Sajedur Rahman's California Dream

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Sajedur Rahman says: thank god for Cali!

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2:17 PM ET | 08- 5-2008 | permalink

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Fernando Barrios' California Dream

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Fernando Barrios tells of how a nightmare became a fondly remembered dream.

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12:06 PM ET | 08- 5-2008 | permalink

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Friday Mars Blogging

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University Arizona/Texas A&M University

--Gary Dauphin

As far as I'm concerned, there's never a reason not to run a picture from Mars, but Daydreaming's thin journalistic cover is that the Mars Phoenix Lander, which recently discovered water on Mars (!) is a joint project of the University of Arizona, Texas A&M and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which lives on Caltech's Pasadena campus.

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4:39 PM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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Julie Lim's Captive Dream

In this installment of "What's Your CA Dream?", Julie Lim explains that the dream is holding her captive.

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5:19 PM ET | 07-23-2008 | permalink

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Elizabeth Wahl's CA Reclamation

In this installment of "What's Your CA Dream?", Elizabeth Wahl tells of bucking the trend of the California exodus and moving back this summer to to reclaim my California dream.

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5:13 PM ET | 07-23-2008 | permalink

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Alaina Boys' California Dream

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Alaina Boys tells of being a California Girl, like the Beach Boys said.

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4:59 PM ET | 07-23-2008 | permalink

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Marge and Vern's 9000 Foot CA Dream

photo courtesy Marge Biehl

Marge Biehl, a concerned NPR listener, called to comment on NPRs coverage of Barbaro's injury and what she felt was the challenging state of horse racing back in February 2007. I walked her through the commentary process and two years later our conversation continues.

When I heard that Day to Day was doing a series on the "California dream," I immediately thought of Marge and her husband Vern. The couple have lived in Northern LA County's Antelope Valley, off the grid for 29 years. Solar power, hand laundry, no car, and the last time they bought propane for their stove was in 2003. They cut their wood with hand saws and transport it via pack horse.

Before she and her husband Verne headed up to their summer abode Tunnel Meadows for ten weeks she sent me some snapshots, a small window into their life at 9,000 feet. They volunteer clearing fallen trees from trails, fix fences and re-open abandoned trails. No phones, email or power tools; drinking water from a found spring and sleeping in a meadow with their 6 horses. Letters and food are dropped off at trailhead every two weeks. They manage their reality well and I admire their choices; far enough off the grid but not so far that they won't stand up and speak out for the values they honor.

Here is what Marge had to say:

That first picture is Vern and me, Mitzi our dog and two of our horses at the top of Kern Peak, 11,500ft. It took us two seasons to clear the trail to the top. There used to be a fire lookout station at the top that finally blew over.

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3:00 PM ET | 07-16-2008 | permalink

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Maryjane Tanquary and Kristin Taylor's CA Dream$

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Maryjane Tanquary and Kristin Taylor share two variations on a theme: The high cost of California Dream. There price is still right, but buying is not without sacrifice.

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10:35 AM ET | 07-16-2008 | permalink

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Doug Crane's Dream of Weather

photo by Doug Crane

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Doug Crane explains that the magic word is "weather:" beautiful blue sky and warm sun that existed to dispel any doubts about the day, your life, or the world outlook.

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10:25 AM ET | 07-16-2008 | permalink

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Singing the California Dream

In Los Angeles, it's not enough to make it as an actor; "I'm working on my album," is the requisite LA hobby. Filtered through starlets' medically plumped lips it sounds more like, "um workin' on my ahbum." (It's hard to enunciate after excessive collagen injections -- you know, scar tissue buildup.)

"Making it" as a musician is undeniably one of the most cliche of the California Dreams. But that's not to say we haven't gotten a lot of great songs about the Golden State out of it. We've used Rufus Wainwright's California quite a bit to promote our series. But we need help compiling a comprehensive list of the best songs ever recorded about California, from the obvious to the obscure. Please post your ideas in the comment section below.

And to those musicians out there working hard to make your California Dreams come true, sans lip plumping, send us your musical version of the California Dream. You can either post a link to the song below or send us an email here and we'll respond by telling you where to drop the mp3. If it's awesome, we'll air it.

