Click on the map links to learn about my life at CSULB. You can click
on anything with a box around it. To start with the introduction,
click on “My Beach… My Story” to begin. You can come back to this
map from any slide by clicking the house icon.
An Introduction . . .
Cal State Long Beach is, in many ways, my home. However it is
sometimes a difficult house to live in.
In 2009 I won the CSULB Halloween Costume Contest for my
personification of “Swine Flu.” This was during the height of the virus
scare, and I was amusedly fed-up with all the mass “alert” emails, hand
sanitizer dispensers and wide-spread panic. Wearing this costume was
a silent thumbs down to CSULB’s handling of the flu scare, it was a
protest, yet it conversely garnered me mainstream acceptance in front
of the faculty and staff here when I won the contest. Ironically, it is one
of my proudest memories from CSULB.
William Hope Hodgson’s novel, The House on the Borderland is a
Lovecraftian horror story of a man who has to defend his home from
terrible demons and monsters including pig people, who he calls
“Swine-Things.” The climax of the book occurs when the swine things
attack and the house is ultimately destroyed in a supernova.
Given my “Swine Flu” costume, and the various difficulties and
challenges I have had to overcome in my career at Cal State, it made
sense to begin the MyStory here, at the “University on the Borderland”
. . .CSULB is “MyBeach” and this is “MyStory”.
Music
A huge, and wonderful, part of my life at CSULB has been my
experience in the Music department.
I began playing the bass in high school. I taught myself the
instrument in six months and have been in several bands. I enjoy
heavy metal music and Cliff Burton of Metallica is my favorite
bassist. His edgy style, classical training and phenomenal ability to
play the bass as a solo instrument (rather than merely a backing, or
rhythm instrument) inspired me and I’ve always had a secret desire
to want to major in Music at University. In less than a year I had
worn out my first bass (which was an inexpensive Epiphone) and
had to get a new one. The current bass I play is a vintage 1970s
Rickenbacker, just like Cliff’s.
After entering CSULB as a Bio major, I checked into double
majoring in music playing the electric bass in the jazz band. I went
for the audition and all, but my style of playing (largely by-ear,
although I do read music) was not compatible with what they were
looking for. “Rock instruments” as the audition judge explained to
me, just weren’t the same as “proper classical” instruments, and
why didn’t I just take up the Contra-Bass and go out for orchestra?
“Well, I’ve played the violin before” I sheepishly admitted (oh! How
their eyes lit up at that!) “but what I really want to play is electric
bass.”
. . .so I opted for the Music minor instead.
It was a great choice. I could still take all the music classes I
wanted, but didn’t need to conform to fit in a single mold of
playing a classical instrument. For the performance requirement, I
enrolled in the 49er Chorus. Apart from winning the Costume
Contest, appearing in WinterFest 2009 was probably the
accomplishment I am most proud of at CSULB.
Bookstore
I work at the University Bookstore. I usually
take 18 units and since I’m on campus so much,
it makes sense for me to work here too. I work
as a Frontline cashier– the department where
the majority of our customers are rung up. I
also occasionally work returns or textbook
inquiries. Through my job I get to interact with
a large cross-section of the campus community.
I love interacting with our customers. My major
is English, and I’ve always wanted to work in a
bookstore. Nearly everyone on campus
eventually wants to buy a textbook or scantron
and they invariably end up coming to Frontline.
Working on campus has been a generally
positive experience for me, and the bookstore
job is extremely accommodating to my life as a
student. I like the work and most of the people
there. It is nice to have a sense of community
between all of us employees, as we are all
students. The Bookstore is a large part of my
life at CSULB.
Burial Ground
“Puvungna” or CSULB’s Indian Burial Ground, as it is
better known, has always been a bit of a puzzle to
me. As a rule, I never park in lot 20 if I can help it,
as this site gives me “the creeps.” There is definitely
something uncanny about this place.
The burial site is around four acres big and has
attracted numerous amounts of controversy from
various groups who want to allocate the land for
different resources. The land was purportedly a
grave site for the Tongva people. My own heritage
as a mixed ethnicity Native American and European
American make me extremely interested in this site.
Cal State hosts its annual Powwow, and this, along
with the burial ground indicate CSULB as a center
for Native American Culture.
In 1995 President Maxson promised that Puvungna
would never be developed so long as he was
University President. F. King Alexander, our new
President, seems to be following the same
precedent.
While I myself can see the benefit of leaving the
area “wild” and agree that it should not be used for
more parking lots or buildings, I do wonder if some
landscaping to beautify the site would really do any
harm. It’s a lovely area, situated on the edge of
campus, but currently its largely a dusty and
unkempt eyesore. I think perhaps a more fitting
tribute to the buried tribesmen could be allocated
for on that land, or even a permanent monument
honoring the Native Peoples of Southern California.
