5b: REFLECTION of Project 4

Choose any 1 classmate of project 4 that wrote about an entirely different set of authors and
use the following format in a blog post.

1. Who is your classmate, what is the component category, what is the name of the choice?
I chose Christina Ambrosini from group#2 and her blog on My California authors Everett, Martinez, Morrison, and See. I particularly chose her blog on Percival Everett's "909"

2. What is something this classmate said about the choice that relates to any of the assignments in projects 2-3?
Christina mentions that the author describes the simplicity of her hometown and how much she appreciates the place for what it is. The author loves to ride her mule, Monk up to the hills and overlook the chaos of the life below, the constantly crowded 606 freeway. When Christina was growing up, she used to go to a ranch in the hills that gave her the same feeling as the author when she was overlooking the city, a sense of tranquility. Even though the ranch was only 5 minutes away, it was like a mini get-away from the constant hustle of the inner city. In project 3a, Christina discusses what one might expect in L.A., a very big city, full of people almost shoulder to shoulder and definitely always filled with cars bumper to bumper. The author discusses the importance of zip codes and the people that reside in them, and we recognize this significance because as Christina and other students have written, what we know from the media(tv shows, magazines, movies) is that L.A. is mostly consumed by materialism. If you live in L.A., what matters is what car you drive, what house you live in, where you shop, etc.

3. What is something different this classmate said about their choice that you did not realize before when you completed projects 2-3?
I'd have to say that I always had this mindset that Palm Springs was a vacation spot and that no one really lived there permanently. Christina also mentions the author relating to the "Badlands" to "a guy named Bob, familiar and simple", I've had the same thought before and it was a little good feeling, like I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks random, sort of weird thoughts. I have to say that I didn't know people still ride mules, especially in So. Cal., it's just a puzzling picture in my mind. I've only been to L.A. twice that I can remember, once when I was very young and last year when I went to Disneyland, so I basically have to hear and read everyone else's experiences; most of everything Christina wrote about in regards to L.A. in project 3a was the same perceptions I had previously.

4. How would you relate this to Freire's ideas regarding dialogue? For example, you went in thinking one idea, your classmate had a different idea. What new idea emerged from this process?
Depending on certain situations, I always say it's great to hear what other people's opinions and ideas are because we can bring different thoughts to the table whether it be the same subject or various subjects just as we have done in this assignment. Due to the fact that I did not read the stories Christina read, I had to relie on her perspective and what she focused on may not have been what I or another student would've focused on but it's her perspective. And to me that's the importance of interaction and enhancing our learning experience. We may have spotted something that the other did not, so together we can exchange our ideas and make the story whole, like pieces of a puzzle. Just like different authors wrote about different places of CA, different students analyzed and discussed different perspectives. I enjoyed reading Christina's 5a blog and it made me want to read more of the stories so I can have my own perspective too!

5. How has project 2-3 helped you with the readings of the textbook?
I think that through our various assignments I've learned how one topic can be pulled in more directions than I ever thought possible. I've had somewhat of a difficulty previously doing research assignments or coming up with ideas to write about a topic in 5-6 pages and I think that by taking different aspects piece by piece, I've gotten a deeper understanding of the topic as well as how to approach future analyses. I also really enjoyed the interaction we had with our students because I learned a lot of new ideas and perspectives, we all had certain pieces that stood out more than others. Reading our classmates' blogs and commenting on them was really important to me b/c it enabled us to get a firmer grasp on different ideas and opened our eyes to different/same concepts. I don't think I would've had the same perspective as I do now about CA if I had done the research on my own, in fact I liked it better sharing it with others.