ABSTRACT
The state of California is known for its superlatives—its natural beauty, its magnificent redwoods, its pleasant climate, its heretofore excellent public educational system, including universities with Nobel prize-winning faculties. It has the largest population of any US state, the most automobiles, the worst air pollution, the highest rate of inmigration from other American states, the largest number of foreign-born, and is often thought of as a trend-setter—things happen first in California. The free-speech movement, the anti-war movement, the hippy movement of the 1960s, the election of a movie actor as governor in 1966—all appeared first in California. It is the birthplace of the tax revolt, the drive-by shooting, the urban forest fire, and if this is not enough, California is also the first state to pass an English-only ballot initiative (Proposition 63, in 1986). 1 Add to this the ever-present threat of earthquakes and the fantasy-land ‘lifestyle’ provided by the entertainment ‘industry’, with its fabulously wealthy stars, executives and quirky personalities of various sorts, whose ideas about fashion, child-rearing, 2 marriage, divorce, the family, etc. are publicized in the media and imitated by consumers of entertainment commodities everywhere. I am not the first to note that with California, one is truly dealing not just with a state, but also with a ‘state of mind’.
