First-Year Seminar Selection

Dr. Jim Bloom // TR 12:30-1:45

Students will examine texts and images and address the three questions in the seminar title: questions such as:

• What has made the phrase "the real world” so ubiquitous and so influential?
• Who gets to decide what is and isn't part of "the real world”?
• Where exactly is this "real world"?

Assignments will include critical reading of texts, photos, paintings, as well as critical reading (intentional observation) of objects, environments, cyberspaces, and "lived experiences." Reading assignments will serve as points of departure for a range of writing assignments in a variety of formats and for class discussions and presentations designed to enable seminar members to learn from one another.

Dr. Sally Richwine // TR 2:00-3:15

This seminar will examine how disability and difference have been framed in American culture, identifying how these constructs have been defined and have shaped and been shaped across time and populations within the context of culture,public policy, education, and issues of identity. What do we know and how have we come to know it? How is disability and difference being represented and in some cases misrepresented? How do these representations influence and shape beliefs and perpetuate the single story carried by others? Students will investigate these portrayals and narratives through media and popular culture, scholarly journal readings and through the reflective and thoughtful critique brought to their discussions and writings as they analyze these representations with a critical eye for accuracy, common stereotypes, and themes that may be problematic in shaping beliefs or may in fact have the power to propel and enable individuals and communities to move toward further integration and empowerment, Readings will include journal articles drawn from peer reviewed journal literature and trade books. Writings will include examining their own preconceptions and applying their developing knowledge base and insights to compare, contrast and analyze representations of disability and difference as illustrated by popular culture and scholarly sources.

Dr. Mike Opal // TR 12:30-1:45

In a famous passage from the novel In Search of Lost Time, the taste of a madeleine suddenly evokes in the narrator images of his past he had forgotten. Much the same happens in the film Ratatouille when a food critic is taken back to his lower-class upbringing by a peasant dish. This course will consider that peculiar ability of food as a sensory experience to contain and conjure meanings both personal and political. To what extent are our most individual experiences of taste or smell shaped by larger forces, and what resources do our culinary experiences give us in understanding and responding to those forces? We will read from a variety of genres of food writing—memoir, poetry, restaurant reviews—and scholarship on food and agriculture to explore the relationship between the history of food, economics, politics, ecology, and sensation. We will discuss the role of gender, race, and class in the experience of food. The diversity of what we read will give you many ways to approach the topic in your own writing for the course, which will consist of two short review essays and two formal academic essays, as well as a small amount of casual writing.

Dr. Greg Collins // TR 11:00-12:15

In this seminar, we will explore the interplay of culture, commerce, and innovation as we examine the Panamá, Erie, and Lehigh canals. The construction and operation of canals moved people and ideas, furthering diversity in Central America and aiding the women’s suffrage movement. Reduced shipping costs helped bring coal to burgeoning industries and improved food affordability and access, an effect that continues to this day. Human ingenuity conquered long standing obstacles while leaving an indelible mark on affected landscapes and ecologies. We will draw parallels between these outcomes and current affairs, such as energy and the environment, immigration, and the flow of information. Through our look at canals, we will come to consider human progress and the challenges and benefits that it brings. We will read firsthand accounts of the canals, from people who worked them and from noted authors like Twain and Stowe, and we will examine shipping records to learn about who, what, and how many have moved along these waterways. We will pen lyrics to a canal song, write an op-ed for a 19th century newspaper, and craft a critical paper using canals to discuss progress and the lessons that the past can teach us about tomorrow.

Dr. William Gryc // TR 12:30-1:45

A stranger comes up to you on the street, saying that he lost his wallet and needs $5 for bus fare home. It’s a small but common con, a touching narrative to part a naive mark with their money. And it works. But there are bigger cons with bigger payoffs and more elaborate schemes. Why are these big cons successful, and what does their success imply about their victims? Related to con artists are frauds, people who misrepresent and lie about themselves to others for personal gain. Why do people believe liars and frauds? What strategies do liars employ to get us to believe them and why does it work? And finally we come to us. While we may think of ourselves as honest, it turns out that it is difficult for humans to be completely honest, particularly with themselves. Self-deception and unconscious bias is so ingrained in us that it is difficult to self-diagnosis it. Can we free ourselves of self-deception and see beyond its veil? In this class, we will view these questions through a lens of behavioral economics, where we see that irrationality appears to be an all-too-common part of human thought. In fact, through that lens, we will see that often each individual is both the perpetrator and the mark. However, being conscious of the cognitive pitfalls and traps can help us be vigilant against lies and bias, both external and internal.

