For generations, Indigenous Peoples have viewed California landscapes as sacred. When Europeans arrived, they mapped onto these landscapes their own ideas of a Christian Paradise on Earth. Since that time, popular renderings of California as a paradise have been influential, enduring, and diverse, all the while establishing the grounds for active refutation, resistance, and critique. But what does this long standing historical association between place and idea look like today? This class will examine different texts related to the Bay Area's vibrant contemporary culture, and work to understand them both on their own terms and within this framework. The greater purpose of this class is to introduce practical methods for reading “texts” (print, visual, auditory, social, etc.) and writing to engage with the dynamic issues they raise. Working in and with a variety of genres, modes, and styles, students will be asked to read and think deeply and carefully, and to practice both formal and informal writing through sustained engagement with the revision process.