TOPICS OFFERED
FOR SPRING
2022
Classes
start January 3rd and end April 29th.
Holiday
periods are adapted to by individual class voting.
1. (AMC) DECLINE
OF AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS
Many
goods and services are now more expensive in America than in
Europe. This is a
reversal of the situation 20 years ago.
The author of our Common Reading is a French-born
economist who presents
his research into why and how this has happened. American
markets, once a model
for the world, are giving up on competition. Thomas Philippon
blames the
unchecked efforts of corporate lobbyists. Instead of earning
profits by
investing and innovating, powerful firms use political
pressure to secure their
advantages. The result is less efficient markets, leading to
higher prices and
lower wages. In one industry after another, Philippon writes,
a few companies
have grown so large that they have the power to keep prices
high and wages low.
It’s great for those corporations―and bad for almost everyone
else…Too often,
both parties are still confusing the interests of big business
with the
national interest. And American families are paying the price.
Topics
for research presentations might include: hurtful reductions
in government
regulation; impacts of tax changes that reduce competition;
how the Internet
and social media contribute to the decline of competitiveness;
who really pays
taxes in USA; etc.
Common
Reading:
The
Great Reversal:
How America Gave Up on Free Markets by
Thomas Philippon (Harvard University
Press, October 2019)
2. (BAM) THE
BEST AMERICAN
MYSTERY STORIES OF THE CENTURY
In
The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century,
best-selling author
Tony Hillerman and mystery expert
Otto Penzler present an
unparalleled treasury of American
suspense fiction that every fan will cherish. Offering the
finest examples from
all reaches of the genre, this collection charts the mystery's
eminent history
from the turn-of-the-century puzzles of Futrelle,
to
the seminal pulp fiction of Hammett and Chandler, to the
mystery story's rise
to legitimacy in the popular mind, a trend that has benefited
masterly writers
like Westlake, Hunter, and Grafton. Nowhere else can readers
find a more
thorough, more engaging, more essential distillation of
American crime fiction.
Penzler,
the Best American Mystery Stories series editor, and Hillerman
winnowed this select group out of a thousand stories, drawing
on sources as
diverse as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Esquire,
Collier's
and The New Yorker. Giants of the genre abound –
Raymond Chandler,
Stephen King, Dashiell Hammett, Lawrence Block, Ellery Queen,
Sara Paretsky, and others – but
the editors also unearthed gems
by luminaries rarely found in suspense anthologies: William
Faulkner, John
Steinbeck, Damon Runyon, Harlan Ellison, James Thurber, and
Joyce Carol Oates.
Mystery buffs and newcomers alike will delight in the
thrilling stories and
top-notch writing of a hundred years' worth of the finest
suspense, crime, and
mystery writing.
Common
Reading:
The
Best
American Mystery Stories of the Century, by Tony Hillerman
and mystery expert Otto Penzler
(April 2001)
3.
(CAP) CAPITALISM
IN AMERICA
Some
of those in our government are attempting to vastly expand the
federal role,
both in scope and nature of operation. There is widespread
confusion regarding
the terms “capitalism” and “socialism.” In fact, we have a
“mixed” economy.
Some people advocate a social welfare system within a
capitalist
superstructure. Some are striving to impose an oligarchic
perversion of laissez
faire. There is far too much cronyism in how the governmental
system now works.
Our
Common Reading provides a history of the evolution of the
American economic
system in both a human and thorough way.
It provides a picture of the extraordinary productive
energies unleashed
by millions of ordinary Americans that have driven this
country to
unprecedented heights of power and prosperity.
At
heart, the authors argue, America's genius has been its unique
tolerance for
the effects of creative destruction, the ceaseless churn of
the old giving way
to the new, driven by new people and new ideas. Often messy
and painful,
creative destruction has also lifted almost all Americans to
standards of
living unimaginable to even the wealthiest citizens of the
world a few
generations past. A sense of justice and human decency demands
that those who
bear the brunt of the pain of change be protected, but America
has always
accepted more pain for more gain, and its vaunted rise cannot
otherwise be
understood, or its challenges faced, without recognizing this
legacy. For now,
in our time, productivity growth has stalled again, stirring
up the populist
furies.
