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3020 Topics in Writing:

The following list is alphabetical, by course title. Not every course shown below is offered every semester. Check the current Course Schedule.

AFTER THE HOLOCAUST, UNFINISHED BUSINESS, Judith Lavinsky
The late Simon Wiesenthal devoted his whole adult life to the pursuit of justice for those killed or damaged by the Holocaust. When the last participants—victims, persecutors, and bystanders—are all gone and the events we describe with that term become just a painful part of our distant cultural history, will achieving justice finally cease to be an issue? Evidently not. Writers too young to have played a part in the events described by the term Holocaust are still confronting the problem of justice as part of the unfinished business that drives their work.

For this course, we’ll read a variety of material, including translated yizkor (memorial) books written by Holocaust survivors and others, contemporary news accounts of the Nuremberg trials, an essay by Karl Jaspers, an anti-Nazi philosopher, on the problem of German guilt, and one or two works of fiction that convey post Holocaust issues through the lens of literary art. This year I have ordered Kertèsz’ novel, Kaddish for an Unborn Child, and Cynthia Ozick’s story and novella published in The Shawl. In addition, because the course is a writing workshop, your own writing will become a principal text. Expect to write three substantial expository papers, each of which will go through numerous revisions.

BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, Dr. Sarah Massey-Warren
In this course, we’ll explore the protean, creative form of the essay, using a selection of essays drawn from a number of sources, including The Next American Essay, by John D’Agata and other readings that will be on e-reserve. What is an essay? Why is an essay “American”? Can we classify essays that way? How do current events, locations, politics, ethnicity, other genres, cultural psychology, economics, and so forth affect the form and narrative of the essay? In this class, we will extract the essay from its academic box and understand what a rich poetic heritage it has. We will investigate the essay’s vital role in social, political, physical, and emotional exploration into what it means to be human on this planet. We will query how the narrator’s position in relation to audience, use of rhetorical devices and poetics, publication medium, and real world context affect the essay. An understanding of the work of essayists can influence your own forays into critical and creative writing and thinking. You will write a series of essays of different lengths to experiment with different kinds of essays for different audiences. Your essays will constitute a substantial part of class reading..

BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, Tobin von der Nuell
Working under the concept that "everything is an argument," we will explore the realm of contemporary American short stories to shape and defend arguable opinions. We first will work through the challenges of reading stories critically to discern what questions they raise. Next we will derive working issues to frame arguments, and then we will analyze the text to find evidence to support our claims in defense of a thesis. We will shape arguments to convince a variety of audiences to our opinions. We will not be crafting short stories in the class; on the contrary, we will work hard to learn how to pull stories apart and argue within the confines of their data. The stories will come from such sources as the Best American Short Stories series, The New Yorker, Harper's, and The Atlantic Monthly.

BIOMEDICAL ETHICS, Don Wilkerson
We will use current issues in biomedical ethics to study the basic elements of an argument. We will write three papers, the first of which will be patterned after the MCAT writing test. This assignment is designed to introduce students to the basic elements of awritten analysis. (The assignment might also offer valuable test-taking preparation to students planning to take the MCAT.) In the second paper, students will respond to a fictional case study or public policy scenario in light of some of the common ethical precepts that inform biomedical debate. This assignment is designed to help students develop a sense of audience and to teach them how to summarize and refute counterarguments. In the last paper, students will perform one of the following tasks: they will refute a brief essay on a current issue in biomedical ethics, or they will analyze an existing policy or professional code to show that it is unlikely to achieve its stated ends. This is not a survey course in biomedical ethics; instead, we will use issues in biomedical ethics as a framework for developing the students' skills as writers and analytical thinkers.

CITIZENSHIP AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, Michelle Albert
What does it mean to be a personally responsible and participatory citizen in a democratic society? How can a private citizen sway public policy? In this course, you will explore the meaning of concepts such as civic engagement, community, citizenship, values and beliefs, ethics, and activism. You will examine the relationship between your personal values and your public actions, and cultivate habits of questioning, analysis, and reflection that make you more informed and self-aware community members. The course is taught as an intensive writing workshop emphasizing critical and creative thinking, revision, digital literacy, and oral presentation skills. Over the course of the semester your writing will move from personal narrative to analysis and persuasion as you inquire into an issue relevant to this class and to your life as an American citizen.

