Front Yards

The past three days I managed to capture 2 hours of sleep. Being the not-so-proud owner of a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan, I am the driver of the largest and most versatile car amongst many that I know. Moving day for me started for me Wednesday and did not end until last night. As residents of most Davis apartments know, it’s moving season. Leases end, many students go homeless for a few days as they wait for their new apartment to be ready for moving in. having helped five separate individuals with their moving endeavors, I was witness to an array of different apartment complexes, and the Davis community as they relocated themselves.

Tuesday, most front yards were well manicured and foliage took charge of most yards, although there were exceptions, such as some homes where the foliage consisted of dead grass, weeds, and perhaps a sparse shrub or two. Wednesday, morning, most yards had begun to swell with furniture, boxes, trash bags, open cars. It seemed as though overnight, large industrial furniture donation bins sprung up at all apartment complexes. These bins quickly filled with unwanted furniture. For the majority of Wednesday and Thursday, patio chairs were joined by dining chairs, lawn beds were covered over with aero beds.

Trashbins outside many townhomes were filled to the brim, large garage sale signs placed outside several places. Donation piles of apartment complexes were advertised by the large pleather sofas, stained office chairs, broken desks and bookshelves, and cracked mirrors. The nicer furniture was quickly raided and hauled away by bottom feeding college students, like my self and my friends, who were in need of decent apartment furnishings.

By Thursday night, most apartments were resettled in, and yards were once again trim and clean. However, by Friday, these trim yards were resettled with patio chairs, potted plants, ashtrays, and unfinished drinks, the remains of house warming get-togethers of the night before. The yards once again resembled the aged inviting lived in look as reflected by the bungalow style landscaping.

The yards of the apartments and town homes once again took on the conservative, desperate look that imitated more refined upper middle class neighborhoods. Although the majority of residents are Davis students, the neighborhoods attempt to reflect the image of being home to young modest single family places; places that house diligent individuals who hold entry level jobs, and come home to cook and enjoy a nice relaxing night. While, some fit this mold, many residents, contrary to the pristine middle class image that the landscape architect so meticulously sculpted, do not live that lifestyle. Instead, they hold part-time service jobs around town, order out for pizza, and stay out partying until late hours of the night.

While the majority of these residents will eventually go on to complete their education, land entry level white collar jobs, and eventually fall into that humble lifestyle so well reflected by their manicured lawns, at the moment, these manicured lawns fail to accurately reflect the current state of life of the current residents. It’s a façade enforced by maintenance and management of the apartment complexes to entice new renters, and present prospective residents the most favorable disciplined, and desireable depiction of their apartments.

James Rojas claims that this manicured appeal serves as a representation of how responsible the residents of that community are, and the values and standards of that community. However, this is not necessarily reflected as much in Davis apartment complexes, where management is responsible for the look and feel of yards. The overflow of private life in a college town is only exposed during current times, when residents are forced to bring their lives outdoors exposed to the public. Typically, residents do not spend as much time outdoors socializing and creating these semi-private zones found in the Barrios that Rojas describes.

That is not to say that these front yards are not taken advantage of, as many residents in Davis use the space for storage of rarely used patio furniture. Fraternities, on the other hand, take great advantage of these front yards to invite prospective pledges to stop by and introduce themselves. The typical individual resident, however, holds less interest in community interaction.

This is a result of Davis’ emphasis on individualism more so than in communities. More urban places, such as Manhattan, or Los Angeles are closely developed, leaving individual private open space more limited, and thereby less emphasized. In more rural/suburban communities, breathing space is more open and free, and so individuals adapt to a more private lifestyle.