Topics
for research and presentation might include: the evolutions of
sources of
investment and of organization of enterprises; did the “robber
barons really
rob anyone; how “stakeholders” might participate in enterprise
management; how
might the public safety be protected; alternative forms of
company
management-employee relationship have been found most
successful; how taxes
contribute to or harm economic progress; have we grown enough;
etc.
Common Reading: Capitalism in America: An Economic History of the United States by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge (October 2018)
4.
(CCA) CONQUEST
OF CALIFORNIA
In
the early days on the far north of Mexico’s territory Native
Americans were
abundant and were trying to accommodate the intrusion of
trappers and early
colonists. On June 14, 1846, a band of rebels gathered in the
plaza of Sonoma
and occupied the town, forcing the Mexican Colonel Vallejo to
surrender. The
rebels fashioned a flag with a brown bear with the words
“California Republic”
painted in pokeberry juice.
The
spirit of Manifest Destiny would cause America to invade and
claim the
California Republic in one of the most significant land grabs
in U.S. history.
Various characters were to play significant roles in these
actions. John C.
Fremont, the Pathfinder, who arrived at the head of a team of
Topographical
Engineers; he assumed command of the Bear Flag rebels and lead
them throughout
the conflict. Commodore Robert Stockton commander of the
Pacific Squadron who
had a force of sailors and marines and took control of the
coastal regions and
raised a flag over Monterey. General Stephen Kearney who
arrived from New
Mexico with 100 dragoons and orders from President Polk to
establish a
government in California. Although eventually at odds with
each other, the
combined military actions of these charismatic leaders
resulted in the
annexation of California by the U.S.
Our
goal is to learn about the early formation of the California
Republic and annexation
by the U.S.
Presentation
topics: politics, leaders, battles, natural resources, Native
Americans,
Mexicans, Americanos.
Common
Reading: Bear
Flag Rising: The Conquest of California, 1846 by Dale L
Walker (May 5, 2000)
5. (DSA) THE DISUNITED
STATE OF AMERICA
We
have never been this divided. That is an often-heard phrase
these days,
sometimes followed by an acknowledgement that maybe the Civil
War years were
worse. People are reportedly moving from one state to another
to join their
political tribe. Some dream about seceding, or wish the other
tribe would do
it. But perhaps to put things in perspective, we can take a
deep dive into our
text for this S/DG, Break It Up:
Secession, Division,
and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union, by Richard Kreitner.
The author does not claim that our present-day divisions are
not real. Rather,
he illustrates that the United States has a rich history of
disunity starting
with the Pilgrims, who called themselves Separatists.
Our
text has been praised as ambitious, provocative, resonant,
rewarding, and,
thankfully, readable. It also suggests many potential topics
for our
presentations including various secessionist movements and the
public figures
tasked with keeping the ship of state afloat on troubled
waters. Ideally, this
S/DG will help us appreciate why we keep trying to overcome
our differences and
attempt, again and again, to form a more perfect union.
Common Reading: Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union, by Richard Kreitner (Little, Brown and Co., August 2020)
6.
(ECN) THIS WEEK
IN THE ECONOMIST
The
British weekly publication The
Economist is known for its informative and
thought-provoking reporting on
political and economic developments around the world. In this
S/DG, we will
discuss several articles selected from the current issue as
catalysts for
informed and lively discussion on the burning topics of our
time. Leadership
will rotate and all articles selected are easily accessed
online. Given the many
worldwide problems this course will help to give you a deeper
look then just a
brief sound bite from somebody reading off a teleprompter.
Subscription
to The Economist is
required for members. Note members can get reduced cost
subscriptions through
CSUDH student membership.
Common
Reading: Current
issues of The Economist.
7.
