Cultural Wasteland? I’ve heard people use that phrase to describe the valley.
Many of my friends have traveled to big cities and green meadows in search of museums and high-end entertainment. But when I ask them if they attend events, I hear that there are deterrents like traffic, costs, crowds, and fighting parking. Culture is there, but where are they?
At the library, I came across a book called “Valley Light: Writers of the San Joaquin.” Written in 1978. I recognized many of the featured authors. CG Hanzlicek was my poetry teacher at Fresno State University. Wilma Elizabeth Macdonald welcomed me to her house to see “Shakespeare in Love.” She’s heard of Gary Soto, who wrote “The Elements of the San Joaquin.” And the poet Philip Levine is very famous.
One of my favorite authors is Gerald Haslam. Thirty years ago he wrote “The Other California.” I often go back and read his essays. He grew up in Oildale, a suburb of Bakersfield, and is influenced by Dust his bowl in many of his writings. I was lucky enough to meet him at the autograph session.
The best known is William Saroyan, considered (according to Wikipedia) the greatest writer of the 20th century.th century. He wrote “A Daring Young Man on a Flying Swing”. He declined his 1939 Pulitzer Prize for his play The Time of Your Life. His most famous works are “My Name is Aram” and “Human Comedy”.
As journalism students in 1977, we dreaded being the ones selected each year to interview an icon in our university newspaper. The sacrificial lamb met a rogue who would have been sick of these interviews over the years. The reporter returned shivering, but unfazed.
Another sculptor, Varaz Samulian, has a studio in downtown Fresno. Audra McDonald launching at Roger Locka’s Dinner Theater. Mark Arax, who wrote “The King of California” (about the man who drained Lake Tulea), was a journalism classmate.
The Valley has culture because of its diverse mix of cultures. Armenian, Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese, Native American, German, Swedish, Hmong, Portuguese and more. We absorb their stories, artwork and food. We are Jackson Pollock paintings.
Join nine local writers at the Kings County Library in Hanford on Saturday, January 21 from 11am to 2pm. This is a free event.
