HONS 120-FR1
Monday, Wednesday — 3:00-4:15 p.m.
Location: Peck Hall 1404
Instructor: Eric W. Ruckh
Monsters R Us
The human fascination with monsters is long standing and ancient. Whether from the Mediterranean world—Cyclopes and Gorgons, for example—or from East Asia—fox spirits and dragons—ancient cultures peopled their worlds with them; they found in them great enemies and rivals against whom they tested and developed and discovered themselves. We moderns have been no less inventive. From Warm Bodies, World War Z, and The Walking Dead through Twilight, Let the Right One In, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Carrie and some of the X-Men, we invent monsters and revel in the terror they inspire in us. We go so far as to imagine our annihilation at their hands and flock to the spectacle of holocaust. Why? That is the fundamental question we will explore in this course. What do we see in monsters? Why do we invent them? Why do we love them? In what way are they dark shadows of ourselves? How can we learn to recognize ourselves and our world in them? The course will introduce students to three thinkers (and their ideas about the social and psychic worlds) who can help us learn to read monsters as reflections of ourselves and our concerns: Marx, Freud, and Jung.
The course will be woven around reading and discussing (analyzing and interpreting) the following novels:
Brooks, Max, World War Z (2006)
Danielewski, Daniel Z., House of Leaves (2000)
Lindqvist, John Ajvide, Let the Right One In (2004)
Stoker, Bram, Dracula (1897)
And the following films:
Night of the Living Dead [dir., George Romero (1968)]
Nosferatu [dir., F.W. Murnau (1922)]
The Shining [dir., Stanley Kubrick (1980)]
HONS 120-FR2
Tuesday, Thursday — 3:30-4:45 p.m.
Location: Peck Hall 0306
Instructor: Linda W. Alford
Dynamics of Health Policy, Implications of Health Care Reform, and Complexity of the American Health Care System
In this course, we will discuss:
1) Healthcare in America
2) Health professionals and organizations in the U.S.
3) Healthcare finance and reimbursement in the U.S.
4) Access, quality and availability of healthcare in the U.S.
5) The future of healthcare in America
Course activities will include:
1) Interviews with legislators
2) Writing letters to legislators
3) Attendance at the School of Nursing Legislative Night
4) Writing letters to editors of newspapers on health policy issues
5) Attend local legislative sessions
HONS 120-FR3
Tuesday, Thursday —11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Location: Evergreen Residence Hall 283
Instructor: Johanna Schmitz
Theater scholars explore what has happened (history) what can happen (literature and performance) and what it all means (critical theory). This class will lead students to a keen understanding of several current issues in Shakespeare Studies by considering how we navigate between fact and desire, innovation and expectation, text and performance, architecture and staging, and the blurry line between interpretation and adaptation.
We will use new editions of Hamlet (quartos and the Folio), several recent films and filmed stage productions (Peter Brook, Ostermeier, Tiger Lillies, Tiny Ninja Theatre, the RSC, and others) and a careful consideration of recent architectural reconstructions of Shakespeare's theaters to see how both scholars and practitioners tackle the tricky issues of multiple authenticity and cultural monumentalism - being and seeming to be.
This class is designed for students in all majors. We will develop individual strategies for focused scholarship, critical thinking, academic writing, and we will have some fun.
Professor Schmitz has been studying the Rose Theatre (1587-c.1605) since 2001 and is the archivist for the Rose Theatre Trust. She will share her work on the discovery and current redevelopment of the Rose as a heritage site.
"Seems, Madam? Nay, it is. I know not seems" (1.2.277).
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HONS 120-FR4
Tuesday, Thursday —2:00-3:15 p.m.
Location: Alumni Hall 1314
Instructor: Matthew Schunke
What Am I and How Can I Be Happy?
The pursuit of happiness is intimately tied to our understanding of who and what we are. Furthermore, the way we answer these questions profoundly shapes the way we engage the projects of our life. This course will provide the opportunity to explore a variety of historical and contemporary perspectives on these issues. In addition to looking at texts from philosophy and psychology, we will also look at how various literary texts, religious traditions, and the contemporary self-help movement have addressed these concerns. The goal will be to explore a variety of conceptions of what a person is and the corresponding characteristics of a life well-lived. Representative readings could include selections from Aristotle, Freud, Thoreau, Sartre, and Hesse. The class will also incorporate film and other aspects of popular culture.
HONS 320-001
Tuesday — 6:00-8:50 p.m.
Location: Peck Hall, Room 3406
Instructor: Valerie Yancey
The Spiritual Dimensions of Health and Healing
This course examines the spiritual dimensions of health and healing from historical, cultural, medical, and personal perspectives. We will ground our exploration of spiritual phenomena (e.g. synchronicity, forgiveness, meaning, holism, community, hope) in rich multi-cultural, historical and contemporary resources (novels, film, illness narratives) and then link those insights with our own experiences of health and healing. Throughout the semester, each person will create a “spiritual profile,” which will give voice to one’s own unique expressions and experiences of health. We will explore the science of the body-mind connection, the impact of chronic stress on health, and ways to manage stress in daily life for the purpose of creating healthy lives and communities.
HONS 320-002
Tuesday, Thursday — 12:30-1:45 p.m.
Location: Peck Hall, Room 2406
Instructor: Catherine Seltzer
"Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John
In this course, we will begin with the assumption that a twice-told tale (or, in many instances this semester, a thrice-or-more-told tale) is not, in fact, tedious, but often as exciting and meaningful as the original work upon which it is based. Over the course of the semester, we’ll be considering both foundational works and the works that build upon them, examining the ways that writers, filmmakers, and artists celebrate, challenge, and reshape the works that have inspired their own, and the ways in which they use older texts to address contemporary issues of race, class, region, and gender. We’ll begin with Shakespeare’s King Lear, and then look at contemporary retellings, including Jane Smiley’s 1991 novel A Thousand Acres, M.S. Merwin’s 2012 poem “Lear’s Wife,” Young Jean Lee’s 2010 play Lear, and Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 film Ran. Other pairings may include: Beowulf/John Gardner’s 1971 Grendel/Howard Hansen’s 1925 recording “Lament for Beowulf”; Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre/Jean Rhys’s 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea/Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1931); and others. Grades will be based on formal responses papers, a group project, and an individual project.
HONS 320-003
Monday — 6-8:50 p.m.
Location: Peck Hall, Room 1412
Instructor: Melodie Rowbotham
This course provides an overview of current complementary therapies and the influence cultures have on healthcare. Complementary therapies, also commonly referred to as alternative therapies, recognize the person as a physical, mental and spiritual being, and that disease affects each of these areas of life. Students will also explore how culture impacts healthcare.
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