Prof. Sara Vigneri // TR 12:30-1:45

True crime has long been popular, and that popularity has only increased with the emergence of podcasts. Why are we fascinated by murderers and serial killers? And what are the ethics when journalists focus on, and possibly glorify, violence? Does true crime coverage re-victimize the victims and their families? This course will explore popular true crime podcasts, examine the dilemmas journalists face when covering true crime and the dangers of commodifying fear. We will consider the choices journalists make in deciding who to talk to, which information to include, the questions they ask and the impact these choices have on the public’s perception of crime.

Prof. Joshua Barszewski  // TuTh 2:00-3:15

In scientific terms, “metamorphosis” describes a bodily change where one phase of life ends and a new, often very different, one begins. Think of the butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. In art and literature, the concept of metamorphosis has been used to represent characters coming to terms with their gender or sexual identity. Monsters, superheroes, robots, and vampires—among other examples we will explore—have implicitly and at times explicitly represented homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender or gender nonconforming identities. In this course, we will examine, write about, and sometimes critique depictions of metamorphosis and transformation, interpreting how and why artists depict self-identity through fantastical and mystical processes. As we go along, we will ask questions such as: Do we really become different people when we come to terms with our gender and sexualities? Does revealing our identity to the world change who we are, or just how people see us? What is the relationship between one’s emotional or intellectual sense of self and one’s embodied experiences? If a change has occurred, what happened to our previous self? Course material will include academic texts from literary and cultural theory alongside literature (Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cal Angus’s A Natural History of Transition), visual art (the work of Yasumasa Morimura) and pop culture (Harry Potter, X-Men, Shrek).

Dr. Bruce Wightman // TR 11:00-12:15

We seem to have a love-hate relationship with biotechnology. On the one hand, we celebrate penicillin, the dairy cow, and bypass surgery. On the other hand, some fear “genetically-modified” crops and tinkering with the human genome. The mad scientist who toys with nature for profit or ego—inevitably to a disastrous end—is a staple of fiction, from Shelley’s Frankenstein to Crichton’s Jurassic Park. When are we helping humankind and when are we “playing God”? What is the distinction between “natural” and “artificial?” What are the responsibilities of scientists for the ways in which their creations are used? Society has grappled with these issues during the anti-vivisection movement of the late 19th century and the recombinant DNA technology debates of the late 20th century. This course will explore the dangers, limitations, and promise of biological technology by reading and writing about literature, critical essays, and science. Readings will include H.G. Wells’s Island of Dr. Moreau, critiques of biotechnology by the economist Jeremy Rifkin, biologist Lee Silver’s optimistic answer to Rifkin, and a contemporary work of science fiction, Borne.

Dr. Grant Scott // TR 9:30-10:45

This course focuses on the origins, cultural and social history, psychology, gender dynamics and literary genre of Fairy Tales. We will focus mostly on tales by the Brothers Grimm with select other works by Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen. Throughout the course we will consider various modern adaptations of these tales in different media, including illustrated books, poems, paintings, short stories and films. The course will analyze how the meaning of these original tales has changed over time and how they have been transformed by contemporary culture.

Prof. Rebecca Lustig // TR 12:30-1:45

When you think of someone knitting, what do you imagine? Is it an old lady in a rocking chair? Perhaps you’ve seen pictures of activists knitting “Pussyhats” in preparation for the 2017 Women’s March? Or maybe you have seen pictures in the media of Olympic athlete Tom Daley knitting before a dive?

In this course we will analyze knitting as a cultural practice, considering and challenging our assumptions as we explore the reclamation of the “domestic arts” as a form of craftivism. We will practice some knitting techniques (no prior experience is required!) and reflect on the embodied experience of knitting. Assignments will include short, easy knitting projects followed by informal written reflections on each experience. We will read essays on how artists including Judy Chicago, the Guerrilla Girls, Lisa Ann Auerbach and others have used practices historically associated with female labor to challenge structures of power, and how other social activists are using knitting and other crafts to draw attention to the most important issues of our time.

Through longer written assignments we will connect our own personal experiences of knitting to the larger conversations about social identities, consumerism, and privilege that we find in our readings. Required materials for knitting will be provided.