(EDP) THE
LAST MILLION: EUROPE’S
DISPLACED PERSONS FROM
WORLD WAR
TO COLD WAR
When
WWII ended in 1945, the aftershocks of global military
conflict did not cease with
the German capitulation. Millions of lost and homeless
concentration camp
survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi
collaborators in
flight from the Red Army overwhelmed Germany, a nation in
ruins. British and
American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate
refugees and
attempted to repatriate them. But after exhaustive efforts,
there remained more
than a million displaced persons left behind in Germany: Jews,
Poles,
Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and other
Eastern Europeans who
refused to go home or had no homes to return to. The “Last
Million” would spend
the next three to five years in displaced persons camps,
temporary homelands in
exile divided by nationality, with their own police forces,
churches and synagogues,
schools, newspapers, theaters, and infirmaries.
The
international community could not agree on the fate of the
Last Million, and
after a year of debate and inaction, the International Refugee
Organization was
created to resettle them in lands suffering from postwar labor
shortages. But
no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000
Jewish men, women, and
children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United
States, among the
last countries to accept refugees for resettlement, finally
passed a displaced
persons bill. With Cold War fears supplanting memories of
World War II
atrocities, the bill granted the vast majority of visas to
those who were
reliably anti-Communist, including thousands of former Nazi
collaborators and
war criminals, while severely limiting the entry of Jews, who
were suspected of
being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been
recent residents
of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the controversial
partition of Palestine
and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining
Jewish survivors
able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany.
By 1952, the Last
Million were scattered
around the world. Let’s explore the consequences of this
largely hidden story
about postwar displacement and statelessness.
Possible
presentation topics:
Ø
Current
efforts by nonprofits to
assist refugees
Ø
How the
refugee experience shaped
policy in the new nation of Israel
Ø
Psychological
studies on the
long-term effects of persons in exile
Ø
Compare
treatment of the post-WWII
refugees vs. today’s Afghani or Syrian refugees
Ø
Creative
or uplifting things that
have developed in refugee camps
Common Reading: The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War by David Nasaw (September 2020)
8. (FAS) FASHION
Is
fashion your passion? Unlock
the language of clothes with this
ultimate fashion show that traces people’s dress over the
past 3000 years.
Fashion is a
visual feast, packed with
stunning illustrations of 1,500 costumes from around the
globe. It
celebrates famous trendsetters, designers
and fashion icons from Queen Henrietta Maria to Jackie
Onassis and Jean Paul
Gautier.
Fashion
endlessly reinvents itself,
reflecting society’s trends and innovations.
Discover why different looks caught on, from
elaborate ruffs, wigs and
farthingales of the 17th century, to Dior’s “new
look” in 1947 and
shoulder pads in the 1980s.
Find out why
for centuries people’s dress was regulated by governments’
“sumptuary rules”
and how the invention of new textiles from velvet to Lycra
influenced clothing
design.
If you
just love clothes, Fashion
is considered to be both a glorious visual treat and a
treasured history.
Common
Reading:
Fashion, New
Edition; The
Definitive Visual Guide (Smithsonian) by DK and Smithsonian Institution
(September 2019)
9.
(FHJ) A FLAW IN
HUMAN JUDGEMENT
Imagine
that two judges in the same courthouse give markedly different
sentences to
people who have committed the same crime. Suppose that
different interviewers
at the same firm make different decisions about
indistinguishable job
applicants—or that when a company is handling customer
complaints, the
resolution depends on who happens to answer the phone. Now
imagine that the
same doctor, the same judge, the same interviewer, or the same
customer service
agent makes different decisions depending on whether it is
morning or
afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday. These are examples
of noise:
variability in judgments that should be identical.
In
Noise, Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony,
and
Cass R. Sunstein show the detrimental effects of noise in many
fields,
including medicine, law, economic forecasting, forensic
science, bail, child
protection, strategy, performance reviews, and personnel
selection. Wherever
there is judgment, there is noise. Yet, most of the time,
individuals and
organizations alike are unaware of it. They neglect noise.
