Year 4

As a fourth year Honors student, I had grown comfortable with conducting research. That being said, I had never been part of a research team, nor had I ever contributed to another person's research. On the first day of this course, Dr. Moser shared that he had procured a book deal which was contracted to culminate into a trilogy of non-fiction books that detail the evolution of California beach culture. For this project, Dr. Moser communicated that he was still in the research stage of his third book, and that he wanted us to gather some of the resources in an annotated bibliography. We could also look into any topic that we wanted so long as it connected with California beach culture. As I had visited Point Loma the summer prior, and my grandfather was stationed there during his Navy career, I decided to explore the military and their side of the history of California's beaches.

As I found sources and developed my bibliography, Dr. Moser would provide periodic feedback, redirecting me to answer his specific research questions. Although I had never worked as a part of a research team like this, my opportunities in theatre provided the collaboration skills I needed to join the team seamlessly. Dr. Moser was also a great mentor, providing valuable direction and advice as I relearned the process of researching. This was especially beneficial as I am not a historian, nor did I have any prior knowledge concerning surfing or California.

While researching, I soon learned that my prior experience as an English major could provide some value to the process. Many of the documents concerning the military during this time indicated the discourses surrounding the wars of mid-19th century California. Through analyzing these, I was able to gain a better understanding of the historical trends that I was beginning to see, one of which being a connection between the military bases and the practice of red-lining on the West coast.