Neither course is new, but I'm planning a substantial overhaul of each. Last year's first year seminar "DIY Religion" was tuned to the Lang 40th anniversary and secured a budget to bring in six alum guest lecturers. This year that festive time seems like ancient history and, while I'm keeping alumni interviews, I'll have more time to direct the class sessions myself, go deeper into the problems with DIYing in religion. (Part of the windfall will be devoted to, of course, AI!)
My other class is "Religion of Trees," which I haven't had a chance to teach to really interested students in three years... during which time I've read a lot of books and written most of one myself! Haven't decided yet whether to take the class through the sequence of my book's chapters or keep something more like the course's original structure.
Feeling out learning goals and creative ways to achieve them is always fun, but it just hit me that this won't be a fun semester whatever I do. Not just because of ongoing tumult at The New School. In the middle of week 11 of the 16-week semester fall the Midterm elections, and whatever's in store to subvert them or reject their outcomes. Ack!
It all makes me want to hide in that field of California coneflowers!
