Art History: “I Blame Duchamp”
The Death of Painting
5 Units

Art History: I Blame Duchamp: The Death of Painting is a class all about ideas, the nature of modernity, and purpose. With a historically fettered lens, we will be exploring how the evolution of modern society and the Art World killed painting...and then brought it back to life. We will address the scope and purpose of Modern Art, from its founding days through its transformations to Pop, Op, Minimal, and Conceptual. We will be reading Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word. We will end the course looking at the state of painting today.

Asian American History and Identity through Pop Culture
5 Units

What role does culture play in our identities, communities, histories, and politics? Who creates culture? Who decides what qualifies as culture? How does culture emerge, disappear, return, and evolve? How do works of culture address and solve social problems? This semester-long course will explore these questions through an interdisciplinary examination of Asian, Asian American, and Asian Pacific Islander popular culture, both past and present. We will identify the socio-political contexts from which culture emerges, disappears, returns, and emerges. We will analyze various works of Asian and Asian American culture in order to understand their meanings, interpretations, and implications on larger societal structures. We will examine the links between culture, history, structure, and identity and its impacts on Asian and Asian American experiences. Throughout this course, assignments and activities will position us as creators of culture and knowledge through the ways that we consume, critique, connect, create, and contend with popular culture.

Being Seen: The Black Artist
5 Units

Being Seen: The Black Artist is an Art history social science course focused on the Black Artist in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will be learning about the many triumphs, trials, and contributions the Black artist has made over the years; our focus will predominantly be on art created in the United States over the past 100 years (though our studies will take us abroad and further back in time at moments).

We will be studying Black Artists currently working today, as well as many Black Artists that never got their due. We will be learning about the art market, capitalism, systemic racism, the exploitation of black skin, exoticism, and the wide diasporas of cultures that all comprise the title of Black Artist. This is a discussion and text-based class, but there will be many opportunities for creative expression.

California History
5 Units

The majority of our time this semester will be spent right here, in the East Bay (or xučyun, as this place was originally named by the Chochenyo Ohlone people), studying the past, present, and future of the native peoples here in the Bay Area and in California as a whole. We will read Malcolm Margolin’s classic The Ohlone Way, supplemented with anthropological material that contextualizes (and occasionally problematizes) that text, along with learning about contemporary Ohlone life and activism.

There are so many ways to think about California history and so many events and experiences to consider: in the nineteenth century, the mission system, Spanish California, Mexican California, California’s problematic annexation into the Union; in the twentieth, labor activism of longshoremen and farmworkers, the arrival of Black Americans moving here from the South, a few devastating earthquakes, innovations in food, music, and technology, and so much more. While these things are also part of the Californian story, we will not be studying those things in depth. Instead, we will consider this history from the perspective of Asian-Californians (specifically, Chinese-Californians, Japanese-Californians, and Korean-Californians), all of whom have been central to shaping California into what it is today, but have nevertheless experienced continual hostility toward and skepticism about their place here.

In the final weeks of the semester, we will broaden our perspective again: looking at the mythology that has surrounded California (particularly among European-Californian immigrants) since the Gold Rush, and the way that mythology (the so-called “Californian Dream”) is currently (for both your generation and mine) running hard up against overlapping crises of water, wildfires, and land use, which by all measures will only deteriorate further in coming years.

At the end of the semester, students will have the opportunity to focus on something they are specifically interested in — something we’ve studied in class that they’d like to explore more deeply, or something (maybe one of the things mentioned above) we’ve bypassed entirely — and work on an independent research project, demonstrating how that thing can tell a story about the past, present, and future of the state of California.

Civics
5 Units

The word "civics" comes from the Latin word for "citizen." Essentially, it is a branch of political science concerned with (as its first known usage held, in 1885), "the rights and responsibilities of a citizen." When we talk about civil rights or civil liberties (though those are quite different things), we're considering what is guaranteed to us as members of a democratic society: privacy, equality before the law, etc. However, in 2018, there is more to being a responsible citizen than voting in elections every four years and having a basic understanding of how a bill becomes a law. Today, we have to understand where we're getting our information from. We need to ask where talking points are coming from, and who has a vested interest in putting those forward. And we need to look at the nature of our government — how it was intended to work, how it works and doesn't work today, and how we (as citizens) can make it work better in the future.

This class will ask you to do independent research and analysis on a variety of topics. In particular, students will be asked to (both individually and in groups) do case studies that will help illuminate theories and principles with real-world examples. Asking students to work on separate case studies (famous Supreme Court decisions; perennially controversial political issues like immigration, abortion, and gun rights; undeservedly obscure Constitutional amendments) will allow the class to cover as much material as possible.

In its broadest sense, this class will be composed of two parts: The first part will build a thorough understanding of the system of government of which we are a part, and ask them to consider how that system is working in 2018. The second part will ask students, as citizens of that system of government, what the appropriate response is to any issues they may have identified. What can we do to improve our democracy? what rights do we have? what responsibilities? what limitations? what grand vision of society can we envision, and work to enact?