With a few simple
remedies, people can reduce both noise and bias, and so make
far better
decisions.
Possible
presentations could include studies that show the variation in
doctors’
diagnoses over a shift, variations in financial advice for the
same client, methods
to reduce the impact of noise in certain situations, technical
discussions of
the kinds of noise, noise statistics, people in involved in
noise studies,
personal experiences and ideas on how to do better.
Common
Reading:
Noise:
A Flaw in Human Judgement, by Daniel
Kahneman,
Olivier Sibony and Cass R.
Sunstein (May 2021)
10. (FJS) THE FILMS
OF JOHN STEINBECK
John
Steinbeck is best known as the Nobel Prize-winning author of Cannery
Row,
Tortilla Flat, Travels with Charley, and the Pulitzer
Prize-winning The
Grapes of Wrath. In total, he wrote 16 novels, six
non-fiction books, and
two short story collections, often chronicling stories of
intolerance,
inequality, and ecology that remain relevant today.
Inevitably, Steinbeck’s
books reappeared as some of the most iconic films to come out
of Hollywood
including John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath, Elia
Kazan’s East of Eden,
and at least four versions of Of
Mice and
Men. In addition, Steinbeck sometimes wrote or
coauthored the screen
versions of his novels (The Red Pony, East of Eden) and
penned original
screenplays and stories for Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and
Kazan’s Viva
Zapata!. There is no book for this S/DG although some
presenters may want
to take advantage of the 2020 biography Mad at the World:
A Life of John
Steinbeck by William Souder. Presentation topics could
include explorations
of any of the films based on Steinbeck’s books, comparisons of
the various film
versions of his stories, and investigations of how these books
and films were
inspired by places and events in Steinbeck’s life, much of
which took place in
Salinas and Monterey, California.
No
Common Reading.
11.
(FLR) THE FLORENTINES
Between
the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642,
something happened
that transformed the entire culture of western civilization.
Painting,
sculpture, and architecture would all change in such a
striking fashion that
there could be no going back. Likewise, the thought and
self-conception of
humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Science would
be born – or
emerge in an entirely new guise. The
ideas that broke this mold began in the city of Florence and
coalesced into
what came to be known as humanism.
Possible presentation topics could
be any of the
major figures of the Renaissance.
Common Reading: The Florentines: From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization, by Paul Strathern (Pegasus, July 2021)
12.
(HGL)
HELGOLAND:
MAKING SENSE OF
THE QUANTUM REVOLUTION
A startling new
look at quantum theory from the New York Times best-selling
author
of Seven Brief Lessons on
Physics and The
Order of Time.
Helgoland is a
treeless island in the North Sea where 23-year-old Werner
Heisenberg made the
breakthrough of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of
scientific
revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant
objects that seem to
be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive),
quantum physics
has led to countless discoveries and technological
advancements. Today our
understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is
still profoundly
mysterious.
Renowned
theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli
has entranced
millions of readers with his singular perspective on the
cosmos. In Helgoland,
he unpacks the enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli
describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving.
As scientists
and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of
the theory, Rovelli argues that
its most unsettling contradictions can
be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of
relationships rather
than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our
interactions
with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for
thinking about the
structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness. Rovelli
makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic
experience.
Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting
journey through
the universe so we can better comprehend our place in it.
Possible
presentations: Alternative quantum theories; applications of
quantum mechanics;
quantum computing, the nature of consciousness.
Common Reading: Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli (May 25, 2021)
13.
(IUB) THE INCREDIBLE UNLIKELINESS OF BEING
Alice
Roberts takes you on the most incredible journey, revealing
your path from a
single cell to a complex embryo to a living, breathing,
thinking person. It's a
story that connects us with our distant ancestors and an
extraordinary,
unlikely chain of events that shaped human development and
left a mark on all
of us. Alice Roberts uses the latest research to uncover the
evolutionary
history hidden in all of us, from the secrets found only in
our embryos and
genes - including why as embryos we have what look like gills
- to those
visible in your anatomy. This is a tale of discovery,
exploring why and how we
have developed as we have. This is your story, told as
never before. There
are numerous possible topics: updating information in the book
with latest
results from DNA, paleontology, etc.
