DATE

TOPIC

ACTIVITIES

ASSIGNMENTS

Aug. 29

CALIFORNIA: its landscape, natural history and destiny

Introduction to course;
Forming Regional Groups;
Mulholland's Dream

Read Handouts

Sept. 5

Module A:
The Desert Province

Quiz #1
Response Paper #1 due
Basic Ecology: Is California an Island?
Land of Little Rain

Fradkin: Preface, The Approach, & I. Deserts
Muir: The Wild Sheep (print & read!)
FREE MP3 file of the Wild Sheep:
Austin: Land of Little Rain (download: print & read!)

Sept. 12

Deserts (continued)

DiscussionIs there an ecology of fear? California's Desert Provinces;
Land of the Joshua Tree
A Walk in the SSU Native Plants Garden

Gilbar: Gary Nabhan's The Palms in Our Hands, p. 219-234
Austin: The Basket Maker (print & read!)
Mosley: Begin your reading of Little Scarlet

Sept. 19

Module B:
The Mountains of California The Sierra Nevada

Quiz #2
Response Paper #2 due
Discussion Dregs of the Earth: Ecological Effects of Hydraulic Mining in the Sierra
Field Trip to Petaluma Adobe
Meet in Classroom first.

Fradkin: II. The Sierra See Sierra Slides on web
Gilbar: Mark Twain's Lake Tahoe, p. 32-39
Muir: The Sierra Nevada (print & read!)
Free MP3 file of the Sierra Nevada

Sept. 26

Integrating History, Literature and the Natural World

Quiz #3
Response Paper #3 due
Jack London & Jack Kerouac

Fradkin: II. The Sierra (continued)
Gilbar:: Jack Kerouac's Climbing Matterhorn Peak, p. 40-51
Muir: The Glaciers (print & read!
FREE MP3 file of The Glaciers

Oct. 3

Module C: Mountaintops: Ecological Islands (of Relicts & Endemics)

Midterm Exam #1 (in class part)
Discussion Sierra, Klamath, Cascades, Coast Ranges, Transverse and Peninsular: Distinct Features

Hand out Midterm Exam Essay # 1

Muir: The Snow (print & read!)
FREE MP3 file of The Snow
Jack London The Story of an Eyewitness (download, print and read)
Gilbar: M.F.K. Fisher's Spirits of the Valley, p. 129-134

Oct. 10

Closer to Home Rachel Carson, Pollution and the Landscape
Cl ear Lake's Legacy

Midterm Exam #1 Due
Rachel Carson; other related activities
Field Trip to SSU Special Collections

Rachel Carson: Silent Spring (go online:print & read!)
Gilbar: Robert Louis Stevenson's The Sea Fogs, p. 101-107

Oct. 17

Module D: Land of Fire, the Cascades & the Modoc Plateau

How did the Cascades form?
Cultures of the Land of Fire
Field Trip to Armstrong Redwoods

Fradkin: III. Land of Fire
Gilbar: John Steinbeck's Flight, p. 116-128

Oct. 24

Module E: The California Coast and Estuaries

Quiz #4
Response Paper #4 due
Discussion Bodega Head and the Demise of the Nuclear Energy Industry

Fradkin: IV. Land of Water
Gilbar: Jack London's On Sonoma Mountain, p. 108-115

Oct. 31

The San Andreas Fault
Bodega Head and Bodega Bay;
Our Endangered Coastal Province 

Field Trip to the Bodega Bay (Intertidal; Mudflats; & Bodega Head) Vanishing Wetlands
Hand out Midterm Exam #2

Fradkin: VI. The Fractured Province (central coast)
Gilbar: John McPhee's The San Andreas Discrepancy, p.305-315

Nov. 7

Module F:
The Great Central Valley of California: Disappearance of Vegetation due to farming

The most endangered of the States of California.
Midterm Exam #2 Due

Fradkin: V. The Great Valley
Gilbar: Wm. H. Brewer's Into the Valley, p. 93-100
Muir: The Bee Pastures (print & read!)
FREE MP3 file of the Bee Pastures

Nov. 14

Module G: The Profligate Province

Los Angeles: landscape and cultures in the region

You have FINISHED reading Mosley's Little Scarlet!
Make an OUTLINE of the plot and characters!
Fradkin: VII. The Profligate Province (south coast)

Nov. 21

WORK ON YOUR RESEARCH PROJECTS

NO CLASS

Muir: The River Floods (print & read!)
FREE MP3 file of The River Floods

Nov. 28

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

NO CLASS

Dec. 5

Los Angeles area 

I. Little Scarlet analysis
II. Discussion: Social Justice; what is it? Environmental implications will be explored.
Student Research Presentations

Gilbar: Joan Dideon's The Santa Ana
Gilbar: Gary Snyder's Afterward: Coming into
the Watershed, p. 355-367  

Dec. 12

Seven States of California Revisited
Looking into the Future: The Cultural Faces of California

Student Research Presentations
Handout Takehome Final Exam

Dec. 19

Final Examination

Due @ 1:00 - 2:00 p.m in the classroom

Early submissions? There will be instructions on the Final Exam.