5B. Reflection

1. Who is your classmate, what is the component category, what is the name of the choice?

Jena Barcojo, Component A My California authors for project 4a group #1 Mark Arax, Aimee Liu, T. Jefferson Parker, and Mary Mackey

2. What is something this classmate said about the choice that relates to any of the assignments in projects 2-3?

In Jena’s blog on the story “Transients in Paradise”, she said that the people in Beverly Hills cares and compares about muscle mass and body content then actually care about people. Jena writes that the homeless people don’t get help in a city like Beverly Hills because of the attitudes of the people who live there which is stuck up and centered. Each city is so different from one another and just what city you happen to end up can determine you whole attitude and your views on life.

3. What is something different this classmate said about their choice that you did not realize before when you completed projects 2-3?

Jena’s blog on “The Big Valley” by Mark Arax is about the land in Tulare Country and how it has drastically changed. It changed from acres of farm land and farm families into McDonald and Wal-Mart and car dealerships. Even in the lands of middle California, franchises like McDonald and Wal-Mart can still there. The essences natural farming land has been taken up power plants and chemical plants.

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?

Jena quoted in Arax’s story “if I get up early enough, I can find them at the coffee shop comparing the size of their grapes like some boys comparing their privates” and with that I feel like the essences of what the basic things are now gone. People want better and bigger and stronger. I wondered why people can’t just take something and keep that same old thing for years and years because that one thing has been the same for generations. Sometimes simplicity is the best.

5. How has project 2-3 helped you with the readings of the textbook?

The past projects helped me dig up what each town is special for and what hides behind the smokes and mirrors. Reading about this authors and their experiences helps me understand further into each city and their people. Projects 2 and 3 have scratched the surface of the city’s atmosphere and it has made it easier to understand the authors’ experiences.