Common Reading: The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us, by Alice Roberts (November 2015)
14. (LAS) LOS ANGELES IN THE SIXTIES
Los
Angeles
in the Sixties was a hotbed of political and social upheaval
that shaped
politics and culture in this city for the next half century. It was a locus of
the Vietnam antiwar
movement, the rise of alternative media, the women’s movement,
and, of course,
the capital of California counterculture.
The suggested core text for this S/DG covers the Civil
Rights Movement
in LA, its backlash with the repeal of the Fair Housing Act of
1963, the LA
Free Clinic, the Watts Uprising, the Century City Police Riot,
and the high
school Blowouts (student strikes) of 1966-1968, to name a few.
A
breathtakingly broad, yet detailed book on this decade, Set
the Night on
Fire: LA in the
Sixties, provides
the first comprehensive movement history of L.A. in the
Sixties, drawing on
extensive archival research and dozens of interviews with
principal figures, as
well as the authors’ storied personal histories as activists. It is a historical
tour de force, delivered
in scintillating and fiercely beautiful prose, which makes
each chapter a quick
read.
Possible
presentation
topics: How the
Fifties
influenced the Sixties, popular music or films related to
social change
movements in LA during this era, the impact of television on
social movements,
worldwide protests in 1968 and comparisons to LA’s, comparing
public education
in LA then and now, backlashes to social movements and
reforms, and leaders
produced by the women’s movement in LA.
Common Reading: Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener (April 2020)
15. (LBR) THE
PAST, PRESENT,
AND FUTURE
OF AMERICAN LABOR
Labor
unions were once important in America’s economy and political
system. Union
membership has slipped except for those involving government
workers. Some
people believe that this is one of the reasons stagnating
wages for unskilled
labor and for rising income inequality. These people typically
call for a
“return to the good old days,” a remarkably conservative
sounding wish. But,
times have changed and we need a complete rethink of the
relationship between
America’s employers and employees. For example, the Nordic
model, which seems
to function well in those small homogeneous countries, is
“corporatist” in
nature with country-wide labor negotiations with the
government as an active
participant, ensuring standardization of wage rates, etc.
Clearly, government
over-participation in labor contracts can be harmful as in
France. How should
America evolve? How will China impact the US labor movement?
Our
Common Reading by journalist and author Steven Greenhouse
traces the history of
the labor movement in the United States and considers the
factors that led to a
significant decline in worker bargaining power in recent
decades.
This
S/DG will review the history of labor relations in this and
other countries
with a view toward choosing better ways of operating. Possible
research/presentation topics might include: crucial events in
loss of union
power; unions and government; do teachers unions help
students; impact of
imports on US labor; are labor unions just another form of
corporation; how
will artificial intelligence and robotics impact the labor
market; do you want
unionized care-givers in your old age; rise of gig economy;
fast-food workers;
labor leaders; strikes; union busting; immigrants in labor
force, etc.
Common Reading: Beaten Down, Worked Up – The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor, by Steven Greenhouse (Knopf, August 2019)
16.
(NWS)
NEWS YOU CAN
LOSE
This
S/DG will examine the decline of U.S. newspapers, especially
at the regional
and local level, in recent years.
National newspapers in major cities like Washington, DC
and Los Angeles
continue to exist because billionaires buy them without the
expectation of
maximizing profit. Local
news organizations
suffer due to the loss of classified advertising, thank you
Craigslist, social
media that gives people the feeling of keeping up with the
“news” without
reading any actual news, and unimaginative newspaper chains
whose answer to
every financial problem is to cut staff.
