4a Group #2

Group 2 If your last name starts with letters G-O, READ the following author stories in MY CALIFORNIA: Tobar, Steinbeck, Humes, Warshaw


Ode to CalTrans by Hector Tobar

The essay, Ode to Caltrans by Hector Tobar is about his memories of the Los Angeles freeway's and how they have changed, for the better and for worse. As a child growing up in Los Angeles he remembers the freeway's being clean, and just a daily part of life. Whenever his famiy traveled they traveled on the freeway. As he gets older he realizes that those same freeways are part of air pollution, horrid car accidents, and the deaths of many Caltrans workers.

"Perhaps that was the first time I thought of the freeway as a place of pollution and peril. Up to then, it was just the byway of our family wanderings, the Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard onramps, the beginning of most of our visits to relatives and friends. To sit my father's Volkswagen with my nose pressed to the rear window, watching the traffic flow along with us at fifty miles per hour was as natural to me as walking along the fence posts of a country road would be to a boy from Nebraska." pg. 57

This reading made me think of the trip that I made to Los Angeles just last week. We traveled on all of the freeways that are mentioned in this reading. I viewed quite the same as the author did as a child. It is just the byway of our family wanderings, and natural it is more me to travel on freeways so often without even thinking of it as a convenience, only as a necessity.

I did not before this reading that CalTrans used to place a picture of a white helmet where ever a CalTrans worker died while on the job until there were so many signs that CalTrans took them down because, "a highway shouldn't look like cemetery."

Montalvo, Myths and Dreams of Home by Thomas Steinbeck

Montalvo, Myths and Dreams of Home is an essay about the myths of California. Montalvo writes a story about mythical California, a utopian island in the western sea. For many people California is utopia. Many can find just what they are looking for in California. The essay focuses in on The Big Sur, and how this is Thomas Steinbeck's utopia within California. In his youth he rode horses and mules, and camped my the mountains streams. He depicts the sunsets off of the cliffs of The Big Sur with the Pacific ocean just below him. The writer explains the myths of unexplained humanoids that live in the mountains. They are smaller than humans and never are seen in daylight. His grandmother atests to leaving little gift baskets with fruit and homeade candy for them, and in exchange they would always leave a seashell or a feather in the gifts place. According to the myth they were never harmful, they only watched silently over their territory.

"Even though I cannot now call those secluded canyons and cliffs home, my abiding memories of this lonely span of California coastline holds my soul in thrall and delights the imagination beyond all else I know." pg. 67

The reading by Thomas Steinbeck about The Big Sur made me think of how much there is around me in this state that I take for granted, and how one area may be treasured by one and not thought of at all by another.


The Last Little Beach Town by Edward Humes

The Last Little Beach Town is Seal Beach in Orange County California. Despite being in "the OC", Seal Beach has managed to maintain its small town feel. The cities housing is a pleasant mix of orignal beach bungalows along with million dollar mansions. Its Old Town is hidden from view when driving down the freeway, helping to maintain its small beach town feel. The city council decided in the past to forbid duplexes and apartment buildings for the most part. At one time (1913) the idea was for Seal Beach to be a tourist destination. It briefly became one and then failed. It is starting to become a tourist destination once again. The city is in need of the cash and there is a push to let go one of the last undeveloped piece of land. It is now being prepared for housing contruction.

"Confustion about Seal Beach's identity and location is key to its survivial" pg. 71

The writer's description of Seal Beach, the last little beach town, sounds like every little beach town that I have imagined going to.

Before this essay I did not know where Seal Beach was. I knew that it was in Southern California somewhere, but like the description given by the writer, many people who live down there drive by that area all the time and couldn't tell you where Seal Beach is located.


Surfacing by Matt Warshaw

Surfacing is about a small group of dedicated surfers the surf Pillar's Point, or Maverick's, in Half Moon Bay, California. Maverick's has long been known for the greatest waves outside of Hawaii. Jay Moriarity, a 16 year old surfer tells the story of his close call while surfing Maverick's. While surfing he is pulled under a wave and his board snaps in half. He goes back to the boat, grabs another board and goes back out there. As the story goes the name Maverick comes from a dog who shares an experience similar to Jay Moriarity, and so the story goes, the surfer that Maverick was with started to call that surfing spot after the dog.

"And as the untroubled imagination reduces fear and anxiety beforehand, it may also smooth things out afterward." pg. 87

I have heard of Maverick's, or Pillars Point, and Maverick's surfing contest every year on the radio. It reminded me of all of the people I have met that go out there and camp to watch the surfer's every year.

I didn't know previously that Half Moon Bay is the oldest city in San Mateo County. I also didn't know that Maverick's got the name Maverick from a dog!