Colonial Roots of the Environmental Crisis
5 Units

Why is the future of life on Earth put at risk? Who is responsible for the climate crisis? Though the answer to this question is complex, we will delve into one possible answer: modern colonialism, started in the late 15th century, when European powers aimed at becoming richer and more powerful by taking control of countries in Africa, Asia, and in the Americas in order to exploit the people as well as plunder the resources the land provided to make a profit. We will talk about the pillage of resources in the Global South, the exploitative purposes of neocolonialism, and the role they play in our climate crisis. We will study waste colonialism, pollution as a form of colonization, the control over the water and land on every continent, desertification and deforestation, tourism, and the case of National Parks.

Through a study of texts, documentaries, podcasts, photographs, primary accounts, role plays, and research, we will try to comprehend how today’s environmental crisis finds its roots in colonialism, but we will also work towards an understanding of how social justice is environmental justice. You will also engage in your own research of an example of colonialism’s impacts on the environment of your choice in small groups.

Cultural Anthropology
5 Units

In Cultural Anthropology students engage with readings from three books; "Gods of the Upper Air" by Charles King; “Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society” by Professor Beth Conklin and ‘The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures” by Anne Fadiman. Through these three texts, students will investigate the History of Anthropology with a focus on the life and work of Franz Boas and his immediate circle of students, including Magaret Mead and Zora Neale Hurston. They will also investigate the practice of Anthropology in the Field with the opportunity to understand, engage with, and form their own critiques of those practices. Finally, students will consider the place and importance of Culture in Human Lives and the way that it influences everything we think and do, even the way we approach and understand medical treatment.

Eastern Philosophy
5 Units

This course tells a story that begins in ancient India, with the central tenets and texts of Hindu (or “Brahmanical”) philosophy; the flowering of Buddhist philosophy from within that system, and its development over the next thousand years in northern India; the Taoist and Confucian systems Buddhist thought encountered when it arrived in China; and its radical metamorphosis into the Zen tradition in Japan. If time allows, we will look at the contemporary transmission of these philosophical systems into the West, and the semiotics of Zen spas, mindfulness retreats, and yoga pants.

We will study the nature of self, the nature of mind, and the nature of reality. We will explore what it means to be a good person, why daily life is often so difficult and dissatisfying, and how we can cultivate skillful, beneficial actions and intentions within ourselves.

Gender Studies
5 Units

In this course, students will explore the role gender plays in both history and our contemporary society. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students will consider ideas about gender through an intersectional lens that includes historical, feminist, queer, ethnic, sociological, and cultural perspectives. The goal is to develop a critical perspective on the role of gender in society. To pursue that goal, we will employ case studies that will allow us to take deep dives into historical moments or events. Students will gain exposure to a range of scholarly texts, primary sources, and popular media, and will then have an opportunity to develop their own research topic, using the skills we have practiced as a class.

The capstone project will allow students to pursue their own research interests connected to gender studies in a format of their choosing (traditional research paper, blog, podcast, oral histories, art, etc.) and share their research with their classmates and peers. Collaboration with other students on projects will be encouraged.

History of Friendship
5 Units

It might be odd to think that something as foundational to human life as friendship has a history, but just as our understanding of the natural world has evolved and changed over thousands of years, so too have ideas of friendship. This course will study the shifting notions of friendship documented in Western thought, including readings from ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, the Middle Ages, Renaissance philosophy, literature, feminist theory, gender studies, psychology, and popular culture. We are tracking the shades of meaning attached to “friendship” at different points in time. Our approach will walk the line between the History of Ideas and Intellectual History — a distinction we will interrogate — and we’ll continually relate what we learn back to our present moment, and our evolving understanding of friendship, both personally and in the culture.

The History of Jazz
5 Units

Jazz is largely considered America’s greatest gift to the world. Its influence is seen in virtually every modern musical genre, in the visual arts, and even in other performing arts. That said, Jazz is still a relatively young art form being just over 100 years old. In this course, we will explore Jazz from its humble beginnings to its rise to the mainstream, to its modern day applications. We will also learn how to listen to and appreciate jazz through the study of rhythmic feel, instrumentation, harmony, melody, and “style”. And, of course, one of the best ways to appreciate jazz is to see it performed live, which we will do by going to see live jazz performances in our community.

Middle East History (Past, Present, and Future)
5 Units

The countries collectively referred to as the “Middle East” seem perpetually at the center of global current events and politics. And a common refrain is that the crises plaguing Middle East affairs have been raging “from time immemorial” (that is, forever). In some cases, that’s true—in order to understand current events in all their complexity, we must ground ourselves in decades (or centuries, or even millennia) of history, culture, and religion. This class will focus on the most urgent, acute crises of the present day—civil wars in Syria and Yemen, refugee crises in North Africa and the Levant—seeking to understand them as manifestations of larger geopolitical systems and structures, within which individual human beings are trying to live their lives. So the title of this course is apt: we will look at the Middle East of the past and the present and try to see the way forward into the future.

Music in Film
5 Units

For as long as films have existed, music has existed alongside it. From its humble beginnings in the silent era to the rise of the symphonic score in the Golden Age to the immersive surround sound environments of modern cinema, music has played a crucial role in connecting audiences with moving pictures. In this class, we will explore the concept of music in film through in-depth analysis, critical listening, and research. We will study its history and evolution from its origins in the late 19th century through the music of today’s top composers.

