This seminar examines the role of sports culture in the social and political construction of individual and collective American identities. Special attention will be given to issues of power, and race, gender, sexuality, class, and nationalism. Readings and films will cover contemporary and historical issues in baseball, basketball, football, boxing, and cheerleading.

The Afro. The zoot suit. Hip Hop. Ma Rainey. Boondocks. Aretha Franklin. James Brown. Each of these cultural items is tied not only to personal taste or entertainment value but also to larger political and social issues around race. In this course, we will analyze Black expressive culture (such as in music, art, literature, and television) and Black everyday culture (such as through hair, fashion, and language), and seek answers to two broad questions: What is the relationship between Black culture and the Black freedom struggle? What is the relationship between “Black” culture and “American” culture?

Cities, with their complex concentrations of people and capital, foster tales of movement, conflict and social transformation. City stories testify to personal experience, collective history, community organization, and institutional constraint. Who speaks about city life and what do they say? As Ruth Finnegan (1998) suggests, what are some of “the multiple ways in which we …formulate our ideas and experience of urban life” through “stories heard and told in a particular town”? In this course, we will examine how city life is narrated by a variety of protagonists. Over the past few decades anthropologists such as Kenny and Kertzer, James Holston, Setha Low, and Michael Herzfeld have presented arguments and offered models relevant to the ethnographic study of cities, with Holston and Appadurai going so far as to claim that cities have trumped nations as the primary sites of belonging and citizenship. Additionally, the city has been a critical backdrop in films, works of fiction and historical monographs. Taking advantage of a variety of sources, we will train our attention on accounts of lives and experiences in Johannesburg, Paris, Rome, São Paulo and Fez, among others. The pioneering work of the Chicago ethnographers around the turn of the 20th century as well as a range of developments in other cities — Bangkok, Mumbai, and Detroit — will serve as important touchstones. Evaluations will be based on class participation, weekly response papers, and midterm and final take-home exams.

In this first-year seminar class we will try together to get a better understanding of traditional Chinese culture by reading and discussing a novel that has both been praised as a veritable encyclopedia of Chinese life, and which has mattered deeply to countless Chinese readers, some of whom read it year after year. Because the novel focuses on life within the household and the majority of its major characters are female, one of the foci of the course will be on the life of Chinese women during the time the novel was written. Class meetings will feature a number of different activities. One of these will be class debates on specific topics. The main goal of the various debates will be to permit us to get a wider and richer view of the novel and the culture that produced it, but we will also be interested in relating what we see in the novel to life around us and material we have learned in other contexts. The procedure of debating topics from different points of view will also help us be more critical about our own beliefs and predilections.

Students will explore the place of food in a community's understanding of itself and of others. Using modern Japanese fiction and film as our main texts, we will examine how the discourse of food defines regional and national identities, and how communities are represented through patterns of consumption or deprivation. We will probe the tension between the role of certain foods as markers of cultural authenticity and the reality of cuisine as a historically dynamic, hybrid enterprise. We will investigate the connections of gender and class to food and its preparation, and study how the sharing of food affects human alliances. In short, we will be asking what it means to eat sushi.

Credit Exclusions: Credit is granted for a combined total of 17 credits elected in introductory biology.

A neuroscientist will lead a broad survey which critically explores scientific and religious views of life on Earth. Take this course if you want to learn the basics either about DNA and evolution or about religion and Christianity. Avoid this course if you wish to protect a traditional Christian or Islamic outlook from criticism and scrutiny.

Credit Exclusions: Credit is granted for a combined total of 17 credits elected in introductory biology.

A neuroscientist will lead a broad survey which critically explores scientific and religious views of life on Earth. Take this course if you want to learn the basics either about DNA and evolution or about religion and Christianity. Avoid this course if you wish to protect a traditional Christian or Islamic outlook from criticism and scrutiny.

This course will provide a critical examination of research and research-informed commentaries that aim to document and interpret that crisis. More specifically, we will explore a range of arguments that aim to define the state of Black masculinity and the social condition of African American men. These works will stimulate our effort to pose and answer questions about what, if anything, constitutes a condition of crisis of African American men and what needs to happen to and for them in order to improve their prospects in American society.

This seminar introduces first-year students to the intellectual community of social scientists working in the field of Afroamerican and African studies. The topic of the seminar varies term to term.

The Afro. The zoot suit. Hip Hop. Ma Rainey. Boondocks. Aretha Franklin. James Brown. Each of these cultural items is tied not only to personal taste or entertainment value but also to larger political and social issues around race. In this course, we will analyze Black expressive culture (such as in music, art, literature, and television) and Black everyday culture (such as through hair, fashion, and language), and seek answers to two broad questions: What is the relationship between Black culture and the Black freedom struggle? What is the relationship between “Black” culture and “American” culture?

Ancient Rome is said to have been a “mythless” society, but the dynamic stories of Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, Hercules, and Lucretia suggest otherwise. This course explores the meaning and making of myth in Rome relative to two facets of Roman culture: religion and history. What significance did Roman rituals attach to myth? How were myths used in accounts of the invention and reinvention of Rome as a state, a republic, and an imperial power ruled by one man?

