Countdown
Course Descriptions
All students (humanities and visual & performing arts) take one of the following classes which meet weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
| ID # | Course Title | Instructor(s) |
| I-01 | Free Reelin' We are looking for a tough and talented group of students to write, shoot, direct, act, and edit great short films. We will study award winning shorts and several challenging films. Other inspirations will be dreams, fairy tales, and your own personal stories. Exciting? Yes. But remember that filmmaking is hard so be prepared to work your tripods off! |
Noora Niskanen & Rick Seyford |
| I-02 | Living on the Edge of America Beatniks, hippies, and body artists have all been part of the fringe of American society, but so have politicians, religious leaders, and artists. Do we live in a world where yesterday’s edge is today’s trend? Who is living on the edge today, what are the impacts of these subcultures, and when does someone become a sellout? We will use film, TV, literature, music, and the visual and performing arts to explore people, activism, and arts on the edge. We will discover how the mainstreaming of these people, groups, and ideas can change the message and intent of those on the fringe. Be aware that a diversity of views and opinions will be presented and varying perspectives are welcome. |
Harvey Stone & Leonard Anderson |
| I-03 | History Through the Lens of the Sitcom Close that book and turn on the TV? History has been recorded through oral tradition, artifacts, print, film, and even television documentaries and news programs. But what about non-reality TV? What can fictional programs tell us about real history? Let’s study the history of American culture through the lens of the situation comedy and find out. We will explore decades of sitcoms from Leave it to Beaver to Girlfriends. We will examine their political and social correctness as historical representations of their times, exploring this genre through readings, discussions, and writing, including the creation of a contemporary version of a classic sitcom. |
Lisa Bratton & Patrick Gendusa |
| I-04 | Are You Necessary? Stepping on the Toes of Giants
and Living to Tell About It Individual idealism and realistic opportunity often clash in the real world. Success is frequently defined by how well we sell ourselves, set goals, and project self worth. This course will help students focus on personal strategies that will increase the impact of their talents and ideas in the cultural marketplace. Through the making of personal portfolios, navigating the interview/audition process, and examining the role of image-maker in society, we will design a winnable battle plan. |
Alan Paterson & Ed Motley |
| I-05 | Singing the Body Electric How do our bodies differ? What influences our perception of bodies? How do we define disability? How can we free the body for creative purposes? We will seek to answer these questions through body maps, monologues, portraits, poems, and physical interactive exercises. Drawing on film, theatre, literature, music, art, and personal experiences, we will look to understand the body as an expressive tool for the self. We will also explore potentials within each human’s “being” through acting exercises, movement/dance, and creative writing. Students will challenge their comfort zones by finding new ways to communicate with various artistic forms. Wear comfortable and loose fitting clothes and please bring your body to class . . . and see what happens. |
Adrienne Klemme & Michele Riley |
| I-06 | Where are you now? Plotting an Atlas of Identity On whose shoulders do you stand? Where are you going? Do you know who you are? Are you lost? How can you be found? Through this course, you will develop skills to become a personal cartographer (mapmaker). We will study the relationships that are encountered within ourselves and with the world around us—memory, perceptions, traditions, cultures, architectural space, home, family, and more. We will creatively develop and construct individual maps to be bound into an atlas describing the many places and ways in which we inhabit the world. These maps will include journal entries, drawings, creative writing exercises, collages, and other projects. You won’t find these maps on MapQuest! Join us for earnest, enlightening, and creative self-exploration. No artistic experience is necessary. |
Dwayne Wasson & Heather McMahon |
| I-07 | “Funny Bombs” or Giants at War Slay them in the aisles? Kill them with laughter? Massacre with mirth? Carol Burnett said, “Comedy is tragedy -- plus time.” This course examines the way we laugh at war, killing, and destruction. From Lysistrata and M*A*S*H to Calvin & Hobbes and Dr. Seuss the comedy of war has been used to motivate, criticize, recreate, and defend. We will march through the minefield or merriment using journaling, group maneuvers, critical engagement with existing media as well as creating our own “funny bombs.” Join us in the battle of the belly laughs as we attack this serious topic through a humorous lens. |
