Some Courses You May Have Missed

Psych. and Soc. Rel. 1140.

Sensation

This course shocked a few people who had walked in expecting to find the course as exciting as its title. The eyes and ears will receive heavy scrutiny.

"We shall adjourn until Soc Sci 160," said one student to two others as they departed before the lights went down on those first slides.

Winthrop 108.

Sport and Political Ideology

Twenty-five sports enthusiasts including representatives of several sports teams were dazzled last night by the switch-hitting performance of John M. Hoberman, assistant professor of Scandinavian. Hoberman who by day teaches "Scandinavian Civilization" dons the pinstripes on Tuesday nights to teach "Sports and Political Ideology," a Winthrop House course.

But, lo and behold, Hoberman had some surprises for those who thought they would be on the court by October.

Hoberman stated clearly his disdain for most of what is written about the subject. Out of all the sports literature written, he said, one tenth of one tenth of one per cent is good. The rest is "dreck."

After flashing his own hefty reading list, Hoberman queried the class about an article he wrote in The New York Times last month. It was probably the most intellectual piece ever to appear on the Times sports page, he said.

He then asked students to fill out questionnaires listing the foreign languages they had mastered.

Many gut-hunters were discouraged by the lengthy assignments. But the clincher came with Hoberman's answer to the question about course requirements: there will certainly be a final and a 20-page paper--"this is a course course." That sure sent most of them scurrying.

Psych & Soc. Rel. 1570. Special States of Consciousness

This one sounds like a funny course but really isn't, to the surprise of a couple of athletes who took off after a quick look at the syllabus. Course includes a systematic look at states like the blank mind, sleep, dreams, sleep-walking, sleep-talking, sleep-learning and hypnosis. There will be nothing on ESP and just a little on meditation. Assistant Professor John F. Kihlstrom does the honors.

Perhaps You

May Have Missed

URDU 102: Intermediate Urdu.

FINE ARTS 263: Seminar: Gardens of 17th Century Italy.

TURKIC 285: Old Uighur. You can't put one past ol' Uighur.

IRANIAN 279a: Seminar: Maulana Rumi and His Influence on East and West.

ENGLISH 184: Modern Canadian Fiction. No books on the shelves at the Coop from this one.

Akkadian 233r. Advanced Akkadian

The "r" means you can take this course a couple of times. Yesterday, it attracted about five graduate students, although it has the potential for a great deal of mass appeal. Yesterday, Professor Moran wowed opening-day gawkers with a non-technical spiel on Mesopotamian tablets, followed by a joke which provokes laughter each time it is uttered. "Reiner obviously had an Anzu period," Moran said. The class fairly roared. May be used to fulfill distribution requirement.

Soc Sci 160. Nonverbal Communication

They're still trying to pack them into Emerson 210 to hear Laurence Wylie and Robert Rosenthal ("Otherwise known as the Bob and Larry Show," to quote Wylie) give this one. Wylie, of "Civilization of France" fame, attracted a legion of long-standing fans in search of another Soc Sci gut. With no paper and one test besides the final in this oeuvre, they may have found one.

In fact, because the course was so crowded Wylie pleaded with people to leave to make room for others.

Jokes were rampant in the stands: Student one (to student two): "What are you doing in such an intellectual course?"

Student two: "I'm learning how to talk."

Another student: Maybe this is like one of those highly intensive French courses--you know, where you can speak only French--so here, no one will be allowed to talk.

Non-verbal communication, get it?

Biology 138. Biology of Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts

As told by one student.

Bio 138 is not a gut. It was, however, a nice way to spend an hour yesterday afternoon, although at this point I doubt very strongly I'll be taking it.

You see, even though there are 25,000 species of bryophytes (that's what a moss is--a bryophyte--I learned that yesterday), there were only three people in the course. That's a ratio of about 8333 mosses to each person. I can't deal with it. I mean, I wasn't expecting Hum 103, but for me to take a course around here, I have to be able to get lost in it.

Besides, despite the fact that Norton G. Miller, associate professor of Biology, seemed like a real nice guy and even brought in a whole bunch of mosses for the class to look at, I think I may check out Bio 140--"Algae"--or 143--"Fungi" instead. Or maybe I'll hold off altogether until next semester and take Bio 129--"Properties of Excitable Membranes."

The only fellow undergraduate I spotted in there yesterday, by the way, was Brian Hughes '78, a Linguistics major. He said he is taking "Worts" because of an interest in plants. Well I like plants too, but give me a tulip over a moss any day.