Religious Mysticism
5 Units

In this class, we will explore widely in the mystical traditions of the world’s great religions. We will begin by grounding ourselves in the foundational tenets of these faiths, and considering the scriptural basis for the mystical tradition within Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Native American traditions. We will immerse ourselves in some of the most prominent, pivotal mystical texts of the past 1500 years, reading John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Meister Eckhart, Rumi, Moses de Leon, Hildegard of Bingen, Majd al-Din al-Ghazali, Mansur Al-Hallaj, Paramahansa Yogananda, and many others. In doing so, we will ask what is and is not deserving of the label “mysticism,” and grapple with the knotty philosophical issues (metaphysical, epistemological, linguistic) that arise from a religious tradition that seeks to achieve a “direct experience of ultimate reality.”

Western Philosophy
5 Units

The word “philosophy” comes from the Greek philosophia, meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy is essentially concerned with asking—well, not only asking but attempting to answer—the biggest, weightiest, most intimidating, and important questions that lay at the foundation of our existence as human beings. In this course, we will be mostly concerned with questions of ethics: How we should live? What does it mean to be a good person? In a world of limitless suffering and injustice, how do we decide what (and who) is most important? And why is it important, or beneficial, to think deeply about the world and have opinions about these things in the first place? (That is, why not just Netflix and chill?) In this course, we will venture bravely into the philosophical muck, and see what we discover. Put most simply, we will be bringing philosophical inquiry and curiosity to some of the central ethical quandaries of our time. This is a “Western” philosophy course in the sense that the terminology we will use (virtue ethics, utilitarianism, social contract, etc.) is from the Western philosophical tradition — for whether you’re a faithful standard-bearer of the cultural status quo or a revolutionary set on destroying the mainframe, you’ll need to be acquainted with the terms of debate. To inform our deliberations, we will read excerpts from foundational texts (Aristotle, Bentham, Singer) and foundational thinkers (Plato, Kant, Arendt). But the reading will be light — we will not spend much time bogged down in the tedious writings of grouchy European men. (I promise.) Rather, equipped with the tools and language of this tradition, our conversations will be guided by the major issues and crises facing our world today — the coronavirus pandemic, all forms of oppression and inequity, and the friction between freedom and responsibility within a society.

The Wilderness
5 Units

This course will consider the idea of "wilderness" in the human mind, and use that to explore our own relationship with nature and with the land. We will immerse ourselves in American Indian philosophy, and place that alongside the spectrum of ideas that emerged from the Judeo-Christian tradition in Europe and then America, moving from the Biblical sense (where the "wilderness" is the place where God is not present, the place of His absence, a bad place, a place to be conquered and defeated) to, in the late-19th century, precisely the opposite connotation (being the place where one goes to find God, to find oneself, a place of purity and holiness and light). This is the paradigm that has given us nature writing, summer wilderness programs, and the national park system. The course will gradually center inward toward California, as we consider the philosophy of native Californians, explore our own relationship with the land under our feet, and ask, Who feels welcome in nature? Who are the great outdoors quote-unquote “for”? What happens when humans see themselves not as part of nature, but outside of it? What do we lose — spiritually, psychologically — if we live in an entirely anthropogenic (that’s human-made) space? There will be lots of reading, lots of writing (informal and formal), and hopefully a direct engagement with the land itself.

World Religions — An Introduction to the Abrahamic Faiths
5 Units

You could make the argument that the primary driving force of the past few thousand years of world history (colonialism and racism, industry and politics, art, and war) has been religion — specifically, European and Middle Eastern peoples’ ideas of the one true god. Even today, despite increasing secularism and irreligiousness in much of the world, there are an estimated 2.4 billion Christians in the world today, and 1.9 billion Muslims, and a parallel move toward fundamentalism. There is no question that a basic understanding of the three major Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — is essential to being an educated citizen of the world. In this course, we will study the doctrines and ideologies of these interrelated faiths, read foundational texts, and do research into the many areas of our world that these religions have shaped and continue to impact today.

Literature (11th Grade)
10 Units

This course is, most broadly, about enjoying great works of literature — learning how to be engaged, careful, erudite readers — and, just as importantly, incisive, articulate, confident writers. By studying and learning to appreciate the unique, whole-hearted expression of the great writers of the past, we will learn to make our own unique, whole-hearted expression. But more specifically, the junior year English class is about comparative thinking and writing — drawing unexpected connections between texts, discovering commonalities that are unique to our own reading of the texts, that say something about ourselves as readers just as much as they say something about the authors of those texts. The texts we will read this fall (James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” Gloria Anzaldúa’s “Toward a New Consciousness,” Chen Chen’s “Kafka’s Axe and Michael’s Vest,” and “Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick) will be challenging (in all senses of the word), but will reward effort. The same can be said for this course.

20th Century Experimental Novels
5 Units

A major part of the history of the novel in the twentieth century is one of experiment and innovation. This course will focus on some of the more extreme cases among the wide variety of experimental forms that were developed in this century. These are works that flirt with incoherence and challenge the reader’s understanding of the very purpose of fiction, often with wild and unexpected humor. They are also often works that reach ambitiously towards powerful insights into the human condition. In each case we will read enough of the author’s own assessments of her or his work to give us some insight into the motivations behind the experiments they have undertaken. Overall, the course seeks to provide an informed understanding of the nature of literary experiment and its place in twentieth-century literary history as well as the history of the novel.