Prof. Sharon Albert // TR 12:30-1:45

In this course, we will read, think, and write about maps: how we use them, how we make them, and the power they have to inform, to transform, and to shape how we understand our world. Readings will include work on the significance of maps as visual representations of space and the authoritative power they can wield. We will also read texts dealing with the history of cartography, as well as some travel literature and geographies, real and imagined. Our questions will explore the assumptions that underlie the making and using of maps. For instance: What gets included on maps? How are they oriented? What gets left out? Who makes the maps? How do maps sustain structures of power? And how and when can they be instruments of change? Students will use the theoretical work we read to create their own critical analyses of maps, and will also think and write analytically about the creation of maps and how maps are used.

Dr. Elizabeth Bergman // TR 12:30-1:45

From iconic movie moves to viral internet memes, a wide variety of people garner fame by performing public-facing dancing. In Dancing Celebrity: Choreographies of Fame and Power in Global Pop Culture, we will examine how dance operates in the construction and reception of celebrity personas and explore how diverse identities and ideologies are expressed in the exchange between celebrities and consumer audiences. Using examples from entertainment and sports stars to political personalities to reality TV and social media celebrities, this course brings together ideas from the interdisciplinary fields of popular dance studies, media studies, and celebrity studies to ask questions about power, representation, spectatorship, identity, and identification in contemporary societies. By considering the theories and histories of celebrity alongside popular dance scholarship, we will analyze how dance is engaged across diverse transnational, cultural, and social contexts to build star/brand images, connect fan communities, and express potent ideas about race, gender, sexuality, ability, age, and class. Movement and film analysis methods will be introduced and applied; a range of pop culture-focused assignments will offer opportunities to develop descriptive and analytic writing skills.

Dr. Michael London // TR 12:30-1:45

In this FYS, our subject matter will be creative improvisation in the context of music. As creative people who want to develop our talents and learn to better collaborate with others, we will explore our analytical writing while we participate in experiential activities, make music, explore movement, develop our discussion skills, and unlock our improvisational abilities. We will focus on how to think, write, and discuss complex ideas critically as we learn and explore together. In exploring our “muses”, we'll read about creative people and their process in various performance areas that feature music, such as theater, dance, improvisation, and poetry. The group of peers will also be a “live text” as we create together and then analyze that experience, applying wisdom from varied texts and each other. We will also learn how to observe and analyze our experiences toward strengthening our individual and collective “Muse”.

Dr. Hunter Holt // TR 12:30-1:45

In this writing seminar, we will analyze education and schooling as major sites of struggle during the “long” civil rights movement. Teaching of the movement often centers the voices of male leaders, is confined to the U.S. South, and portrays teachers as inactive participants. By exploring the perspectives of teachers, women, young people, and other overlooked political actors, we will nuance these commonly told narratives and consider what counts as activism, who can be an activist, and what activism can accomplish. By analyzing books, films, music, and other primary sources, we will examine fuller stories of segregation and desegregation, study geographical locations across the U.S., and use the writing process to connect past examples of activism to contemporary movements for social justice. While much of the course will focus on teachers’ and students’ efforts to end inequality in public schooling, we will also learn about how education was used to advance the movement on other fronts, such as the Citizenship Schools. By writing about and discussing how education intersected with other issues, we will gain a more comprehensive understanding of the movement and how local communities demanded educational equity as a part of a longer struggle for civil and human rights.

Dr. Alec Marsh // TR 12:30-1:45

The abortive “coup” of Jan. 6, 2021 is certainly the most lurid recent event in US politics. Now, although officially recognized by the courts as an insurrection, the constitutional ramifications remain unclear and contested as recent cases involving the so-called “insurrection clause’ of the 14 th Amendment to the Constitution make clear. Nor are these completely resolved by the Supreme Court decision to allow Mr. Trump on the ballot in November. A year ago, the famous bipartisan report by the “Jan. 6 Committee” was published and has been accepted by the Colorado Courts as authoritative. Our first task as a seminar will be to read and write about this long text to see what story it tells, then to pursue the many loose ends, some of which will be decided in court during the summer and while our class is meeting. We will learn much as key witnesses and key participants, and other principals who ducked subpoenas or declined to testify, citing their 5 th Amendment rights--including both the President and the Vice-President of the United States who were not deposed by Congress--may be compelled to testify under oath in open court. By the time we convene in the fall, even more will have come to light. In short, there is a wealth of primary and secondary material to consider, which will suggest myriad topics for your papers, no matter what your political views may be. To be clear, this is not “a witch hunt” by other means; rather, this class is our chance as citizens and students to learn as much as we can about the major domestic political crisis of our time.

