classes for this fall: preliminary thoughts

[supercheesegirl]

Harvard Extension School recently posted the class schedule for 2005-2006. I go through this every darn semester, getting all worked up and not being able to decide what to take. My main objective is to take the coolest class that's offered every semester, but I also have the idea that I'll do the graduate certificate in publishing at some point so I would like to try to take some classes that'll count for that. So I am thinking that I'll do two classes this fall instead of just one, since there are a ton of good classes offered on Tuesday nights and I should be able to arrange two decent classes back to back. They're offering Maya Hieroglyphic Writing, and I bet you can guess how I feel about that. And then I would pair it with something from the publishing department, because I suspect those classes will be easy for me, and the two together would represent totally different kinds of work. I'm thinking about Business Writing, Magazine Writing, or Editing Technical Prose. If I decide to do a publishing class I might just let the Kipster pick it, since I don't really care, or if Ms. Birdmadd is taking one of those I'll just take whichever one she's in. (Heather, have you looked at the schedule for this fall yet?) I was also getting a little bit excited about Language And The Study Of Language (Linguistics department) and History And Structure Of The English Language, but I think Maya Hieroglyphs kind of trumps linguistics at this point. And I know that if I do end up in the publishing certificate program I'll have to take Principles Of Editing, but that's only offered at the same time as Maya Hieroglyphs this term, and Maya Hieroglyphs is the strongest candidate for Coolest Class Offered and therefore wins. In a few weeks the syllabi will be posted on the website and we'll see what the workload looks like.

Spring semester is going to be a tough call--Human Origins is being offered again, and that got second place on the Coolest Class Offered ranking last year. But they're also offering The Vikings and the Nordic Heroic Tradition, Varieties of Eastern Saints’ Lives: Byzantium to Kiev and Moscow, and The Apocryphal Jesus and the Noncanonical Apostles: Introduction to Ancient Christian Apocryphal Literature. But the journalism department is offering Advanced Narrative Nonfiction as well as Travel Writing in the spring, and I really want to take Travel Writing. Really, really. So I think I'm just not going to think about the spring term yet.

Hey, Sara(h), they're offering Gender, Leadership, and Management for the spring term. That sounds like it might be something interesting that your work would pay for.

I'm still thinking vaguely about the museum studies masters program. I just don't know that I want to dive into that yet, especially when the publishing certificate wouldn't take as long to do and would be a lot more immediately applicable to my current job. But overall I'm immensely grateful for the chance to take classes here at Harvard on the cheap, and I want to get as much out of it as I can.

Comments

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

They're offering Maya Hieroglyphic Writing, and I bet you can guess how I feel about that.

-I'd guess you feel very , a little , and maybe kinda .

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

It's likely, I guess. :) I know nothing at all about the subject but was instantly fascinated by the description, much like when I decided to take The Incas last fall.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

It's likely, I guess.

-Well, no, since the poor layout of the site I used meant I picked the symbols essentially at random. I think what it actually translates to is, "I'd guess you feel very royal as the sun, a little like a sculptor of great renown, and maybe kinda like dancing on the corpses of your enemies."

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Who *doesn't* feel like dancing on the corpses of her enemies???

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Who *doesn't* feel like dancing on the corpses of her enemies???

-I knew there was a reason I liked you . . .

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I think about it: you know those fridge magnets that say "today I feel..." with the little frame that you can move over different faces/emotions for whatever you feel like today? "Like dancing on the corpses of my enemies" should be an option on those things.

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

i haven't thought too much about the fall yet, except to consider whether or not to take "from text to hypertext" since that's my other required class. but i am ALL over travel writing in the spring, i'm also very excited about that class. i find it hard to look at the .pdf file online; i think i'll have to wait for the website to be browsable or for the print catalog to be able to make decisions.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I've decided that if I do two classes I want them to be on the same night, so the Hypertext class (which made it to my original possibilities list) is now out for me because it's the only interesting-looking class on Mondays this fall. I've been waiting for them to offer travel writing again since last summer when I couldn't take it, so I am very excited. The pdf is definitely a little annoying to scroll through (though you can change the zoom, which helps). I think the website is supposed to be up in the next few weeks, so we can chat more then. :)

[lizabethanqueen]

There's a protest literature class (from Tom Paine to Tupac). I'd take that.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I eyed that, but I'm definitely moving away from lit these days...