COMPOSING CIVIC LIFE: NOW AND THEN, THE WEST, Dr. Catherine Kunce
By visiting and interviewing area senior citizens, students will document and reflect upon our older generation's unique histories of the West. Imparting knowledge of current technology to people who grew up without computers or text messaging, students will consider what communication was like in the past. How did it inform social life? What did people do for entertainment before the electronic age? What about natural resources? How did population density impact community? Was wildlife more abundant? What have we gained, culturally, by all of our advances? What have we lost? Exactly how expansive is the bridge between the present generation and older generations? By spending time with our frequently neglected ederly, students will provide a great service in recovering impressions of the West. Reciprocally, students will gain greatly from their time spent with the elderly.

After learning recommended ways to transcribe primary source documents and oral histories, the class will determine how to collate senior citizens' stories and students' reflections about the West. Students might put the course work into a book, or opt for a multi-media presentation for the CU community.

CROSS-CULTURAL WRITING AND FILM, Tony Ruiz
Reading in a variety of narratives and genres, from different cultural conditions and locations, is one of the pleasures of this course. For the moment, we will consider film as a way to travel cultures; such encounters are one of the ethical concerns of the course. Readings in "visual culture" scholarship serve as our critical guide. Authors include James Baldwin, Bharati Mukherjee, Orhan Pamuk; films include "Babel" (Inarritu) and "Strawberry and Chocolate" (Alea). We will devote special attention to prose style, studying what makes good writing as well as practice ways to adopt these models. Several response papers and quizzes, a few short analytical essays, and one longer research essay. Text: "The New World Reader"

THE DOCUMENTARY: RHETORICS OF WITNESSING AND REPRESENTING, Jennifer Armstrong
How do we become (reliable) witnesses of a social problem or phenomenon? And, as ethnographer John Van Maanen has asked, “How do we get from observations to representations?” These questions will serve as catalysts for an exploration of documentaries in various forms (film, photography, poetry, prose, collage, mixed media) and will lead us to generate our own theories of seeing and witnessing. Many of our academic texts will be collections of photographs accompanied by prose. These works record American experiences—particularly the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor—in 1930s America. We will discuss these works in class, devoting most of our time to the moving yet puzzling documentary, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a work whose very title challenges its readers. Inspired by these texts, we will keep semester-long, mixed-media journals that will accompany our own documentary projects (written essays, photographic essays, short films, etc.). We will also write two essays: an analysis of one of the course’s central questions and a persuasive paper. Because the course is underpinned by a commitment to community involvement, the semester will conclude with a public presentation of our work.

DON'T FENCE ME IN, Dr. Jay Ellis
"I don't know what happens to country." — John Grady Cole in All the Pretty Horses. How is it that Americans feel entitled to open spaces, with privacy somehow included? This course studies the aesthetics of, ambivalence about, and violence in American spaces (real and imagined) to provide students with a field of inquiry for writing well researched and radically revised academic essays. We will range widely from poetry and fiction through spatial theory in two progressions. Progression I, Dimensional American Fictions, leads through brief exercises to a revised close reading essay on literature or film. Progression II, Histories and Theories of Space, explores the violence that tensions over space elicit in art and life; students weave extensive research through several revisions of an interdisciplinary essay. Readings may include poetry from Emily Dickinson to Walt Whitman; fiction from Chester Himes to Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy; and brief selections of non-fiction from F. J. Turner to Michel de Certeau and contemporary journalists. We will study one film, such as Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven . All students are welcome: close reading skills, advanced research, attention to the writing process, and stylistic prowess are goals of - not prerequisites to - this class.

DYSTOPIAS ON FILM, Dr. James Walker
Films like The Matrix, Bladerunner, and Brazil dramatize not just futuristic fictions, but present-day fears, questions and social concerns. What is the nature of intelligence (artificial or otherwise) and how do our answers to this reflect on what it means to be human? How do we define or “know” reality and how is technology challenging this? What are the limits of government in overseeing, protecting, or policing our personal freedoms – and what are our responsibilities? The course uses recent filmic representations of dystopias – that is, anti-utopias or worlds-gone-wrong – to address these and other issues. Students are encouraged and assisted in developing their own analytical and creative responses, which may be based on films, written texts, secondary sources, and/or concepts – including current trends or events. Why and how have artists at least since Plato turned to imagined worlds to discuss the here and now? Why is it we so often fear what we create? What is the nature of the world we are creating?