One achievement I am especially proud of at Cal State is my
Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor. I am fascinated by the
universal human question of where we are coming from and
going to. I think that understanding the world of our medieval
ancestors can help us understand our modern world. In
opposition to the common misperception that the middle ages
were also the “Dark Ages,” they were in fact a time of
enlightenment and even rivaled the early modern period. The
medieval world helped to bring about our present conceptions of
art, music, religion, language and culture . It was a turbulent
period which endlessly fascinates me.
When I initially changed my major to the liberal arts field, I
could have just as easily chosen History as English. In my
future career I would like to pursue teaching both subjects at the
college and university level as well as doing consultation work
with museums internationally. I would love to be a medievalist,
and in particular I have a keen interest in the Vikings and their
history.
Language, linguistics, the study of human words and their origins
is equally compelling to me. I am fluent in French, and have
studied Russian, Latin and Old Norse while at Cal State. To me,
there is little separation between my linguistic studies and my
historical one. To me, its all communication. What is more
universal and powerful than human communication, and the way
we interact with each other? History is how we communicate the
messages of the past to the present, English represents our means
of conveying this message, and music is an oral manifestation of
this same trend. As humans, we’re driven to tell stories and
interact with the world around us. My minor in Medieval
Studies is part of my own story, one way I have strived to
discover and interact with my world.
CHH
Biology
The Biology department at Cal State represents beginnings, dreams and endings for
me. At one time I’d had aspirations of going into wildlife conservation as my career.
Somewhere along the way I got lost. There is something to be said for the virtue of
dreams and the power of the mysterious and wonderful. Sciences, life, creation,
where we are coming from, these are what science, what religion, what literally all
human thought strives to understand. I went into the program full of dreams and
ideals. But severe lack of appropriate mentorship and support helped contribute to
my becoming extremely disillusioned with Biology at Cal State. I’d always been
interested in history and loved to read, I’m a decent writer– English seemed the safe
and logical choice for a change in major.
But I’ve never given up my love for Biology. I still retain a keen interest in wildlife
preservation and animal husbandry. I’ll enter the teaching credential program next
year as a graduate student. The classes are in the evenings, and while I work on
obtaining my credential at night, I may pursue some type of park services work
during the day. One day I’ll be a successful teacher, but right now I have some time
to experiment and enjoy several different paths.
And Biology has not relegated itself to the back of my personal life either. In my
free time I enjoy interacting with ecosystems, and I’d like to do an honest-togoodness camping trip one of these days. While there is a somewhat strong desire
on my part to pursue Biology again academically, I think that right now starting over
again is simply not feasible. Along with the English credential, I might also pursue
one in Math or Sciences and so escape to Bio that way, but I’ll have to see. Right
now, the future is an open doorway.
Poem
Robert Frost: “The Road not
Taken” (1915)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
English
My major at CSULB is English. This semester I will graduate with a BA
in English Rhetoric and Composition. I am often asked what that
means and the way I usually it is explain is that I am studying
argument and persuasive language in writing. One of my favorite
achievements at Cal State was the recent completion of my degree
culminating Honors thesis on the work of my favorite author, Edith
Wharton.
Wharton’s work is seminal and profoundly important in my life–
through my thesis I was able to examine the fall of Wharton’s society,
historic Old New York of the 1870s, through the vein of the fall of the
mythical civilization of Atlantis. Using a line from her memoirs as a
basis for the comparison, I was able to incorporate my love for
historical research and ancient history with my study of modern
English. Shaking my advisor’s hand at the end of the long semester of
drafts, rewrites and proof-readings, stands out as a defining moment in
my career at CSULB.
At this year’s commencement ceremony, I was in somewhat of a
quandary as to which procession to walk in. My participation in my
music minor made me eligible to walk in the Arts procession, while my
minor in Medieval Studies and my English major fell under the College
of Liberal Arts. I feel strong ties to both colleges and it was an
extremely difficult decision. Finally, however, I have decided to walk in
the Liberal Arts ceremony with my friends, classmates and teachers
from the English department. I am extremely proud of my degree and
the wonderful faculty and staff that have helped me attain it through
such strong mentorship and support. The department office at
McIntosh has become my home at “the Beach.”
Union
The Student Union is the heart of campus where we
all hang out between classes, study and live and
work together at Cal State. For me, the Union
represents friendships, and the best and most
awesome people I’ve met at CSULB.
People sometimes refer to us as a “commuter
campus.” What I have enjoyed the most at CSULB is
all the diverse people I’ve met and the experiences
we’ve shared. The term “Union” is really
appropriate. Here is where we gather together, a
meeting ground for people to congregate– there is
a sense of unity here that helps make university life
just a little bit easier.
In many ways, the Union also represents my life
off-campus as well. How often have we used the
Union as a staging ground for memories, trips and
adventures?
This is an area for relaxation and fun, but also
enclosed in the academic boundary of the
University, so we get some work here done too. In
every way, this is a microcosm of my larger life:
there is always the conflict between pursing an
enjoyable personal life and a rigorous academic
one. The Union is where these two come together
and interact.