Contemporary books and articles often evoke Rome as a comparison for Western society. This seminar investigates our society's desire to hold up Rome as a standard. What does Rome mean for us today, and how do popular references and representations in commentary, film, and television construct the Rome we need? How has this Rome changed from the Founding Fathers to today, and what is the role of historical fact in the process of civic imagination?

In this course we suggest that the idea of Africa was fabricated in classical antiquity by non-African peoples. We shall study this idea of Africa as it relates to questions of identity, race, and ethnicity, both ancient and present. Readings are selected from ancient and modern texts, and include Herodotus, Aristotle, Tacitus, Appiah, Said, Isaac, and Obama.

Welcome to the ride through the most diverse and wonderful literary and artistic era! This course is envisioned as a survey of the literary and artistic movements of the past century that will be introduced and placed in context with the historical developments that accompanied them. Departing from the wildest experimentations with language and form of the historical avant-gardes from the beginning of the century, our journey takes us through the post-WWII disillusionment of Theatre of the Absurd, all the way to postmodern fragmentation of text and image. Besides some of the most important names of the European and American literature and art, look for the many unexpected texts from the world’s “cultural peripheries,” intended to give a rounded idea of how the Western ideas in literature and art were disseminated to other parts of the globe. This is a truly comparative course that will expose students to a variety of genres, forms of expression, periods and cultures. Course materials include textual and visual materials. We will spend a lot of time in the reconstructed UM museum learning about the arts of the century. Requirements: regular class participation and reading, class presentation, midterm paper and a final project.

The course introduces first-year students to cultural studies in general and Dutch Studies in particular, integrating social, political, and economic history with literary renderings, and artistic representations of colonialism. The Netherlands has been an active participant in shaping the world as we know it, through mercantile and political involvement around the globe. The Dutch were colonizers of Indonesia and its many islands, founders of New Amsterdam/New York, traders in West Africa, first settlers in Capetown in South Africa, and the first trading partners with the Japanese. The Netherlands held colonial power over Suriname until 1975; other West Indies islands, i.e., Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao are still part of the Dutch Kingdom.

We will trace the origin and development of the Dutch expansion in the world, how countries were conquered and political systems were established. Mercantile gains as shown in the spice trade and the many aspects of the slave trade will be emphasized. The role of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), once called the world's largest multinational in the 17^th and 18^th century, will be examined. We will read from the vast body of Dutch literary works related to the East and West Indies, started as early as the 17^th century.

A course in the nature and technique of verbal communication (the literature of prose, fiction, poetry and drama) from the reader-writer's point of view. The text to be adopted is the new McGraw-Hill three-volume anthology of LITERATURE: CRAFT & VOICE, and since the professor is the co-editor thereof he will distribute the volume gratis on the first day of class. It has yet to be published and is in its nature experimental, so we will work out some of the strategies of presentation as we go along; equal attention will be paid to the three forms of discourse, and written work will be creative. When studying the sonnet form, for example, the assignment will be to write a sonnet; when reading the work of Jamaica Kincaid or Edward Albee, the assignment will be to compose a scene in their distinctive styles. The article of faith on which this course is based is that imitation is not merely the sincerest form of flattery, but also a good way to grow.

This seminar explores the human connection to the environment and the evolution of American attitudes toward the natural world as reflected in environmental literature. Understanding our connection to the world through the use of language enables us to examine our relationship with nature in various works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and film. In addition to exploring environmental literature and film, students attend environmental events on campus and write about their experience. By fostering a greater appreciation for our connection to the environment and attempting to reconcile our ambivalent attitudes toward nature, this seminar helps us define our place in the natural world.

Texts may include:

• Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire,
• Diane Ackerman’s The Moon by Whale Light,
• Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac,
• Ellen Meloy’s Eating Stone,
• Scott Momaday’s The Man Made of Words,
• Jack Turner’s The Abstract Wild.

Films may include: “Garbage Warrior,” “Waterbusters,” and “Trinkets and Beads.”

Contact Virginia Murphy with any questions: vemu@umich.edu

Inquiry into the fundamental changes occurring in the natural environment (including humans) and in human social systems and culture, to explore the question

"To what extent, in what ways and why are current trends in human impacts on the environment and social relations unsustainable/sustainable?"

The seminar will introduce the major contrasting responses being made to this question along with their differing scenarios of the future in terms of their visions, strategies, and examples of practices to be pursued.

Learning resources will be selected from four types of information:

1. scientific,
2. religious/spiritual,
3. documentation of innovative environmental, social (including economic and political) and technological practices and
4. personal experiences and commitments.

Religions to be considered include those of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples as well as world religions, e.g., Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The consideration of spirituality is based on individuals' experiences and recognition of "sacred" or "ultimate" realities that are variously understood and characterized.

Students will be asked to engage in interdisciplinary, seminar-based inquiry through reading and thinking critically, reflecting on and analyzing their own values, beliefs and practices, sharing the results of their own inquiries through discussions, writing, and presentations and by comparing and contrasting their own beliefs and ideas with others who have different backgrounds and current values, beliefs, and goals.

