California Dreams and Realities : Readings for Critical Thinkers and Writers

by Sonia Maasik, Jack Solomon

• ISBN13: 9780312194192
• ISBN10: 0312194196
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-01-15
• Publisher: Macmillan Higher Education

Summary

California has long been a bellwether state -- a place where crucial trends that eventually spread throughout the U.S. first take root. Its national and international influence is driven by one of the largest economies in the world, by its extraordinary technological and cultural innovations, and by a disproportionately affluent and activist population larger than that of entire countries. In short, the issues of California are the issues that are likely to have an impact on the rest of America, and college students in California are well served by studying, thinking, and writing about their home state in their composition courses. "California Dreams and Realities" is the one composition reader that allows students to do just that.

Table of Contents

Preface for Instructors	v
Introduction: Reinventing the Dream	1	(4)
California Dreaming: Myths of the Golden Land	5	(58)
California: A Place, A People, A Dream	8	(7)
James J. Rawls
Days of Gold	15	(7)
Malcolm J. Rohrbough
A New Perspective on the Dream	22	(12)
Denise S. Spooner
Proofs	34	(7)
Richard Rodriguez
Of Cholos and Surfers	41	(5)
Jack Lopez
An Age of Limits and Definitions	46	(2)
Charlie Stoddard
From The Day of the Locust	48	(3)
Nathanael West
Notes from a Native Daughter	51	(12)
Joan Didion
Researching the Issues	60	(3)
The Great Migration: Immigrants in California History	63	(58)
From The Grapes of Wrath	66	(7)
John Steinbeck
The Welcome Mat Is Threadbare	73	(3)
Yeh Ling-Ling
Refine Immigration Policy to Reflect History and the Moment We Live In	76	(3)
Ruben Martinez
The World of Our Grandmothers	79	(8)
Connie Young Yu
Manzanar	87	(12)
Sue Kunitomi Embrey
Invisible Men	99	(9)
William Langewiesche
Ripon	108	(5)
Ramon ``Tianguis'' Perez
Vietnamese Youths No Longer Look Homeward	113	(8)
Nancy Wride
Researching the Issues	118	(3)
The Best-Laid Plans: Education and the California Dream	121	(46)
A Visit to Edwin Markham Intermediate School	125	(6)
Mike Rose
Teacher Shortage	131	(5)
Sylvia S. Fox
What Price Glory?	136	(6)
James Richardson
The ZIP Code Route into UC	142	(2)
Susan E. Brown
Race Preferences Lose in Court---Again	144	(3)
Ward Connerly
Blacks Only?	147	(3)
Nathan Glazer
``Well, I Guess They Need Their Minority''	150	(6)
Ruben Navarrette, Jr.
Language Barrier: California's Bilingualism Mess	156	(4)
Peter Schrag
The Next Big Divide? Blacks and Hispanics Square Off over Bilingual Education	160	(2)
Romesh Ratnesar
Yuba City School	162	(5)
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Researching the Issues	165	(2)
Developing the Dream: Issues in California Land Use	167	(44)
Among Kin	170	(3)
Malcolm Margolin
California Indians as Capable Resource Managers	173	(5)
Arthur F. McEvoy
Cultivating Wildness	178	(7)
Gary Snyder
As If the Farmer Died	185	(6)
David Mas Masumoto
The Water Game	191	(4)
Gerald W. Haslam
Mulholland's Prophecy	195	(3)
Margaret Leslie Davis
Things Fall Apart	198	(4)
Marc Reisner
Sunbelt Bolshevism	202	(4)
Mike Davis
The First	206	(5)
Gary Soto
Researching the Issues	208	(3)
Governing California: Democracy, Demography, and the Politics of the Dream	211	(60)
Political Culture in California	213	(9)
Matthew A. Cahn
H. Eric Schockman
California, Here We Come	222	(6)
Peter Schrag
What Has Proposition 13 Meant for California?	228	(6)
Jean Ross
Reality Votes	234	(7)
Steve Scott
Blacks vs. Browns	241	(15)
Jack Miles
Can We All Get Along?	256	(5)
Al Martinez
Battling Toxic Racism	261	(4)
Richard Steven Street
The Unheard	265	(6)
Anna Deavere Smith
Researching the Issues	268	(3)
Of Work and Wealth: The Economics of the Dream	271	(90)
The Comeback	274	(11)
John Cassidy
Silicon Valley: Taking Its Place in the Pantheon	285	(4)
Michael J. Mandel
Toxic Technology: Electronics and the Silicon Valley	289	(3)
Chris Hayhurst
Land of Dreams and Disasters: Postindustrial Living in the Silicon Valley	292	(9)
Judith Stacey
The New Frontier: ``Hollywood,'' 1914-1920	301	(14)
Lary May
From The Last Tycoon	315	(9)
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Automobile Age in California	324	(7)
James J. Flink
In Search of Oildorado	331	(14)
James D. Houston
The Organizer's Tale	345	(8)
Cesar Chavez
My Fifty-Plus Years Celebrate Spring	353	(8)
Luis Omar Salinas
Researching the Issues	354	(7)
Index of Authors and Titles	361