EDUCATION/GOVERNMENT/GOOD STATE, Tim Lyons
In this course, we will explore the connections between education, authority (particularly governmental), and our efforts to bring about a good society. Readings will include such works as Plato's Republic and Crito, Stanley Milgram's Obedience to Authority, Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society, and may include other writings such as those of Alfie Kohn, John Taylor Gatto, Harold Bloom, Adrienne Rich, and others. In personal research projects, students can explore current issues (e.g. No Child Left Behind, bi-lingual education, Ebonics, the role of religion in public education, current funding priorities) or more general concerns (e.g. the role of church and/or state in the formation of educational programs and curricula).

ESL TOPICS IN WRITING, Dr. Andrea Feldman
ESL Topics is a section of WRTG 3020, 3030, and 3040 that is intended for non-native speakers of English who wish to enroll in an upper-division writing course. The course is taught as a rigorous writing workshop using advanced readings and materials, emphasizing critical thinking, analysis, and argumentative writing. Course readings focus on cross-cultural communication in the arts, business, and scientific fields. Assignments will be tailored to meet the needs and interests of individual students.

FIELD STUDIES IN CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, Dr. Rolf Norgaard
This course is a rhetorically informed upper-division seminar that examines the role and challenges of civic and ethical engagement in higher education. The course explores key scholarly contributions to the topic as a prelude to your own local ethnographic research, which will have you analyze sites of civic engagement on campus and in the local community. The course takes a rhetorical perspective on civic engagement, with a focus on how language works to develop and maintain values and to prompt action. The course is taught as an intensive writing workshop emphasizing critical thinking, revision, oral presentation skills, and strategies for addressing specialized disciplinary and/or discourse communities.

FILM NOIR AND NEW-NOIR, Molly LeClair
This course teaches students to write analyses and arguments about film noir, an indigenous American style of filmmaking. We will explore its aesthetic and literary origins in German expressionism and American detective and crime fiction. We will examine significant themes, characterizations, visual elements, and recurring icons that create the style's distinctive identity, and chart filmnoir's incursion into contemporary cinema. Finally, we will look at the way in which ethnic and gender issues are reflected in noir narratives. Students will write three major papers: an analysis, a critical review, and an argument. The class will be conducted as a guided seminar, and all major papers will undergo revisions and peer reviews.

FOLKLORE, Dr. Paul Murphy
IIn this class, you’ll study and write about the power and purpose of folklore—about what these tales do beyond providing a simple “moral to the story.” We’ll examine psychological and cultural approaches to the tales in order to understand—and write about—the ways a folklore provides insight into its people, and the ways folklore continues to resonate in our own culture. You will be writing a number of shorter essays in this course—responses to specific folktales as well as specific analyses of folktales. You will be writing, as well, two longer essays—one analytical, and one argumentative.

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD, Juliet Wittman
Food, Glorious Food examines the ways in which we think, talk and write about a topic that is deeply personal, but that also defines cultures and sometimes drives world politics. We will discuss such topics as the Slow Food movement, hunger, obesity in America, food issues in international trade, the history and culture of cuisine or of specific foodstuffs, the role of food in film and the use of food as both metaphor and subject matter in fiction. Students will write three brief papers, including a personal essay, and one longer research paper.

GENDER AND SEXUALITY, Amy Goodloe
We will investigate a variety of claims made about gender, sexuality and relationships, including competing claims made by scientists and social constructionists. We will examine the assumptions and values on which these claims are based and we will evaluate the validity of the reasoning, evidence and rhetorical devices used to support them. You will write several short analytical papers in response to readings and documentaries about related issues, such as gender roles, transsexual and intersexidentities, alternatives to monogamy, and the marriage movement. You will also complete a course project in which you develop and defend a sustained critique of a particular essay. A variety of homework assignments and in-class activities will help you improve the skills you need to successfully complete these assignments. This course will also further strengthen your skills in reading critically, composing strong paragraphs, evaluating and using outside sources, targeting specific audiences, revising for clarity and conciseness, and editing for publication.

