Spring 2013 Classes

English

HUM 245E Single Author: Chaucer (Dr. Jennifer Tran Smith) (Sat.)
Syllabus
This course will cover Geoffrey Chaucer's language, versification, and the historical and literary background of The Canterbury Tales. We will look at the changing social dynamic of the Late Middle Ages caused by the black plague, religious dissent, political instability, and the rise of the middle class. All the primary source readings will be in Middle English.

HUM 239E Modernism and War: Literature of WWI (Dr. Millie Kidd) (Sun.)
Syllabus
This course studies selected texts and images from roughly 1912 to 1925, looking at how literature
responded to World War I, its causes, its aftermath, and the sense of loss and betrayal that followed, from
which emerged the movement that we refer to today as Modernism. We’ll look at how poets, painters, and
novelists broke free of conventional forms or employed them in unconventional ways, often to challenge
traditional values and long-held assumptions about gender (especially masculinity), race, and money.

Cultural Studies

HUM 289CS Fairy Tales, Ideology, and Culture (Dr. Justine VanMeter) (Sat.)
Syllabus
Through the study of the origins and transformations of Western fairy tales and cultural theory, we will investigate how storytelling shapes our sense of ourselves and others by exploring whom the authors of these tales were addressing and what political, historical, and social realities were influencing and guiding their writings.  We will ask why and how the recurring motifs within the tales have endured and why and how contemporary authors have subverted or reinforced the themes and lessons of the traditional tales. Above all, we will address, through diverse cultural theories, how these tales have influenced - and continue to influence - how we understand and define our individual and collective selves as well as those who are other to us.

HUM 275CS 20th Century Through Film (Dr. Michele Fine) (Sun.)
Syllabus
Europe plays a major role in today's global world, but how can we make sense of today if we do not understand that last century? The combination of films and texts will explore its wars and revolutions, but also its culture and accomplishments in so many fields.

History

HUM 252H Great Historical Figures: Hitler and the Third Reich (Dr. Patricia Ash) (Sat.)
Syllabus
This course takes a comprehensive look at the rise and fall of the Third Reich, with special emphasis on its leaders and the intellectual and cultural influences that informed their ideology. Although World War II will be touched upon, the primary foci of the course will be elsewhere. Special topics include the psychology of Hilter; occultism; the Holocaust; and the Nuremberg trials.

HUM 257H Critical Eras: The Age of the Borgias (Dr. Jane Crawford) (Sun.)
Syllabus
The Age of the Borgias was the age of Renaissance in Italy. The Borgia family produced two popes, the most notorious being Alexander VI, and numerous colorful characters, including Cesare and Lucrezia. The Borgias made powerful enemies such as the Medicis and Sforzas, and so it is a challenge to sift fact from fiction.  Alexander VI has been accused in history of rape, simony, bribery, and murder, especially poison-and all that before antipasto!  Lucrezia and Cesare have been accused of incest.  But how much of this is true, and how much of it is the stuff of TV specials?  Join us at a look at the Renaissance of the 15th century through the lens of the family that we love to hate: the Borgias.

Creative Writing

HUM 230CW Creative Writing: The Novel (Joan Johnson) (Sun.)
Syllabus
This is an advanced level fiction course for students who want to explore writing a novel from the beginning to the end product. The class is suitable for those who have the patience, time and talent to attempt writing a book of fiction. We will read, study and discuss the components of famous novels for design, craft and suitability. The emphasis will be on possibility and potential as students develop ideas for this particular genre. There is a requirement of 50 pages and an outline by then end of the semester.

HUM 232CW Creative Writing for TV (Drew Brody) (Sat.)
Syllabus
This graduate-level introduction to the craft of television screenwriting will explore the key elements of good writing - theme, character, structure, plot, and dialogue - as they apply specifically to the unique parameters of the television pilot. During each class, we will study pilot scripts that have been made into successful television series in recent years; engage in writing exercises in character development, scene construction, dialogue, and description; and workshop scenes written by students in the class. Over the course of the semester, each student will develop and write a complete television pilot.

Required

HUM 298A Introduction to Humanities NOT OFFERED
HUM 298B Introduction to Humanities NOT OFFERED

One Unit Courses

HUM 225 The Emergence of Christianity I:  The Apostolic Fathers (Dan VanDyke)(Feb 23/24)
Syllabus
This course will focus on the earliest post-testamental documents of the First and Second Century Church which, though non-canonical, greatly influenced the beginnings of theological and hierarchical development as the Church started to co-here into a recognizable and distinct religious organization with a set belief system, organizational system, and philosophical system.   These documents (which form the area of study in Church History known as the Apostolic Fathers) consist of the following works:the Didache (or the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), the Shepherd of Hermas, the Letter of Barnabas, the First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians, the Letters of Ignatius, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp.   This is a survey course which will expose the students to the basic content and theological innovations of these works and how they shaped Christian thought in the First Century and beyond.      

HUM 225 Special Topics: Living History Workshop (Lew Dauber) (Mar 16/17)
Syllabus
Fascinating people inhabit the histories of Mount St. Mary's College and the Sisters of St. Joseph, from the founding of the Order of France in 1650 through the establishment of our own campuses here in Los Angeles. How better to learn about our 362 years of history than to hear from the people who made that history?! Living History shows enable us to go just that in classrooms, schools, and at events. Our aim with this workshop is to develop live performances wherein historical personalities appear and tell their stories in their own words.

HUM 239E Sexual Psychosis in Renaissance Poetry (Dr. Bianca Ryan-Lopez) (Apr 20/21)
Syllabus
Sex and Psychosis in the English Renaissance. Come learn all about Renaissance culture and how truly weird it was.

HUM 296A Capstone Project Proposal Workshop (Dr. Millie Kidd) (Feb 23; Apr 20)
Syllabus

HUM 296B Capstone Project (Dr. Millie Kidd) (TBD)

HUM 297A,B,C,D Capstone Project Continuation (Dr. Millie Kidd) (TBD)