5aGroup#1

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

"909," by Percival Everett

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 short story was about Riverside County (they have a 909 area code). Riverside County is in the hilly desert known as the Badlands, about halfway to Palm Springs. The hills are beautiful with all types of flora and fauna living amongst them. There area is a stark contrast to the crazy environment of Palm Springs or Los Angeles. Here in Riverside county, there's only beautiful brown and yellow hills filled with coyotes, bobcats, and geckos. This is where you can ride your mule up the into the hills, look over the desert and see the 60 freeway. This freeway is packed with cars going here and there while going nowhere in particular. But, from the rugged hills of Riverside County, they are like tiny specks, almost nonexistent among the Badlands.

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

My favorite paragraph is when Everett is describing the flora and fauna of the Badlands. I can picture the beauty of the hills in his words. "Technically, the badlands is chaparral. The hills are filled with sage, wild mustard, fiddleheads, and live oaks. Bobcats, meadowlarks, geckos, horned lizards, red-tailed hawks, kestrels, coach whip snakes, king snakes, gopher snakes. Rattlesnakes and coyotes. We don't see rain for seven months out of the year and when we do we often flood. In the spring, the hills are green. They are layered and gorgeous. This is in contrast to the rest of the year when the hills are brown and ochre and layered and gorgeous." (Everett,122)

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

The story made me think of the beautiful area surrounding Palm Springs and Los Angeles. Out in Riverside county there is a completely different world. It also made me think of how, long ago, the entire area was like Riverside county. Los Angeles was not yet a city of movie stars, skyscrapers, and smog. Instead there were lush and green hills in the spring, while during the rest of the year,"brown and ochre and layered and gorgeous."

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 had no idea that in between Los Angeles and Palm Springs there is lazy Riverside County that acts as an oasis from the drama of the two cities it falls between.

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

"The Line," by Ruben Martinez

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 is the story of "the line," the border between California and Mexico. In the years before the deep recession during the '90s, the border at Tijuana was the most popular crossing place of migrants. Every evening, a large crowd of people from all over Central America, as well as a few other countries, would gather on a soccer field a mile from downtown Tijuana, and plan the crossing of the line. It was almost a guaranteed event. If you missed the first time, you were sure to succeed the second time. During the planning, there were soccer matches between rivals, vendors selling oodles of things, and food, lots of stew and carne asada. But, that was before the recession, now Border Patrol has expanded. It is surrounded in a harsh glow by light towers and steel walls. Still, against the odds, migrants are working towards their victory, speaking out, crossing the line, though it be in the dark.

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

My favorite part of the story was when Martinez described what it was like crossing the border before the recession. This could be seen as a happy and even festive event. "It was like a fiesta back then, like a Fourth of July barbecue or a Sixteenth of September fiesta; everyone was celebrating in anticipation of crossing. Back then, chances were better than fifty-fifty that you would get across on your first attempt. And even if you were nabbed by the migra, you'd surely get across on your second try, probably that same night." (Martinez, 128)

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 story made me think of my dad's mother's family from Mexico. I don't know where she crossed the border, but it may have very well been in Tijuana because now she lives in San Diego. I can just imagine her with her family watching the soccer games and eating carne asada before she crosses the border into California. I often wonder why she decided to come to California, because most of her family still lives in Mexico.

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 learned that the reason for tightening the border between the United States and Mexico was because the governor of California decided that migrants were the cause of the deep recession during the '90s.

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

"Flirting with Urbanismo," by Patt Morrison

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 is a story about Los Angeles, downtown Los Angeles. It is unique in that it's the very heart of the people. It is always changing into what it wants to be. The buildings in downtown L.A. each have their own unique and hilarious story. For example, the Bradbury building was built because the designer consulted his dead brother via the Ouija board who gave him instructions to do the job. Every corner of downtown is different from every other corner. L.A. has a culture of it's own in that it doesn't' really have a distinct culture. Instead it is an ever-changing city that has within it all cultures with a twist on all of them.

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

My favorite paragraph summarizes in just two sentences what the city of Los Angeles and its people really are. "Downtown is the perfect plastic heart of a plastic city-plastic in the meaning of changeable, moldable. It's blocks are the most versatile, and thus the most filmed in the world; it can play almost anything-just as Angelenos can make themselves into what they which to be." (Morrison, 134)

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

The reading made me think of the differences and similarities between San Francisco and Los Angeles, especially the downtown area. San Francisco is known for it's acceptance to diversity and yet Los Angeles is a city where changes and cultures are changing every moment. Both cities are home to many cultures and beloved by them in their own way.

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 learned a lot about the downtown area of Los Angeles. For example, no one likes to actually live downtown, just shop and eat. The Angelenos don't ever jaywalk -it's a serious crime in California! Every building has a story of it's own and they are all combined to make up the character of the heart of Los Angeles.

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

"Waters of Tranquility," by Carolyn See

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 short story was about the Lake Shrine of the self-Realization Fellowship on Sunset Boulevard. It is a shrine to world peace. Here, people of all religions and walks of life can come and find some tranquility as they walk around the lake, or sit on one of the benches. It is here that the author has discovered about what life and death really are all about.

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

My favorite paragraph is the very last one, here See is telling her thoughts about life and death as she walks around the lake, thinking about her very ill life partner. "In the scheme of things where a major religion only rates a four-foot monument, a single human death may be no more than a fall of one flower, one tweaked leaf. There are so many more! And life itself may be no more than a play toy, a few Burma-Shave signs in the universe. But blazing, amazing, for all that. You can see that at the Lake Shrine. I know I did." (See, 145)

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

The story made me think of life and death and how I few it. I agree with the author that life is such a small and short-lived thing when compared to the entire universe. Yet, at the same time, the most amazing and important thing that can ever happen.

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 didn't know about the shrine to world peace on Sunset Boulevard and would like very much to visit it. It would be nice to walk around the lake and sit at a bench among the gardens. It would be worth the moment of tranquility.