Text #1 and #2:

Read “Op-Ed: What makes us Californians for life” by David L. Ulin from the LA Times
at this link:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-ulin-california-identity-20170808-story.htmlL
inks to an external site.. (Also found in Canvas > Files > Unit 1 > Homework > Week #3)

Read “California Dreaming: Moving to Texas” by Pamela Parker, Brandon Behle, and
Lindsey Feingold from ABC 7 News at this link:
https://abc7news.com/feature/california-exodus-myth-californians-move-to-texas-why-are-c
ompanies-moving-from-regrets/13205816/Links to an external site..

List and explain two different reasons why people are moving out of California.
First of all, many people are leaving California due to the exorbitantly high cost of living.
California is extremely unaffordable and for many people who don’t work an affluent tech job,
it’s difficult to make a living. Another reason people are leaving California is due to the political
alignment of the state. California’s one-party democratic welfare state makes it extremely
difficult for people to legislate or wish for any freedoms that the status quo does not wish to
include.

Ulin writes about how: “California has its problems, sure it does; there’s no such thing as
utopia. Still, what once seemed to me a place of exile now feels like nothing so much as
home.” How does this contrast with the perspectives, experiences, and points of view from
the ABC 7 article?
In the Abc7 article, people are leaving California for the exact opposite reason. I think for
some people, the things that California has that are bad are a deal-breaker, while for some they
are not. In general, it depends on what you find are hot-button issues. For example, someone
living in SF might be fed up with the homelessness and want to leave, while someone in
Humboldt county might find California a great and beautiful place with natural beauty and
affordable housing.

Do you think that the people moving out of California have reshaped California’s identity?
Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.
I think that what the people moving out of California have done is reshape CA’s identity
for the worse. California’s reputation has gotten worse in recent years because of the
government’s inability to fix problems like homelessness and the high price of leaving, and of
course those people who leave the state are going to constantly gripe about that. So the
“California exodus” has shaped California’s identity as a hellhole through the experiences of
people who are only a minority of the California population.
Text #3 and Video #1

Read “How do you define the ‘Bay Area’?” published by KQED here:
https://www.kqed.org/news/11689315/how-do-you-define-the-bay-area-2Links to an
external site.. It is also found in Canvas > Files > Unit 1 > Homework > Week #3.

Watch “San Francisco Bay Area Booms: From the Gold Rush to Today in Just 217 Seconds
| KQED News”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVkSO9tJ5L0&ab_channel=KQEDNewsLinks to an
external site.

How would you define the Bay Area? In at least 5 sentences, justify your definition.
I define the Bay Area as a very mixed bag of excellent things and not-so-excellent things. I love
the culture that the Bay Area has to offer; San Francisco pre-Covid will always hold a special
place in my heart. Street bicycling around the city, enjoying the beautiful greenery and
architecture of the city, and then eating in Tony’s Pizza for dinner is one of the defining
experiences of my childhood which its hard to forget. The fusion of so many immigrants in the
Bay Area has created a beautiful and vibrant culture. On the other hand, however, there are a lot
of drawbacks to living in the bay: Homelessness, crime, and poverty. Furthermore, the insane
amount of money here has led many people to live a materialistic and decadent lifestyle, which I
very much dislike.
Why is it so hard to construct a concrete and specific definition for the “Bay Area”?
The Bay Area is a mix of many, many cultures as immigrants flock to this densely populated
area. It’s changed a lot over time and for that reason it’s difficult to construct a concrete
definition.
What is one “boom” that led to increased population growth in San Francisco? Explain its
impact on the population and how that boom affected the people living in the Bay Area.
Video #2
One boom that led to increased population growth is Kaiser Shipbuilding building a dockyard
here. In just a few years, San Francisco turned into a backwater frontier town harkening for the
glory days of the Gold Rush into an economic powerhouse. This led many talented workers to
flock to the area and probably build many more houses, bulldozing the vineyards that were a
staple of the Bay for a long time. Even good things like this immigration can have adverse
effects on a population.
Watch a bit from Gabriel Iglesias’ stand up comedy routine:
How To Tell Latinos Apart I Gabriel IglesiasLinks to an external site.
How does Iglesias use humor and stories to show why it’s important to understand
different ethnicities within the Latino/Hispanic community?
Iglesias attempts during his bit to demonstrate the differences between different ethnicities in an
attempt to make people feel more included. For example, he introduces his speech with a clever
bit about “Latinos” which makes sense; many people would just brand the whole group as
“Mexicans”, and he’s challenging societal norms that are still widespread like just calling the
entire Hispanic community Mexicans. Using his humor, he attempts to add perspective to
different ethnicities within the Latino community and demonstrate WHY it’s bad to lump them
all into one group .
Text #4

Read “An American Puzzle: Fitting Race in a Box - How Race Categories on U.S.Census
Forms Have Evolved” from the New York Times here:
https://bcp.instructure.com/courses/11666/files/folder/Unit%201%20-%20Identity/Homew
ork/Week%20%233?preview=2646287

Explain TWO ways the US Census changed from the 1790s to 2020. Why do you think the
US Census Bureau made these changes?
Activity #1
Two changes that have been made to the Census are the inclusion of a term for Chinese and
Black people. The reason that the option to identify as Chinese was added is quite clear, after all,
there was mass immigration from China and U.S officials wanted to document these people
accurately. The other change I find more disturbing. The addition for people with Black descent
to have to classify themself as “Black, Mulatto, quadroon, or octoroon”. I think this change was
likely stepped in racism and discrimination, there should be no real reason for people with
one-eighth black ancestry to have to classify themselves as such. This may have been a method,
in the past, to discriminate against these people.
Choose any city in the state of California. It does not have to be the one you are living in or
one that is in the Bay Area. Which city did you choose? You do not have to answer this
question in a complete sentence.
Fremont
Do some research on the city’s name. What was the city named for or why was your city
named the way it did?
The city is named after general and Senator John. C. Fremont.
Do you think that the name or namesake of the city that you chose is critical to its identity?
Why or why not?
I think that while it may be critical to its history, the relevance of the name is all but forgotten.
Nowadays, Fremont has strayed far from those days of the past where it was a humble city of
farms in vineyards. It’s become a worker village for tech bros to live in as they
If you had to make a Word Cloud for your city that you chose, what are 5 words that you
would choose to be on the word list?
Asians
High Test Scores
Tesla
Suburbia
Mission Peak
Choose ONE of the words in the word list above and explain in at least 5 sentences why this
word is so important to your city’s identity.
I chose High Test Scores. The reason this is so important to my city’s identity is because its
actually the primary reason that people move there. For example, my family and the families of
many other family friends we know actually chose Fremont to live in over the other options
(Almaden, Milpitas, Campbell, Evergreen) because the test scores in Fremont were extremely
high. In recent years, this has come to define the identity of the city; rich immigrant families with
children come here cowed by the illusion that the schools here are actually good (Spoiler:
They’re absolutely s**t, the only reason the test scores are good are because of smart kids) and
contributed to Fremont’s identity. It’s clear that without this illusion of good schooling Fremont’s
identity would be drastically different from what it is.