Dr. Jack Gambino // TR 12:30-1:45

Can writers take sides in the struggle against tyranny and injustice without sacrificing their intellectual honesty and artistic integrity? Can political writing become art and not merely propaganda? This seminar considers these questions by examining George Orwell’s career as both a writer and political actor. Orwell lived through, and wrote about, some of the most traumatic events of the 20th century – the Great War, Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler and Stalin, Spanish Civil War, WW II, and the early Cold War. He responded to these events by taking sides “against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism,” and he sought to use his writings not only to resist imperialism, capitalism, fascism and communism but also to promote revolutionary politics. At the same time, Orwell aimed to make “political writing into art” capable of truth-telling by means of satire, parody and irony. Students will be asked to write about the complicated relationship between Orwell’s political commitments and his novels, reportage and essays. They will follow the literary and political paths that led him to socialism and revolutionary politics, as well as to his celebrated last novels, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, both of which portray the betrayal of revolutionary hopes and the forebodings of a dystopian future.

Prof. Susan Falciani Maldonado // TR 12:30-1:45 pm

Muhlenberg College has a rich history that serves as a microcosm for wider educational, racial, gender, and historical trends that were happening nationally in the 19th and 20th centuries. By examining how World War II, the civil rights movement, or the women’s movement played out on our campus, students have the opportunity to experience Muhlenberg in a unique way. Students will engage with historical archival sources including the Muhlenberg Weekly, the College’s yearbook, collections of correspondence, oral histories, and more. We will examine the nature of how and why archives are collected, whose history is collected, and how reflecting on Muhlenberg's history can influence today's student experience.

Prof. Tina Hertel // TR 12:30-1:45

When was the last time you sat down and wrote—not typed but “pen and paper” wrote—a letter to someone? Received a letter? This seminar will examine the history, psychology, and art of letter-writing and other epistolary formats. We will discuss the extent to which, as some cultural critics claim, letter-writing is dying and what implications that might have for our culture. But we will also consider alternative possibilities—that, rather than dying, letter writing is assuming new and vital forms. We will look at letter-writing as a cultural practice, explore famous letters in their historical context, learn about who writes letters and why, appreciate epistolary fiction, and analyze the impact of digital technology on this communication format. We will use the epistolary practice of online journaling to deepen our understanding as we explore, analyze and discuss a wide range of letters and other epistolary practices. And yes, there will be some actual letter-writing!

Dr. John Ramsay // MW 12:30-1:45

Leaders of non-profit organizations work daily on what is often called "humanitarian relief" for children and youth throughout the world. We'll read case studies of Malala, Doctors Without Borders, the International Red Cross, Paul Farmer and others who have earned global admiration for their work. And we will study less acclaimed leaders and organizations who have dedicated themselves to problems such as poverty, hunger/malnutrition, political violence, stigmatization of ethnic and racial minorities, child labor, human trafficking. Importantly, we will use these case studies to write about complex questions: What is "humanitarianism"? What inspires "humanitarians" to do this difficult work? What codes of conduct inform their behavior? How do their organizations actually work? How are they funded? How should their effectiveness be evaluated? How should we reckon with their successes and failures? How and why does their work matter?

Dr. Beth Schachter // TR 12:30-1:45 pm

The theatre tells stories about many types of people, and that is one of the medium’s best qualities. This course studies plays by artists of diverse identities with a focus upon the scripts of contemporary Indigenous American playwrights. The material we'll consider directs our attention to conflicts shaped by such factors as race, gender, sexuality, ability, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, nationality, and religion. A diversity of representation is one of the core values of this course design. Learning to see as these playwrights do will guide our learning to read, think, and write with deep understanding and respect for differences. We will study the historical context for the plays we read. In addition, we will discover how scholarly essays about how to analyze a stage world and bring those challenging questions into writing about these visions of a world come to life on the stage.

By the end of the course, you will be able to produce nuanced writing, and you will write with your own unique “voice” to make meaning as it matters to you.