--Shereen Meraji

2:36 PM ET | 07-15-2008 | permalink

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California Tried to Get Rid of Me - Jill Hocking

In this week's look at What's Your California Dream?, we've been sharing the stories of listeners who have left California behind. In this installment, Jill Hocking explains that California tried to get rid of her.

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12:10 PM ET | 07- 7-2008 | permalink

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Cin Martino's California Dream

a self-portrait by Cin Martino

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Cin Martino remembers heading west in 1972 along Route 80 in a 1964 blue Ford Galaxy, a 13 foot Shasta travel trailer towed behind us with two cats sleeping in our pull-out bed..

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5:13 PM ET | 07- 2-2008 | permalink

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Lorraine DeLuca Placido's California Dream

photo by Lorraine DeLuca Placido

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Lorraine DeLuca Placido remembers a dream of California that started with a floral peasant dress. I dreamt of wearing it on the balcony of a home that overlooked a beach where surfers sat around lazily swapping stories, waiting for waves. I was ten when I had the dream, it was 1970 and California was the place to be.

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5:03 PM ET | 07- 2-2008 | permalink

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Susan Lindau's California Dream

photo provided by Susan Lindau

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Susan Lindau recalls working towards a California dream that involved being a chef for people (Hollywood types) with special dietary needs. Cooking for people is just another form of social work/therapy!

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4:37 PM ET | 07- 2-2008 | permalink

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My Father's California Gold

LONDON - APRIL 26: A Gold Disc belonging to Stevie Nicks is displayed at Christies before auction on April 26, 2007 in London, England.

Photo by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images

Reading about Shereen and Madeleine's trip to the pawnshop reminded me that gold had something to do with getting me to California--gold records, that is.

Though I like to consider myself a California girl, the truth of the matter is I was born in Manhattan. When I was about 8 months old, my parents took me on a trip to the beach in Key Biscayne, FL. As my mom recalls it, "we were sitting on the beach and I was watching you play. I realized that it was winter and I didn't have to stuff you into a snowsuit and then into an elevator and down to the street where you'd be eye-to-eye with the winos along Broadway & 72nd street. The realization that there were places that didn't have winter or elevators became really appealing."

As luck would have it, there was a job for my Dad at A & M records in Hollywood. Thinking that the warmer weather and safer environments of southern California would be a better place to raise me, my parents packed up all their stuff (including several cats and a St. Bernard) and headed west.

Some of my earliest memories are going to the office with my Dad and all of the crazy folks he worked with in the record industry. My dad did A&R and he fared pretty well at it. Over the years he amassed quite a collection of RIAA Gold Records.

I think my personal favorite was Styx's Return to Paradise... "Come sail away! Come sail away! Come sail away with meeeeeeeeeeee!" (Remember folks, this WAS the 1970s!) But mostly I just loved the way those records looked.

But eventually Dad grew weary of the record business--and of the gold records, too. One weekend we had a garage sale and he sold them to a guy who owned a record store in the San Fernando Valley. A collectible gold record can fetch over a $1000 today, but my father's all went for just a few hundred bucks.

To this day, I just wish I had been old enough to convince them to hold on to the gold records. Not to sell; I would have gladly hung them in my house.

--Alex Cohen

10:38 AM ET | 06-27-2008 | permalink

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Sharon Rosen Leib's California Dream

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their vision of the California Dream. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation--what defines your California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change?

We'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Sharon Rosen Leib dreams of a California where hot pink cactus flowers bloom on Joshua Tree's harsh desert floor, where the morning mist in Ojai carries the sweet scent of orange blossoms, and where the whisper of a San Francisco Indian summer wind warms the skin.

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6:42 PM ET | 06-24-2008 | permalink

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Kim Alexander's California Dream

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their California Dream with us. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation -- what defines your version of the California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change? Every Tuesday we'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. In this installment, Kim Alexander writes in to say: My California dream is freedom.

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12:43 PM ET | 06-24-2008 | permalink

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Jay Castillo's California Dream

Over the last several weeks, we've asked Day to Day listeners to share their California Dream with us. Fame, health, satisfaction, blue sky or innovation -- what defines your version of the California Dream? Is the economy forcing that dream to change? Every Tuesday we'll be sharing your responses both on-air and here on Daydreaming. First up, listener Jay Castillo: Me and my wife are first generation immigrants from the Philippines who came to the US back in 1982.

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12:32 PM ET | 06-24-2008 | permalink

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