There is vigorous debate regarding possible changes in the spatial and temporal attributes of chaparral fire regimes within southern California. We employed a novel approach to reconstruct a multi-century record chaparral fire history and to evaluate the effects of climate on these fire regimes across three southern California National Forests. The research in this dissertation is presented as three related studies. The first focused on using fire scars and tree rings from isolated stands of bigcone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa), which we demonstrate as reflective of the temporal and spatial patterns of fire in the surrounding chaparral. We found many extensive fires were apparent in both the pre-and post-twentieth century period indicating that such events were a natural component of the system. The second study applied the same approach but the spatial extent of the project was expanded to examine fire histories at a regional scale. Our results confirm that widespread fire events have, for centuries, likely played a critical role in shaping the fire regime of southern California chaparral landscapes. We found that such events occurred on a multi-decadal interval and that interval lengths have nearly doubled since the turn of the century. The third study examined the relationship between antecedent climate and wildfires in chaparral landscapes across southern California. We found that acute drought, driven by antecedent cool season precipitation in the previous winter and spring, was a reliable indicator of increased wildfire activity in the past; however, we now find a contemporary system influenced by antecedent climate in the two years prior to the fire event and no immediate connections to climatic drivers is apparent in the year of the event. The broader results from these three studies indicate that some changes in fire return intervals have occurred in the modern era but widespread fires have been and remain an integral part of chaparral fire regimes. We hypothesis that land use in the 20th century has altered vegetation structure and composition so much so that chaparral fire regimes now respond differently to climatic cues than they had for the past 200-300 years.

Scream If You Can is an episodic memoir that captures the driving lifestyle of southern California while focusing on significant life events of a twenty-something young woman. The memoir explores themes of family, trauma, and perseverance. Biculturalism and disability are explored alongside the use of education to make a better life for oneself.

Social workers comprise one of the leading professions who interact with sex offenders through means of treatment, as well as unexpected life events. The purpose of this study is to evaluate social workers’ knowledge of sex offender laws and how their knowledge impacts their thoughts and feelings about working with sex offenders. Through a survey, social workers registered with the National Association of Social Work (NASW) in Southern California were asked to complete a questionnaire, in which addressed laws and thoughts in regards to sex offenders. One hundred surveys at random were evaluated. The study findings show a relationship between greater knowledge about the sex offender population and lower levels of apprehension a social worker has when working with a sex offender.

No description available.

The objective of this study was to inquire into the educational experiences of pregnant and parenting adolescents enrolled in a pregnant minor program and represent their voices by documenting this inquiry. This is a qualitative study that utilized phenomenological perspective and included a series of three in-depth interviews with six pregnant and parenting students. The focus and aim of the study was to represent the participant's voices on their educational experiences. The participants were pregnant teenagers attending a program in Southern California in the United States of America.

In order to better understand the interactions between climate change, landscape erosion and sedimentation, a detailed study was conducted on Plio-Pleistocene non-marine deposits of the Palm Spring Group in the Fish Creek-Vallecito basin, California, USA. Three inter-related studies focused on (1) local response to global climate change in late Pliocene-early Pleistocene time, (2) large-scale evolution of lithofacies architecture, and (3) climate modulation of late Pliocene sediment flux on Milankovitch time scales. Stable isotopes and paleosol classification reveal that between ~4.0 and 0.75 Ma, aridity increased in the study area concurrent with a shift towards a less intense and more winter-dominated precipitation regime. These changes are interpreted to reflect the long-term waning of summer monsoon precipitation in southern California. A dramatic and enigmatic reorganization of basin strata occurred at 2.9 Ma. Detailed basin analysis shows that locally-derived sediment was supplied by the predecessors of two modern drainages, Vallecito and Carrizo creeks. Initial progradation of alluvial deposits from these two sources across the Colorado River delta plain began between 4.0-3.4 Ma. At 2.9 Ma, rapid progradation of these two deposystems was coeval with emplacement of a megabreccia and transgression of Borrego Lake. My data indicate that tectonic realignments at both local and regional scales drove this reorganization. Time series analysis of rock magnetic data from a densely-sampled stratigraphic section of the lacustrine Tapiado Formation reveals that between 2.9 and ~2.75 Ma landscape denudation in the Carrizo Creek catchment was partly modulated by orbital obliquity. Peaks in landscape denudation implied by my data correspond to obliquity highs. More frequent high intensity precipitation events (i.e. monsoons and tropical storms) probably drove increased erosion during these time periods relative to obliquity lows. The breakdown of this relationship at around 2.75 Ma corresponds to a dramatic increase in northern hemisphere glaciation and may reveal a reduction in monsoonal influence in southern California. A geologic map of the Fish Creek-Vallecito basin is included as a supplemental file to this dissertation. This dissertation contains previously published and unpublished coauthored material.

