4a Group #1

1. Story title and Author:

The Big Valley; by Mark Arax
Transients in Paradise; by Aimee Liu
Showing off the Owens; by T. Jefferson Parker
The Distant Cataract about Which We Do Not Speak; by Mary Mackey

2. Summarize the reading:

The Big Valley; by Mark Arax
Mark Arax lived in Fresno, in a big fig orchard. Playing in fig orchard with frogs in the irrigation canal. Mark’s grandfather started his first vineyard in the San Joaquin Valley. Mark’s father also lived and worked on an orchard land. Today the home farmland of Fig orchard Mark grew up is now swallowed up with tract homes, stores such as Target and Wal-mart, and many fast food restaurants A farmer back then could read the land, and animals, and knew what kind of harvest year it would be. Modern day suburbia has snuffed out more and more farms. A farmer is hard work, yet with irrigation, it is an art. However, it was rewards are many.

Transients in Paradise; by Aimee Liu
Aimee Liu lived in Beverley Hills. She describes the city like “hobos and madwomen living in the Garden of Eden.” Those living outside of Beverly Hills think it is a city of celebrities,’ famous people in glamorous clothes with fancy hairstyles. However, the traffic there is horrible; mansions are beautiful and always needing fixing. People yelling and fighting with one another, and when you cross the cross walk, your life is at risk. The TV does not show the really Beverly Hills, it’s not all that its portrayed to be. The rich and famous are remember for a time, but the homeless person on the street corner is never remembered. The city is filled with marriages that do not last, children neglected and homeless people hoping someone will hand them change from their pocket for food.

Showing off the Owens; by T. Jefferson Parker
The author wrote about California’s Lower Owens River, where people could catch large Rainbow Trout. He remembers the Owen River as a great place for fishing, with all kinds of fish. Yet today it is no longer that way, as the river has lost over half of what it uses to be like, with fish and the waters. The author tells a bout two friends Tom, experienced commercial fisherman and Brian who was great a fly-fishing.

The Distant Cataract about which we do not Speak; By Mary Mackey
Mary is fascinated with birds, especial ducks. She gives a beautiful illustration on how she moves in close to observe the ducks. She does not kill them; she studies them and learns from them. Mary tells about the American River Parkway, which is over thirty mils running through the city of Folsom Lake and to the American River into Sacramento.

3. My Favorite Sentence or Paragraph:

The Big Valley:
“Today, the fig orchards of northwest Fresno are gone, swallowed up by custom houses and tract houses.” Page 19

Transients in Paradise:
“The tide of mortality, of discarded channel bags, rejected talent, stale newspapers and abandoned trumpets, neglected children and wasted beauty…" Page 34

Showing off the Owens:
“I looked down into the water and pictured the thousands of trout down there unwilling to be caught.” Page 40

The distant Cataract About, which we do not speak:
“Suddenly a female with six tiny ducklings trailing behind her paddles toward me, freezes and does a double take. That Thing is definitely not a duck! She gives a terrified squawk and my cover is blown. Instantly, all hell breaks loose. Quacking in panic, the ducks scatter like swimmers who have just realized that the log floating toward them is actually a crocodile. Most of the flock takes to the air, the mothers.” Page 46


4. What did the reading make me think about?

The Big Valley:
This story reminds me of when I was growing up in Pleasant Hill, California. Like Fresno, Pleasant Hill, Concord, and Walnut Creek were once small towns with farmlands all around. I lived on a 4-acre farm with an orchard of Walnut trees. I can relate to this story about how Pleasant Hill was once farmlands that were swallowed up by suburbia homes, stores, and malls. My dad was a farmer and it was the good life. I miss it a lot.

Transients in Paradise:
On the surface, we see wealthy mansions, movie stars, and glamorous rich people living the elegant life. Yet in reality it is not all what it appears to be. In Beverly Hills and LA with there are many homeless people walking the streets, living out of garbage dumpsters. In addition, we wonder, how can a wealthy city have homeless people? People tend to forget the less fortunate, and we tend to me more selfish. All it takes is one person to show a little kindness and help those in need.

Showing off the Owens:
Like the story, the Big Valley, the Owens was a beautiful place to fish. Now it is changed from the progress of homes, stores, and office buildings. We lose more of nature, less fish, less trees and less land when more and more beautiful pasturelands are covered over in a concrete city.

The distant Cataract about which we do not speak:
I can relate to this story. Being on the farm raising chickens, I would follow them and watch them interact with one another, what foods they liked best and sitting and hatching eggs. It was great to study the animals, you learn from them. Chickens like ducks all belong in the Poultry group.

5. One thing I did not know before:

Big Valley:
Summers are not measured by a calendar. Farmers measure the weather by picking and squeezing the unbroken harvests of fruits and vegetables. You can see what kind of year a farmer had by looking at his fields in late winter.

Transients in Paradise:
People on a Sunday risk their lives as they jay walk across the street on the Santa Monica Blvd.

Showing off the Owens:
I never knew much about the art of fly-fishing and how much patience’s it takes to study the fish and become a great fisherman.

The distant Cataract about which we do not speak:
I did know about beavers, that they are a crepuscular creature who was out by mid afternoon. It was interesting how the beaver swam circles around Mary. It is always interesting to see how wild animals interact with people in their own surrounding territories.