studies and teaching experience in environmental literature and history. Robin’s lifelong exploration of natural landscapes has inspired an endless curiosity about the land and our relationship with it as human beings.
A Jew, a Shrew, a Moor, and More: Shakespeare’s Outsiders Linda Woodbridge Thursdays, 11:00 am-12:30 pm, Todd Building, UM Textbooks: The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Tempest in Signet Classics edition; if a student already owns a complete works of Shakespeare in some good edition, he or she may use that instead.
Humanities
“Shakespeare’s Outsiders” will focus on Shakespeare’s representation of marginal figures, including Shylock the Jew, Othello the black African (“Moor”), Caliban the “monster” (The Tempest), Emilia the shrew (Iago’s wife in Othello), and Iago the class outsider. How fair is Shakespeare in his representation of marginal figures? Does he invite audience sympathy for them? Does he use them to critique mainstream society? Are we unduly tolerant about what seem like racist moments in Shakespeare, because of Shakespeare’s enormous cultural authority? Classroom discussions will likely reveal the openness of Shakespearean texts to radically different interpretations. About the instructor: Linda taught at the University of Alberta from 1970-1994 and at Penn State from 19942011, winning university-wide teaching awards at both. At Penn State, Linda won the Faculty Scholar Medal for research and became a Distinguished Professor and Weiss Chair in the Humanities. Long-term fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library as well as a recent Guggenheim fellow, Linda has also been President of the Shakespeare Association of America and has had eight books published.
The Sacramental Lens: Seeing with a Poet’s Eye Gary W. Hawk Thursdays, 1:00 pm-2:30 pm, Todd Building, UM From time to time, we sense both the surface layer of the world and some of the many layers beneath the surface, both the object of our gaze and the many things it might signify. This kind of experience lies at the heart of poetry. In this course, we will try on the perspective of a poet. After exploring a variety of poems that introduce the theme, we will look at selected poems by Joyce Sutphen, Eamon Grennan, Jane Kenyon, and Tony Hoagland. Once we become practiced at seeing the world in this way, we will try our own hands at poetry. We will learn again how to see beneath the surface glare of the world; we will be invited to slow down and pay attention. About the instructor: Gary has been teaching at The University of Montana for years. He teaches the core course in the Davidson Honors College, Ways of Knowing, and for Counselor Education a course called Forgiveness and Reconciliation. In addition, he has taught six other MOLLI courses. When not at UM, he can usually be found writing poems, building furniture, or paddling Blue Bird, his sea kayak.
Can Religion Make Sense in the 21st Century? Steve Oreskovich Thursdays, 3:00 pm-4:30 pm, Todd Building, UM One of the functions of religion is to answer the question: “Does life have meaning?” Ultimately this question leads to further questions about the nature of God and the origin of the universe. Sunday school and catechism answers that satisfied generations, has been assailed by scientific discoveries from Darwin to the Big Bang Theory. Using insights from science and modern philosophy, theologians have attempted to redefine the nature of God, creation, heaven, hell, evil, the soul, and eternal life. This course will examine selected images of God from Genesis to the contemporary school of Process Theology. The only requirements are curiosity, a willingness to reexamine how one understands the world in which we live and the concept of God. About the instructor: Steve has taught Theology, Philosophy, and Comparative Religions in nearly every venue from elementary school to college, recently concluding 29 years in parish ministry. His teaching is a concentrated effort to move discussion of theology and faith issues beyond the world of academia and into life conversations.
8