20th Century Irish Literature
5 Units

This course will explore the literature and culture of Ireland in the turbulent first two decades of the 20th century. Students will examine canonical and non-canonical authors in relation to the culture that produced the works of James Joyce, W.B.Yeats, and Samuel Beckett. Our readings will start out in the last years of the Irish literary revival, moving past the day of Ulysses, in 1904, past the memorable Easter of 1916, and culminating in the war of independence that led to the founding of an independent Irish nation and national government as well as to the fateful partitioning of Ireland. We will use the literary texts in tandem with an investigation of the cultural history of Ireland in this crucial period in order to arrive at a deepened understanding of the period and culture of early 20th century Ireland so formative to the constellations of power and conflict in contemporary Ireland.

Advanced Composition
10 Units

This class concentrates on writing: practice, process, practice in order to sharpen our pens and our pleasure with words. It is both for students who like to write and for those who think they do not. We explore a variety of forms, including the letter, the essay, poetry, the short story, and the journal and its uses. Be prepared for in-class writing exercises, many short papers, and a few long ones. Also be prepared to share your work and to attend to others'. Readings include short stories, essays, poetry, and writers' writings about writing.

African American Literature: Harlem, Modernity, Experimentation
5 Units

This course finds its center in the New York City of the 1920s, where the intellectual and cultural movement now known as the Harlem Renaissance was born. If we understand “Modernist” literature and culture to be a response, in part, to the disruptive forces of modernity (industrialization, urbanization, and mass displacement), there is arguably no more fertile ground for the flourishing of American modernism than the experience of Black Americans in the twenties. As massive numbers of the U.S. Black population made the “Great Migration” from the rural South to the urban centers of the North and West, Black artists and intellectuals experimented with new forms of expression to give voice to their experiences of dislocation and disorientation. As Black Americans invented new ways of being, relating, and belonging in the face of radical change, the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance in turn invented new methods of narrating, poeticizing, and philosophizing. This course traces that literary and cultural legacy, including its resonances with the present.

Readings include W.E.B Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Jean Toomer’s Cane (1923), Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929), and Saidiya Hartman’s Beautiful Lives, Wayward Experiments (2019), along with essays and poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countée Cullen.

American Drama
5 Units

This course is a survey of 20th-century American drama written by American playwrights. Using Aristotle’s treatise on tragedy as a foundation, we will explore the development of realism in the American drama as well as its transformation throughout the century. A range of dramatic styles will be covered, with a balanced emphasis on analysis of the text and the historical, social and cultural context for the work. Plays by Eugene O’Neill, Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Wendy Wasserstein and Tony Kushner, among others will be read. Significant reading, discussion and writing are required.

Gothic Literature
5 Units

This course will present students with a transhistorical survey of Gothic literature as it appears from the 17th through the 21st century. We will familiarize ourselves with the Gothic’s characteristic blend of the ancient and the modern, the supernatural and the scientific, the sublime and the macabre. Beginning with Shakespeare’s proto-Gothic masterpiece Hamlet (1601), we will journey onward through the present, studying works full of crumbling ruins, haunted manors, and things that go bump in the night.

Along the way, we will develop an understanding of the formulae of Gothic narrative structure as well as a compendium of the Gothic’s many tropes. We will consider how Gothic literature’s love of ghosts, paranoid obsessions, and dark secrets has provided ample material for authors to reflect critically and creatively on patriarchy, heteronormativity, racism, and trauma. Students will write both analytic and creative responses to the materials we study together. They will leave with an appreciation of the aesthetic and intellectual value of the Gothic tradition as well as an enriched understanding of the cultural roots of modern horror film and literature.

Readings include William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1601), Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898), and Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987), along with short stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, Sigmund Freud, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Angela Carter, and Carmen Maria Machado.

Greek Classics
5 Units

Incest, kidnapping, war, passion, sex, patricide, and matricide: from Homer to Plato, Greek culture has produced the most fundamental yet outrageous literature the world has ever seen. We begin with Homer by reading both The Iliad and The Odyssey in their entirety. Then we consider Greek tragedy by reading aloud in class as many as ten of the great dramas of Athens by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Finally we read selected works of Plato, including The Apology, The Symposium, and the Republic. Careful consideration is also given to modern criticisms and reflections of Greek literature.

Immigrant Writers
5 Units

In the 20th century large waves of immigrants changed the American landscape forever. Our cities and rural towns are now more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse than ever before. With each wave of newcomers, new identities are formed and cultures transformed. The immigrant experience remains one of American literature's most compelling subjects. In this course we explore the stories behind the statistics by reading works of fiction and biography by and about immigrants from various parts of the world. Themes we explore include physical and psychological journeys, initiation, isolation, cultural heritage, assimilation, border theories, and language.

Literary Adaptation
5 Units

In this course we will study literary works and their film adaptations. We will look at a variety of genres, from children’s stories and fairytales to family dramas and science fiction. We will first discuss the writing on its own (narrative techniques, themes, etc.) before examining how the novels and short stories have been interpreted for the screen. After viewing each film, we will compare the narrative strategies of each form, consider the relationship between word and image, and explore the artistic possibilities as well as the limitations of adaptation. In addition, we will consider the question of adaptability in terms of genre. Our main texts include Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” from Different Seasons by Stephen King, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Literature of New York City
5 Units

In the Literature of New York course, we will study the integral role New York City plays as a setting for a number of important literary works. We will read short stories, poems, and novels in chronological order (not of their publication, but of the time periods they depict) studying the ways in which New York has evolved from the 1800’s to present, and considering the many reasons why the city has inspired so many writers and artists. We will examine a range of topics including the role of social class, economic development, sports, and immigration in shaping the culture of New York City. In addition, we will study literary movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and Post- 9/11 Literature, and we will supplement our reading with films shot in New York.

