Into the Great Wide Open

This week, in Literature of California, we began Nathanel West's seminal Hollywood takedown novel, The Day of the Locust. Set in Depression-era Los Angeles, the novel follows Tod Hackett, an artist, and various fringe members of Hollywood society, all trying to make it on their own. Since its publication in 1939, there have been countless other similar stories told of the broken dreams and seedy underside of the Hollywood scene. As we move through this novel, we will discuss why Hollywood is such a perfect symbol for this theme of the fracture that happens when reality does not quite lives up to fantasy. It still holds truth and proves a draw for audiences today as Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's A Star is Born is currently raking it in at the box office.

For this week's blog post, I want students to watch a classic early 1990s music video by the artist Tom Petty for his song "Into the Great Wide Open". In many ways, Petty is offering a musical update on the classic themes of The Day of the Locust. After you watch the video (putting aside the obvious dated aspects of the video itself), write a short paragraph in which you make some connections between what you have read so far of The Day of the Locust and the story told in the video. How does this song/video further expand our understanding of the Hollywood Dream Factory and expose some of the shadows in the sunlight of Tinseltown?

Here is the video:

The Tide Pool of Life

As we have been reading John Steinbeck's Cannery Row in Literature of California this past week, I've been thinking a lot about the idea of community and, specifically, how there seems to be a natural human impulse for each of us to take on certain roles within the different micro-communities we find ourselves in on a day-to-day basis. With my friends from college, for example, I'm often considered "the connector" because I tend to be the one who keeps us all in touch with one another and organizes events to get us all together from time to time. I've also been called "the diplomat" by others because I'm the person who usually tries to mitigate conflicts between friends by having them communicate in better, more thoughtful ways with one another. In high school, my senior class voted me "Most Socially Aware", but I think people were confused by this category and some people put my name down because I was pretty vocal about politics and world affairs, while others figured I always knew where the parties were that upcoming weekend. Needless to say, I've played different roles in different communities that I have found myself in over the course of my life.

In Cannery Row, Steinbeck uses the tide pools of Monterey as a symbol for the symbiotic relationships we see developing between the residents of the neighborhood. For this week's blog post, I want students to consider the Sage Hill School community in a similar way. Every high school community has groups, cliques, and stereotypes. For this week, you can take one of two approaches to your post:

1. Apply the tide pool metaphor to Sage Hill School. Who are the hermit crabs? Who are the barnacles? Are there predators and prey? Which groups work together, which are trying to gain power and who is just trying to stay afloat? Write 1-2 paragraphs where you analyze the social organizations that exist within our community.
2. Identify one of the social organizations in our community of which you are a member. This could be a friendship group, a sports team, an arts ensemble, an extracurricular club, etc. Who are the "players" in this organization and what is your social role in the group? Write 1-2 paragraphs where you describe the social structure of this organization and your role in it.

The Ocean in Seventeen Syllables

This week, in Literature of California, we have begun reading John Steinbeck's literary classic, Cannery Row. Set in Monterey during the great depression, Cannery Row is as much about the ocean as it is about the people that reside on Steinbeck's fictional street. You cannot talk about California, it seems, without mentioning the ocean. With over 1,100 miles of coastline, California is literally defined by the sea.

For this week's blog post, I want students to take a creative approach to their relationship with California's beaches. Please write a haiku (your standard 5/7/5 approach) that you feel captures your relationship to California's coastline. Once you write your haiku, choose an image to go along with it and then write a short paragraph explaining the meaning of your haiku.

Here's mine:

the smell hits you first

PCH, my windows down

the heart swells, i breathe

While I've been visiting the beaches of California my whole life, I never truly lived "at the beach" until I started working for Sage Hill over a decade ago and immediately moved to Belmont Shore, directly across the street from the ocean. Every day, when I would come home from work, no matter what sort of day I had, I would be struck by the smell of the beach whenever I opened my car door. In that moment, my shoulders would relax, my worries would lift a little, and I would simply breathe. The smell of the beach is a sensory connection to my past; some of my happiest memories take place in and around the ocean, so each time I opened that car door or lowered my windows, I was transported back to a time of fun and relaxation. This is my California beach experience.