Everyone's educational life needs a little spice. With the dark shadow of course registration looming over campus, it's about time to take an injection of hot hot hot ... in the form of awesome and unique classes. The Scene staff has already done all the hard work, culling the best of the best and presenting our favorites. No need to fill requirements when one can take these elective gems. We're not ones to be pretentious, but really folks: a Trump-esque entrepreneurship course? Duh.
LIT-346-001: The Cinematic Underworld This course is sure to be stamped with the loathsome "CLOSED" caption long before any enthusiastic underclassman has the chance to access the course list. It's no surprise: Cinematic Underworld has been a course-in-progress - thought by many to be a mere urban legend. Now, over a century later, the Literature department is finally reaping the rewards of their valiant quest to provide a select few AU students with an unrivaled level of knowledge in all things involving both the cinema and the underworld. And who more qualified to teach the course but Lucifer himself?
MGMT-386: Entrepreneurship If daddy's trust fund is burning a hole in those pleated khaki pockets, take a class that promises to offer some money-spending solutions. Entrepreneurship teaches the ins and outs of running one's own business - and it hopefully offers tips on the best way to rake up those troublesome leaves from the grove of money trees out back. Life in the real world is hard, so why not live the Donald Trump fantasy right from the start? Let's face it: All those students who want to be president are going to end up in lowly state senates, while the business majors will be running the corporations that own humanity. Being AU's first presidential nominee doesn't sound so great now, does it?
HFIT-210: Scuba Yes, American University offers a class in scuba diving - a course designed to give students the necessary certification for that deep dive into the ocean. Where? No clue. Maybe the Bender pool? The Potomac? The Tidal Basin? Scuba students must provide the $90 lab fee, all the necessary equipment and three hours of their time each week. Frankly, Scuba Dive D.C. provides all the equipment and certification in a weekend for under $300. Not saying it's a bad deal at AU, but honestly, Walking and Jogging may be a better fit for those few who don't feel like getting duped. Just saying.
HIST-367: Oral History Ah, oral history - so many legal and ethical issues, it's hard not to talk about it! Finally, AU offers a forum for those kids in every class who just won't shut up! Why just learn about oral history when students can make their own oral histories every Tuesday night this fall? So, raise those eager hands every two minutes! Interrupt other students who have more valid points! Argue that the professor doesn't know his facts even though he wrote eight textbooks on the topic! Make annoying comments to the napping girl who is clearly not amused! Say anything; it's all contributing to this illustrious historical field. It's oral history! It's everywhere!
AMST-334-001: Contemporary American Culture: Appalachia What kinds of people inhabit Appalachia? How does one make moonshine? How are people able to eat tin? These questions and many more are sure to be addressed in one of this spring's most highly anticipated classes, Appalachia - or, as it is lovingly referred to by the American Studies department faculty, Hobo Studies. "Trips outside the classroom" are sure to include hitchhiking adventures and picnics behind Whole Foods. Finally, learn how to keep that polka-dotted knapsack to stay at the top of your broom pole and get academic credit while doing it!
LFS-196: Portuguese Elementary I Each semester, AU offers several non-recurring language choices, and if Farsi, Turkish, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Russian or Sign Language isn't your thing, there's always Portuguese. For anyone wondering when AU would start offering Portuguese, the time has finally arrived - for one semester. The language most commonly associated with one quarter of the Iberian Peninsula and with several millions of people in Brazil (no, buddy, they don't speak Spanish in Rio) has finally arrived stateside. Sure, there's always been Brazilian food at The Grill from Ipanema in Adams Morgan, but why not be able to order in the native tongue? Talk about useful. Next semester: Ancient Phoenician and Elvish.
PERF-320: History of Rock Music Rock 'n' roll was invented in Omaha, Neb., around 1995 when a young Conor Oberst began O-bursting with his love for life and put his thoughts to recording with the use of a Fisher Price piano and a Talkboy. Soon thereafter, he passed on his knack for pop precision to such rock forefathers as Loverboy, Wheatus and Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters. And the rest, as they say, is history - a history that students will learn over the course of a semester with viewings of the Blink 182 videography and guest speakers such as Ronnie James Dio and the fat guy from New Found Glory. Go ahead and enroll, bro, but in all honesty, you could probably just skip this class and pick up a Bachman Turner Overdrive album. Now that's rock, man.
JLS-313: Organized Crime Ever wonder what it's like to be a corrupt head of state that uses power to manipulate the common man and fulfill some nasty (and illegal) political agenda? This fall, the Justice, Law and Society department offers an in-depth look at the workings of the executive branch. Students will learn how to organize files (shredded), meetings (covert) and personnel (brainwashed). Lecture topics include: "The Presidency: It's a Vacation Everyday" and "Making History: How to Gloss Over Facts." It's the course that the Watergate folks should have taken ... Oh, wait, this course is about, like, the Mafia or something? Even better. We love "the Sopranos." -Compiled by the Scene staff
