Contra Costa County, California

The only reason college students in the Pioneer Valley take a trip to Holyoke is for the mall, not even located in the downtown core. This is the only economic activity as evident by even a simple stroll through the center square. With few name brand stores, coffee shops, and aesthetically pleasing buildings, Holyoke looks like it is on it’s way to becoming a ghost town since it has not yet recovered from the post-industrial crash. The economy has not diversified and looked attractive to new residents. This, in turn, has led to a population that is aging in place. The staggering amount of retirement communities and health professionals in the city speak to this stagnant economy and growing age demographic. The only way the city of Holyoke can survive the next few decades without decaying into a ghost town is to breath some life into it. While the term is has controversial connotations, gentrification is the only viable solution to reinvigorate Holyoke. As cities have become more knowledge based and densely packed, urban renewal movements have commenced since the early 20th century. Kesha Moore writes, “Gentrification is commonly used to describe a class-based process of neighborhood transition in which affluent residents move into and upgrade lower-income neighborhoods, primarily through improvements in a neighborhood’s housing stock.” The main ‘gentrifiers’ are typically the government, private businesses, or white middle to upper class young people, often college…

Lemoore, California. The 559, the 93245, the small rural town located in the central region of the San Joaquin Valley. A place that will melt flip flops to the ground in the summer, yet it will have people gathering around a fire in the winter with their hands wrapped tightly around a steaming cup of cocoa. Not much goes on in this town and it is not quite what someone would call a vacation destination, but there is indeed something special about this town. This special characteristic is the way…

Analysis of the Passage This story is full of examples of implausible things. Mark Twain uses them to relate better to the audience. He writes about a man who goes by the name of Jim Smiley in his "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Smiley bet on everything, ranging from animals to how far a car will travel. The most absurd and implausible thing takes place when he tells the story about the jumping frog. Twain writes about Smiley's frog. Now this frog wasn't any ordinary frog.…

“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain, is about an old man named Simon Wheeler telling a story to Mark Twain about a man named Jim Smiley. Jim Smiley was a curious man who sought out to bet on anything from dog-fighting to betting on who could get from point A to B the fastest. Jim was a man that tried to get people to bet him and that’s what leads him to finding and training a frog to be the best jumper in the county. When he finds a stranger who is willing to bet…

While reading Mark Twain's, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", it is impossible to miss the repetitive pattern of implausibility. Twain makes characters seem larger than life, he anthropomorphizes the animals, and he magnifies every detail of the story. This implausibility is attracting to some, while for others, the outlandishness makes it harder to fully enjoy the story. Even though this story was difficult to understand at times, an in-depth analysis of a few short passages…

Imagine an outrageous gambler, betting on anything he can get his greedy hands on and never loses a single bet. Then one day someone uses his cheating tactics against himself and he finally loses. To begin with, the story “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” written by Mark Twain is about how Simon Wheeler tells the narrator the amusing story of Jim Smiley and his trained frog. A notorious gambler, Jim was startled one day when a stranger fed his frog lead and made Jim lose the bet.…

Have you read the short story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County? Have you ever read the short story A Dog’s Tale? Theses are two outrageous stories written by Mark Twain. They are identical and different in many ways. Both make can make you have many different emotions running through your mind at once; The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County can send you off the charts laughing and it is hilarious and witty while A Dog’s Tale will have you sympathizing for the poor dog who…

A 14-year-old, Ahmed Mohamed, was detained for bringing a “suspicious” device that his engineering teacher believed was a bomb. Ahmed, who attended Dallas high school was handcuffed by the police officers after the school officials accused him of having a bomb. The 14 years old received a lot of positive attention from Mark Zuckerberg and Pres. Obama, including state officials from Texas as a result of the inaccurate accusations. Ahmed has evidently proved his brilliance multiple times by…

Tulelake is a city in the Northeastern Siskiyou County of California and has a population of 1010. Tulelake was named after Tule Lake, which is a picturesque 7,400 acre local lake that is remote and self-sustained by farming. Sadly, 72 years ago, Tule Lake was home to a segregation center that began the wholesale imprisonment of Japanese American's. The Tule Lake Concentration Camp was one of the most infamous of all the internment camps as the No'No Boys refused to participate in the…

Matt Dababneh, former Chief of Staff to Congressman Brad Sherman, was elected to the California State Assembly in 2013. He represents the 45th Assembly District communities of Calabasas, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Encino, Hidden Hills, Northridge, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, West Hills, Winnetka, and Woodland Hills. A fourth-generation Valley resident, Dababneh was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. After he graduated from…