PWR 1NCA: California, Dream or Mirage?: Writing about the Golden State

From iconic celebrities to dangerous cult leaders, the foundation of the environmental movement to the world’s largest wildfires, the newly minted millionaires of Silicon Valley and the country’s largest unhoused population, California’s iconic sunshine seems constantly on the verge of turning dark. In fact, a recent New York Times headline asked “Is the California Dream a Mirage?”

Whether you’re a California native or a new transplant, this class is a chance to better understand the Golden State’s dreams and realities. We’ll begin the quarter with a trip to Green Library’s Special Collections, for a first hand encounter with images and text from California’s past—including illustrations of towering sequoias for disbelieving East Coast audiences, a high school yearbook from the Manzanar internment camp, and 19th century trick photography reuniting immigrants with their families. In class, we’ll discuss the Santa Ana winds, the tech industry’s decades-long promises of disruption, and the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Examples of Research Topics

For your in-depth research project, which will span several weeks, you’ll choose a facet of California to dive into on your own. Topics might include the rise of the aerospace industry, San Francisco’s 1960s counter-culture, AI incubators, the United Farm Workers activism, the Black Panther Party, serial killers, social media influencers, tribal casinos, the Chinese immigrants who built the railroads, the Filipino healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19, Los Angeles’ urban sprawl—the list is nearly endless, because California, seemingly, has it all.

Major Assignments

Rhetorical Analysis

(1200-1500 words; 4-5 pages) For this assignment we’ll visit Green Library’s Special Collections and you’ll choose an item from California’s history to focus on. You’ll analyze the rhetorical strategies of your selection, developing a claim about how the item makes an argument about California.

Texts in Conversation Essay

(1800-2400 words; 6-8 pages) In this assignment, you will select a facet of California that interests you, and read widely on this topic in order to understand the conversation around your topic and develop a compelling research question that will form the basis of your Research-Based Argument.

Research-Based Argument

(3000-3600 words; 10-12 pages) For the course’s culminating assignment, you will build on your “Texts in Conversation,” developing a provocative argument in response to your research question through the use of primary and secondary sources.