The Central America region-particularly Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala-has experienced both brutal repression and dynamic liberation movements over the last several decades. Literary expression flourished on dangerous ground. Poetry, novels, testimonios, short stories, radio and film have responded to brutality with the contemporary art of literary witness. We will explore the relationships between literature and politics in Central America from the 1960s to the present, with emphasis on the complex cultural contexts within which the stories of personal, national and social change have been told. We will also explore the role of literature in solidarity work and the complex roles of solidarity, resistance and literature throughout the region.

In addition to analytical work on literary texts, this program joins two academic practices: creative writing and literary translation (Spanish to English; perhaps some English to Spanish). As a group, we will produce a bilingual literary anthology based on short works recommended to us for translation by local Latino community members. Throughout the quarter, we will work in collaborative writing groups, balancing students' strengths in creative writing and Spanish language, to assemble and produce this anthology, which we will distribute to libraries, schools and community organizations in Washington State and in Central America.

The story of land and sky, of people and place, is told by water in the Pacific Northwest. Our program will focus on a river called the "most dammed river in the West," the mighty Columbia-immortalized in Woody Guthrie's famous song "Roll on Columbia." Our combined efforts will investigate the rich study of place. Students in this program will learn this river's story, and its many names and faces, by studying the natural, environmental and social history of the Columbia River watershed. Because several salmon species and their associated migration runs offer an important thread that connects these themes, we will also study the ecology of salmon and their historical, cultural, spiritual and economic values to humans.

We will take several field trips to the river to study both its natural ecosystems and the impacts that humans have had throughout the river basin. We will engage ourselves in a study of the hydrological, geological and geographical legacy of the river and the land through which it flows. We will read and hear the stories told by Native peoples and newcomers who have made the river their home. Throughout the program, we will ask how place shapes human lives and how human action changes place. We will ponder the nature of transformation and investigate the many transformations endured by this river and its people.

Part of our learning this quarter will demand that we inquire how political, cultural and technological power informs these transformations and manifests itself in the stories told by and about this river. We also will study the changes brought by the hydroelectric dams, the irrigation system for agriculture, the creation of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and the emergent recreation industry associated with the river.

Students will engage in research related to the Columbia's history and its future. Topics will include natural history, introductory salmon ecology, hydroelectricity, literature, Native American history and culture, social and political history, and public policy connected to the many themes of the Columbia River.

Weekly writing assignments and workshops will include creative and expository writing, analysis of our readings of texts and our workshop activities. Students will keep a weekly research log and an activities journal that is connected to seminar and program activities. Students will write two three- to five-page papers linking content themes during the quarter and one project summary at the end of the quarter. Skills-based weekly activities and workshops will include seminars, basic research and activities such as log-keeping, map-reading, field trip analysis and evaluation writing.

Program activities and workshops will prepare students to complete a small, end-of-quarter project that shows the student's ability to research and analyze individually and in groups. For this project, students will be expected to critically analyze course content, in a program theme of their choice, using assigned materials and those found through research. Media for analysis and expression of learning will include writing/poetry, art/performance arts, photography and mapping. For the final project, a two- to three-page written introduction, with bibliography, will contextualize the final work.

A map of the world which does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. —Oscar Wilde

What is utopia? Is it the freedom of wilderness, the convenience of Wal-Mart, or something in between? Visions of a perfect world take many forms, but a theme common to all utopian societies is a land of plenty in which people exist harmoniously and effortlessly amidst a bountiful and benign natural world. What, then, does the good life have to do with goods?

Join us as we learn about environmental, social and political efforts to improve the human condition, and the beneficial and detrimental consequences of those efforts. American society is a unique political experiment that has proven long on innovations in everything from automobiles to disposable coffee cups, yet short on appreciation for the limits of its resources. Our society has become wedded to consumption and economic growth. We spend money on everything from water to gasoline to eco-tours, but something in us still suspects that the best things in life are-or ought to be-free. We Americans are creatures of these tensions. Consuming Utopia will analyze the roots of these tensions as well as the utopian visions they have inspired. The program invites students who wish to embrace a sense of wonder, look at the planet anew and critically explore ways to improve the relationship between people and the lands that sustain us.

In the fall, we will learn about what North America was like when most people produced the means of life directly through their own labor, and how daily life changed when most people began to work for wages and consume the means of life by spending money. We will also study utopian visions that responded to these developments and attempt to create responsible visions of our own. Throughout these studies, we will examine how people think about the natural environment. We will assume that human work-by pre-colonial native peoples as much as factory farmers-is integral to the natural environment, and that a viable sustainability celebrates both culture and nature. During winter quarter, the program will examine and evaluate a wide range of responses and challenges to consumer culture at home and abroad, with special attention paid to "misfits" and "rebels" who seek their own utopias in the non-western world.

Our work will include overnight field trips that will ground the program's topics in first-hand experience. We will witness the stunning natural glory of Washington's coastal beaches and marvel at the power of human-built dams on the Columbia River. Diverse destinations, such as ancient forests, clear-cuts, mountains and shopping malls will instill in us profound respect for our remarkable-and remarkably threatened-planet. These journeys will enable us more fully to identify what we mean when we use words such as progress, wilderness, balance and recreation. Critical reading, writing and film viewing skills will be emphasized through weekly workshops, writing assignments and tutorials.