It is expected that students enrolling in this seminar will have differing backgrounds of knowledge and experience in relation to the environment, science, religion / spirituality, and unsustainability / sustainability. Both students with religious commitments are welcome as well as students who are agnostics, atheists or who would describe themselves as secular humanists, skeptics, and “undecided" or by some other name for their highest values and related belief systems and practices. This opportunity for participatory inquiry will require enrolled students to engage in respectful dialogue along with acceptance of people with backgrounds and present commitments and beliefs that are different from their own.

Credit Exclusions: No credit granted to those who have completed three of GEOSCI 105, 107, and 205. Those with credit for one of GEOSCI 105 and 107 may only elect GEOSCI 146 for two credits. Those with credit for GEOSCI 205, or both GEOSCI 105 and 107, may only elect GEOSCI 146 for one credit.

Two hundred million years ago the Earth's continents were joined together to form one gigantic super-continent, called Pangea. Plate tectonic forces broke Pangea apart and caused the continents to drift. We study the evidence for plate tectonics and the large-scale dynamics of the Earth's interior that is responsible for mountain building, earthquakes faulting, volcanic eruptions, changes in Earth's magnetic field and much more.

The course involves three hours of weekly meeting time and selected reading material. No background in Earth science is necessary. Evaluation is based on class participation, three exams, a series of student presentations on selected topics and written essays on the same subject.

Credit Exclusions: No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in GEOSCI 284. Those with credit for GEOSCI 109 may only elect GEOSCI 148 for 2 credits.

This seminar will focus on a wide spectrum of possible interactions between people and their physical environment. Fundamental principles important to the study of environmental geology will be presented followed by readings of case histories and discussions of selected environmental problems, in particular those of anthropogenic origin. Examples of topics discussed include issues related to global warming, energy (fossil fuels, nuclear energy), water resources (impacts of excessive groundwater withdrawal, allocation of surface water rights), radioactive waste disposal, and geological aspects of environmental health.

One of the most dramatic developments in the sciences is the suggestion that a meteorite impact caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. This controversial idea is one of many that will be addressed in this course, which deals broadly with the evolution and extinction of life on Earth. After an overview of the history of life, we will examine high-profile debates on whether major evolutionary events and mass extinctions occur gradually or catastrophically, whether dinosaurs are really extinct, and other topics.

Three books are required:

Title: On the Origin of Species
Author: Darwin, Charles
ISBN: 0140432051

Title: Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?
Author: Raup, David
ISBN: 0393309274

Title: The Meaning of Fossils
Author: Rudwick, Martin
ISBN: 0226731030

Survey of oceanography and the resources of the ocean. Consideration of conflicts arising from overexploitation and competing uses of the ocean and its resources.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, everything seemed new in the United States. Soon American artists, writers, political radicals, composers, dancers, and others began to explore new languages for coming to terms with modern times. Our seminar will explore some of the artistic and cultural experimentation of the first decades of the twentieth century and some of the questions the American Moderns grappled with in this period:

• should art deal with the facts of modern life or the realm of the spirit?
• Should it democratize its audience or challenge the few adventurous souls who were willing to take risks?
• Should it be national or universal?
• Does progress come through evolution or revolution?
• How would the "New Woman" and the "New Negro" reshape modern life in America?
• Would technology liberate or exploit?

Through readings and discussion of literature and cultural debate of the period as well as critical historical studies of the period's art and music we will seek to understand the world of the American moderns. Student research projects and presentations will involve hands-on work with original sources including objects at the University of Michigan Museum of Art as well as film.

Students will be asked to purchase several books in addition to using online readings.

The class includes a field trip on one long weekend in October to New York City to view an exhibition of Georgia O'Keeffe's abstractions plus other Modern sites. The field trip will require a co-pay of $150; limited financial assistance may be available on a case-by-case basis.

D. 4

Recent debates in France about citizenship, racism, the integration of religious minorities, and the legacy of the colonial past are often presented as a relatively new phenomenon, as if globalization's impact has only recently been felt in France. In fact, such debates have been a part of French culture since the beginning of the modern period, and the traces of these discussions are easily found in all aspects of French culture.

This course explores the way in which twentieth-century cinema treated the question of the French empire, both as a contemporary phenomenon, in the case of films made during the colonial period, and as a historical legacy, in the case of films made after most French colonies gained their independence. We will view a selection of films made by French filmmakers as well as several films made by directors from former French colonies. Selected films will include works of fiction as well as documentaries, and will be supplemented with readings about the history of French colonialism, colonial cinema, and 20th-century French popular culture.