Dr. Erika M. Sutherland // TR 3:30-4:45

From the earliest recorded history, humans have thought about food as something much more than physical sustenance. Proof of this can be found in nearly any context or medium, but in this course we will explore the concept of food as a marker of culture and change. In the Lehigh Valley’s large and surprisingly diverse Hispanic immigrant communities, food is at once a marker of assimilation and a nostalgic link to a distant homeland or disappearing culture. Looking at food through the eyes of filmmakers and the words of poets, historians, visionaries, and activists, we will learn to consider food ourselves as an object of study and a lens through which broader issues can be analyzed. Exploring local restaurants and food stores, you will be able to add your own sensorial and analytical impressions to this mix.

Dr. Mark Stein // TR 12:30-1:45

Captured by pirates. Carried away by Native Americans. Kidnapped by leftist terrorists. Stories about captives—men or women, children, enemies, neighbors—have fascinated readers since the 1500s. These stories share certain elements: capture, suffering, redemption. But their portrayals of captors vary. Are they torturing savages or a welcoming community? Does the captive fight for freedom or assimilate into their captor’s society? And how were the captives viewed by their own cultures when they returned? In this writing-intensive seminar we will read about captives from North Africa to colonial America to 1970s California. We will read autobiographical accounts, contemporary plays, and scholarly work from history, literature, sociology, and psychology.

Professor Sharon Albert // TR 12:30-1:45

Aladdin. Sinbad the Sailor. Ali Baba. We all know the Disney versions, but what are the real stories? Where do they come from? How did they reach us? And how have they affected our perceptions of Arabs, Islam, and the exotic, mysterious, and potentially threatening East? This course will focus on the collection of stories known as the Arabian Nights. We will begin by examining the stories themselves and how they reflect the medieval MiddleEastern societies in which they were first compiled. We will then consider the translation and transmission of these stories to the West. Finally we will investigate how these stories have shaped and how they continue to inform our perceptions and responses to non- Western societies. Readings will include a variety of translations of the Arabian Nights, secondary studies of the Nights, and works assessing how Western conceptions of the East have been constructed, including Edward Said’s Orientalism. We will particularly focus on the presentation of images of the Nights in popular films such as Disney’s Aladdin, Michael Powell’s Thief of Baghdad, Valentino’s The Sheik, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

Dr. Irene Chien // TR 12:30-1:45

From 19th century mechanical automata to C3PO to Siri, our concept of humanoid machines has shifted from the alien to the personal. And as technologies have interpenetrated our bodies and daily lives, it becomes harder to maintain the boundaries between what is natural and what is artificially constructed. What distinguishes humans from machines? Do new technologies open up our human potential or dehumanize us? Should we care if our machines are smarter than us? In this course, we will trace how artificial intelligence has been represented in literature, film, visual art, and popular culture to discover how robot identities have challenged our concepts of human identity. With a particular focus on the figure of the female, racialized, and/or queer robot, we will critically examine how gender, race, and sexuality intersect with technology to destabilize our ideas of what it means to be human.

Dr. William Tighe // TR 12:30-1:45

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy became something of a craze in the 1960s, and has maintained its popularity ever since, and just over twenty years ago became the subject of a film trilogy which attracted a vast audience. Tolkien’s trilogy actually emerged as almost a by-product of his professional (and professorial) interest in language, philology (the study of words, their origins and changes in meaning), myth and legend and Anglo-Saxon England and its literature. In this course we will study the sources of Tolkien’s creative imagination and its origins in his own life experiences, and how it has been received and purveyed as a work of popular culture, working our way backwards from the films through the stories to their sources and origins. We will also look at the historical and biographical contexts of LOTR (and ancillary works), and at Tolkien’s own ideological, cultural and aesthetic commitments.

Dr. Jason Kelsey // TR 12:30-1:45

This course will examine film, television, and other media, paying particular attention to ways science can be misrepresented, distorted, or fabricated in them. The effects of scientific inaccuracies on attitudes about public health, environmental protection, food production, resource utilization, technology, the scope and limitations of science, and funding priorities will be discussed. The semester will start with introductions to both science as a way of knowing and critical concepts of film analysis. We will then assess the validity of the scientific claims made or implied in films including The Martian, Contagion, Jurassic Park, Planet of the Apes, Blackfish, Jaws, and TV episodes of The Simpsons. We will also contrast the ways scientists are portrayed in these works, defining multiple archetypes (e.g., ‘mad’, ‘evil’, ‘brave’, ‘obsessed’, ‘genius’), and link these differences to the believability of the science presented in each. Some film screenings outside of class are required.

