California's Gold

THANK YOU Huell Howser

Host of "California's Gold," Huell Howser brought me up to see through a lens of sweet reality. He defined California for me as place to love, for reasons that are as real as the corner store down the street. Menudo, Greek yogurt, the Mojave Desert, Japanese internment, avocado orchards, koi fish, immigration, etc. I learned to see how all these things might fit into my life and into the textile of society and place. As a kid growing up in Rowland Heights, this was a key to a door I couldn't live without.



California, here I come
right back where I started from
where bowers of flowers
bloom in the sun
each morning at dawning
birdies sing an' everything
a sunkist miss said, "Don't be late!"
that's why I can hardly wait
open up that golden gate
California, here I come