GREEK MYTH AND ITS LEGACY, Dr. Veronica House
For over 2,000 years, Greek myths have influenced everything from our art and literature to our movies such as Star Wars, The Matrix, and Troy. Myth is a powerful form of persuasion—it teaches people how to live. In this course, we will examine the ancient and modern relationships between myth and rhetoric. Students will learn to write critically about how different types of myths serve different rhetorical purposes. How did the Greeks use mythology to create, preserve, and transmit their cultural values? To what extent does myth record actual history and to what extent is it a product of fantasy? How and why have twentieth century writers and filmmakers revised the Greek stories to make them culturally relevant today?

THE GROTESQUE, Dr. Nancy Hightower

"When you assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision appear by shock--to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures” (Flannery O’Connor). Authors and artists who incorporate the grotesque into their work use a culture’s construction of what is “normal” or “acceptable” and distort the image, allowing thereader to see the incongruities that marginalize people and ideas within that framework. In this course we will examine how authors such as Flannery O’Connor, Franz Kafka, and artists such as Mark Ryden, Laurie Lipton, and Jenny Saville use the grotesque in their writing and art in response to their ever-fracturing cultures. Students will examine the verbal and visual rhetoric authors and artists use in order to illuminate and criticize the distortions they see in their own society.

KING LEAR AND GREEK TRAGEDY, Dr. Joan Lord Hall

The class will first spend a few weeks engaged in close reading, discussion, and written response to the two major texts: Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Both plays depict the tragic downfall of a king in a pagan society; both incorporate themes of blindness followed by knowledge through suffering; and in both plays women play instrumental roles. Students will develop critical inquiry based on contrasts (e.g. over the question of the hero’s responsibility for his downfall) as well as similarities between the plays. They will analyze how far Aristotle’s criteria in The Poetics illuminate the texts and may also evaluate short excerpts of filmed versions of King Lear. As well as completing a number of short written assignments, students will hone their understanding of rhetorical strategies and awareness of audience as they work on two major papers: one analysis, one argument paper (which will incorporate research into other critical approaches to the plays). These papers will progress through revision based on workshopping them both in the full class, with guidance from the instructor, and in smaller peer groups.

MACBETH AND GREEK TRAGEDY, Dr. Karen Gasser
This course begins with a study of Sophocles' classical tragedy, Oedipus the King, and goes on to consider Shakespeare's Macbeth. As well as examining short critical commentaries on these tragedies, students will write analysis and argument papers, selecting topics that span the two plays or that concentrate on Macbeth. Possible topics include the themes of king-killing, and crime and punishment. Students may also choose to analyze significant differences between the two works, such as the dissimilar natures of the heroes' tragic downfalls. (Whereas Oedipus does not initially know that he has killed his father and married his mother, Macbeth chooses to murder King Duncan and thereby knowingly assumes moral culpability.) The role of the tragic heroes' wives as foils to their husbands is another possible topic for analysis, while Lady Macbeth's attempt to escape gender stereotypes, as she incites her husband to murder, should appeal to students interested in current feminist theory. Class periods center on extensive workshopping of students' writing as they build their analysis and argument papers.

MULTI-CULTURAL RHETORICS, Dr. Andrea Feldman
This course will ask students to write analyses and arguments based on readings that reflect our multi-cultural heritage. In responding to texts that represent cultural diversity, students will evaluate issues and relate them to their own multi-cultural experiences. Through these readings as well as class discussion of written assignments, students will learn to make reasoned arguments in defense of their own opinions. By examining diverse voices, this course helps students meet the challenges of academic writing. The need for a cross-cultural writing course becomes more apparent as the United States becomes ever more interdependent with its worldwide neighbors. Students need to join this "global village" by thinking critically about the roles of writing and language in forging a multi-cultural society. Because language and writing are necessarily culturally bound, diverse aspects of our own culture are often neglected in traditional writing courses. This course offers a chance to examine and debate concerns which are all too often undervalued or ignored. Language -- often a tool to disenfranchise -- can thereby become a tool to meld.

MYTHS OF THE AMERICAN WEST, Dr. Rebecca Dickson
In this class, we will look at the myths many Americans hold in regard to the settlement, environment, and economy of the American West. We will start by considering "how the West was won"- we'll see a classic western film and read a Western novel. After investigating how these portrayals have shaped attitudes toward the West, we'll consider economic myths - the West perceives itself as an area peopled by independent, self-sufficient stalwarts, but it was and is highly dependent on the federal government. We will consider the climate and wildlands of the American West as well, but not as a focus - they will serve as a backdrop of the course. Our central historical reference will be Patricia Limerick's highly acclaimed history of the West, Legacy of Conquest.