Dr. Hunter Holt // TR 12:30-1:45 pm

In this writing seminar, we will analyze education and schooling as major sites of struggle during the “long” civil rights movement. Teaching of the movement often centers the voices of male leaders, is confined to the U.S. South, and portrays teachers as inactive participants. By exploring the perspectives of teachers, women, young people, and other overlooked political actors, we will nuance these commonly told narratives and consider what counts as activism, who can be an activist, and what activism can accomplish. By analyzing books, films, music, and other primary sources, we will examine fuller stories of segregation and desegregation, study geographical locations across the U.S., and use the writing process to connect past examples of activism to contemporary movements for social justice. While much of the course will focus on teachers’ and students’ efforts to end inequality in public schooling, we will also learn about how education was used to advance the movement on other fronts, such as the Citizenship Schools. By writing about and discussing how education intersected with other issues, we will gain a more comprehensive understanding of the movement and how local communities demanded educational equity as a part of a longer struggle for civil and human rights.

Dr. John Ramsay // TR 12:30-1:45 pm

The course will examine the plights of refugee families, forced from their homes by persecution, war, violence, disease and environmental crises. We’ll study a wide variety of non-fiction case studies, essays, and documentary films, as well as short stories about displaced families. Readings will include: Sylvia Khoury's Selling Kabul, Lauren Markham's The Far Away Brothers, Jake Halpern & Michael Sloan's Pulitzer Prize winning graphic narrative Welcome to the New World, and Viet Thanh Nguyen’s collection of short stories The Refugees.

Dr. Kassie Hartford // TR 12:30-1:45

The technologies of the 21st century have created a world at our fingertips, and they have the potential to radically open our ears: the sounds of Indian ragas, Brazilian samba, Japanese shakuhachi, and Appalachian dulcimer are a click away on Youtube. Popular composers over the last 40 years, both within the U.S. and beyond its boundaries, have taken note: if Michael Jackson and Paul Simon have collaborated with the Brazilian samba-reggae ensemble Olodum in works intended primarily for U.S. audiences, Olodum’s own samba-reggae fuses the Brazilian samba to the Jamaican reggae in an entirely new idiom that reimagines connections across the African diaspora both in a rich set of symbols and in sound itself. In this FYS, we will consider the ethical and aesthetic questions that these attempts at cross-cultural borrowings raise: What stakes are there in attempts to make music across national borderlines? What gives a “foreign” genre both symbolic and musical appeal? What happens when gaps in musical understanding reveal that music is a less universal language that it initially appears to be? What does it mean to engage in cross-cultural collaborations in view of differing levels of economic, social, and political power, shaped by global economic trends?

Dr. Dustin Nash // TR 12:30-1:45

While the search for the remains of Noah’s ark, evidence of alien abductions, or the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster may seem unrelated, they are linked as products of a uniquely modern desire for “proof.” Indeed, modernity has seen an explosion of interest in scientifically “proving” elements of the scriptures, folk tales, and myths that have shaped various peoples conceptions of the past and the true nature of the present. In this course, we will question the origin and function of this desire within modern culture. Furthermore, we will read literature produced by authors attempting to prove such arguments, as well as those who challenge their conclusions. In this way, we will discuss the nature of “evidence” and its interpretation, and think critically about the ways in which we, as writers, interpret evidence in order to make claims and create knowledge.

Dr. Gabriel Dean // TR 12:30-1:45

Wisdom encompasses reflection, compassion, and the pursuit of truth. Wisdom enacted means being able to consider multiple perspectives, being open to new ways of thinking that challenge the status quo, holding an optimism that life's problems can be solved, and ultimately, experiencing a certain amount of calm in facing difficult decisions. Broadly speaking, you've come to Muhlenberg to gain wisdom. But how exactly do you become wise? And how can you put that wisdom into action? This course will consider these questions as we use Krista Tippett's podcast "On Being" and her book Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living as a spine to guide our inquiry. We will analyze the concept of wisdom enacted and seek to become more active in our own wisdom through in-depth class discussion, short written reflections or annotations, and longer scholarly essays – all inspired by the enacted wisdom of interdisciplinary contemporary writers, scientists, innovators, politicians, and spiritual leaders featured on Tippett's podcast including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Anne Lamott, Jericho Brown, Junot Diaz, John Lewis, Eckhart Tolle, His Holiness The Dalai Lama & Reverend Desmond Tutu, and others.