As a result, local and regional newspapers have spent
the past two
decades shedding employees and closing their doors. A few print news
organizations have tried new
models of operation successfully, but they are the exception. Possible
presentations include the status of
local newspapers in the South Bay, the impact on local
corruption as local news
coverage is reduced, Warren Buffet and the 31 papers he sold
earlier this year,
why only the New York Times and Wall Street
Journal have
substantial digital readerships, and is the loss of so many
newspapers a threat
to democracy.
Common Reading: Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy, by Margaret Sullivan (July 14, 2020 - paperback)
17. (POE) A
NEW LOOK AT
GREAT POETRY
If
you haven't read a Shakespeare sonnet or Coleridge's “Kubla
Khan” since high school, this S/DG provides a chance to renew
acquaintance and
refresh your understanding of some of the world's great poems. In a new book,
Camille Paglia, Professor of
Humanities at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia,
takes a new
analytical look at familiar works by such writers as Shelley,
Whitman, Emily
Dickinson, John Donne, and Sylvia Plath, as well as newer
poetry by some of
today's writers. Paglia's essays on each poem combine analysis
with criticism;
presentations by members will combine discussion of Paglia's
ideas with their
own responses to the poems.
Common Reading: Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems, by Camille Paglia (Vintage trade; January 2006)
18.
(RBG) THE NOTORIOUS (AND FABULOUS)
RUTH BADER GINSBURG
In
a decades-long career, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an advocate and
jurist for
gender equality and for ensuring that the United States
Constitution leaves no
person behind. Her work transformed not just the American
legal landscape, but
American society more generally. Ginsburg labored tirelessly
to promote a
Constitution that is ever more inclusive and that allows every
individual to
achieve their full human potential. In the area of gender
rights, Ginsburg
dismantled long-entrenched systems of discrimination based on
outdated
stereotypes by showing how such laws hold back both
genders.
In
addition, Justice Ginsburg had a special ability to appreciate
how the
decisions of the high court impact the lived experiences of
everyday Americans.
The passing of Justice Ginsburg was met with a public
outpouring of grief, and
she was hailed as a hero and national treasure.
Our
suggested text includes many previously unpublished materials
which share
details from the Justice’s family life and long career. These
include notable
briefs and oral arguments, some of Ginsburg's last speeches,
and her favorite
opinions that she wrote as a Supreme Court Justice (many in
dissent), along
with the statements that she read from the bench in those
important cases. Each
document was chosen by Justice Ginsburg to tell the story of
the litigation
strategy and optimistic vision that were at the heart of her
unwavering
commitment to the achievement of "a more perfect Union."
Possible
presentation topics:
Ø
Other
noteworthy Supreme Court
justices in history
Ø
The cult
of fandom that developed
around RBG
Ø
Assess
the status of women in
today’s American legal system
Ø
The role
of female attorneys in
other countries
Common Reading:
Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s
Work Fighting for a
More Perfect Union, by Ruth
Bader Ginsburg
(March 2021)
19. (SHK) SHAKESPEARE: ALL THE
WORLD’S A STAGE
. . .
With players standing
and with a few props and costumes, we will do reading
walk-throughs and
discussions of the 3 plays to be chosen.
In this S/DG you will
learn how to research all perspectives of Shakespeare’s
works — sources
of each play upon which the
Bard builds rich characters and enhances the plots, how to
play each character
“in character,” themes, symbols, images, motifs, commentary
on issues of the
day, and all manner of rhyme and
reason. Class
members each serve on one play’s Board of Directors, responsible
for
casting roles for the repertory and leading discussions
based on the research —
optionally adding videos, music, and
costumes. For a
glimpse of how we live
the Bard in this S/DG, check out http://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/21c-SHK-Shakespeare to
view the Fall Shakespeare
class’s website of links to references relevant to our plays
and downloadable
organizing artifacts.
There are no
prerequisites, theatrical or otherwise.
You will find that the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon will
teach us, just as
he’s taught others for four hundred years.
