They call California the Golden State. This is the state that your wildest dreams can come true. Coming from Iowa this is exactly what I was hoping to come and find out. All I have wanted to do since I was in junior high was to come out to California and live my dream. Now being here, experiencing what California is really about; I now know what everyone was talking about. I can come out here and be a totally new person. I can reinvent myself into whatever I want. I can be nice, mean, funny, depressed, or I could even change my name and be a completely different person. Along with this, the dreams and weather have brought me to the best state in the United States, California.
Ever since I was in junior high all I wanted to do was be in the movies, or be part of the movies in any way shape or form. Become someone famous or hang out with the famous people. The place where people always told me to come was out to the West Coast to sunny California! This is the state where all the action happens, where the movies are made, where the celebrity's come to be seen. Being from Iowa you don't get out a lot. I grew up in your All-American town. A small town called Orange City where everyone knows everyone. Everyone goes to church, no one mows their lawn on Sunday, and no one talks about drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol are present in the community but people just don't talk about it in the open. There is also not a lot of film that comes out of Iowa. Although my town has made a couple low budget movies, none that are notable on any scale of imagination, are not lik...
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So far California has truly been the place of my dreams. I have been reinventing myself by being the best person that I can possibly be. Lopez says it best, "The most important thing I learned was that I could do just about anything I wished, within reason (16). That is exactly what I am trying to do now. Be the best that I can be. People always said that it is the best state to live in. I am here to say that so far I completely agree with them. Compared to Iowa I am in paradise!
Work Cited
Rawls, James. "California: A place, a people, a dream." California Dreams and Realities. Eds. Maasik and Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin: 2005. 11-17.
James J. Rawls perspective of the California Dream consists of promise and paradox. People from all over move to California in hopes of finding opportunity and success. However California cannot fulfill people’s expectations.
After the end of World War I in 1919, a group of thirty Japanese settled in San Joaquin Valley, California making their ethnic community in Cortez. Despite the Alien Land Law of 1913, which prevented Asians from purchasing land or leasing it for more than three years, most of the families were able to establish fruit orchards in large land areas. It is this community that the author of the book conducted her research.
Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990.
Bright sunshine to frigid snow, all within hours of travel. A place for everyone, all ages, all cultures, all types of people. When choosing a place to live, we decide on the one that pleases us and our busy lives. For those who enjoy constant activity and sunny warm beaches, California and Florida tend to be on their list. Once learning all that California has to offer, they will jump on the decision to pack their bags and head for their new home. California offers exploration and something new every day. “If they can’t do it in California, it can’t be done anywhere.” -Taylor Caldwell (Fun Quotes about California by Stephen Frank, www.capolitical news.com)
Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust tells the story of people who have come to California in search
During the late 1840's California did not show much promise or security. It had an insecure political future, its economic capabilities were severely limited and it had a population, other than Indians, of less than three thousand people. People at this time had no idea of what was to come of the sleepy state in the coming years. California would help boost the nation's economy and entice immigrants to journey to this mystical and promising land in hopes of striking it rich.
The author provides a couple of interesting evidences about land and liberty in California. The first thing that I found interesting is a story about Governor Echeandia and his administration. He arrived in California and formed study groups back in 1825. This actually got some young men involved and excited about the ideas of liberty and equality. An ironic fact is that male children born to original settlers and presidial soldiers maintained control over the concerns in California, which in today’s society is hard to believe.
...he rest of the world views California as the “ideal place to live.” However, if California continues to infringe the negative, discriminatory political view its immigrants, the “California Dream” will no longer subsist.
Steltzer, Ulli, “The New Americans: Immigrant Life in Southern California.” Kiniry and Rose 346-347. Print.
President Barack Obama won the election by a land slide, but this past Illinois senator was born and raised in Honolulu Hawaii, one of the best places in the world (Wikipedia, Honolulu). Hawaii is one of the best places and is going to be one of the best locations to move to. I really should move to Hawaii over staying here in Illinois. One of the Islands I would choose to move to is Oahu, whose nickname is “the gathering place” (City). I also would specifically prefer to live in Honolulu; I been there before and absolutely loved being there. Honolulu is an absolute great place to live, it has a fantastic selection of state parks around it and overall it is ninety nine percent better than Illinois (Kathie). The Honolulu city is seen by me as incredible, fantastic, and adventurous. There is that one percentage that Illinois has that makes me prefer to live there and it has some history as well.
The motivations of both the East Bay African-Americans and the Los Angeles Native-Americans in relocating to California were very much the same. For Native-Americans, the motivation was one of economic opportunity, where during WWII, there existed significant prejudice, discrimination and racism, and where reservation life, offered very little to no upward social or economic mobility. The reservation provided very little hope of obtaining economic or social freedom, and was plagued with alcoholism, poverty, and limitation, all issues that were very well known to those Na...
In the 1993 State level competition in History Day in California Elis Palols received the prestigious Heilbron Award given to the California Historical Society for this paper. In addition she was the CCHS second place winner in senior papers. At the time she was a junior at East Bakersfield High School.
California, the Golden State, a place where people from around the world come to for the
Rawls, James J., and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968. Print.
California, what makes this state so wonderful? Well if you were to ask any one east from it they might say it’s a party state filled with surfers and celebrities; where no is poor and everyone drinks wine. However, if you were to pick up Mark Arax’s book West of the West you would find the contrary. Arax goes beyond the clichés that California is known for and shows you, well, what is beyond just the west. Showing the true nature of California and its people, if you are one to think that California is a happy go’ lucky state then this would be the book to read to see the real California.