Dr. Jeremy Teissere // TR 12:30-1:45 pm

Eventually each of us goes ‘the way of all flesh’: that is, we die. All flesh is mere grass, and all grass withers. Flesh is also the soft tissues and connective bits that join our skin and bones. So mortality is built into the very word - flesh - that defines our connection to the animal kingdom. Our finitude is also our meat: one day we are a skin-sack full of worries; the next, food for something (or someone) else. This course is interested in looking deeply at death, mortality, and cycles of regeneration. We will consider the human rituals, ethics, and cultural meanings that have been fastened to death, as well as the relationship of human death to the natural world itself and its mortality. What does it mean to die? How does the knowledge of death affect life? Why is death frightening? What is the relationship of death to beauty? To memory? What ought to be the rights of life afforded to non-human animals? Is multispecies, collaborative survival possible for life on Earth? What threat does extinction pose?

Dr. Jim Bloom // TR 12:30-1:45

Gen X., Gen Z., Boomers, the Lost Generation, Millennials, “the Greatest Generation,” the Young American Movement, the Founding Fathers, “first generation,” nextgen.com. What’s next? Who gets to decide? Ever since 1780, when Founding Father John Adams explained that “my sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain,” generational identities, aspirations, and expectations have obsessed Americans. Many of us simply accept the generational identities assigned us by advertisers, scholars, strategists, and other gatekeepers and even embrace these designations as explanations of our behavior, aspirations, and limitations. Some thinkers and artists, though, have resisted being grouped with everyone else who happened to be born at the same time they were. In this seminar we will consider the purpose or value of generational classification and some relationships between generation and other identity categories as well as the distracting and limiting effects of our attachments to generational identities.

Dr. Brian Mello  // TR 12:30-1:45

Images of migration play an important role in defining political discourse, policy debates, and public opinion about the immigrant experience. In a defining moment prior to the Brexit vote, populist right-wing political leader, Nigel Farage, stood in front of a poster of a line of refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil war, declaring the moment a breaking point. Cartoons of early 20th century Italian immigrants to the US depicted rat-like images of knife wielding socialists, anarchists, and mafia members exported “direct from the slums of Europe.” And in 2009 the European Union awarded its LUX Award to the film Welcome, which explores the plight of refugees in Calais, France. This writing intensive first year seminar will invite students to analyze and think about the ethics of representing the migrant experience by examining and writing about the representation of the migrant experience in novels, films, and documentaries. Throughout, we will also consider ethical concerns faced by academic research about and representations of the migrant experience. Key questions we will explore include who gets to represent the migrant experience, and how do various representations get deployed to advance political, social, and academic arguments?

Dr. Matt Moore // TR 12:30-1:45

Is Nature over? Did we destroy it? Don't be so arrogant! Humans are constantly engaged in reproducing and revising the concept of Nature through political and representational acts. That is, Nature is something we write, paint, film, narrate, legislate and philosophize into being rather than something that we see out the window. In this class we will focus on Nature's extreme--wilderness--and the role it plays in our ways of imagining both self and world all within the context of change.

The value and allure of wilderness, the wild and all its threats, challenges, and mystery, have long been emblems of American independence, thought, and consciousness. But how we relate to the natural world has changed dramatically over the course of our nationhood. Today, catastrophic developments in humanity's relationship to the natural world demand that we rethink and redeploy our rhetorics of Nature and wilderness.

Sticking to our local context, we'll read a variety of American authors (like Audre Lorde, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lousie Erdrich, Rachel Carson, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Aldo Leopold, Roderick Frasier Nash, John Krakauer, and others ) and track ways of thinking and constructing nature across genres of writing as diverse as: poetry, philosophy, painting, film, short stories, novellas, documentaries, environmental policy, and maybe even reality TV. Finally, we will push into contemporary discourses that reformulate nature and our place within it on a global and even metaphysical scale as we seek reconciliation between scientific and Indigenous ways of knowing and explore fields like mycology that trouble our understanding of the individuality that so much of our historical writing about Nature was meant to ratify.