Lower-Division

Helps students develop study skills, writing skills, critical reading and thinking skills, test-taking strategies, strategies for stress reduction, and time-management skills. Students evaluated on attendance at class, attendance at individual meetings with instructor, and preparation of weekly assignments. Enrollment restricted to college members and by permission of college advisor.

Introduces students to the study of film and focuses on the terminology and techniques, the broader political implications of film, and its impact on postmodern America.

Students read excerpts of memoirs, autobiographies, and semi-autobiographical short stories, and write sections of a memoir or autobiography and a final self-reflection/evaluation on the course.

Introduction to literary journalism, emphasizing contemporary issues in California. Students read and analyze articles that use creative strategies to grip readers, and develop their own narrative style by writing their own pieces.

Investigates many forms of alternative media, including news and arts/intermedia. Students compare alternative news sources (e.g. Democracy Now) to traditional sources (e.g. daily newspaper). Students also study Intermedia movements (e.g. Fluxus) and focus on contemporary magazine culture.

Examines how media coverage of major news events in the past half century varied from outlet to outlet as well as with time and perspective, and how that varied coverage affected events. Analyzes coverage that was particularly insightful, bizarre, visionary, exemplary, biased, or simply inadequate. Events examined range from the very broad to the very specific and include: the civil rights struggle, the Manson murders, the Union Carbide disaster, and the mass suicide in Jonestown.

Examines theoretical and practical aspects of the juvenile justice system in California, with the goal of providing an understanding of some of the major legal issues in dealing with child abuse, neglect, and delinquency. Provides basic tools for understanding legal research and writing; an overview of the field of juvenile justice; and practical firsthand exposure to the juvenile court system.

Introductory course in radio and print journalism, focusing on news analysis, reporting techniques, story construction, and the craft of writing. Students also work on voice development and public-speaking skills, as well as ethics and community context. Satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; students must submit a writing sample to the instructor. (Formerly College Eight 60.)

Students analyze comedic writing and practice writing comedy. Students develop pieces to be delivered in a performance at the end of the quarter.

Reinvents the museum as we know it by using the perceptual tools of poetic imagination to create fundamental alternatives to the known forms of museum. Weekly readings, presentations, and projects culminate in a collective exhibition of student-created anti-museums.

Through lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on projects, students develop the skills to successfully complete a mural. Generating the idea, completing the design, submitting a proposal, and painting a mural are covered.

A feature story should grab readers and keep them reading until the end of the piece. By reading and writing published features, students discover how this process works. During the quarter, students write two types of articles chosen from the following: roundup, trend, profile, or seasonal pieces.

Practical and hands-on approach leads students through the laborious and labyrinthine process of making and distributing an independent narrative feature film.