HUMANITIES 101, RELATIONSHIPS, Fall 1999, (The title of the course is somewhat misleading--the subject matter of this course is popular culture, American popular culture, and popular culture in print media, newspapers, magazines and novels.)
 WARNING!! WARNING!! DANGER!! DANGER!! Please realize this is a course for people who can and do read and write. Colleges and universities are based upon these skills and the love of them. Should you not like to read, this is probably not the course for you.

Instructor: Jim Wright, Office S-109
   Phone: 456-0300-3242 (There may not always be a light in the window, but the voice mail is always on.)

Required Reading (in order of use)
  The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
  The Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosely
  One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest, Ken Kesey
  Deliverance, James Dickey
  Beloved, Toni Morrison

Evaluations: There will be five multiple choice, and/or short answer examinations which will average between fifty and seventy points each, and two papers which will be worth fifty points for a total of approximately 250 points.

Papers: You will write two papers. The first is about newspapers. You will evaluate the Chicago Tribune in an in class exercise. You will then write (and type) an essay answer the question, does the Chicago Tribune do what its former Credo said it did? The Credo stated: "A newspaper is an institution created by modern civilization which relates the news of the day, leads and informs public opinion, fosters commerce and industry, and creates a check upon government that no constitution has ever been able to provide." You will discuss whether it does these things. I recommend before you write the essay you look at USA Today and the N.Y.Times or the Christian Science Monitor. This paper must be at least four type written, double spaced pages. No hand written papers will be accepted.
 The second assignment is to write a chapter from a popular culture novel (or an entire story if you wish); you can write a romance, mystery, scifi, horror, adventure, whatever. This effort must be six to ten typed, double spaced pages. Be clear on this assignment. You are to write a story yourself, not plagiarize one. You have the entire semester to pick out a type of story and work on it.
 There may be another paper assignment. I could ask you to examine a comic strip and tell me why it is funny. Comics work on all of the hidden cultural lessons you have absorbed over the years.

Make Ups, Late Assignments: Unless you have a fourteen karat, gold plated and verified excuse with documentation, there are no make ups on the exams. Nor do I accept late papers for any reason. All assignments in this class are made well in advance; donât come to me with buts.

Absences: There is no penalty for missing a reasonable number of classes. I assume when you miss there is a reason and you donât simply blow off class. I am not suggesting that nothing happens in class so you can miss anytime you wish without losing anything important. Note also, if you miss a day of class, I assume you will ask a classmate what happened or if there were any changes in assignments or the like. Knowing is your responsibility.

Late: There is nothing that burns me like a student who comes in late on a regular basis. Coming in late once can be understood, things happen. If you come in late on a regular basis, I will drop you.

Course Objectives: My objectives in teaching the course are to:
 1. point out the obvious and consider just what the characteristics of the culture to which you belong are;
 2. to examine what popular culture is, and see how it differs from elite and folk cultures;
 3. to examine the various types of print culture and how American culture and American popular culture exist there;
 4. to develop criteria for judging whether a piece of pop culture, or elite or folk culture for that matter, are good or bad art;
 5. to examine the perspective of notable popular culture authors on our society;
 6. to ask why successful pop culture figures are successful;
 7. without sounding overly philosophical (this is, however, a humanities class), to ask questions about man, his activities, values and purposes.

Class Activities:
 1. Introduction to the Cultures: American, Pop, Print (week 1)
 2 The Detective Genre, Chandler and Mosley (weeks 2-6)
  Film: The Maltese Falcon (See also Devil in a Blue Dress/The Big Sleep)
 3. Information, please? The Chicago Tribune
 4. Insane? who? The Cuckooâs Nest (weeks 6-8)
  Film: One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest (See also Cool Hand Luke)
 5. With the promise of it that promised other things, another life, Deliverance! (weeks 9-12)
  Film: Deliverance (There are many Deliverance clones of which I canât remember the titles: Toy Soldiers?)
 6. Write you pop culture opus!
 7. Beloved. (weeks 12-16)

Format for Tribune Paper
  Title Page: on which the writer inscribes, the title of his paper (short, snappy, pithy: Fly Paper, Waste Paper, Protector of the People, Indeed.) and on which the writer inscribes his name, the course and the date, in that order:
     Name
     Course
     Date
  Paragraph 1: Introduction in which the humble scribe informs the anxious reader what the assigned task is, and what the now knowledgeable writer intends to demonstrate.
  Paragraph 2: Presents the news of the day: did it, how can you prove that to your reader? What, exactly is news? how doe news differ from human interest? under our definition of news, what and what only is supposed to be there?
  Paragraph 3: Leads and informs public opinion: how does this differ from presenting news? what can the columnists and editors do the reporters are not permitted to do?
  Paragraph 4: Fosters commerce and industry? in the words of E.B. Barrett, Îlet me count the ways."
  Paragraph 5: Checks government. There are at least four levels of government: federal, state, county, municipal.
  Paragraph 6: Summary and conclusion.