politicians are down to earth and accessible, there are no super rich or super poor people the town is just a mix of everyday folks who love the weather, and don’t mind the flat landscape.
My favorite sentence was “It’s not as if the city’s streets are now crowded with Hummers. And those you do see tend to be spattered with mud, just back from a trip to the mountains. Around these parts, people actually drive them there.” (178)
When the author talked about how his children “have learned that fresh produce doesn’t just show up on the grocery shelves but comes from the nearby fields, the result of risk and hard work of famers and laborers alike.”(177) It made me think of how lucky we are to live in California, where all our produce is grown just around the corner, and what a great environment it is to raise your children.
I had no idea that you could go to sacramento and actually have a real chance of seeing a very important politician. “Even Gov/ Arnold Schwarzenegger, the megastar and multimillionaire, has t aken to doing lunch on the town” (176)

Rocks in the Shape of Billy Martin by Deanne Stillman
In this essay Stillman conveys to the reader her perfect oasis, the Mojave Desert. She talks in-depth about the nature she is surrounded by and why it is such a breath of fresh air after she’s been living in LA. She uses baseball terms, and fomouas people to really give depth and background to what she is describing.
My favorite sentence was “and why I used to send away fro cactuses—I know you’re supposed to say “cacti” but I don’t like the sound of it—that you could get from places with names like Kaktus Jack’s and Desert Botanicals and keep them on a window ledge near my bed.” (180)
Reading about Stillmans trip to the 200 year old Joshua tree really made me think of the vacations my family use to go on when we were younger. We loved to camp and hike, and I have definitely sat right where Stillman did under that 200 year old tree.
Before reading this story I didn’t know it was possible to compare the dessert to major league baseball, “Now, if you are ever out in the Mojave, the once-and-future baseball diamond, and you don’t immediately come across the rocks, don’t worry.” (185)

How Many Angels by David Kipen
This story is about David Kipens adventure in his candy-apple red pickup truck to the center of Los Angeles County. He talks about there being no “downtown” LA but there has to be a center point, and it is his quest to find it.
“But candy-apple red pickup trucks are good for certain things that bookmobiles are not. Helping friends move. Getting pulled over for no good reason. Feeling more rugged than you are.” (187) was deffinitly my favorite quote in this story.
When Kipen talks about how he’s a city kid and doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe the beautiful nature that surrounds him, it made me sad to know that there are people out there in LA somewhere who can’t grasp the idea of what beauty surrounds them if they drove a few miles out of town.
I didn’t know before reading this story that LA doesn’t really have a city center or a down town, but its so large how could there be one place that’s called “downtown” how would you pick?

Centered by Veronique de Turenne
This story is all about Turenne’s adventure on vacation to Northern California. She is from Malibu, doesn’t really like to go on vacation because she lives with everything beautiful at her fingertips. But while on this vacation her travel buddy David comes up with the idea to find the center of California, and that’s where they go.
My favorite quote was “In a state this big, where the holy trinity of Smogland, Fogland and Logland divide us, what could the geographic center possibly look like?” (195) To me it just sums up almost all of the different aspects of California in a positive way. Not liberals, or yuppies or tree huggers but actual differences in the areas.
This reading made me think of how wonderful California is. You can live on the beach but vacation in the woods juts a few hours away. Anywhere you live you can always spot the tourists, and best of all….you get to call yourself a Californian.
I have lived in California my whole life and had no idea that there was a specific spot, marked center of California…makes me almost want to drive out there and see it.