The appearance of the Virgin Mary to Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830 marks the beginning of what is widely referred to in Catholic circles as the “Age of Mary.” Since then, Marian apparitions have proliferated at a rate unprecedented in the history of Christianity, transforming what was once a phenomenon witnessed by a privileged and pious few into public spectacles, often of a global scale. This course charts this transformation, using apparitions and miracles of the Virgin Mary worldwide as a historical lens through which we may understand several hallmarks of modernity: industrialization, secularism, nationalism, total war, the ascendancy of technology and the mass media, and the feminization of the supernatural. We ask whether miracles and apparitions of the Virgin Mary represent sites of resistance to modern conditions, or are an effect of them. We also examine how modern Marian apparitions have both shaped and reflected gender ideologies held by different cultures where Catholicism has taken root.

This seminar draws on a diversity of material, including primary sources, devotional texts, film, and other popular media. Of methodological concern is how one can read a variety of sources historically. Attendance at all sessions is mandatory, and students are expected to have done all required reading, produce and present weekly response papers, and participate in discussion. Final grades will be determined by the above, plus a final research paper on a relevant topic of the student’s choosing.

Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities would be a launching ground for how travel accounts between 1200 and 1650 envisaged and described cities their readers would never see. Readings could include: the travels of Marco Polo; crusader accounts; Franciscan, Dominican, and Jesuit narratives and letters; and Leo-Africanus’ Description of Africa. Utopian cities such as those conceived by Leonardo da Vinci, Calvin, and Thomas More would also be treated. Alongside the textual sources, the course would introduce students to the different traditions in map-making for the period (mappae-mundi, portolan charts, the influential maps of Jewish cartographers on the island of Majorca, and Islamic maps), making use of the excellent map collections in Hatcher and the Clements Library.

The Afro. The zoot suit. Hip Hop. Ma Rainey. Boondocks. Aretha Franklin. James Brown. Each of these cultural items is tied not only to personal taste or entertainment value but also to larger political and social issues around race. In this course, we will analyze Black expressive culture (such as in music, art, literature, and television) and Black everyday culture (such as through hair, fashion, and language), and seek answers to two broad questions: What is the relationship between Black culture and the Black freedom struggle? What is the relationship between “Black” culture and “American” culture?

This seminar explores the relations between biblical, midrashic and mystical texts and modern Jewish literature created from late 19th century until today. We will examine questions such as:

• What is the nature of Midrash and the mystical experience in Judaism, and how are they expressed in texts?
• Can we speak of modern Midrash or modern mysticism written within a secular context?
• How do modern Jewish writers employ biblical, rabbinic, and mystical language in forging modern subjectivity?
• In what ways religious Jewish figures, motifs, and narrative structures are being reread and rewritten?
• What is the role of gender in the process of retelling?

The readings include biblical, rabbinic, and kabalistic texts and a variety of modern Hebrew and Jewish narratives and poems.

Note: All texts are in English translation.

That America is a nation of immigrants is one of the most common yet truest statements. In this course we will survey a vast range of the American immigrant experience: that of the Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans, Koreans, and Japanese. Immigration to America can be broadly understood as consisting of four major waves: the first one, that which consisted of Northwest Europeans who immigrated up to the mid-19th century; the second one, that which consisted of Southern and Eastern Europeans at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th; the third one, the movement from the South to the North of Black Americans and Mexicans precipitated by two World Wars; and the fourth one, from 1965 on, is still ongoing in the present, of immigrants mostly from Latin America and Asia. At all times, our effort will be to understand the immigrant past of these ethnic groups, both for what it tells us about the past as well as their present and possible future.

Course requirements: The written requirements for this class consist of two written, in-class exams (one essay and some short answers) plus a book review (about 8 pages long) of a social science book on an immigrant/ethnic/racial group of the student’s choice.

This seminar explores the relations between biblical, midrashic and mystical texts and modern Jewish literature created from late 19th century until today. We will examine questions such as:

• What is the nature of Midrash and the mystical experience in Judaism, and how are they expressed in texts?
• Can we speak of modern Midrash or modern mysticism written within a secular context?
• How do modern Jewish writers employ biblical, rabbinic, and mystical language in forging modern subjectivity?
• In what ways religious Jewish figures, motifs, and narrative structures are being reread and rewritten?
• What is the role of gender in the process of retelling?

The readings include biblical, rabbinic, and kabalistic texts and a variety of modern Hebrew and Jewish narratives and poems.

Note: All texts are in English translation.

In recent years research about human language has more and more often found its way into the pages of Science and Nature, the world's two leading weekly journals of general science. This is a significant change in how human language is being investigated. Some of the topics covered include brain imaging, the study of language disorders, connections between paleobotany and the history of language families, and the application to historical linguistics of algorithms developed for inferring genetic phylogeny. By studying selected language-related reports from these journals, this seminar will examine this development and what it means for traditional boundaries dividing natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Teams of 2 or 3 students will be asked to investigate selected topics and present them clearly to the rest of the class. Visits will also be invited from UM faculty doing research at these disciplinary boundaries.

Can language be described mathematically? Is there any fundamental difference between human languages (English, Swahili, Anishinaabemowin, ...) and computer languages? Can we build a machine that genuinely speaks English? How does one invent a language (like Sindarin or Klingon) that has the ring of real language? What is Language? Can there be a science of language?

