Print Essay Relating to San Jose

The print essay that I choose to discuss was from LIFE magazine titled, "100 Places to See in Your Lifetime". One of the places was San Jose and they included information about the city. This essay touched upon the fact that San Jose was the first civic settlement in California and was founded by Jose Joaquin Moraga. During the Spanish Colonial Times San Jose supplied people with wheat, vegetables, and cattle to the military. In 1850 San Jose became the main area for chartering, especially trade for gold. After World War II there was a large growth in manufacturing. Electric machinery, aircraft parts, as well as motor vehicles began to be produced in mass amounts. Because of the growth in the manufacturing business, computer programming also became very popular, drawing a lot of attention to the city of San Jose. San Jose is seen as a rich agricultural area as well as an extremely diverse one. I picked this essay because although living my whole life in San Jose, I never became familiar with its history. By looking into this I was able to see how the city began and its growth over the years. It's amazing how a civilization can become so technologically savvy over a period of time. This factual essay on San Jose would be a good thing for anyone to read who was interested in the timeline development of the city we're going to school in. Chapter 14 says "that being able to express yourself in words is a sign of being cultured or civilized or able to think at all". This links to the city of San Jose because our technology and schooling in San Jose gives our children the ability to appreciate words and their importance in society.