Modernism
5 Units

The first half of the 20th century witnessed a series of revolutions in the arts, which have come to be known collectively as "Modernism." In this course we read a selection of texts from 1889 to 1940, focusing on avant-garde movements in the arts and literature in Germany, France, Italy, and England. Close attention is paid to the effects of political ideologies such as fascism and socialism on the arts; we also explore parallels between movements in the visual arts (Cubism, Surrealism, the advent of film technology) and literature. We read two novels: Kafka's The Trialand Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front; one play: Brecht's Drums in the Night; and works of numerous poets, including W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, Mina Loy, T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, and Jean Toomer.

Native American Literature
5 Units

In this course, we will explore Native American Literature from early folklore and oral tradition to contemporary novels and poetry. After studying the myths and coyote tales central to the culture of many tribes, we will move to works from the Native American Renaissance (late 1960s-early 1970s) which reflects the dramatic changes and struggles faced by Native Americans post-colonization. The course will conclude with works from contemporary authors, and we will continue to examine the effects of a changing cultural landscape as reflected in the literature. We will examine the issues surrounding forced relocation and assimilation while also looking at aspects of Native American culture that have survived.

Poetry
5 Units

This course casts a sensitive and analytic eye on the most personal literary form, the poem. Using a broad sample of British and American poems, from a few works in Middle English down to our contemporary poets, we carefully explore what a poem is and how it functions. We examine the basic poetic tools — image and sound, form and sense, metaphor and symbol. We treat the poem as a personal means of communication and as a center for historical and literary focus. The course includes attending poetry readings.

Romanticism
5 Units

In this course we want to contextualize German romanticism(s)in two different ways: first, by investigating its geographical and historical parameters, and second, by comparing works in literature, art, and music. In the course of our discussions (in German when the works are in German, otherwise in English), we will compare writers/artists and their creations in terms of their "Romantic-ness," in order to push the traditional, historical boundaries of the concept. Some of the subjects that will reappear in various guises: the importance of music (Kleist, Novalis, Hoffmann, Wagner); revolution (the American and French Revolutions, the Greek war of liberation, human rights, individualism); the role of the artist in society and the artist’s relationship to her/his audience or reader (Tieck, Hoffmann, Novalis, Goya); multiple frame/tale constructions (all, including Friedrich and Runge); uses of irony, parody, and Romantic irony (Tieck, Kleist, Heine, Eichendorff); mysticism and the supernatural (Novalis, Hoffmann, Kleist, Friedrich); social critique (Mme de Staël, Caroline Schlegel-Schelling, Goya, Tieck, Heine); changing concepts of heroism (Merimée, Eichendorff, Delacroix); and relations between women and men (Mme de Staël, Schlegel-Schelling, Merimée; the Carmen theme).

Russian Literature
5 Units

This course has two primary goals: (1) for you to become better readers, speakers, and essay writers and (2) for you to become acquainted with Russian literature. We will cover prose works written by the great Russian writers of 19th and 20th centuries, reading them in chronological order. The reading list includes short stories by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Chekhov and Babel; one play by Anton Chekhov; and short novels by Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Nabokov and Solzhenitsyn. In addition to focusing on important themes and characters, we will explore the distinctive style and structure of each work and will place texts in their cultural and historical contexts. We will also discuss the literary movements of Romanticism, Realism, and Modernism as well as compare the works we read and make connections between them.

Shakespeare: Reading, Watching, Performing
5 Units

More than four hundred years have elapsed since William Shakespeare went to the big theatre in the sky, and yet his name still strikes fear and exhilaration in the hearts of high school students the world over. He continues to be the most frequently quoted and performed playwright, and among the most sought-after screenwriters. But why do his works still speak to us, and what was he trying to do?

If you can trust him, he was “holding a mirror up to nature,” meaning he was trying to show a reflection of human life. As you might have noticed, our lives are complex, confusing, and difficult, and also often absurd and hilarious. Shakespeare’s plays are also all these things and more. Like mirrors, Shakespeare’s plays continue to show us things about ourselves that might be otherwise hard to see. Turns out, the course of true love never did run smooth, and you do, in fact, have something in your teeth.

Despite the fear his name occasionally instills, Shakespeare is for everyone, and reading, talking about, and watching his work can be enjoyable and interesting. This class will prove it. We will read, watch, and perform Shakespeare’s words, and you will be able to brag and complain about it for the rest of your lives.

The American Renaissance
5 Units

In 1941, a literary scholar named F.O. Matthiessen wrote a book called The American Renaissance, focusing largely on a five-year period between 1850 and 1855, during which many of the very most important works in American Literature were written: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Frederick Douglass’ My Bondage and My Freedom, Henry David Thoreau's Walden, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and others.