We will explore the mathematical concepts and techniques that have been developed by linguists, logicians, and computer scientists to model language. The mathematical toolbox includes things like finite- state and context-free grammars, logic, and probability theory. The focus will be on syntax (how sentences are put together) and semantics (what they mean).

No mathematical background is assumed beyond high school algebra. Enrollment is restricted to Honors students.

Credit Exclusions: No credit granted to those who have completed a 200-level or higher Mathematics course.

Introduces students to the science of constructing and attacking secret codes. An important goal is to present the mathematical tools — from combinatorics, number theory, and probability — that underlie cryptologic methods.

Background and Goals: This course is an alternative to MATH 185 as an entry to the Honors sequence. Students are expected to have previous experience with the basic concepts and techniques of first-semester calculus. The course stresses discovery as a vehicle for learning. Students will be required to experiment throughout the course on a range of problems and will participate each academic term in a group project.

Grades will be based on homework and projects with a strong emphasis on homework. Personal computers will be a valuable experimental tool in this course and students will be asked to learn to program in either BASIC, PASCAL or FORTRAN.

Content: This course gives a historical introduction to Cryptology and introduces a number of mathematical ideas and results involved in the development and analysis of secret codes. The course begins with the study of permutation-based codes: substitutional ciphers, transpositional codes, and more complex polyalphabetic substitutions. The mathematical subjects treated in this section include enumeration, modular arithmetic and some elementary statistics. The subject then moves to bit stream encryption methods. These include block cipher schemes such as the Data Encryption Standard. The mathematical concepts introduced here are recurrence relations and some more advanced statistical results. The final part of the course is devoted to public key encryption, including Diffie-Hellman key exchange, RSA and Knapsack codes. The mathematical tools come from elementary number theory.

Alternatives: MATH 115 (Calculus I), MATH 185 (Honors Calculus I), or MATH 295 (Honors Mathematics I).

Subsequent Courses: MATH 176 (Dynamical Systems and Calculus), MATH 186 (Honors Calculus II), or MATH 116 (Calculus II).

Credit Exclusions: No credit granted to those who have completed a 200-level or higher Mathematics course.

Introduces students to the science of constructing and attacking secret codes. An important goal is to present the mathematical tools — from combinatorics, number theory, and probability — that underlie cryptologic methods.

Background and Goals: This course is an alternative to MATH 185 as an entry to the Honors sequence. Students are expected to have previous experience with the basic concepts and techniques of first-semester calculus. The course stresses discovery as a vehicle for learning. Students will be required to experiment throughout the course on a range of problems and will participate each academic term in a group project.

Grades will be based on homework and projects with a strong emphasis on homework. Personal computers will be a valuable experimental tool in this course and students will be asked to learn to program in either BASIC, PASCAL or FORTRAN.

Content: This course gives a historical introduction to Cryptology and introduces a number of mathematical ideas and results involved in the development and analysis of secret codes. The course begins with the study of permutation-based codes: substitutional ciphers, transpositional codes, and more complex polyalphabetic substitutions. The mathematical subjects treated in this section include enumeration, modular arithmetic and some elementary statistics. The subject then moves to bit stream encryption methods. These include block cipher schemes such as the Data Encryption Standard. The mathematical concepts introduced here are recurrence relations and some more advanced statistical results. The final part of the course is devoted to public key encryption, including Diffie-Hellman key exchange, RSA and Knapsack codes. The mathematical tools come from elementary number theory.

Alternatives: MATH 115 (Calculus I), MATH 185 (Honors Calculus I), or MATH 295 (Honors Mathematics I).

Subsequent Courses: MATH 176 (Dynamical Systems and Calculus), MATH 186 (Honors Calculus II), or MATH 116 (Calculus II).

Science fiction and philosophy are deeply linked through their common use of "thought experiments." Our main goal will be to motivate and explore philosophical questions by appeal to thought experiments from important works of science fiction. We will read the novels Hyperion (Dan Simmons), The Ophiuchi Hotline (John Varley), and Manifold Time (Stephen Baxter), as well as a number of shorter works. Philosophical topics to be covered include skepticism about knowledge, anthropic reasoning, and personal identity, as well as ethical topics surrounding religious belief, cloning and human genetic engineering. Students will have the option to write a short piece of science fiction in fulfillment of the final essay requirement.

We will begin by considering some philosophical discussions of moral rights. We will then turn our attention to the conditions that ground these rights. We will focus, first, on the right to life. If anyone has this right, then we do. But are we the only ones? What about plants? nonhuman animals? humans with seriously compromised mental abilities? human fetuses? humans in a persistent vegetative state? In exploring these questions, we will also consider the more general right not to be harmed. We will finish up by asking whether there are things we can do to forfeit our moral rights — even our right to life. Assignments will include papers and one oral presentation.

This course examines moral dimensions of the University and its faculty, students, and staff in their roles as citizens of an academic community.  Our goal is to help students think about how to approach participation in this community and develop their deliberative competencies by questioning academic life and the University from moral and social standpoints.  We will organize our inquiries into three domains:  academic integrity; the University as an academic community; the University’s moral obligations as an institution.

