California Survey

In the sum­mer of 2009, I assisted my mother, Lori Rogala, in teach­ing the Eng­lish por­tion of the Sum­mer Bridge Pro­gram at Dia­blo Val­ley Col­lege. Every Tues­day and Thurs­day for a cou­ple hours, I helped facil­i­tate dis­cus­sion and lit­er­ary analy­sis for a class­room of thirty. The stu­dents, all between 18 and 20, were fresh off the boat from the East– Indone­sia, Korea, Japan. They were all eager to learn, but the con­cept of class­room dis­cus­sion was alto­gether for­eign to them. My duty was to float about the small groups and ask ques­tions– ques­tions that prompted exam­i­na­tions of the issues at hand. The class revolved around the cen­tral theme of life in Cal­i­for­nia. Every­day I left class puz­zled by the ideas posited by great authors. In an attempt to rea­son with some­thing so vastly com­plex and baf­fling, I have for­mu­lated some ques­tions I would like to ask my peers. And we shall see where this takes us.

The fol­low­ing sur­vey will be used for ana­lyt­i­cal pur­poses only. None of your answers will be dis­played pub­licly. Please sub­mit answers to as many, or as few, ques­tions as you like. Thank you.