Matthiessen gave this period the very lofty title “The American Renaissance.” But that term is a misnomer, because the word Renaissance, of course, means "rebirth.” And it wasn't possible for American Literature to be "reborn" yet because it didn't really exist yet. What we're really talking about here might be an “American Naissance,” or “the invention of American Literature”—it’s the moment where a "uniquely American" literary tradition arose: uniquely American in form, in style, in tone, in content, in values.

The 1840s and 1850s were a tremendously tumultuous time in American History. The industrial revolution was changing people's lives in innumerable ways, both positive (the plough made it way easier to harvest an acre of wheat), and negative (in the South, the cotton gin intensified slavery to an extent previously unthinkable; in the North, families were torn apart as girls as young as twelve were sent to work in newly built textile mills). The controversial annexation of much of Mexico after the Mexican-American War brought the borders of the nation all the way to the Pacific. Millions of immigrants poured into the country—on the East Coast, to work in newly industrialized cities, on the West Coast, to join in the frantic search for gold.

So it was a busy time: industry bustling, borders expanding, immigration booming. And, as we will discuss, it is perhaps no accident that, at this moment when the nation is expanding in all sorts of physical ways...at that precise moment, there was this absolutely unprecedented explosion of creative potential as well, as these new authors explored new territory within the human mind—not expanding physically, but psychologically, philosophically, spiritually, sexually, and so on.

This is also the period where we see the first novel written by an African-American (William Wells Brown’s Clarel); the first novel written by a Native American (Yellow Bird’s The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta); the first bestseller by a woman (Uncle Tom’s Cabin); bestselling slave narratives (Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, et al); the appearance of numerous utopian communities; the rise of feminism alongside the rise of abolitionism (most famously at the Seneca Falls Convention, but also in the radical work of Margaret Fuller); and the meteoric appearance of perhaps the greatest American book, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

In this class, we will read of this great work as much as we can, and engage with the many fascinatingly intertwining threads in a number of different ways.

The Epic (Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick)
5 Units

On its surface, Moby-Dick is a book about a whale. (Less charitably, it is a 600-page, 165-year-old book about a whale.) But, man, this is a book about the unfathomable depths of the open ocean, and the mysteries that exist therein—what use do we have for how things appear on the surface?

For the past hundred years (after being entirely ignored for the first fifty years after its publication), Moby-Dick has been widely called the greatest American book, carrying within it potent lessons about race and racism, sexual identity, fate, and freewill, environmental degradation, power and persuasion, madness and obsession. It has much to teach us about coping with adversity, respecting ideological diversity, and living skilfully in a fickle, slippery world. Perhaps most importantly, one of Melville’s projects in the book is to show us that, just as every whaleman has his own unique notion regarding Moby Dick the whale, every reader has his or her own unique understanding of Moby-Dick the book. As Ishmael says, it “begins to assume different aspects, according to your point of view.” This is, of course, true of all literature. And it is in this special relationship between reader and text that makes the study of literature so valuable in a person's life.

We will spend the entire semester (!) immersed in this deepest of texts (and, somehow, we will not even come close to exhausting all its wonders). We will discuss the book in great detail. We will write formal essays and informal reflections and explorations. We will investigate secondary material and academic scholarship. We will embark on our own research projects. You will finish the course with a thorough understanding and appreciation (even if you end up hating it, which is entirely possible and totally fine) of one of the greatest books ever written.

The Epic: Myth, Violence, and Transformation
5 Units

Most of the Greek and Roman myths we know today can be found in Ovid’s epic Metamorphoses, a Latin poem from the first century AD. Gods turn into swans, boys into flowers, and nymphs into trees. The language of Ovid’s poem is beautiful; the gender-based violence it portrays is horrifying. For lovers of mythology and critics of patriarchy, this course will invite students to read Ovidian myths and their retellings and create some retellings of their own. We will consider how recovering these imagined assaults and transformations serve to heal cultural trauma, and what this tells us about the power of stories. Why are we compelled to rework these ancient tales, rather than create entirely new ones? How can imitation, or retellings, be used to understand texts – and ourselves?

Readings include Ovid’s Metamorphoses, selections from Nina Maclaughlin’s Wake, Siren, Helen Morales’ Antigone Rising, Mary Beard’s Women and Power: A Manifesto, essays by Jia Tolentino, and a wide selection of stories and poems.

The (Experimental) Essay
5 Units

The word essay, as a noun, comes from the French for "trial, attempt, endeavor." That, in turn, is connected to the verb (in English [okay, also in French]) assay, which means to “test, strive, assess.” (Assay is often used in a metallurgical context. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, Eve asks, “And what is faith, love, virtue, unassayed / Alone, without exterior help sustained?” (IX.335-336). Both words are ultimately derived (don’t ask me how but this is what the etymologists say) from the Latin exagium — "a weighing, a weight” — connecting ex- (“out”) with -agere (“set in motion, drive”), to make a word that suggests “drive out, force out” or “require, exact” or “examine, test, try.”

The Western tradition of essay-writing is usually said to have begun with Montaigne (who wrote works like “On Cannibals,” “Of Friendship,” “Of Cruelty,” and “Of Books”). But the Japanese form zuihitsu (literally, “following [the impulses of] the brush”) predates Montaigne by at least 400 years, yet accords with how he described his own work:

I get lost, but more from license than carelessness. My ideas do follow on from each other, though sometimes at a distance, and have regard for each other, though somewhat obliquely. . . . I love the gait of poetry, all jumps and tumblings. . . . . I change subject violently and chaotically. My pen and my mind both go a-roaming. If you do not want more dullness, you must accept a touch of madness.

