Matt Hampel | matth.org

Lots of great courses in the Residential Courses for Winter ’09. I’ll be in Detroit, so I won’t be able to take any of these, but here’s an abbreviated list:

Writing in the Real World: Best Practices of Journalism with Susan Rosegrant.

This intensive writing course is designed to give students a solid grounding in the tools and principles of journalism. Students will complete a variety of reporting assignments, ranging from short news pieces to in-depth articles to opinion pieces. Throughout, the emphasis will be on research- and interview-based writing that adheres to the journalistic principles of brevity, clarity, and objectivity. The course will also examine ethical issues, including the responsibilities inherent in being a rigorous reporter and writer.

Political Struggles in Mexico: Seminar and Field Study with Ian Robinson. Neoliberal transformations and popular responses to the same, including a field study in Chiapas or Oaxaca.

History of Computers and the Internet with Paul Edwards. Development, use, and impact of computers from the ancient world to the present.

3D Studio Course Exploring the Art of Burning Man with Jason Wright.

Students will learn accessible methods of forming materials through a series of projects, culminating in the design and material development of a work of public art that responds to the principles and challenges of the annual arts festival known as Burning Man. This class will explore the following concepts and challenges: building sustainable communities, radical free expression, self-reliance, art as a public and non-commercial activity, and the concept of a gift economy.

Found Instruments-Building, Design and Performance with Mike Gould.

Found instruments are everyday objects that are utilized or repurposed as musical instruments. This class identifies not only these everyday objects with which to perform and reconstruct, but also seeks hybrid instruments that combine found objects with instruments of old. The semester will commence with an overview of instrument categories, tunings, and some of the guiding physics behind instruments. This includes important composers and artists from the early 20th century to current artists and emerging technologies (such as using the iPhone as an instrument). The class goes as a group (and individually) to seek materials for designing and building instruments. The class also covers the basics of musicianship, composition, form, improvisation and playing as an ensemble.

Quantitatively Speaking with David Burkam

We begin with a discussion of what is typically meant by “quantitative reasoning,” and then focus on how such reasoning is implemented (sometimes appropriately, sometimes not). One of the main goals of the course is to learn “basic survival skills” for today’s number-intensive world. Using Best’s Damned Lies and Statistics and Huff’s How To Lie With Statistics, we learn how to critique conclusions drawn from a survey, a graph, or a table of numbers. We explore how statistics can reveal underlying linguistic patterns in prose and poetry, explore some of the vast research literature on gender and race differences (including gender differences in attitudes toward love), and read books like Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man and Levitt & Dubner’s Freakonomics.

Pills, Politics and the Public Good and Research Seminar on Ethics, Politics, and the Pharmaceutical Industry with Hank Greenspan

Major topics include: A perceived “ethics problem” within the pharmaceutical industry, critiques of industry’s relationship with the FDA, post-Vioxx concerns about drug safety, statutes shielding drug companies from civil liability (lawsuits), direct-to consumer advertising, direct-to-physician advertising (e.g., “drug reps,” etc.), industry-funded research and medical journals, the role of consumer and patient advocacy as responses to perceived problems.

Food, Land, and Society with Catherine Badgley

The course is an introduction to the modern food system at a time when many of its major trends are in flux. Course topics include the ecology of agricultural ecosystems, the cultural and environmental history of food production, and the current ecological and economic crises in agriculture, especially as they affect native species and ecosystems, climate change, rural communities, and the interconnections between food and agriculture in rich countries and rural livelihoods in the global south. The course integrates scientific, economic, and historical dimensions of modern food production, consumption, and food policies.