Cascade! Fall 2009
Course Catalog

Have you ever thought about what it takes to win a Presidential election? In this class we will seek to understand why Barack Obama won his bid for the American Presidency last November. Want to see how a political cartoon from William Henry Harrison’s 1840 campaign compares to a 2008 Obama television ad? By watching and comparing clips of party conventions, debates, press coverage, and more, we will be able to utilize these primary materials to help us understand topics of the election like campaign strategy, the role of the media, the role of technology, and the role of "outside factors" such as the state of the economy. You should walk away from the course knowing what to consider when you eventually cast your own vote for President in 2012.

Throughout history, pirates have operated outside the norms of traditional society. According to some, they were nothing but rebellious anarchists. Others claimed the captains of their crews were violent tyrants. Still some believe pirate ships were home to the earliest democratic societies. So who were these villains of all nations? Why did they choose lives of crime on the open sea? What defines a pirate, anyway? This course explores these ideas by examining concepts such as unity through The Brethren of the Coast, regional piratical differences, Romanticism and folk heroes, pirate codes of conduct, and the rewards of piracy.

Did you grow up loving Disney movies and their perfect princesses? This class will examine the way that women have been featured in Disney movies from the earliest to some of the more recent. We will discuss both the changes that have occurred and the implications they have for society. Using a famous book that changed the way we understand “gender,” Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex will be our guide for investigating the status of women in society as well as the interactions between women themselves. And of course, there will be much viewing of clips of beloved Disney movies from throughout the decades!

You may know how to write for an English teacher, but have you ever thought about how different it would be to write for thousands of people from all different backgrounds? In this class, we'll look beyond the who, what, when, where, why, and how to discuss what to write, how to write it, and whom to write it for. This class will include all but one of the following: YouTube videos, discussions about Rihanna, the opportunity to see college students do crazy things, and pink elephants.

Did you ever wonder how great painters can make such incredible pieces of art? Don’t think you could ever emulate such masters as Seurat, Van Gogh, or da Vinci? In this painting class, you will learn how to stroke, dot, and draw just like the greats. Each class will begin with a brief history of an artist and his/her style, and then we will transition to learning how to imitate the styles they perfected. This class will give you both the skills and the confidence needed to become a great artist someday!

What do you think poetry is? The traditional description of the poetic process goes something like this: the poet sits down, in seclusion or nature, and expresses to the reader in ornate language the depths of his feeling. As Wordsworth expressed it, "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." We guess that this is a fine description, but, truth be told, it leads to some pretty boring poetry. We want to explore alternative ways of thinking about poetry: among the styles we'll explore are mathematical or chance-based poetry, nonsensical or nongrammatical poetry, collaboratively-written work and Surrealist games, and erasure, the process of selecting words from an existing text to constitute a new piece. The format of the class will be a hybrid of both reading "established" poets and learning to produce and critique our own work.

How does the criminal mind work, and how does knowledge of the criminal mind help us prevent crimes? How can someone be able to get away with committing heinous crimes in front of dozens of witnesses? Are there ways to tell if a child or teenager may develop into a serial killer? Explore these questions and many more by examining some of the most infamous criminals in history and learning some of the basics of crime psychology.

Have you ever wondered what secrets of being human are hidden right behind our eyes, inside our brains? That is what neuroscience is all about!!! This class will cover as much information on brains as possible, including a brief history of each topic and a short discussion of recent or ground-breaking experiments. You will have an introduction to the major fields of neuroscience and have an idea of the experimental techniques used by real scientists. By performing an actual, hands-on brain dissection, you will learn about anatomy, cellular neurobiology, developmental neurobiology, and systems neuroscience!!!