Avalon Apartments

I feel that the way in which the Avalon Apartments community and structure is developed adds to the lifestyle of Davis, because Avalon emphasizes community, the way that a small town such as Davis does, but it also represents individual private community the way that more affluent towns do. However, The unity and monotony of this subdivision detracts from the diversity and uniqueness representative of Davis.
Avalon Apartments is constructed from a small cul de sac off of Valdora Street. The houses consist of similar style townhouses that generally have the one of two layouts, the three and the four bedroom communities. The community is a subcommunity of Sorrento Apartments across the street. Sorrento Apartments also manages Brisa Apartments, a more cultured duplex style community on the south side of Valdora. While Sorrento is a more affordable, modest community, Barisa and Avalon are more posh homely communities. Barisa duplexes offer respectable sized yards and emphasize a more privatized lifestyle, while Avalon provides less spacious yards with more community oriented facilities, such as the pool spa and fitness room, similar to the community oriented Sorrento Apartments.
While Avalon Apartments provides a very cozy warm, and lush landscape, tennants are also restricted to the extent of which they may alter their landscape. This is mostly due to the desire Sorrento has to charge equal prices for each unit. Distinguishing any unit more or less so would make the appearance of that unit more or less favored in the eyes of renters, and as such, Sorrento employes use of a communtiy landscaper and maintenence to ensure that each unit is as well kept as the next (for outwards appearance anyways)
Similar to the tract houses of D.J. Waldie's "Holy Land" narrative, Avalon homes were all Identical to one another, attempting to boast of middle class lifestyle, while not truely being homes of the middle class. However, Avalon makes a very good impression upon local college students looking for fall housing, and the competitiveness of landing an Avalon lease parallels the competitiveness of finding a brand new home, as described in David Beers' "Blue Sky Dream." Early action, as well as steeper prices are key to securing an Avalon Apartment.
Avalon is a more pricey subdivision compared to the surrounding places, however, tennants pay for both the communal properties that basic Sorrento apartments offer, as well as private individualized units, to incorporate the Barisa modeled lifestyle. So, you get the best of both worlds, but at a price that not all are willing to pay.
Tennants of Avalon apartments seem much more open and friendly than at other apartment complexes, I feel mostly as a result of the open design of the subdivision. Many Units are connected in a similar fashion to Duplex homes, while they share their private semi 'driveway' with the neighbor on the otherside, impressing upon the socializing of neighbors, or at the very least the awareness of their presence, represented by the neighbor's car(s) or outdoor porch furniture. The Avalon apartments have iron faux gates at the main entry way, and Many tennants leave windows and blinds open, allowing others to see into their homes, which demonstrates security in the community.

AVALON APARTMENTS in DAVIS

In-class questions for August 21

Answer the following questions, drawing on course readings.

1. What are the roles of religion, mythology, spirituality, or similar ideologies in building community?

2. What is the relationship of the suburbs to war?

3. Reread the section of Blue Sky Dream where Beers’s father struggles to establish a lawn. What’s at stake in this process, and who are the stakeholders?

4. Historically and today, do Americans find uniformity desirable in their communities? If so, is it the same kind of uniformity criticized by Pete Seeger in “Little Boxes”? Explain.

5. What is David Beers’s “tribe”? Why were they so influential? Are they still powerful today?

6. What role does race play in the building of American communities? Where is race explicitly addressed? Where is it implicitly addressed, and how can you tell?

7. What were the imagined threats to American communities in the mid-20th century? And in The Village? And in our lives today? What has changed, what has not, and why?

8. Why does Robert Bruegmann praise the suburbs? Does he appreciate them for the same reasons Beers’s parents appreciated the Valley of Heart’s Delight?

Blog post #3: Davis subdivisions

(Before writing this post, be sure you’re caught up on the readings through Wednesday.)

1. Select one subdivision in Davis. (How are we defining "subdivision"? Several blocks of houses built at the same time on similar architectural plans. Downtown Davis, for example, is a neighborhood but not a subdivision.) For clarity, state which streets you believe constitute your subdivision’s edges.

2. Walk through the subdivision to get a sense of its character. What do you see? What do you not see that you might see in other neighborhoods?

3. What values, beliefs, and habits do you see expressed in the architecture and landscape of the subdivision? (Be specific about architectural and landscape features.) Do you see these values replicated in the activities (if any) of the people you see?

