Week 3: The Good Ol' Days

In the reading this week the articles discussed a topic that revolved a lot about recollection of the past. In Seversons 'Sentimental Journey' both Severson brothers and Vincent speak in dialogue about growing up in San Clemente post-WWII. They fondly revealed their childhood memories retelling their journey of the surf life they had lived throughout their childhood and adolescent years. The way they interacted with the locals was definitely something of the past. Living in a small beach town where only few had lived brought back my childhood memories when my hometown, Lake Arrowhead (located in the San Bernardino Mountains) when it had not yet been populated, the neighborhood kids gathered around building tree houses, playing warriors with sticks, and jumping into the lake. They had lived in an era where collectively their environment influenced their interests. At the end of Seversons article he ends it with,

"Then one fall, a light Santa Ana was a little brownish, kind of smokey. What the hell is this? Then they slammed a freeway right through the middle of town, and the people came. They built on our trail and tried to modernize little San Clemente. Every time I go back through, I can still find traces of our past, and still feel the spirit of the great little town. And I'll never forget that easy life."

Bringing the end of their sure culture of that era.