Writing Homework Help

Essay：Seeing Like a Stranger

Word Count: 2000

The Prompt: you will choose a place and write about it. “Seeing like stranger” means choosing a place that you may have interacted with many times but never really knew much about. While clear and concise writing is a core requirement of this essay, I will also be rewarding creative and critical thought. What did this place originally mean to you before you started your investigation? As you began to research your chosen topic of inquiry, what did you find surprising or compelling about it? How did your opinion about this place change? How does this place fit in with some of the larger themes we have discussed in the course about race, class, and gender, or the broader idea of the California Dream?

Potential Sites:

The possibilities for this essay are endless: Perhaps you want to explore a corner store, a road or boulevard, a college, an elementary school, a library, or a restaurant. Maybe you want to examine a town square, or a statue, or a Mission, or a church. Perhaps an investigation of a beach, or a hiking area, or a park, or a cemetery, or a freeway, or a ballpark, is more in line with your interests. To get started, I would encourage you to make a list of potential candidates and then ascertain whether there are sources to support your investigation.

The site you choose might only be the starting point for a larger mediation on the place where you live. You might recall from my presentation on Monday, May 10 (posted on course materials) that the Victoria Ave. Bridge was really just a way for me to think about social, economic, and historical divisions in Riverside and how power is embedded in the landscape.

The Key Elements for a Strong Response to the Assignment

The key to success in this essay is moving beyond denotation and into connotation. What is the range of signs and meanings attached to the site you have chosen? L.A.’s Hollywood sign, for example, is just a sign that says “Hollywood.” The connotations of that sign, however, are much richer and varied. Dodger Stadium may just be a ballpark and a source of civic pride, but to clear the land to build it, city officials and the LAPD forced a historic Mexican American community out of the Chavez Ravine in the late-1950s and early 1960s. In this way, one might argue, L.A.s civic pride is founded on racial oppression and the use of state sanctioned violence. Balboa Park in San Diego might just be a park, but it is also a monument to Anglo city official’s dedication to the Spanish Fantasy Past.

A strong essay response will blend personal narrative with concrete research, historical context, and social commentary. I encourage you to include visual aids with captions and sources, including photos you take yourself (if possible) to aid in your analysis. When was this place built, developed, or transformed? Who built, developed, or transformed it, and when? Why, in your estimation, is this place important for you, or your community? If you feel it is not important or has negative connotations, that is fine also. Perhaps you feel that this site is overlooked for one reason or another and want to examine it as a neglected space. Again, the possibilities are myriad.

Important note: This essay must have at least seven CRAAP approved sources to fulfill the essay’s requirements

Potential Sources:

Interviews with family members

Websites associated with museums and/or cultural Centers

Historical newspapers can be found at California Digital Newspaper Project at: cdnc.ucr.edu

the Los Angeles Times

Visual Sources might be obtained through Calisphere at: calisphere.org

Photographs you take yourself

Information through internet sources (must be CRAAP approved).

An outstanding resource for cultural and ethnic sites in California is “Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California” at: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/5view…

MLA format