231 - 240 of 292 results for: all courses

Approaches, techniques, and processes in drawing. Visits to Madrid museums to study paintings and drawings by Goya, Velázquez, Picasso, and Dalí and to explore the experience of drawing. Subject matter: the figure, still life, interiors, landscape, and non-representational drawing. No previous experience required. Enrollment limited.

Exploration of Paris through camera and lab techniques. Both theoretical and practical aspects of creative photography. Extensive field work. Enrollment limited.

Despite the widespread assumption that scientists are weak communicators, many of today¿s most celebrated essayists hail from backgrounds in the hard sciences. Physician, poet and essayist, Lewis Thomas inspires readers to delve into the etymology of scientific discovery, and, in doing so, prompts radical reconsiderations of the cultural significance of innovation. Similarly, neurologist and writer, Oliver Sacks¿ compassionate ruminations on mental disability advance fresh thinking on the nature of difference. Inversely, many essayists hailing from ¿fuzzy¿ backgrounds, deploy techniques usually associated with scientific observation to electrify their prose: To wit, the works of brilliant stylists like Annie Dillard, Chang-rae Lee, and Mark Doty are characterized by the kind of deep observation that underpins scientific inquiry. These writers, like scientists, are first and foremost good at really looking.

nnIn this course, we will delve into a fluid, yet rigorous, research process based on the art of observation. Each student will begin the quarter by posing a question of personal or professional significance about how some aspect of the natural, social, technological or cultural world works. Using these questions as a starting point, students will then design a research process to first complicate, and then perhaps also answer, their initial question. The end product of the inquiry will be a self-fashioned experimental essay that can engage a discerning public audience. This is the perfect class for techies, wonks, and data junkies who want to cultivate the poet¿s cherished sensibilities.

In this course, you'll read and listen to some of the most moving and insightful pieces of the last decade, explore the important differences between print and oral storytelling, and then script and record your own full-length audio piece. Along the way, we will explore many craft elements that apply equally to print and audio pieces. You will learn, for example, how to organize your material, choose an effective structure, blend dramatization and reflection, ground insights in concrete scenes, create a strong narrative arc, and manage elements such as characterization, description, and dialogue. We will also, of course, explore craft elements unique to the audio form and you will learn how to use your voice and other sonic elements to craft the kind of piece you might hear on This American Life.nnThrough a special arrangement with the Stanford Storytelling Project, in the spring of 2012 this course will feature special sessions with prominent contributors to This American Life. n Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For more information, see http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/drupal_pwr/advanced_pwr.

Contemporary storytelling covers a variety of media - from movies to novels, theatre and beyond. What this course offers is an in depth study of the roots of that practice - the oral tradition.nnnOver the course we will explore many different motifs and structures that arise in the oral tradition, myth, folklore and fairy tale. What universal themes do we detect, and what separates the progression of a pacific north west Trickster story from an Arthurian romance? Why is it that in the early twenty first century many of our most acclaimed art forms carry narrative forms that are thousands of years old? Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and the recent broadway show Jerusalem, all follow scenic progressions informed by myth.nnnThe first encounter with the story will be an oral narrative - the myth told unscripted in the classroom. The stories, which range from the Arthurian romance Parzival to Trickster folk tales, will be told in several sections - with a running exegesis and student response alongside. Many of these stories are now transcripts and have become works of literature. We will explore both the complementary aspects of this development, and areas of tension.nnnDuring the course each student will embark on a project that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topics covered, and utilizes those elements in their wider practice of writing and rhetoric. nnnThe project will be to research a story handed down within the family - an adventure of some distant relative, or a family migration from one country to another. Factoring in elements from the taught class, the student will mythologize the story: by writing an in depth commentary on its implications - factoring in contemporary, psychological and metaphorical associations. The second element will be to tell the story to the class. In these way we experience myth as a living principle, not something just from `a long time ago.¿

Life challenges us to become aware of the stories that shape us¿family stories, cultural mythologies, even popular movies, television shows, and songs¿and then create and live our own story. We face this challenge throughout our lives but perhaps most acutely as we move into adulthood; this is the period when we most need to become conscious of stories and their power, to gather wisdom, practices, and resources for finding our own story. This class, designed with seniors in mind, will illuminate and explore these resources and give you the opportunity to reflect deeply, in discussion and writing, on what truly calls to you in this life.nnFor students who have completed the first two levels of the writing requirement and want further work in developing writing abilities, especially within discipline-specific contexts and nonfiction genres. Individual conferences with instructor and peer workshops. Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For more information, see http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/drupal_pwr/advanced_pwr.

Effective communication of expert knowledge in the sciences to non-specialist audiences. Project-based work on a range and variety of communication challenges, contexts, and media. For students who have completed the first two levels of the writing requirement and want further work in developing writing abilities, especially within discipline-specific contexts and nonfiction genres. Individual conferences with instructor and peer workshops. Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For more information, see https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/pwr/explore/notation-science-writing.

Science fiction and fantasy create alternate worlds that incorporate religious institutions and beliefs that illuminate how we think about religion now and for the future. Texts work off diverse religious traditions: Islam, Buddhism, Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity, Mayan religion, and Voudou are some that appear. Themes of free will and determinism, immortality, apocalypse and redemption. Myth, ritual, prophecy, the messianic hero, monasticism and mysticism. Texts like Dune, Count Zero, Sandman, Grass and the like explore religion in the contemporary imagination. Main assignment: write a short story.

Preference to sophomores. Students will study recent poetry inspired by the phenomena and history of the sciences in order to write such poems themselves. These poems bring sensuous human experience to bear on biology, ecology, neuroscience, physics, astronomy, and geology, as well as on technological advances and missteps. Poets such as Mark Doty, Jody Gladding, Albert Goldbarth, Jorie Graham, Sarah Lindsay, Adrienne Rich, W.S. Merwin, or C. K. Williams. Grounding in poetics, research in individually chosen areas of science, weekly analytical and creative writing. Enrollment limited to 12.