With
plenty for the novice as well as the veteran, it is a foregone conclusion members will leave this
class with a fuller
understanding of the masterful story construction, realistic
characters with
depth and humanity, and the rich, evocative language which
have earned William
Shakespeare the title of greatest writer in the English
language.
SHK
will be limited to the first 24
enrollees and will not split.
Common Reading: Selected Plays
20. (SIE) SUPREME INEQUALITY
The
book Supreme Inequality surveys the most significant
Supreme Court
rulings for the last fifty years and exposes how little the
Court has done to
protect the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. Many of the
greatest
successes of earlier rulings in areas such as school
desegregation, voting
rights and protecting workers have been abandoned in favor of
rulings that
protect corporations and privileged Americans. The author’s
view is that the
modern Court has been one of the leading forces behind the
nation’s soaring
level of economic inequality, and that an institution revered
as a source of
America’s fairness has been systematically making America less
fair.
Possible
presentation topics could include any of the cases discussed
in the book or
other cases or governmental actions concerning such topics as
protecting the
poor, education, campaign finance, democracy, workers,
corporations or criminal
justice.
Common Reading: Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, by Adam Cohen (February 2020)
21. (SRR)
SURREALISM
Born around 100 years
ago out of various forces, including the aftermath of WWI,
Dadaism, the
insights of Sigmund Freud, communism, and anarchism,
Surrealism was a broad
cultural movement which eventually transformed the visual
arts, literature,
film, music, thought, language and overall culture throughout
the world.
The movement’s
initial leader, the writer André Breton, emphasized the
cultural, political,
and philosophical aspect of the movement, and attempted to
have the movement
set the stage for political change by “resolv[ing] the previously contradictory
conditions of dream and
reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality”, or surreality.
Yet, in the long run
the movement probably had its most obvious manifestation in
the revolutionary
works of master painters such as Salvador Dali, Giorgio De
Chirico, Max Ernst,
Man Ray, Joan Miró, Marcel Duchamp, Frida Kahlo, and Rene
Magritte.
Our common book in
this S/DG, 50 Works of Surrealist Art, starts by
introducing us to many
of the great paintings of the movement (and occasionally other
works, such as
films); it also provides short textual introductions to the
artists and thereby
connects us with the political, philosophical, and broader
cultural development
of the movement over time.
Presentations for the
course will provide us with an opportunity to delve more
deeply into some of
the innumerable other interesting things about Surrealism,
possibly including:
the origins of the movement; the classical and other artistic
foundations of
the art and the artists; the themes of Surrealism (such as
dreams and the
unconscious; surprise, ambiguity, and contradiction;
super-reality; sexual
fantasy; and rejection of traditional social and artistic
rules); the stylistic
and technical advances and common features of the art; the
political context
and significance of the movement; particular artists and their
often
spectacular lives (Dali, in particular, comes to mind); the
impact of
Surrealism on theatre, film (especially the works of Jacques
Cocteau, Luis
Bunuel, and David Lynch), and humor (including Monty Python);
and the broad
effects of the movement on our current philosophy, political
thought and
overall culture across the world.
Common Reading: Surrealism: 50 Works of Art You Should Know, by Brad Finger (Prestel; Illustrated edition; November 25, 2013)
22. (TAN)
AMY TAN (OR
THE ASIAN EXPERIENCE)
Amy Tan is a Chinese-American author known for The
Joy Luck Club. Her
other novels, include The Kitchen
God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s
Daughter, and Saving
Fish from Drowning.
Her latest book
is a memoir entitled, Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s
Memoir.
A recent documentary, Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir,
was released
in May 2021, and is now available on Netflix.
If the S/DG follows the format of recent literary
classes (Toni
Morrison, Isabel Allende, Ernest Hemingway), the class will
select 3 novels of
hers to read and discuss.
In addition to the book discussions, many
presentations could develop
from these writings, especially various tellings
of
the immigrant experience—either of her family or that of other
Asian Americans.
