The Westward Moving House

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Ernie R. Ceja, Jr. An Essay on “The Westward Moving House” Don, the older of Ray’s two children, is feeling rather pleased with all that he has accomplished by age 25. He owns a brand new model home in beautiful Orange County, California, is married to his wife Anna, and has a three year old daughter named Christina. He is also employed as a head project manager at KB Home, the leading home builder in the United States. Deciding at an early age to try his hand at the construction business, just as his father had done, Don enrolled in the School of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. His father, who already owns a booming construction business in Texas, offers his son the company, but Don wants no part in the venture. Instead, he wishes to get out of the blistering Texas heat, and be on his own. In college, Don finds that nearly every professor expresses their fanatical two cents about the environment. They remind him of those radical activists he has seen on TV growing up. It was at these times, however, Don would either find the remote, or turn a deaf ear. Here, however, he is forced to confront the issue nearly every day. At times, Don sees some truth in what they have to say, but he feels that it is an issue that will never affect his lifetime. He grows sick of all their talk about the ill effects of global warming and suburban sprawl. He simply does not care about what the future holds environmentally. Don only goes through the motions to satisfy his professors’ radical ideologies. Having to create sustainable structures seems so unnecessary when one can just build a home and turn around and sell it for quick cash, like his father did in Texas. Why wasn’t everyone doing this? Do they not realize that there is a booming real estate market here in California, just waiting to be taken advantage of? Besides, he thinks “Who would want to live in the city

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