California Dreamin!

How did your family come to California? Have they always been here? Do you go back generations here? Compare your family to the Trasks and the Hamiltons. What kinds of people come to California?


My family immigrated from Vietnam to California in 1988. My grandmother's brother paid for her, my grandpa, my mom, aunt and uncles.  Sadly, my family doesn't go back generations here.  I would compare my family to the Hamiltons because all their lives, they do things to make money, but they end up just wasting it all and having little to say.  The Hamiltons also have a great life living on what they have and my family is just the same.  We may not have the fancy things but we have family.  My grandmother would be Samuel/Liza combine because she is great with words and knows what to say like Samuel but at the same time, she is strict but caring like Liza.  I think the majority of the people that come to California want a better life for them and their children.

MLA Tips

1. Under the section "When to Cite" it makes reference to "common knowledge." What do you think would be an example of "common knowledge?"

Common knowledge is something that people already knows.  For example, George Washington was the first president of the United States of America.

2. How do you cite something without an author?

You would put the title of the work and then the page number.

3. What do you do for an online source that doesn't have a page number?

When an online source lacks a permanent page number, you don't necessarily have to include the page number. 

Annotated Bibliography

"Marriage in Vietnam." Vietnam Travel, Adventures, Tours from Active Travel Vietnam. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
<http://www.activetravelvietnam.com/culture_customs/marriage_in_vietnam.html>.

This website informed readers about the life before and during marriage in traditional Vietnam.  It described the original traditions and ceremonies of a traditional Vietnam wedding.  This website was very informative and provided precise information in regarding to my research paper.

"Vietnam." History Learning Site. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/vietnam.htm>.

This site showed the effects of The Vietnam War on the civilians of Vietnam.  Farming decreased and the economy slowed because of warfare.  This site was very informative and had information that was relevant to my research paper.

Povell, Marc. "The History of Vietnam" The American Immigration Law Foundation. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.  <http://www.ailf.org/awards/benefit2005/vietnamese_essay.shtml>.

This website addresses the issues of Vietnamese and the hardships they endure to come to America to live a better life.  This website was very relatable to my grandma because she went through the same dilemma.

American Exceptionalism

Are Americans unique? Or is it just propaganda we're fed all our lives? If you were to line up people from many different countries, could you pick out an American? What does East of Eden tell us about the experience of being an American?

In East of Eden, many of the characters strive to live The American Dream.  Being financially secure is a big issue in the book.  Faye runs a successful whore house and Adam was rushing to spend his inheritance money.  If there was a line of people from different countries, it would be hard to pick out the American because the world is always taking different cultures and sharing them across the world.

In Inherit the Wind, Drummond argues that he is defending Cates' right to think for himself. What other books have we read this year that deal with the right to think freely? Compare and contrast these books with the play.


In The Crucible, John Procter is put on trial for thinking freely.  He thinks that Reverend Paris is just preaching just to get money and that's why he doesn't go to church.  This makes him an outcast and the people to think that he is bad and put on trial.

Reflection on Envelope Prediction

Open your envelope from a few weeks ago. Was your prediction about the story and the characters correct? What surprises did the book have in store for you?


A few weeks a go my team members and I predicted what would happen in the novel Memoirs of a Geisha.  Their responses were half and half.  I believed that they read the book and understood the ending well.

Reflection on Teaching Experience

What did you learn from teaching the class? What went well? What could you improve on?


I learned that you need to have your project planned out heck of days before. HAHAHA.  I also learned that we needed to communicate more because my group members were people who I don't talk to that often.  Our keynote, poem and song went well.  Everyone like our song choice.  We could have communicated more often and had everything plan out to the very core instead of winging it the day of.  All in all, everything went well and the class had fun!