The Cynicism of Dydian's Origin Story

Dydian was very interested in the origin story of the settlers of Northern California. She had an obsession with the Donner party and all of that. I think to some extent, it was very related to her roots in California because you got to remember what was going on when she was coming of age there. And my dad talks about Southern California at the time, like it was probably the apex of human civilization.