NEW YORKER NONFICTION, Susan Daney
This course uses recent articles/essays from The New Yorker magazine for its readings. Some articles provoke questions about the rhetorical intent of the magazine's writers; others argue about contemporary issues that raise questions and demand answers. In the variety of articles offered-- reviews of movies, art, dance, TV, music, books; profiles of artists, politicians, sport figures, dog trainers, etc.; memoirs, personal narratives, Life and Letters (a look at a writer's career); Letters from foreign countries; legal, medical, political essays; humor pieces and covers of the magazine-- everyone can find something interesting to respond to. After a series of introductory short papers written during the reading period, students write two longer papers, one analytical and one argumentative. Because close reading and critical thinking contribute to the logic of a paper, class discussions focus on these skills.

NEW YORK TIMES, Catherine Lasswell
This course uses recent articles/essays from The New Yorker magazine for its readings. Some articles provoke questions about the rhetorical intent of the magazine's writers; others argue about contemporary issues that raise questions and demand answers. In the variety of articles offered-- reviews of movies, art, dance, TV, music, books; profiles of artists, politicians, sport figures, dog trainers, etc.; memoirs, personal narratives, Life and Letters (a look at a writer's career); Letters from foreign countries; legal, medical, political essays; humor pieces and covers of the magazine-- everyone can find something interesting to respond to. After a series of introductory short papers written during the reading period, students write two longer papers, one analytical and one argumentative. Because close reading and critical thinking contribute to the logic of a paper, class discussions focus on these skills.

ON THE BORDER: U.S. AND MEXICO, Dr. Tracy Ferrell
This course will explore the spaces where Mexico and the U.S. intersect both on a literal and metaphorical level. We will look at the unique cultures of the “frontera”, the effects of government legislation on the peoples of the two nations and the ways in which Mexican and U.S. cultures inform one another on a larger scale. In exploring these issues, students will explore such questions as: What effect has NAFTA had on the peoples and economies of the two nations? In what ways is illegal immigration beneficial or detrimental to the two countries? Does Mexican and American cultural integration create new forms of culture? How do drug cartels and the war on drugs affect the border regions? The course will employ fiction, non-fiction, music and video in exploring these topics. Readings may include T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain, Sandra Cisneros’ short stories, essays by Gloria Anzaldua and more.

QUEER RHETORICS, Jesse Stommel
Writing is a practice and a process, thus the "-ing" on the end of the word. In this class, we will focus on the inventing, the doing, and the revising--not as much on the finishing, the being done. Our first challenge will be to unpack the concepts of "queer" and "rhetoric," to create working definitions of our subjects, definitions that will likely evolve over the course of the semester. We will consider and experiment with various kinds of texts including essays, literature, film, poetry, and theory, always remaining attentive to the points of intersection between these genres. The work we do will center around the following sorts of questions: What constitutes queerness? What is the nature of gender and sexuality? How is identity constructed by the body? How is the body itself a construct? What is the performative nature of embodiment? And how do all of these subjects come alive in our writing? In this course, writing will be a tool, a medium we use to engage our subjects, however we will also consider the nature of writing itself. Thus, the course will be both about queer writing and about queering our own writing.

RACE, CLASS, GENDER, Neal McConomy
This course sharpens skills of critical thinking, analysis, and argument through interdisciplinary study of race, class, and gender. We will read texts concerning elements of the course topic from disciplines such as sociology, biology, ethnic/cultural studies, composition and rhetoric, criminology and political science. Through close readings, class discussions, and writing assignments, we will improve our abilities to isolate, defend, and analyze arguments. The course will address various forms of writing but will focus on academic research essays. There will be three major writing assignments and a number of smaller assignments.

SPIRITUALITY IN LITERATURE AND ART, Nichole Hansen
The nineteenth century was fraught with dramatic cultural changes that threatened to break apart traditional ideas of spirituality. During this time, the Spiritualist movement stepped forward and claimed to reconcile these differences in its hybridization of Christian doctrine and scientific inquiry. This course will examine literary and artistic representations of Spiritualism during the Victorian age. In particular, we will explore how historical developments of the time—both technological advances and the increasing prioritization of domestic ideologies—were reflected within the precepts of Spiritualism itself. Using ideas presented in Janet Oppenheim’s The Other World, we will examine Victorian ghost stories in order to discover how this self-titled religion permeated the literature of the time. Potential topics will include Spiritualism’s pseudoscientific aspects, its historical developments, and its strained relations with Christianity.

