Course:
FRST 101: Freshman Studies II
Term:
Winter 2012
Class: MWF 11:10 AM-12:20 PM,
Instructor: Matt Stoneking, Professor of Physics
Contact: stonekim@lawrence.edu 832-6724 Younchild Hall 110
Office
Hours: Tuesdays 9:30 – 11:00 AM,
Thursdays 1:30 – 3:00 PM
Writing
tutors: Melissa Zheng (melissa.zheng@lawrence.edu)
Joia Miller (joia.m.miller@lawrence.edu)
Documents:
Code of Federal Regulations section governing Protection of Human Subjects
Background on French-Algerian War
Map of French Colonial Empire
Catalog description:
Required
of first-year students and selected transfer students. A continuation of Freshman
Studies I, this course is designed to help students refine their abilities
as readers, writers, and thinkers. As in Freshman Studies I, instructors
stress close reading, cogent discussion, and clear writing. Regular
class sessions are again supplemented by lectures and performances by Lawrence
faculty members or by visiting scholars or artists.
Works:
Obedience to Authority, by Stanley Milgram
Battle of Algiers, a film directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
Bully for Brontosaurus, selected essays by Stephen Jay
Gould
Collected Fictions, selected stories by Jorge Luis
Borges
Rite of Spring, a ballet with music by Igor
Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky
Graded
Elements:
Discussion
/ Lecture Summaries 15%
Paper
1 (3-5 pages) 10%
Paper
2 (5-7 pages) 20%
Paper
3 (3-5 pages) 15%
Re-write
of paper 1 10%
Midterm
Exam 15%
Final
Exam 15%
Schedule:
Obedience
to Authority,
by Stanley Milgram
M
1/2 Introduction and overview of Milgram’s book
W
1/4 Chapters 1-5: see Milgram Handout #1 for
discussion questions – Paper #1 assignment distributed
F
1/6 Lecture by Professor Matt Ansfield
M
1/9 Chapters 6-9: see Milgram Handout #2 for
discussion questions - Lecture summary
#1 due
W
1/11 Chapters 10-15 and the appendices
Battle
of Algiers (discussion
topics subject to change)
F 1/13 Attend one of the
screenings of the film in the Warch Cinema prior to
our first discussion. Come prepared to
discuss your initial impressions of the film.
M
1/16 MLK Day, no class
W 1/18 Lecture by Professor Martyn Smith - Paper
#1 due (3-5 pages) – watch the film again on your own after hearing the
lecture and before our next discussion.
F 1/20 Discuss the lecture - Lecture summary #2 due
Topics for discussion:
·
The
story (history) told by Pontecorvo’s film
·
Colonialism
and independence
·
Violence,
terrorism, and torture
·
The
role of women
M 1/23 Topics for discussion:
·
The
appearance of the film – B&W
·
The
characters/actors: Is there a protagonist?
Who is it?
·
The
use of the camera: angles, close-ups, panoramas, …
·
The
soundtrack (narration, music, …)
·
Does
this film make a political statement?
Bully
for Brontosaurus,
by Stephen Jay Gould
W 1/25 Read essays #11 (Life’s Little Joke) and #29 (An Essay on a Pig Roast)
F
1/27 Midterm Exam
M
1/30 Read essays #9 (Not Necessarily a Wing) and #4 (The Panda’s Thumb of Technology)
W
2/1 Lecture by Professor Bart De Stasio, Read essay #34 (The Face of Miranda)
F 2/3 Read essays #18 (To Be a Platypus) and #12 (The Chain of Reason versus the Chain of
Thumbs) - Lecture summary #3 due
M 2/6 Read essays #8 (Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples), #3 (The Creation Myths of Cooperstown), and
#31 (The Streak of Streaks)
W
2/8 Read essays #25 (The Godfather of
Disaster) and #14 (Red Wings in the
Sunset)
F
2/10 READING PERIOD, no class
Collected
Fictions,
by Jorge Luis Borges
M 2/13 Read Man on Pink Corner (p. 45) and
The Circular Ruins (p. 96) - Paper
#2 due (5-7 pages)
W 2/15: Lecture by
Professor Madera Allan; Read Borges and I
(p. 324), The Ethnographer (p. 334), and Pierre Menard, Author of The Quixote (p. 88)
F 2/17 Read The Library of Babel (p.112) and The
Garden of Forking Paths (p. 119) -
Lecture
summary #4 due
M 2/20 Read Death and the Compass (p. 147) and The South (p. 74) - Re-write
of paper #1 due
W 2/22 Read The Gospel According to Mark (p. 397) and The Book of Sand (p. 480)
F 2/24 Read August 25, 1983 (p. 489), The Story from Rosendo Juàrez (p. 358), and The Aleph (p. 274)
M
2/27 In collaboration with your partner(s), prepare a
7-9 minute presentation on your assigned story:
Rite
of Spring,
by Igor Stravinsky (discussion topics subject to
change)
W 2/29 Watch the Joffrey Ballet’s reconstruction of Nijinsky’s choreography
for the Rite of Spring before coming
to class. Be prepared to discuss
specific reactions to the ballet … the music, the choreography, the costumes,
the set/backdrop, the story so far as you can perceive one, etc.
F 3/2 Lecture by Professor Julie McQuinn - Paper #3
due (3-5 pages). After the lecture, listen to the entire ballet again at
least twice before Monday’s discussion.
M
3/5 Discuss the lecture - Lecture
summary #5 due
W
3/7 The Score: Before coming to class
spend some time exploring the Keeping Score website.
F
3/9 Wrap up discussion of RoS and review for the final exam
Sa 3/12 3:00-5:30 PM Final Exam