Craig Klugman & David Sennett |
| I-08 | Passion for Political Pop Yankee Doodle during the American Revolution. Crosby, Stills & Nash as a countercultural cry for peace. Pearl Jam expressing modern social angst. In this course we’ll explore how, throughout time, music has reflected political conflict, effected social change, and served as a tool for propaganda. We’ll break the music of our history into its elements - lyrics, instrumentation, tempo, and rhythm - and explore how each of these creates passion, anger, understanding or a sense of calm in order to develop a political idea. We’ll look at film clips and documents to see how the music forms from and affects the tone of our time. We’ll close the course by expressing our own political ideologies by writing our own political pop. No musical experience necessary. |
Jeff MacGuinness & Michelle Gulick |
| I-09 | Under the Radar Surrealists, Goths, Dadaists, Punks, and Futurists. These subcultural movements and many others organize(d) themselves around basic beliefs that challenge the dominant culture in some way. More than that, they express themselves and promote their beliefs through a variety of media, including visual art, literature, fashion, make-up, and rituals. Come join us as we decide what aspects of the dominant ideologies in our culture we wish to challenge, and what ideologies we would replace them with. By studying groups who have bucked the system, we will discover the characteristics our class shares with such groups. Our exploration will culminate in a “publication” that promotes our newfound sub-cultural identity in a wide range of media; possibly including, but not limited to: a zine, a website, pamphlet, an art show, or a demonstration. Together we can make the world – or at least our world – a better place. |
Grant Johnson & Matt Forester |
| I-10 | Fee-Fie-Fo-Food! Sushi, plantains, quiche, eel ice cream, kiwi, grappa, mat(t)e, Butterfingers, ostrich burgers, fried okra, rhubarb, Shepard's pie, grits. . . Oh my! Join us on a journey beyond pizza, French fries, and Coke to explore the wonderful world of food! We will focus on the culture, politics, and science of food through films, literature, discussion, interaction with community members, field trips, reflection, journaling, and . . . eating, of course! Topics may include holiday foods, vegetarianism, poverty and world hunger, breastfeeding, the slow food movement, genetically modified foods, the role of food in building community, food production, federal nutrition guidelines, and organic farming. P.S. What the heck is foie gras? Or capers? Or cardmom? Or tripe? |
Crystal Colter & Sarah Tomasewski |
| I-11 | How We Play the Game Tag! You're it! Are you up to the challenge? Are you a competitive player? What would you do do win? Come explore the world of games and play, winners, losers and cheats! Together, we will create the rules based on your research and collective input. When all is done, you decide what you are willing to risk in the game you created, the Big Gamble. Based on your research of games that involve chase, props, teams and individuals, boundaries, competition, winning and losing, we will explore how games often reflect and mirror real life situations, and offer lessons on personal and group dynamics. |
Jenn Myer & Kandise Humphrey |
| I-12 | Paper We will explore the wide and wonderful world of paper. One of the most important elements of daily life remains paper. In this class we will look at why this stuff is so important. We receive news on it; we write love poetry on it; we flush it. Let’s look at hand made paper, origami, hand made paper, post cards, hand made paper, graphic design, hand made paper, collage prints, hand made paper, book binding, and if there’s time... hand made paper. This class is for the non-artists who want to be liberated by playing in the sand box of the brain, the eye, and the haaaaaaaaaaaaaand!! |
Barry Gabay & Carolina Alvarado |
| I-13 | Picking the Giant's Brain: Subtext and Doublespeak
in American Culture What do you mean? Did you mean what you meant when you said what you said what you meant to say? Subtext, doublespeak, metaphor, and body language are used by people, businesses, and government to communicate, influence and misdirect. In this class we will investigate, explode, and play with film, literature, and the visual and performing arts as we discover the secret (and not so secret) meanings all around us. |
John Bland & Katy Strand |
| I-14 | Cultural Borders and Boundaries: Where do you draw
the line? What kinds of boundaries do we have? Why do they exist? Through the discussion of the arts, archaelogy, and culture, we will investigate the ways in which people around the world create boundaries and develop limits, conflicts, and compromises. Movies and the visual and performing arts provide us with representations of diverse ways of living in the world around us. Together we will explore the borders that divide and unite us. What are your perosnal boundaries? Are you willing to test the edges? |
Erin Leigh & Ingrid Furniss |