5a Group #3

1. The Un-California
Daniel Weintraub

2. In this story, Weintraub describes Sacramento, California's quirky capitol city. He mentions some of the unique parts of the city, like certain unusual governmental officials who sit around in the plaza all day. He claims that the informal atmosphere and unpretentious attitude is the best part of the city, and is very unlike the rest of the state.

3. "The air of informality is at the heart of Sacramento's charm, although the city's leaders don't seem to recognize it. The mayor and local business honchos are forever pining for "major league status," whatever that means, hoping to be recognized far and wide as some sort of world-class city. They sense, correctly, that to the rest of California, Sacramento is the afterthought capital, the place you stop on the way to something else." (176)

4. This story made me think about how I soon will be living in Davis, which is close by to Sacramento, and how I'm looking forward to living in such a unique area.

5. Before I read this story, I didn't know anything about John Burton, the leader of the California senate. I was surprised that such an important person sits around in the plaza, chatting and muttering profanities.

1. Rocks in the Shape of Billy Martin
Deanne Stillman

2. In this piece, Stillman describes her pilgrimages to her beloved Mojave desert, a place she loves to be despite living in Los Angeles. She loves the nature of the place - the cacti, the Joshua trees - and the amazing sand and rock formations.

3. "Week after week I would flee Hollywood, the Xerox machine of America's dreams, and head for the Mojave, where they all started . . . In the Mojave, I came to understand that Los Angeles was, like my feelings for it, fleeting, a momentary metropolis, and I came to appreciate it as the punch line to a desert joke." (180)

4. This story made me wonder about how someone can feel so attached to the desert. I've never been to a true desert, but I always imagine that they're empty and dry - this was an interesting look at why someone can love the desert so much.

5. From this story I learned about some of the plant life of the desert, that I'd never heard about before. The Joshua trees and saguaro sound particularly amazing, and I'd like to see them someday.


1. How Many Angels
David Kipen

2. In this story, Los Angeles native Kipen describes his search to find the exact geographic center of Los Angeles County. Mapping out the point on a map, he takes his pickup truck and dog with him on his quest, finding the point in the middle of the wilderness in a canyon, and is impressed by the beautiful nature that surrounds the place.

3. "For here is the wonderful dirty secret of centerpoint-hunting: The geometric center of anything is never what or where you think it is. To be at all representative, the center of California ought to be, if not a beach, then at least a suburban backyard, or maybe an Indian casino; rather, it's a verdant, oak-dotted hillside from which the only visible sign of human visitation is the road you drove in on." (189)

4. This story made me think about how special it seems when you find nature surrounded by cities and industrial areas, like all the wildlife living in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Kipen's surprise at the canyon he finds, though he's lived in the county his whole life, illustrates how surprising this is.

5. Before reading this story, I didn't know there were any places like the canyon describes around Los Angeles - I thought the whole area was very well developed and completely industrialized. That places like this still exist there was a pleasant surprise.

1. Centered
Veronique de Turenne

2. In this piece, de Turenne describes her road trip with a friend to the exact geographic center of California. Despite her trepidation about traveling, she is amazed by the beautiful wilderness that they find.

3. "It's not that I don't like traveling. I do. But I like it best when it's over. I like it when the dog survived and the cats are all accounted for, when the quaint hotel wasn't awful and the collision that you're sure will make you wish you had accepted the obscenely expensive rental car insurance doesn't happen. Then I'm fine. Ecstatic, really. Hooray - what a great trip!" (194)

4. This story - particularly my chosen quote - sums up my own attitude towards traveling. This reminds me of my road trip when I made it from Seattle, Washington all the to my home in Sebastopol in under a day, and how glad I was to be home, despite how much I enjoyed the trip.

5. From this story I learned that there's a place that claims to be "the exact geographic center of California." I didn't even know it was possible to figure out that sort of thing in such an oddly-shaped state like California.