What else is there in the universe besides stars? Why do we think there was a big bang? How big is a galaxy and how might they have formed? This course provides answers to such questions, stressing conceptual understanding and simple calculational problem solving.

New student orientations serve an important role in introducing you to campus and the town, showing you how to sign up for classes, providing you with valuable informational resources, and offering you some diversions and opportunities for meeting other incoming students. You may have also gotten an hour or two on study skills, money management, and the important issue of diversity and justice.

This course is not intended as a continuation of your orientation to campus and college life. Instead, this course is intended to fill a gap in knowledge and skill development that goes beyond any course you might take, any concentration you might declare, or any vocation or career you decide to pursue. In short, this course aims to develop the knowledge and skills you may find useful for managing your studies and intelligence, your social connections, and more generally for pursuing valued goals despite the inherent distractions associated with college and life in general.

If you are interested in learning about yourself and others (both the good and the less good), growing, giving help and asking for help, and working hard and enjoying effort, this course may be of interest to you. If you’re more interested in just earning a good grade and doing the minimal work to earn that grade, then this is not the course for you.

Throughout time and across cultures twins have been a source of special fascination, and recently as the rate of twining has increased, practical issues regarding twin’s development demands greater attention. This seminar will examine the experience and lessons of twinship. During the first portion of this seminar we will examine how being a twin, and how raising twins, affects twins’ identity and relationships, and what this, and the metaphors of twinship (e.g., good vs. evil, life options, symmetry, and soul mates, etc.) found in literature and film, teach us about identity and relationships in general. During the second portion of this seminar we will examine behavior genetics research involving twins. We will consider how these data help us to disentangle effects of heredity and environment and gain an understanding of effects of nature and nurture.

The seminar will begin with an overview of the context of twining across time and culture. In particular, the variety of rates of twining, and beliefs about twins, will be considered. We will then investigate how being conceived and experiencing each developmental milestone with another individual affects one’s sense of self and identity and one’s relationships. Finally, we will examine how scientists have utilized the natural variance in genes and environment between identical and fraternal twins, siblings, and unrelated individuals who have been raised either together or apart to disentangle effects of nature and nurture on development and aging. By the end of the course students should have a better appreciation of the uniqueness of growing up as a twin, how this experience affects one’s identity and one’s relationships, and how twin development and aging illuminates development and aging in general. In addition, the ways in which both our genes and environment affect our biology, behavior, and thought will be elucidated.

The course involves a heavy workload and relies extensively on a course web site. All assignments are described on the web site and are to be submitted through it. The web site also contains topic outlines, links to relevant readings and research materials, and places for student discussion. It is essential that all students do reading and writing assignments before the class in which they are covered. Students also are expected to participate actively in class discussion. Class sessions will mostly involve student discussion, but will also include instructor lecture, group work, student presentations, and videos. Grades will be based on the number of points accumulated by completing assignments and exams and participating in class and web discussions.

This seminar will study the relationship between law and psychology within a general framework. We will examine a number of real cases that have been covered by the popular press (e.g., the trial of Lorena Bobbitt) as well as some fictional accounts (e.g., Grisham's A Time to Kill) with regard to how the law defines the limits of personal responsibility. We will also discuss the psychological import of legal issues such as the insanity defense, and battered wife syndrome. Each student will write a weekly commentary as well as a "closing argument" that will be presented to the class for one of the cases under consideration.

When people leave the University of Michigan upon graduation, in what ways are they different from when they began? How does university life influence your marriage, your income, and most importantly (for this course) your thinking skills? How can you change the way you proceed through the university (from choosing your major, courses, and sleep habits) that can improve your chances for learning and success?

The primary goal of this course is to learn about the psychology of learning and thinking in the context of the university.

• How long do your memories last?
• What factors influence how well and for how long you will learn information?
• How will your thinking change as you progress through the university?
• Are some people better at learning than others?
• How much does effort/practice play a role in how much you learn?
• How do alcohol, drugs, anxiety, sleep, hormones, etc., affect how well you learn and think?

At the same time, we will evaluate in considerable detail the implications of the psychology of learning and thinking for our own learning and thinking (and, perhaps, of one's students and children if one becomes a teacher or parent). Thus, we will systematically examine through both empirical group projects and class activities and discussions, how what we might know about learning might mean for ourselves.

As a secondary goal, we will consider how the university as a whole works, and how university policies and university life affect you.

If we are truly successful in this course, you will have a fairly sizable body of knowledge about the psychology of thinking and learning, you will have learned to critically read and evaluate research on the psychology of thinking and learning, and you might even become better thinkers and learners. At the same time, you will understand something about the university and how it works.

This course will explore how influences from the family and social context help to develop who you are and where you are today. We will discuss how socialization experiences across childhood, adolescence and into adulthood may be important to how you think of yourself today and into the future. How you (the self) are also important to this process will be examined. We will investigate these concepts through reading both scholarly work as well as novels, keeping journals about reflective thoughts from the readings, doing tasks to examine various family and social influences, and interviews of family members and important mentors in your life to reflect on events or influences that might have changed your life trajectory.