A collection of short fiction set in and around Southern California.

In a society focused on the individual, how is community formed? As individuals predisposed to the built-in barrier of our body, our skin, how do we mediate between the self and the external? During this mediation on the barriers between our body, ourselves, and the outside world, how is consciousness simultaneously conflicted and built upon? What does it mean to be alive, to be a complex individual surrounded by a multitude of complex individuals? Can we, as a society, learn to focus balance the community and the individual? ONLY WE CAN PULL attempts to answer these questions through a series of first-person singular “I” poems, first-person plural “we” poems, and a range of second- and third-person poems interspersed throughout. The poems in this collection show language as a transformative force, able to shape consciousness, depending on the lens and distance through which one views a person, experience, or moment. In the hopes, ONLY WE CAN PULL is a sample-sized collage foregrounding the multiple, fragile paths that lead to the deceptively simple four-letter word “life.”

Working in mental health can be an extremely demanding job, which may often lead to compassion fatigue of therapists. This research study examines the factors that contribute to compassion fatigue among play therapists and therapists in the play therapy community. This research sought to measure the relationship between factors such as work-related stressors, demographics, and compassion fatigue. The research study gathered quantitative data from a convenient sample and a random sample. Data was collected via an online survey, which included informed consent, a demographic questionnaire, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Forty online surveys were completed by play therapists registered with a specific association (Group X) and at a non-profit agency located in Southern California. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 21. A significant key finding was that play therapists are very satisfied with their career path and are experiencing high levels of compassion satisfaction. Another key finding from this study was there is a significant correlation between hours spent per week providing play therapy services and hours spent working with traumatized clients. Also, another key finding was there is a correlation between years licensed and primary work setting. This research study hopes to help play therapists who are interested in play therapy and give insight about compassion fatigue while also giving mental health agencies understanding of the work-related stressors that play therapists face while providing play therapy services.

Between 1893 and 1941, the understanding of the Milky Way galaxy within the American culture changed from a sphere to a spiral and Earth's location within it changed from the center to the periphery. These changes were based primarily upon scientific theories developed at Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California. This dissertation is an "astrosophy" that traces the history of changing depictions of the Milky Way in selected published sources and identifies key individuals, theories and technologies involved. It also demonstrates why the accepted depictions of the universe envisioned at Mount Wilson were cultural-scientific products created, in part, as the result of place. Southern California became the hearth of a culture that justified its superiority based upon its unique climate. Clear skies, remarkable visibility, and a perceived existence of intense natural light became the basis for the promotion of Mount Wilson as the premier location for astronomical observations. Conservation, en plein air paintings, and the concept of paysage moralis are Southern Californian cultural products of the early 1900s that promoted an idealized society capable of exceptional intellectual endeavors and scientific accomplishments. The efforts of astronomers Hale, Shapley, Adams, Hubble and Ritchey resulted in the changing American understanding of the universe. This dissertation reveals how the diverse social interactions of these astronomers intersected Arroyo Seco meetings, women's organizations, the Valley Hunt Club elites, and philanthropic groups that comprised the schizophrenic culture of Pasadena. Their astronomical theories are compared to other aspects of the Southern Californian culture revealed in the writings of Raymond Chandler, Nathanael West and John Fante. The desire of astronomers to gain prestige from their discoveries is compared to competition in the creative processes of Hollywood. The theories created by astronomers and the films of the motion picture industry relied upon establishing an accepted second space within the minds of their audiences. By the end of the study period, the universe accepted by most Americans was a "California Universe". It was not a discovery of pure science, but rather a culturalscientific product of the Mount Wilson astronomers, the Pasadena community and the landscape and culture of Southern California.