Tag Archives: california
The Water Project
One hot day in early 4465, just before Cindy entered kindergarten, a new canal was completed that would bring water to the west side of the Sink. It was a great day for farming the Sink; a historic day. Garegin Adroushan, being a history teacher, was quite aware of the significance of the event. On [...]
Harvest and Renewal
Sam was anxious about September, and the Dorahs confirmed his fears by telling him they’d have to send him to school. He didn’t pout or complain. He attended school as directed. He got on the bus every weekday morning and kept to his best behavior. As summer ages, the mood of the Sink relaxes into [...]
Into the Sink
One day, Behrooz gave in to his wife and brother-in-law. He didn’t want to leave the desert, but the desert was a haunted realm, and he needed to try a change. He interviewed for the job with half a heart and was hired in spite of his disinterest, so he and his family moved across [...]
Isle of the Griffins
Sometime in the 15th Century, an island called California was conceived in the Spanish imagination. It is commonly believed that a romance novel written by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo gave rise to the myth of California, but Montalvo seemed to have been referring to a myth that his readers were already aware of: In this [...]
Sam and the Dragon
It surpasses all wonders that a day goes by wherein the whole world is not consumed in flame. Pliny, Natural History The dry breath of the Mojave blew tumbleweeds, ravens, voices, and parcels of waste across the plain. A yellow mongrel inspected scents from shrub to shrub, aimless as the dust devils that whirled [...]
Epilogue
Twenty years have passed since I left this place. Yes, I do visit on occasion. I might be drawn back by a memory of a sleepless night on a starry ridge. I might wish to sleep with the Giants once more. I might miss the golden glow of trout napping in the watery sun or [...]
California v. II
… continued Metamorphosis About thirty million years ago, the trailing edge of the Farallon Plate began to disappear under North America in the shape of an inverted 90° wedge, beginning at the location of present-day Los Angeles, and proceeding northeast under the continent, leaving nothing but hot mantle where before was the cold, subducting oceanic [...]
California v. I
It’s common knowledge that water is the bane of fire, but the Earth tells us a different tale. Up to about 200 million years ago, at the dawn of the Jurassic Period, there was no California. It might be said that even North America didn’t exist. North America had then part of the supercontinent of [...]
Gateway
When I was a young Redbirds fan, bouncing from coast to coast, I learned that I could pick up KMOX, Jack Buck, and Mike Shannon just about anywhere at night, though never in California. When once I was a child in the west I was looking east, and when a child in the east I [...]
Fire and Water
Here in California, we have two seasons: a season of water and a season of fire. The fire season generally begins when the rains cease, which is typically in mid-April—say, Tax Day. The fire season continues beyond the end of summer into the warm California autumn, until the rains return—around about Halloween. I remember, as [...]