SPIRITUALITY: TEXTS & IMAGES, Esther Quinlan
As a framework for developing students’ skills as writers and analytical thinkers, we will investigate conversations (old and current) about mysticism and language, science and spirituality, as well as examine themes such the spiritual quest and the search for meaning. The texts and images we study are drawn from diverse spiritual traditions (Buddhism, Islam/Sufism, Christianity, Taoism, Judaism, and the New Age), and include a variety of modes of discourse: academic articles, poetry, folk tales, creative non-fiction, film clips, and visual art. Assignments include analytical response writings and arguments that incorporate research. The course is conducted as a combination guided seminar and intensive writing workshop emphasizing critical thinking, revision, and strategies for addressing target audiences.

TELEVISION AND AMERICAN CULTURE, Dr. Nona Olivia
In Television and American Culture, we examine television as a cultural artifact, which both reflects and molds popular culture in America. We also examine television’s influence on the global perception of America. Television programming, including drama, sitcom, reality TV and the news, employs various and diverse rhetorical strategies in order to engage with specific demographics and for the purpose of advertising. To this end, students will learn to analyze visual rhetoric and understand the terminology within media studies.

TRAVEL WRITING, Catherine Lasswell
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things,” wrote travel memoirist Henry Miller. Is this why we leave home to venture into the unknown – to try to gain a new perspective? Sometimes we’re trying to escape our troubled inner landscapes as seen in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. In this course, we will read travel literature that will take us through history and across cultures: writings by Bill Bryson, Joan Didion, Jon Krakauer, Elizabeth Gilbert, Paul Theroux, Isak Dinesen, and Lawrence Durrell. Through these readings, we will learn the art and craft of travel writing which will aid us in writing our own travel narratives. We will also explore the ethical issues that travelers face, particularly in eco-travel and excursions to ‘dark sites in the newly emerging field of thanatourism. You need not be an experienced traveler to take this course.

TRAVEL WRITING, Dr. Christine Macdonald
“Wherever you go, there you are.” This cliché implies that people cannot change themselves or their perspective by changing their location. In this course we will explore the potential and limitations of travel as a means to facilitate different types of journeys: physical, cultural and psychological. We will study theories of “place,” and the interplay between the viewpoints of traveler, “native,” writer, and reader. In addition to writing critical analyses of the readings, students will write their own travel narratives. You need not have traveled extensively to take this course. Readings may include works by Jon Krakauer, Herman Melville, Annie Dillard, Bill Bryson, Paul Theroux, and others.

TRAVEL WRITING, Kerry Reilly
“Our nature lies in movement,” wrote French philosopher Blaise Pascal in 1670. In this course, we will study the craft of travel writing and we will also consider the moral and philosophical questions raised by the acts of travel and exploration. What makes good travel writing? What are the struggles and ethical dilemmas the travel writer faces? We will read widely from across the ages and regions of the world. We will write critical essays about what we read and we will also write our own travel narratives. You need not have traveled extensively to take this course. Some of you may be writing about road trips to Kansas and others may have had experiences camping in Madagascar. Readings include work by: John McPhee, Isabel Fonesca, Mary Morris, Paul Theroux, Jon Krakauer, John Berendt, Rory Stewart, Freya Stark, Isak Dinesen, Bruce Chatwin, Redmond O’Hanlon and Paul Bowles.

WHAT'S A WORLDVIEW?, Petger Schaberg
What's a Worldview? will allow us to inquire into the deep structure of worldview through a wide range of cultural media, including: film, newsprint, music, television culture, literature, the visual arts, psychology, advertising, political rhetoric, technology, economics and the environment. Students will be encouraged to ask fundamental questions about the power of worldview to shape events. How are worldviews constructed philosophically? Are there commonalities between seemingly opposing worldviews? What particular factors might limit the likelihood of meaningful dialogue? How are the values of particular worldviews disguised or otherwise camouflaged in contemporary media? Are there viable examples of pluralism as regards worldview? How does the ability to listen to opposing views influence worldview? How do we experience worldview in our own daily lives? What's a Worldview? will offer great flexibility in allowing us to examine worldview in its complex changing permutations- whether global or local.

