Sam Farr: “today my community celebrates the birthday of John Steinbeck, one of our famous native sons, born in Salinas and raised…”

“today my community celebrates the birthday of John Steinbeck, one of our famous native sons, born in Salinas and raised in and around Monterey Bay. At home in my district this month, the National Steinbeck Center will get the whole community to read one book together, ``The Grapes of Wrath,'' one of the best, well-known tomes by Steinbeck. The book is being read across the country as part of NEA's Big Read program, designed to bring reading for pleasure back into our lives. Since I am a citizen of Monterey County myself, I would like to offer my own participation in this celebration by reading the following passage from ``The Grapes of Wrath'': ``The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and covered their noses from it . . . Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust. The men were silent and they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men-- to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the men's faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained . . . The children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women would break . . . After a while, the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant. Then the women knew that they were safe and that there was no break. Then they asked, What'll we do?…”