This is the sort of work we’ll be reading and writing in this course — following the impulses of the brush, circling around a question or possibility, drawing unexpected connections, scratching at an idea or a concept. These are not academic essays, or the loathed and derided “five-paragraph essay.” We will read relatively short pieces, and everything we read will be unabridged. We will read things and write about them; we will reflect on our own reading and writing; and we will conduct our own tests, assessments, and attempts.

Women Writers
5 Units

This course surveys some of the important women writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The thematic focus is on how women represent the unique issues that stem from their experiences and identities as women and as writers, as well as on how they challenge their identification. We examine how women, in particular, come to terms with contradicted and/or alienated experiences. We also explore the representation of the multi-cultural experiences of women writers as they have moved into the mainstream of world literature and as they have met the demands of maintaining diverse ethnic and cultural heritages.

Algebra I
10 Units

This course will focus on group work and understanding the “why” in mathematics. We will cover various functions and their real-world applications, with an emphasis on the process, rather than simply arriving at an answer. Student thinking will be highly valued and leveraged as we shift into the main concepts of each unit. We will cover various functions such as linear functions, exponential functions, and quadratic functions, as well as their applications.

Geometry
10 Units

Geometry is one of the oldest branches of mathematics. This course is a comprehensive look at the study of geometric concepts including inductive and deductive reasoning, proofs, angle relationships, polygons, circles, congruence and similarity, area, and volume. In this course, students work toward higher level problem solving and developing their mathematical language to improve communication of the solution process.

Discrete Math
10 Units

Discrete Math is a year-long course designed to introduce students to some major topics of finite mathematics and number theory including: properties of integers and prime numbers, combinatorics and discrete probability, and logic. Students will be exposed to a branch of mathematics that is usually encountered at the university level and more types of exercises that are closer to what is seen on the AMC (American Mathematics Competitions). A goal of the course is to build a foundation for concepts and problem-solving skills that are integral to disciplines such as applied math and computer science.

Statistics
10 Units

Statistics is the science of data. In this year-long course, students learn how to represent, interpret, and analyze data. The year begins with an overview of describing data, and then quickly moves into problem-solving-based learning through concepts such as normal distribution, regression analysis, probability, and hypothesis testing. Additionally, students learn how to use Excel to analyze real data sets and create graphs. The course includes multiple projects each semester, including a final independent project designed by each student. In May, students will have the option to take the AP Statistics exam.

Pre-Calculus
10 Units

Precalculus is a high school math course that includes an introduction to calculus with functions, graphs, trigonometry, and rates of change. On a daily basis, students will work collaboratively with others as they use problem-solving strategies, complete investigations, gather evidence, critically analyze results, and communicate clear and effective arguments while justifying their thinking.

Calculus
10 Units

This course is designed to meet the curriculum requirements for Calculus AB. The major topics of this course are limits, derivatives, integrals, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, along with their application. We will investigate and analyze course topics using equations, graphs, tables, and words with a particular emphasis on a conceptual understanding of calculus.

Chemistry
10 Units

The Chemistry class examines the world around us from a submicroscopic viewpoint. The course includes discussion of atomic and molecular structure, energy changes in chemical reactions, the chemistry of aqueous solutions, solids and gasses, chemical equilibria, acids and bases, nuclear chemistry, and a glimpse into organic chemistry and biochemistry. Laboratory work includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Conceptual Physics
10 Units

This yearlong course will survey various topics in physics, emphasizing conceptual modeling and the development of strategic problem-solving skills. After a short boot camp unit on measurement and the scientific process, we begin our study of waves. These wiggles in spacetime are everywhere; from the everyday wonders, like water ripples and our experience of sound and light, to the profound and unknowable reverberations at the largest and smallest scales of our universe. Topics covered in Semester 2 have included force and motion, electromagnetism, and special topic exploration as time allows. Through the mastery of various subject areas, students will have the opportunity to meet our broader learning goals: to understand and apply fundamental laws of the universe to the experiences of daily life; to make connections between quantitative and descriptive representations of physical concepts; to experience scientific inquiry and interpret data; and to refine the ability to make sense of and communicate complex ideas.

Advanced Physics
10 Units

This yearlong course will survey various topics in algebra-based physics, with a focus on rigorous problem-solving skills, concept modeling, and scientific communication. Semester 1 will begin with a short unit on measurement and the scientific process before diving deeply into the field of mechanics, including fundamentals of motion, forces, and energy. In semester 2 our gaze will shift to the less tangible, including material science, waves, light, sound, and other special topics, pending time constraints. Laboratory work will reinforce conceptual material and build data analysis skills.

Anatomy & Physiology
10 Units

This year-long course uses lectures, case studies, student presentations, and dissections to give students a strong basic understanding of the human body. Material includes terminology used to describe the human body and its function and the physiology of body systems in health and disease statesStudents regularly apply their knowledge to real-life scenarios both common and extraordinary. They complete the class with a better understanding of their own body and how to make sense of their human experience in light of their biology.

