2A-The Many Faces of San Francisco

Assignment 2a

PROJECT 2: My California Primer

1. Contains a brief paragraph how it connects to the study of humanities. 1 point.

Humanities is the study of a culture, its people, the food, arts, history, etc and I think San Francisco is the one of the most perfect places to study its culture because it's so rich with diversity and history. San Francisco is the home to its own "Little Italy" in North Beach, the biggest Chinatown outside of China, Japantown and many different art and science museums. No need to travel when one could go to this city and taste foods and meet people from all over the world. Hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and soda are usual ballpark food but AT&T park, home of the famous San Francisco Giants, has sushi too, now that's different to me! The people, the food, the arts, what is there not to like and learn about in San Francisco?

1. Contains the following "analytical elements" Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures)does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear. 1 point

I chose San Francisco because of its outer and inner beauty. Not only can we see this city's beauty through it's world famous Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, TransAmerica building, Alcatraz, Treasure Island, cable cars and beautiful skyline but we can find its deep history through roaming the streets talking to its residents or visiting the many historic museums. When I go to San Francisco, one of my favorite things to do is hang out at North Beach and have lunch because the skyline is so pretty and it's so refreshing to breathe the air. You can always watch the sailboats and the big cargo boats, there's always people flying their kites and people walking with their dogs. The food in this city is just as diverse as its people, I can go to Chinatown and Japantown to have authentic Asian cuisine like Chinese, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Korean and Japanese. Or I could have some Italian in "Little Italy"(North Beach) or maybe some good old burgers and fries at a Mel's Drive In around the city. Maybe some Latin cuisine in the Mission District? Wherever I choose to go not only will I enjoy some fine cuisine but I will enjoy the culture's music and art. Japantown has the Peace Pagoda and a yearly Cherry Blossom Festival. Chinatown has the two lions guarding the entrance, yearly Chinese New Year Parade and the Mission District has beautiful murals done by local artists. Another staple of this city is sound of the cable car bell ringing to signal its next stop and welcoming others to hop on. There is nothing plain or boring in this town!

1. Interpretation: What is your choice about? Give specific examples to support this statement in 2 sentences; do so in a way that teaches us something about your choice. Make Paulo Freire proud! .75 point

My choice is about diversity and the freedom to express ourselves emotionally, physically, artistically, whatever way it may be. San Francisco is a melting pot of nationalities and personalities, it's known as quite liberal, a city of acceptance. These people from all different backgrounds and cultures co-exist everyday. Every year these people come together for Bay to Breakers, they can dress up in funny costumes and run for a good cause or show support for the Gay Pride Parade. There are so many places and opportunities to explore and learn.

1. Judgment: What led you to your choice? What do you think or feel about this choice? Why do you feel this way? Support your thoughts with specific observations. .5 point

As I stated earlier, I chose San Francisco for many reasons, its inner and outer beauty especially. When we look upon San Francisco, we see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Coit Tower, the Port of San Francisco, etc but when we delve deeper, we find so many people from all different backgrounds with different stories of where they came from, where they've been and what they've learned. I think it's a great place to learn about cultures around the world through the people, the food and the arts without actually travelling the world. I enjoy learning about other people's cultures and how the cultures and rituals come about, it's so enlightening. I love going to the city for that very reason, there's no end to what S.F. has to offer, so much that I can't experience everything in one day!

1. Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience. Example: I learned that John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was based on his personal experience working with farm workers. I would like to know if the characters he used in that book are fictitious or are they people he met? .5 point

I'd like to know about the other cultures that are so predominant in this town. I'd like to visit these places again and again because we can never learn enough. I want to go to the War Memorial Opera House and drive along the curvy Lombard Street and sip some tea at the Japanese Tea Gardens. I also wonder what it'd be like for the people that come visit from a different country, how their experience would differ from mine. I wonder what it'd be like to compare San Francisco life to New York life.

1. Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry (eg cut paste that blog entry here) . .5 point

I read Russell Lemley's work on Friere and one quote from Paulo really stood out " a teacher who learns and a learner who teaches." I totally agree with Rusell and the other students that this philosophy of learning is really important and effective. I've had so many classes where all we do is listen to a 2-3 hour lecture without any class interaction. I'm really shy and I don't like talking to other students but I do like this idea of reading other students' responses and giving our own opinions. That way no one gets left out of a group. Sometimes it's easier to comprehend a subject when we discuss it as a group because people can see it from different angles.
http://russdabus44.blogspot.com/2008/09/assignment-1b.html

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_San_Francisco,_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japantown,_San_Francisco,_California