Mexican\u2013American War,<\/a>\u00a0which went disastrously for Mexico.\u00a0As part of the settlement of their surrender in 1848, Mexico ceded a vast amount of territory to the United States. This included California.\u00a0The following year California applied to be admitted as a state. And the year after that, as I said at the top, on this day in 1850 California was admitted not only as a state but, critically as a free state. The 31st state within the Union.<\/p>\nIn the moment it was all about gold and slavery and a good sized dash of manifest destiny. The Chinese who immigrated there called California \u201cGold Mountain.\u201d (Later the term would apply variously to the whole West coast and more narrowly simply to San Francisco\u2026) Everyone saw it as the land of possibilities.<\/p>\n
It goes with our name California and that black muslim amazon queen, Calafia.<\/p>\n
California the dream land of many people\u2026<\/p>\n
Today California is one of the great liberal bastions within the American Republic. As an economic force it is the largest among the American states and fifth within the world, ahead of France and the United Kingdom. It has had strong influences in areas as diverse as school textbook selection and automotive emission regulations. Within our American Federalist system it is a major trend setter, something way beyond its enormous cultural contributions.<\/p>\n
And. This is my native land. I was born in Oakland in 1948.<\/p>\n
My Zen training was centered here in San Francisco, and Berkeley, back to San Francisco, and then Oakland, and then in Mt Shasta. Later back to the Bay Area for years of koan introspection.<\/p>\n
As a high school drop out it was California\u2019s community college system that gave me a way in to formal academic study, it\u2019s California State University system that traditionally opened doors to the working classes (and in my case rather lower) and specifically Sonoma State University that provided me in my thirties a college education, and then the wondrous Pacific School of Religion and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley that polished my schooling.<\/p>\n
California shaped me. California created me.<\/p>\n
Images flood my heart.<\/p>\n
I recall when Jan & I were in a local grocery and wanted to purchase a container of pico de gallo. The problem was it was the last container and had been mis-labeled and sufficiently overpriced that we wanted it addressed. Jan spoke to the clerk in Spanish while the clerk responded in English, keeping me in the loop, I thought rather kindly.<\/p>\n
It felt a very California moment.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, before taking on responsibilities consulting with the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, I attend two church services. What can I say? The first at our Long Beach Unitarian Universalist congregation. The service began with a shofar and the recurring theme of the service was new beginnings. Then driving directly but not speeding, I attended the Long Beach Buddhist<\/a> Church\u2019s service, a special dedication to the coming autumn. It was conducted in Japanese and English, with the minister making sure those who were monolingual one way or another were all included.<\/p>\nIt felt very California.<\/p>\n
Oh, and did I mention we have the best food in the world. And, maybe beyond. California is the cradle of my heart. Yes, for ill as well as good. So many shadows in this land of mountains and sea\u2026<\/p>\n
Still, after years wandering around this country, I am now in my dotage back home to the land of fire and flood and earthquake.<\/p>\n
So good to be home.<\/p>\n
California<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 It was today, the 9th of September, in 1850, that California was admitted to the union. The name comes from a Sixteenth century Spanish romance, The Adventures of Esplandi\u00e1n by Garci Rodr\u00edguez de Montalvo.\u00a0In the novel Queen Calafia ruled a wonderful land \u00a0of black Amazon women. Of course there were already people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n