The Bomb Shelter

The End of the Summer

I know I've been attrocious at updating my blog, but with the summer coming to close alot of activity has kept me away. A combination of the Edmonton Fringe Festival, World of Warcraft, and work have actually kept me out of the house for a solid few weeks, and now the first week of university has moved updating the Bomb Shelter to a low priority.

That said, here I am updating it!

As mentioned, this week I begin my second year at the University of Alberta. For those of you who don't know, I am an English major with a Sociology minor, and I write fairly frequently for the U of A's venerable the Gateway.

This year, I've enrolled in a number of Engligh literature and language courses, as it is my major, and figure that I have to read no less than one full novel a week to keep up. So you can guess what much of my spare time will be spent doing. I am, however, taking a slightly less heavy course load this year.

So what do I have for the first term?

DRAMA 102: Play Analysis
Mon, Wed, Fri from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Dr. Roslind Kerr.
Most people know that I have an interest in drama and theatre, even though I decided to take English when I applied for university. This year I decided to take my Fine Arts credits, so drama rose quickly to the top of my list. This class looked interesting from a playwriting point of view. and at the moment playwriting is the one form of drama I'm most interested in. Ostesibly, we learn about the structure of a good play by studying them and viewing them. This should also help me become a better theatre reviewer for the Gateway's A&E section. It helps that two friends have transfered into this class as well.

ENGL 362: American Literature and Culture: Toward the Now - Later 20th and Early 21st Centure
Wed from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
Dr. Jerry Varsava
I like to read books (else I'd be in trouble, seeing as I'm majoring in what is effectively book reading). That said, I don't always like to read books written in 1920 and earlier. Lord knows how much Shakespeare I've read over the years. This course appealed to me because the reading list is all books published later than 1980 by some great, modern American authors. The prof seems very passionate about the subject matter, but the one real point of contention here is that its only offered as a night class on Wednesday, meaning I can't do Mixed Chorus this year. On the other hand, I was happily surprised to see a friend in the class.

ENGL 375: Canadian Literature and Culture: Reading Canadian Cultures
Tue, Thur from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM.
Dr. Paul Hjartarson
I'll admit that I took this course primarily for the Canadian content (go figure, you need some Canadian content in your arts degree...) but also liked the idea of reading books showing the mosaic of Canadian peoples. The prof here also seems fairly interested in his subject matter, but my experience with Canadian literature is that its, well, dry. We'll see how this one unfolds.

SOC 269: Introductory Sociology of Globalization
Tue, Thur from 9:30 AM to 11:00 PM.
Sohrab Shiravand
My one course this term for my minor, I decided to take a class on globalization. I must say that after the first class, I'm pretty intrigued. The prof seems, well, angry. Angry, but very passionate about the subject matter. In my experience, that makes for a good class. Very light on the work, and somewhat light on the reading, this class focuses more on discussion, another plus considering my already hectic reading schedule.

So there you have it. Granted, anyone stalking me can now follow me around campus quite handily...

posted by ScottyBomb @ 7:39 a.m.