This intensive program will survey the shifting role of the hero in literature, myth and as cultural icon. Who are our heroes, past and present? Who are our unsung heroes today? How is the role of hero defined by gender, class and culture? How is the artist, poet or peacemaker seen as hero? How have women redefined the role? How do we understand the archetypal patterns of the hero’s journey, and how might this apply to our personal and collective myths? How can the role of hero inspire new attitudes and approaches to the challenges we face in a changing world? From Beowulf, Sir Gawain and Joan of Arc to Martin Luther King, Ghandi and Rachel Carson, we will review a variety of sources, both contemporary and traditional, as we explore the hero’s challenge of sacrifice, struggle, service, commitment, compassion, and social justice.

We will engage in critical reflection and analysis of texts, films and performances, developing tools of literary criticism, historical analysis and psychological interpretation. Writing and research assignments are designed for the committed student who wants to work deeply and to write well.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overall view of the emergence of psychology as a field, its historical roots, its evolution within a broader sociocultural context, and philosophical currents running throughout this evolution. Attention will be paid to the interaction of theory development and the social milieu, the cultural biases within theory and the effect of personal history on theoretical claims. This is a core course, required for further pursuit of graduate studies in psychology.

Language is one of the most important characteristics of humans that distinguishes us from other animals; thus homo loquens is no less suitable a name for our species than homo sapiens, and is probably more accurate. This course will investigate this sophisticated instinct by comparing it to other forms of adaptive complexity found in the animal kingdom. We will acquire the tools necessary to explore the various linguistic levels of description found in humans (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics), coming away with an appreciation of the exquisite complexity of this behavior.

Students will explore, in text seminars and paper seminars, and in their poetry contributions to a class anthology how poetry literally saves the world (if anything can.) As Seamus Heaney says, it is the knock to the TV to restore the picture, “a jolt to the fibrillating heart.” Our class text and a packet will be in the bookstore. Bill Moyers’ video, Fooling With Words, will be seen in class.

This fall/winter/spring continuing course is intended for the student interested in exploring musical experimentation with computer applications. The course will combine specific technical information regarding hardware architecture, software and interface design, and creation of musical pieces with focus on the new options presented by this compositional environment. This is a lab course with limited (18) positions available. Please make sure you complete an application and speak with the faculty regarding your skills.

This continuing class will focus on building pieces from techniques of synthesis introduced in fall quarter, and learning new production oriented controller, processor and production skills. Members will complete two projects which apply voices built in the lab with composites from acoustic lines and realtime analog manipulation. New techniques will include use of the Kat percussion controller, voice editing, sample editing applications and signal processing editing. Members will attend the weekly lecture/lab/demo, maintain journals, use a minimum of two weekly independent studio times and present work to the group for critique.