Computer Science
5 Units

This semester-long course will introduce the foundations of computer science and basic programming, with an emphasis on developing logical thinking and problem-solving skills. We’ll learn to program in JavaScript using the CodeHS online learning platform. Class time will use a blended approach, with a mix of content that is fully web-based along with collaborative exercises and discussions with classmates. Students will write and run code in the browser independently and will learn to plan their progress and share blockers via daily standup meetings. Our first units will involve learning the first basic concepts and syntactic rules of computer programming. The second quarter will build on what we learned to program more complex visual graphic codes and further explore object-oriented programming. Topics we will be learning about and using throughout the Semester include functions, sequencing, variables, objects, booleans, loops, conditional statements, and logical operators. Students who successfully complete CS1 are eligible to take CS2 in the spring.

Environmental Science
10 Units

Environmental Science is a comprehensive course that aims to understand the intricate relationship between the natural systems of our planet and human activities. It examines the scientific principles that govern the functioning of natural phenomena and resource cycles, analyzes our exploitation of these systems, and explores potential solutions for the consequences of resource mismanagement. This course covers the interrelatedness of relevant current events by integrating life science, physical science, and social science.

Students engage in inquiry-based exercises, environmental health assessment techniques, and student-led presentations and projects. This course fosters an understanding of the causes, risks, consequences, and potential solutions for both natural and human-created environmental problems. It equips students with the skills to analyze environmental case studies and engage in collaborative project work.

Band
5 Units

In this course, students will rehearse and perform a variety of musical styles and genres as an ensemble, strengthening their sense of musicianship and teamwork. In addition to developing their performance abilities, students will also learn to read music if they have no prior experience or will work to strengthen their reading capabilities. They will also be introduced to the foundations of music theory, composition, and improvisation which will aid them in their understanding of both their instrument and music in general. The course is open to all instrumentalists and vocalists with at least one year of performance experience.

Audio Production
5 Units

This course introduces students to the professional tools and techniques used in today's music and film industries. Students will develop their understanding of musical composition and electronic audio production through the study of digital audio workstation software, MIDI, using looping and sampling, recording techniques, and analysis of popular works. They will also create podcasts utilizing recorded interviews, underscoring music, and sound design. Lastly, they will explore the world of cinematic sound through the study of the art of foley. Other topics covered include mixing and mastering, audio plug-ins, an introduction to synthesis, file management, and professional opportunities for sound professionals. Each project made in this course is presented to the class for peer feedback.

Theatre Production
5 Units

In this semester-long course, students will learn about theatre through creating it — as actors, directors, and designers — and in the process practice and hone their skills as creative collaborators. Students will study and rehearse a published play, research the play’s themes, consult drama theory, and regularly reflect on personal and collective progress. The culmination of this work will be a staged theatrical production. Students will also expand their appreciation of theatre by attending and reviewing theatrical productions in the community, and online.

Ceramics
5 Units

This course provides students an introduction to basic ceramic hand-building techniques including pinching, coil, and slab construction, as well as glazing and firing processes. We research and apply techniques and approaches used in historical and contemporary ceramics. In addition to sculpting and constructing hand-built vessels, students research and learn about the geological origins of clay material, particular cultural approaches to ceramics throughout history, and contemporary ceramic artists and the innovative methods they use. Students create a body of their own work, and the class takes part in critiques to support one another’s development as ceramic artists.

Digital Media Arts
5 Units

Digital Media Arts combines art and technology to prepare students for a world where the language of visual communication is essential. Using a variety of digital tools, this course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the principles of design and visual storytelling. We will explore creative expression through digital editing, graphic design, typography, branding, stop motion, and more as we collaborate and develop skills that will serve students well in both personal and professional artistic pursuits.

Methods and Materials
5 Units

Methods & Materials is a conceptual studio class where students create a body of work reflective of the visual art knowledge they have acquired throughout the semester. Methods and Materials is a class focused on understanding the artist process, the impetus behind the creative process, and exploring the connection between materials available to artists during a given period, and how they go about creating. We will spend the semester examining the changing role of the artist throughout the course of human history, and perhaps most importantly, we will examine the link between the evolution of Western society and the evolution of artistic methods and mediums. How has the evolution of materials and advances in technology influenced the artistic process, and vice versa, how has the evolution of humanity changed what we consider art, and the value we place on art?

Physical Education
5 Units

The school's Physical Education program offers a variety of 5-unit semester courses. By emphasizing one activity, classes work to build skill, confidence, and cooperation. P.E. classes meet in gyms and fields in the school neighborhood. On a rotating basis, two of the following courses are offered each semester:

• Basketball

• Cardio Training

• Hiking

• Pilates

• Soccer

• Sports Medley

• Ultimate

• Volleyball

• Weight Training

• Yoga

Health
10 Units

This course is designed to help students identify their own personal values and align them with the decisions they make regarding their own health, wellness, and lifestyle. Through a variety of exercises, readings, guest speakers, and activities, students are provided information about various health topics such as social and emotional health, safety, nutrition and physical activity, alcohol/tobacco/other drugs, STI prevention, sexuality, gender, consent, and boundaries. The goal is for students to emerge from this course with a stronger sense of their own values and knowledge of various health topics, which will inform their decision-making with regard to their own health and well-being.