It’s that time of year again! No, not that time, the other one. Yeah, the registration one. What do you mean, you don’t care?!? Whoop-de-s*** if you’re a senior, there are other people on this campus too! Whatever. Here’s a look at some classes next fall.
CONN375-Jersey Shore Genealogy
This Connections core class is guaranteed to take your love of reality television and turn it into outright loathing. Students will do in-depth research on the immigration history of Italians in America but also on their genealogy. Projects for the semester include providing the family tree that links Mussolini to the Situation through maternal first cousins and making a 3-D diorama of Hoboken City Center, circa 1915.
CHEM420-Organic Chem II: The Fundamentals of Frankenstein
Frankenstein’s monster has frightened and thrilled generations of readers. But why should fictional characters have all the fun? In this class, students will work collaboratively to bring the spark of life to dead single-celled organisms, all through the “magic” of organic chemistry. Students who fail to successfully play God receive an automatic F.
HIST362-Cold War Governments
Popular culture has long been fascinated with the cloak-and-dagger world of spies during the Cold War. This class will attempt to delve into this secret world in the only way students should: through rigorous close-readings of USA and USSR bureaucratic paperwork in an effort to discern any “exciting” secrets. Coursework includes weekly mock debriefings in which the classes mimic budget meetings from the seventies.
REL471-Nihilism/Atheism
Thinkers from Darwin to Nietzsche to Darrow to Dawkins have postulated that God does not exist and the universe is meaningless. They all say the same thing, but it is the way that they assert the absolute pointlessness of the existence that is worth studying. In this class, students will look at the cold, crushing human condition through the analytical lens of Nihilism and Atheism. Starting with basic nihilist/atheistic tenets such as theophany (why would a benevolent God allow evil to exist?), human evolution and glaring contradictions found in the Hebrew and Christian bibles, students will explore the history of atheistic/nihilistic thought, including readings from Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hitchens, Russell, Rowling, Ayn Rand and Big Bang Theory. The latter part of the semester will see a special section on why “being spiritual,” New Age religion and mixing and matching from various religions like a geriatric at a Las Vegas buffet is all lies and does not work in the face of the dark, so dark nothingness of it all. Priority given to openly religious students.
STS458-The Twilight Zone
When most people hear “The Twilight Zone” they immediately think of the often-terrifying intersection of our world and the unknown. This class will have nothing to do with that, instead focusing on the effects of sunrises and sunsets in our contemporary culture. Readings will include a required study of the Twilight novels as cultural artifacts.