This course will explore the connection between education/learning and issues of social justice. We will consider the ways in which the structure of American education systematically discriminates against racial, gender, religious, and social class groups. The class will also examine the impact of this discrimination on social, academic, and psychological development.

This course will explore how gender influences construction of the self and how we understand our own and others' emotions. Taught from a social justice perspective, this class will explore psychologically, socially and morally complex issues surrounding gender identity, transsexualism, sexual orientation, and relationships. Students will examine their own beliefs and experiences as well as become familiar with basic controversies in this area.

This first-year seminar for Honors students addresses the topic of what makes life worth living. The course will draw on psychology as well as allied work in philosophy, political science, organizational studies, public health, and education. The course will entail a discussion format; readings from original sources; out-of-class exercises; a service learning project; and class presentations by students at the end of the academic term on topics of their own choosing.

This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the nature of conscious and unconscious mental processes in various types of human cognition and action, including perception, memory, thinking, and behavior broadly construed. We will take an eclectic approach in our exploration, encompassing points of view found in disciplines such as psychology, neurophysiology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, and medical practice. Both normal and altered states of consciousness (e.g., sleep, dreaming, meditation, hypnosis, and hallucination) will be considered from these perspectives.

This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the nature of conscious and unconscious mental processes in various types of human cognition and action, including perception, memory, thinking, and behavior broadly construed. We will take an eclectic approach in our exploration, encompassing points of view found in disciplines such as psychology, neurophysiology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, and medical practice. Both normal and altered states of consciousness (e.g., sleep, dreaming, meditation, hypnosis, and hallucination) will be considered from these perspectives.

What is evil? Why do people hurt each other? Why do people often choose killing and cruelty over caring and compassion? In this course, we will examine how the cognitive and emotional processes of the brain contribute to violence, cruelty, and other forms of evil behavior. We will consider how biological and psychological factors interact with an individual's social context and environment to generate evil behavior. Our discussions will include psychological, psychiatric, neurological, and evolutionary perspectives.

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, belongs to those European cities that fascinate as unique historical amalgams whose composition defies disciplinary boundaries. The course traces Prague’s history, culture, architecture, the symbiosis of ethnic groups within its walls, and its current spirit. Topics include Prague as: a medieval city; the center of religious reformation; the center of arts and science, but also alchemy and black magic, in the early modern times; an architectural project of the baroque period; a center of the Czech nationalist revival; a center of music; the city of Jews; and last but not least — the showcase of modernism in the twentieth century. We will read literature inspired by Prague, including Neruda, Kafka, and Apollinaire; study visual documents; and watch films including Paul Wegener’s Golem.

Did young Jewish men and women fall in love in the old days? What was the place of love in traditional Jewish society? How did ideas about love, romance, and marriage change with time?

We will address these and other important questions about Jewish life by looking closely at a series of stories written in Yiddish in the 19th and 20th centuries in Russia, Poland, and America. We will explore the ways Yiddish writers portrayed romantic feelings, study their literary techniques and devices, and create our own interpretations of their works. We will read and discuss stories by the classic authors of Yiddish literature — Mendele Moykher Sforim, Sholem Aleichem, and Y.L. Peretz — as well as by their younger followers and opponents, including Dovid Bergelson, Sholem Asch, Y. Singer, Rokhl Korn, Kadya Molodowsky. We will also look at visual representations of love in art and cinema.

The region of the Balkans includes Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Named during the centuries-long Ottoman occupation, the region has politically been defined as the periphery of civilized Europe.

Through the literary renditions and theoretical elaborations of myths created in the region, as well as those created about the region by the Western literature, film industry, and in the recent years, media, we will delve into the problematics of identity, ethnicity, gender, body, memory, totalitarianism, violence, exile, and the gaze. Simultaneous with our mythical journey through history will be our historical journey through myth, as we follow the development of pertinent mythical themes from classical antiquity to modern times. Central to our discussion will be the key metaphor of the Balkans as a bridge between East and West

PRIMARY TEXTS:

• Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina (Yugoslavia, 1945, Nobel Prize 1961);
• Ismail Kadare, The Three-Arched Bridge (Albania, 1978);
• Rhea Galanaki, The Life of Ismail Ferik Pasha (Greece, 1989);
• Orhan Pamuk, White Castle (Turkey, 1985);
• B. Wongar, Raki (Australia, 1994).

OTHER READINGS: Select poetry and short fiction by the following authors: Constantine Cavafy, Odysseus Elytis (Nobel Prize, 1979) (Greece), Marin Sorescu, Lucian Blaga (Romania), Nâzim Hikmet (Turkey), Elisaveta Bagryana (Bulgaria), Danilo Kiš (Yugoslavia).

FILMS:

• Ulysses’ Gaze (Theo Angelopoulos, Greece, 1995),
• Before the Rain (Milčo Mančevski, Macedonia, 1994), and
• The Time of Gypsies (Emir Kusturica, Yugoslavia, 1989).

