A-term
"The Art of Story"
Survey of narrative tradition and structure as they pertain to art, culture, history and society. Examines the origins and uses of narrative on a global scale, and presents the various forms of storytelling that inform our daily lives.

Concurrent enrollment in ENGL 487 (Screenwriting) and DRAMA 406 (Cinematic Production) encouraged but not required.

A-Term
Ah Q, Teresa Tang, and the White-Haired Girl will be among our guides as we tour the fiction and film of China’s tumultuous twentieth century, using the artifacts of culture, both popular and high, as windows on the nation’s history, aesthetics, and identity. Designed for students with no previous study of China. No prerequisites

The Solar Neighborhood: Understanding the Universe Within the Nearest 50 Light-Years


There are plenty of mysteries in the universe, but it’s often surprising how many of those mysteries are practically on the Earth’s doorstep. Even with current technology probing the distant, early universe, Astronomers do not yet have a complete census of the objects nearest the Sun. This course will focus on detecting and characterizing objects within the solar system, the closest stars and brown dwarfs, and planets around other stars.

Each week will be a mini-unit covering these topics:

Distances and Scales: What does 50 light-years mean, and how do we measure distance?

The Sun: What do we know about the nearest star?

Our Solar System: What are the nearby planets like, and what other objects are orbiting the Sun?

Stellar Census: How many stars are nearby, and what are they like?

Understanding Stars and Brown Dwarfs: Why do all the properties of these objects depend on their mass?

Detecting Stars and Brown Dwarfs: How did we find these objects, and how are we going to find more?

Detecting Exoplanets: How do we know other planets are there?

Characterizing Exoplanets: What sorts of planets are nearby, and are they like Earth?

Space Travel and Aliens: What does science have to say about whether or not there could be extraterrestrial life nearby, and is it possible go look for it?

Schedule: MTW, 1:10-2:50

Grades will be based on weekly quizzes, labs, and homework (including short reading/writing assignments and quantitative reasoning). High school level algebra will be used on labs and homeworks (but not quizzes). No prerequisites.

Course website: http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/sjschmidt/A190/index.html

Screenwriting

This course has no prerequisites and is open to students at all levels. It will be taught by award-winning author and screenwriter Shawn Wong.

Description:
Students read screenwriting manuals and screenplays, analyze exemplary films, and write synopses, treatments, and first acts of their own screenplays.

This course teaches the basics of screenwriting: story, character, dialogue and structure. Students will learn the craft of screenwriting by reading and analyzing screenplays and film treatments, writing short original screenplays adapted from essays, news stories, and published short stories and in the process learn how to tell a story both narratively and visually.