WHO KILLED POETRY?, Don Eron
Since the invention of moveable type serious poets have been concerned with the challenges of making poetry vital for a largeraudience that seemingly cares little for it. The required texts for this course--two of the finest books available on contemporary poetry-- echo this concern in their titles. Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia, and The Fate of American Poetry by Jonathan Holden, each seek to describe and analyze not only the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary poetry, but the directions some poets are now taking to invigorate the art, to engage the larger audience now inclined to turn elsewhere (for pleasure). We'll also read a packet of articles reflecting upon, among other issues, questions raised by Holden and Gioia. Some of these essays talk to each other and you may choose to join the conversation. The possibilities for practicing the skill of critical analysis on the subject of contemporary poetry are abundant, given enough effort and an open heart.

WILDFIRE IN THE WEST, Tory Tuttle
When man runs up against wildfire, a necessary component of most natural ecosystems, questions arise for which there are no easy answers. In this course you will encounter those questions and grapple with answers. Along with other essays, we'll read selections from Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire, and John Maclean's Fire on the Mountain, and examine issues of firefighting, fire control, technology, and decision making. We'll analyze successful firefighting plans and plans gone awry. Along with many short assignments you'll write two longer papers -- one analytical and one argumentative -- on wildfire issues that particularly interest you.

WOMEN WRITERS, Diane DeBella
As a teacher of writing and literature, I have spent twenty years studying women writers. What has always interested me, even more than their writing, is the story of their lives, not because their lives were incredibly extraordinary--although some of them were—but because I recognized so many of their personal struggles in my own life. Issues that Mary Wollstonecraft was facing in eighteenth century England, Charlotte Perkins Gilman in late nineteenth century/early twentieth century America, and Adrienne Rich and Alice Walker in the mid to late twentieth century—are issues I face today, and my daughter will likely face tomorrow. Why, after all this time, are women still facing the same struggles? And why are some creative women able to overcome adversity and triumph, personally and professionally, while others, equally talented, falter, stumble, lose their way and give up their dreams? How have those who thrive been able to overcome all of the obstacles thrown in their paths, and why haven’t we learned more from them, so that we can finally break this vicious cycle?

In order to explore these questions, you will be exposed to history, literature, psychology, and feminist theory as you analyze the lives and writings of creative women who have addressed the subject since the eighteenth century, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Adrienne Rich, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Amy Tan, and others. Key areas addressed in this examination will include childhood experiences and relationships, love/sex relationships, career success, marriage, motherhood, depression, addiction, self-esteem, and humor.

WRITING ABOUT MUSIC, Daniel Brigham
In this course, students will compose a personal narrative on a musical theme, a creative paper analyzing love/break-up songs, a music review, and a research project of their choosing. Most of the papers are approximately four to five pages in length. No formal experience with music is assumed.

WRITING ABOUT REAL AND VIRTUAL SOCIETY, Anna MacBriar
This intensive communicative workshop is conducted through computer-mediated writing in an on-campus lab. The course explores the history, developments and relevance of technology, arts, and the media, as well as the influence of electronic communication on society, both real and virtual. The course requires short written summaries, critiques, analyses and arguments analyzing the impacts on society of non-written communication, written text, and electronic communication through radio, telegraph, television and computer media. *This course also provides credit toward the Technology, Arts and Media (TAM) Certificate.

WRITING ABOUT THEATER AND DRAMA, Suzanne Hudson
This course teaches students to write analytical and argumentative papers on theatre and drama. Three papers are required. One analyzes a particular play in terms of its message, symbolism, structure, etc. The second essay reviews a theatrical production. The third essay addresses issues that arise in a particular dramatic work. A textbook, written by the instructor, accompanies the course.

WRITING TO KNOW POETRY, Dr. Eric Burger
This course is an exploration of 20th century American poetry, with an emphasis on how students can come to know poems better through their own writing. You will write a variety of critical papers in this class: some traditional, some a bit unusual, some pretty far out. You will also produce imitations of the work of some assigned poets. We will workshop major assignments and we will read, among others, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O’Hara, Robert Creeley, and James Tate. Throughout, we’ll consider the big question: What does it really mean to know a poem, anyway? It is my hope that in writing in a number of ways about poetry, you will develop a richer, more rewarding relationship with it.

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