Category: Uncategorized

  • We are the Land: a History of Native California (a book report)

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. In my quest to better understand the larger context of my local (Fullerton) history project, I like to read books about California history more broadly, and then write book reports on what I learn. I’ve…

  • The Cattle on a Thousand Hills (a book report)

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. “Our inheritance is turned to strangers.” –Lamentations 5:2 In my desire to understand the larger context of local history, I’ve just read a book entitled The Cattle on a Thousand Hills: Southern California 1850-1880 by…

  • Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World: a Book Report

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. Last year, authors Nate Jackson and Daniel Kohn released a book entitled Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World. The book chronicles how a scrappy, underground local punk…

  • An Early Fullerton Punk Playlist

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. I’m currently reading the book Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World by Nate Jackson and Daniel Kohn. As I’ve been reading, I’ve been compiling a playlist of…

  • Fullerton in 2005

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Fullerton Observer newspaper was formed in 1978 by Ralph and Natalie Kennedy and friends to provide a more progressive counterbalance to the more conservative Fullerton News-Tribune and Orange County Register. Back then, Orange County (including Fullerton) was dominated by…

  • Fullerton in 2004

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Fullerton Observer newspaper was formed in 1978 by Ralph and Natalie Kennedy and friends to provide a more progressive counterbalance to the more conservative Fullerton News-Tribune and Orange County Register. Back then, Orange County (including Fullerton) was dominated by…

  • Fullerton in 2003: The Iraq War, the Grocery Workers Strike, Arnold Schwarzenegger is Elected Governor, Etc.

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Fullerton Observer newspaper was formed in 1978 by Ralph and Natalie Kennedy and friends to provide a more progressive counterbalance to the more conservative Fullerton News-Tribune and Orange County Register. Back then, Orange County (including Fullerton) was dominated by…

  • Fullerton in 2002: Indian Mascot Debate, Saving Coyote Hills & the Fox, Industrial Pollution, and Republicans Still Rule

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. The Fullerton Observer newspaper was formed in 1978 by Ralph and Natalie Kennedy and friends to provide a more progressive counterbalance to the more conservative Fullerton News-Tribune and Orange County Register. Back then, Orange County (including Fullerton) was dominated by…

  • Fullerton in 2001: 9/11, Energy Crisis, Light Rail Fail, Housing & Homelessness, Saving the Fox & Coyote Hills, Indian Mascot Debate, Etc.

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. 9/11 The biggest national news story of 2001 was the terrorist attack of 9/11. “Over 100 locals gathered on Friday, September 14th at the Hillcrest Park flagpole for a candlelight vigil in memory of those…

  • California’s History of Discriminatory Ballot Measures

    The following is from a work-in-progress about the history of Fullerton. You can support my ongoing research and writing on Patreon. In his book Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California scholar Daniel Martinez HoSang presents a realistic and unglamorized portrait of the messy struggle for civil rights in California through the lens…