“Building the Dream”

In James Rawls’ essay “California: A Place, A People, A Dream”, Rawls gives his interpretation of the “California dream”, as well as identifies the paradoxes that are often associated with that dream. He says that “The California Dream is a love affair with an idea, a marriage to a myth, a surrender to a collective fantasy.” This true because there is so much about California that can often at times seem surreal. Los Angeles for example is the self-proclaimed glamour capital of the world; it is like a city-state with a huge melting pot of people, cultures and languages. People link i

The hysteria of the California Dream according to Rawls comes from a number of factors, which are mainly delusions of grandeur. I have trouble personally with identifying my “dream”, at times I don’t know what it is I really want to do with myself. I want to be a filmmaker but at the same time want to be a writer and every so often the desire to become a Federal Agent creeps up (but I think that is mostly due to the glamorization of that profession by Hollywood). The environment I am in seems to communicate to me that I can achieve whatever I want and that I can do it all. At times I want to do it all but I know that it is not practical to, I struggle with this a lot and there never seems to be a clear answer. In Jack Lopez’s “Of Cholos & Surfers” he details his life growing up amid cultural confusion in Los Angeles. He recounts his boyhood exploits, and family relationships. Throughout his story Lopez comments on those aspects of our world that especially touched his own as reflected in the title and which influenced individual choices for life. I feel the same way many times, as if I have no clear identity as to who I am, everyday I want to be something else but it is all in part of the whole of my dream I suppose.

In short the “California Dream” is in essence the “American Dream” but on a much grander scale. Whether that dream is the gilt and glamour of Hollywood or the riding of a w

Some topics in this essay:
Los Angeles, Winter Break, , California Dream, Southern California, Dream American, Federal Agent, Provo August, Curtis Hanson, Dream” Rawls, southern california, los angeles, california dream, “california dream”, california times,