In addition to the retelling of specific Chinese
immigrants’
experiences, other themes consistently pervade many of Tan’s
novels such as:
Ø
Mother-daughter relationships, including Tan’s often
tumultuous
relationship with her own mother.
Ø
Suicide, especially Tan’s maternal grandmother’s death
by suicide and
her mother’s several suicide attempts.
Ø
Traditional Chinese Superstitions, Ghosts, The
Afterlife, and Belief in
Spirits.
Ø
Comparison among the 3 novelists--Toni Morrison,
Isabel Allende and Amy
Tan--and the elements of magic realism in their works,
especially spiritualism.
Ø
Assimilation and the American Dream.
Ø
Internal struggles among 1st generation
offspring of Chinese
immigrant parents over their cultural identities.
Ø
Tan’s personal experience as Rock Band
singer/philanthropist, whose
band raised over a million dollars for literacy programs.
The recent negative attacks on Asians could also be a
topic.
Common
Reading:
Selected novels,
decided by the
class.
(Additional
note: The usual
format for this type of
literature class has been to either lead the discussion
on perhaps half
of a novel, or to do an independent presentation; both
count equally as
“presentations,” and a S/DG member’s obligation is to do either one or the
other, not both.)
23.
(THK) THINK AGAIN:
THE POWER OF
KNOWING WHAT YOU
DON'T KNOW
Think
Again is a book about the benefit of
doubt, and about how we can
get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being
wrong.
New
evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skillset, rethinking
can be taught,
and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to
do it. Section 1
explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn
to do it as
individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be
counterproductive.
Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through
learning about 'argument
literacy'. The author, Adam Grant, is New York Times
bestselling author
of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B
with Sheryl
Sandberg.
Possible
topics:
1.
How
rethinking gives you the edge
in a world changing faster than ever
2.
How
readers can shape and improve
the peaks in their own experiences
3.
How can
one win against an
international debate champion
4.
How a
black musician persuades
white supremacists to abandon hate
5.
MOST
IMPORTANT for our day and
time--How can one become a vaccine whisperer and convince
concerned others to
vaccinate
Common Reading: Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant (February 2021)
24. (UWS)
UNDER A WHITE
SKY
That
man
should have dominion “over
all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the
earth” is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive
are human
impacts on the planet that it’s said we live in a new
geological epoch: the
Anthropocene.
In Under
a
White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at
the new world we
are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are
trying to
preserve the world’s rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny
pool in the
middle of the Mojave; engineers who are turning carbon
emissions to stone in
Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a “super coral”
that can survive on a hotter
globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny
diamonds into the
stratosphere to cool the earth.
One
way
to look at human civilization, says Kolbert, is as a
ten-thousand-year
exercise in defying nature. In The Sixth Extinction, she
explored
the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped
the
natural world. Now she examines how the very sorts of
interventions that have
imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope
for its salvation.
By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a
White Sky is
an utterly original examination of the challenges we face.
(Amazon)
Common Reading: Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert February 2021)
25.
(XPL) EXPLORATION
OF TRAILS
Ever
thought about hiking the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific
Crest Trail? Ever
wondered how our road network
evolved? Or
wondered how animals knew
how to follow specific trails?
This S/DG
will explore how trails help us understand the world—from
invisible ant trails
to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways
to the Internet.
Join
the author as he writes about his seven years of traveling the
globe, exploring
trails of all kinds, from the miniscule to the massive while
he learned the
tricks of master trail-builders and hunted down long-lost
Cherokee trails. In
each chapter, Robert Moor interweaves his adventures with
findings from
science, history, philosophy, and nature writing.
Possible
topics for presentation could be further research into the
information from the
book itself. Additional
areas to
consider would be a presentation on nature writing and
writers; specific trails
and walks; how trails in the U.S. differ from trails in other
countries;
organizations who build/care for trails both governmental and
private; and
guides and trackers from history.
Common Reading: On Trails: An Exploration, by Robert Moor (July 2017)