Now for the argument: In your opinion, does this subdivision improve upon or detract from Davis as a whole? Draw on at least two course texts in supporting your argument.

When one faces a decision on whether or not to go Greek, the values at question are identity, recognition, belonging, discipline, love and respect. But these values are at the core of our being, and they represent the complex structure of social hierarchy amongst ourselves and our peers. These principles were shared by my suitemates and myself, which was the larger reason why we considered and rushed for Lamdas.

When considering our own rush, my suitemates and I had these values in mind. A handful of friends and I favored the Lamdas, based on the strengthened emphasis they seemed to place on loyalty unity and respect. To me, the four principles of Peace Love Unity Respect were large factors in my life. The status, popularity, and power that came with a Lamda title were quite appealing as well. Brotherhood spoke to me the way the kitchen spoke to Paule Marshall, but in the end, four friends rushed Lamdas, eventually all depledging except one.

We already considered ourselves a brotherhood to begin with, and we even labeled our faux fraternity Xi Xi Xi to represent the triple threat that we represented. We partied, we smoked, and we womanized. We were the archetypal college guys. The four of us represented the two primary different cultural communities that we saw: Two of us represented the So Cal connection. The other two of us were from the Bay representing Nor Cal. We were unified principally by the dorm common room where we mostly hung out, and assembled for late night endeavors, including two or three rush events.

Through the course of pledging, fights, differences, and all others who came and even through the face of disciplinary action, we stayed a unified group for the most part, supporting one another, and strengthening our resolve, our faith in the values we represented.

We all had watched one another sacrifice sleep and time and dedication for Lamdas, and we understood one another, and respected each other for it. We had endured the college equivalent boot camp, we had socialized ourselves in a way to fit the mold of a Lamda bro, and although only one of us had joined up, the rest of us felt like we had made our own bonds and established our own unity through the pledging process and being there for one another.

Through the commonality of our pledging and depledging, we had formed our own brotherhood. We understood and formed our own peace, love, unity, and respect for one another and our individual independence, high profile social status, and kinship. We established our own brotherhood based on commonly shared values that we established and abide by. We stick together, and we pride ourselves in respect. We show others the same courtesy they show us, we stand unified a brotherhood of friends who live by a code of respect, and who will stick together for one another despite different our different backgrounds and tastes.

Paper: Constructing communities

As we are learning in class, Americans have defined and built communities in a number of different ways. Our course readings have covered a 300-year period, but we have begun to identify some similarities in American community building across the centuries.

Your challenge:

1. Identify what you believe to be the most important or most interesting/distinctive feature of the ways in which Americans build communities.

2. Highlight points in course texts (and class discussion, if applicable) where Americans have used this feature. Explain and analyze them. What are the similarites in method? Are there subtle differences?

3. Find an example from outside of class—in the news, online, in fiction, on television, in a movie, or in your own life—where Americans have used this method of building community. Analyze it in light of what you found in course materials.

4. In your view, what makes this feature of community building successful, especially if practiced by people living in different decades or centuries? Draw on specific examples.

5. Point out moments in course texts and/or class discussion where Americans have deviated from this way of building community, and analyze the consequences.

Your paper need not be written in this order, but all of these elements should be included somewhere in your paper.

Your argument (thesis) will probably emerge in steps 4 and 5, but you should place your thesis in the first paragraph so your reader knows where you’re headed in the rest of your essay.

Your paper will be graded on the originality of your argument, how well you use examples to support your argument, and the quality of your writing.

Your paper should be 5-7 pages, double-spaced, and in Times or Times New Roman 12-point type.

The paper is due on Monday, August 28.

Blog post #2: Of what community are you a part?

(Before writing this post, be sure you’re caught up on the readings through Wednesday.)

Select one community (small, medium, or large) of which you are or have been a member. How did you, and how do others, become members of this community? I’m leaving this one wide open, so feel free to explore notions of community as long as you make an argument.

