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Course Descriptions

All humanities students take one of the following classes which meet weekday mornings.

 

ID # Course Title Instructor(s)
H-01 Where Do You Draw the Line?
Timelines? Pick-up lines? Lines of perspective? In this course we will demystify the preponderance, impact, and future of lines in our world, specifically in the humanities. At the same time, we will delineate the parallel lines that may exist in our own lives. We will also explore what it means to live outside the lines that are implied in our society. We will use literature, politics, music, philosophy, art, fashion, film, photography, and case studies as guidelines for our experience. Activities will include writing lines of poetry, drawing personal maps, creating lines of dialogue, and much more.		 Harvey Stone & Jenn Collison
H-02 Digging on the Shoulders of Giants
History is recorded in many ways. Small things so often forgotten, plain and ordinary, can give us clues to the past. This course will explore some aspects of the science of archaeology. It will include hands-on digging, so come prepared to work hard and get dirty. Our guides will be historical archaeology giants James Deetz, Bill Kelso, and Ivor Noel Hume. This year marks the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America. We will visit Jamestown on a class field trip.		 Michele Riley & John Bland
H-03 Poets & Rebels & Crazies, Oh Yeah! Genius and Artistic Inspiration
This class will examine innovators, creators, and avant-garde individuals in the arts. From poets to painters, composers to performance artists, we will look at people who have changed the way we see and hear and feel the world around us. Their rebellion and deviance so brilliantly captured a vision that they mattered. We will study the Victorian Decadents and Dr. Seuss, Picasso and Warhol, Ginsberg and Shel Silverstein, Tupac and Mozart. Our media will include literature, visual art, film, music, and our own artistic visions.		 Barry Gabay & Jesse Hernandez
H-04 Religion and the Reel World
Movies are more like religious faith than we may realize. Both are such stuff as dreams are made of, visions of a heightened reality charged with wonders and revelations. Movies have powerfully evoked faith and despair, dogma and sacrilege, ecstatic release and the serenity of belonging. We will look to acquire the tools to understand the complex workings of cinematic expression. From theologies to mystical states, from great awakenings to sectarian division, from orthodoxies to reformulations, we will search for a key to unlock the “reel” worlds of religion on film.		 David Howell & Rick Seyford
H-05 Foreign Policy: The Paradox of the American Giant
In this course we will consider the paradoxical and evolving nature of U.S. Foreign Policy. Our goals will be to trace the development of American and global diplomatic history, develop foreign policy as diplomats, and as a culminating activity hold a global summit considering some of the pressing issues of our time. Our course will consider a variety of topics including national security, humanitarian aid, environmental concerns, trade policy, and the geopolitical balance of power. Throughout the course we will participate in simulations, field trips, be visited by guest speakers, hold debates, watch films, and stimulate curiosity of the foreign policy process.		 Ed Motley & Jeff MacGuinness
H-06 Pop Ethics
Do you always make the right decision? How would you know what the right decision is? Is it wrong to date your best friend’s ex? Why not cheat in sports? Is it immoral to drive a gas guzzling SUV? Ethics is the process of examining right and wrong, good and bad, better and worse. This course will explore the ethical and moral dilemmas of modern life from The Apprentice to An Inconvenient Truth, from Bull Durham to Borat and Grey’s Anatomy. Our choices are how we interact with the world and draw on our beliefs, our family, our culture, and our values. Let us explore the complex decisions of modern life through critical, skeptical inquiry. Is it right or is it wrong? Only you can decide.		 Craig Klugman & Lynn Payne
H-07 “Just Don’t Bring One Home”: Examining the Past, Present, and Future of Race Relations in America
An African American woman and a European American man come together to teach a straight up course on race! We will address the real issues surrounding race relations in a culture that often pretends they do not exist. While most situations require you to “check your prejudices at the door,” we invite you to bring them all with you as we discover the historic, contemporary, and personal aspects of race relations. We will participate in activities, watch movies, read articles, hear guest speakers, and examine current events as we navigate the racial labyrinth that is America.		 Lisa Bratton & Matt Forester