Below are some questions to help you start thinking about your community. Feel free to focus on just one of these topics or to combine a few of them into a single post.

- How did you become a member of this community? Did you choose to become a member of the community, did it happen by accident, or did you not have a choice in the matter at all?

- What are the community’s boundaries and rules (written or unwritten)? What happens when someone transgresses these boundaries or breaks a rule?

- Is the community geographically fixed or dispersed?

- What are the community’s customs? What are its values?

- What are the internal and external threats to the community, real or imagined?

- Do you think that at some point you will leave the community? What will that process be like?

- If you have already left this community, why? Was your departure of your choosing?

Your post should make an argument about this place or space in your life. It should be between 250 and 500 words.

You must make reference to at least one course text.

Your post will be graded on its thoughtfulness, the quality of writing, and the originality of argument.


You must post your entry on the class blog by 5 p.m. on Friday, August 18.

Twilight and Park Nights

So this was the fourth house I had moved to in the past year. Another new town, another new clean slate, and my cousins lived close by as well. The first weekend in Saratoga, I decided to take my cousin’s bike and explore the neighborhood. I still didn’t know the streets or the roads, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to ride. Eventually, I found myself at this dilapidated park that filled the empty lots behind the highway. It was called Moran Park. When I first read this, I thought to myself, “what kind of moron named this place Moran Park”

Years later, I would find myself again at that park, boarding around the walkways, practicing fancy tricks, sitting on the dusty top of the play structure, climbing the pines near the park benches, barbequing at the park grills, with cousins, family, friends. The park had become a memory of what my cousins and I called ‘the good old times’ the times before my uncle died. The time before our parents divorced. The time before our family unit disbanded.

Time came and went, parents divorced, relatives died, holidays were spent separately, birthdays rarely celebrated. My oldest cousin started driving, and so he spent all his time with his friends off at strip malls, and local movie theaters. My younger cousins both became immersed in video games and became numb to the outside world. Being nine years separated from my younger brother, we had no similar interests, and he ran freely with the wild cats and dogs of the neighborhood.

Again, I found myself at Moran Park. By then the park had been renovated; This was to become my refuge from the storm of family life, middle school, highschool, breakups, and teen angst. During middle of the night walks under starry skies, at some point during early morning mile runs, through the good and the bad, I found myself back again at Moran Park. Close friends came and went. Relationships formed and broke up. But through it all, Moran Park was always there. Around the corner between my house and the Highway.

I returned one late night this past summer. The stress, the grades, the drama, the business of life settled with the sun. The familiarity rushed back as I laid on the play structure. Armed with a coffee, pack of Marlboros and familiar tune from my ipod, I returned to the public park that I had claimed as my own private sanctuary. It was my home away from home where I found stability, familiarity, but most of all Moran Park was my escape.

I reflected on everything, nothing and just laid there till break of dawn. The morning embraced nocturnal creatures: The singing birds flying overhead, the lone cricket, and I. with the rising sun, my late night rendezvous with Moran Park had ended and It was time for me to pack my things and return to Davis.

But I’ll be back again someday soon.

Blog post #1: Your neighborhood or home

(Before writing this post, read Annie Dillard’s and Paule Marshall’s pieces in the course reader.)

You have two options for this assignment:

1. Modelling your post on Dillard’s chapters from An American Childhood, share a memory of your childhood explorations of your neighborhood or how your sense of your city’s history affected your understanding of your place in it.

2. Drawing on Marshall’s essay on the kitchen for your inspiration, write about a room in your childhood home. You should emphasize its significance to your life through explaining the regular, everyday events that happened in it.

In either case, you may additionally reflect on this place from the perspective of an adult, but this is optional.

Your post should make an argument about this place or space in your life. It should be between 250 and 500 words.

Your post will be graded on its thoughtfulness, the quality of writing, and the originality of argument.

You must post your entry on the class blog by 5 p.m. on Friday, August 11.