This course examines Russian picaresque humor, satire, fantasy, and science fiction in the 19th and 20th centuries surveyed against the background of world literature and folklore. Readings include Gogol’s Dead Souls, Ehrenburg’s Julio Jurenitj; A.N. Tolstoy’s Garin’s Death Ray; Il’f and Petrov’s Twelve Chairs, Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Babel’s My First Fee, and more. Lectures, students’ presentations, and discussion. Grade based on papers, midterm reports, and final essay. No knowledge of Russian or background in Russian literature required.

An introduction to the sociological study of inequality through an analysis of three of its fundamental dimensions — class, race and gender. The course will explore how each of the three dimensions of inequality is related to the development of modern capitalist society as described by Marx and Weber. The course will provide an introduction to basic concepts in class analysis, to contemporary issues in feminist theories of gender, and to recent work on the social construction of race. It will also trace both the similarities and differences among the three dimensions, their relationship to one another and to the underlying dynamics of capitalist modernity.

Texts include Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting Buy in America; Richard Feldman and Michael Beltzold, End of the Line: Autoworkers and the American Dream; Susan Kessler and Wendy McKenna, Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach; Oyeronke, Oyewumi, The Invention of Women; Joe Feagin and Melvin Sikes, Living with Racism: The Black Middle Class Experience; Ron Takaki, Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth Century America, as well as selected readings from Marx and Weber.

That America is a nation of immigrants is one of the most common yet truest statements. In this course we will survey a vast range of the American immigrant experience: that of the Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans, Koreans, and Japanese. Immigration to America can be broadly understood as consisting of four major waves: the first one, that which consisted of Northwest Europeans who immigrated up to the mid-19th century; the second one, that which consisted of Southern and Eastern Europeans at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th; the third one, the movement from the South to the North of Black Americans and Mexicans precipitated by two World Wars; and the fourth one, from 1965 on, is still ongoing in the present, of immigrants mostly from Latin America and Asia. At all times, our effort will be to understand the immigrant past of these ethnic groups, both for what it tells us about the past as well as their present and possible future.

Course requirements: The written requirements for this class consist of two written, in-class exams (one essay and some short answers) plus a book review (about 8 pages long) of a social science book on an immigrant/ethnic/racial group of the student’s choice.

This seminar will explore a wide range of issues on social identities, intergroup relations, social change, and notions of community, justice, and everyday democracy. It will examine the possibilities for building community across race, gender and class as students explore their own racial and other social group identities.

• How do we have constructive conversations and dialogue about our different perspectives, beliefs, experiences, and backgrounds?
• How do we develop the practice of civic engagement, including a commitment to social change and the skills of boundary-crossing to build a strong democracy in our schools, neighborhoods, cities, and governments?
• To what extent do the American ideals and its democratic principles continue to provide a bond for our society in the face of growing social divisions and inequities?

Students from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to enroll in this seminar, bringing personal experience and perspective to enrich the discussion of theoretical readings. All students are expected to participate actively in class discussions, read carefully, and write extensively. Students will participate in a number of engaging intergroup dialogue exercises and community-based activities, including a university-community film/discussion series, a visit to city council, etc.

This class is designed specifically to introduce you to the field of sociology through the study of two societies that are of deep concern to us at the moment, one because we live in it and the other because we fight in it: namely, the American and Iraqi societies. The purpose of the course is to gain insight into how to approach and analyze sociologically the American and Iraqi societies that are alternately portrayed as being structurally and culturally very different from one another on the one hand, yet very similar to one another on the other.

Emphasizes problem solving and modeling related to games, gambling and coincidences, touching on many fundamental ideas in discrete probability, finite Markov chains, dynamic programming and game theory.

Credit Exclusions: No credit to those who have completed or are enrolled in SOC 210, IOE/STATS 265, STATS 350, 400, 412, ECON 404, ECON/STATS 405, or ENVIRON/NRE 438.

The course establishes techniques for determining whether relationships between variables, particularly intervention and outcome variable, exist in the sense that the appearance of an association can't be explained by chance. The course formalizes and extends the set of phenomena that can be numerically represented in a way as to permit these modes of analysis. This is done in the interest of making predictions and judgments, particularly about what hypotheses are and are not supported by a set of data and to what extent the data support them. It introduces general perspectives from the field of Statistics to a broad audience of lower-division students.

Can you really make statistics say anything you want? Yes and no. Some common statistical comparisons are susceptible to coercion, but there are others that can be trusted to tell the truth. We explore their differences, using examples from the social and medical sciences and cutting-edge computing and graphical techniques.

Is it fair to compare As to Bs without also adjusting for other potentially important variables? (Often it isn't, but sometimes it is.) What do graphs contribute to statistical comparisons? (Some merely heighten statistical illusions; others can be uniquely illuminating.) How should we interpret claims to having found "significant" differences? (Often, very differently than how those making the claims would like us to.) The course will engage with these questions as they arise in economics, medicine, and politics, among other fields, as well as in aspects of student life, and it will leverage modern computing tools and an inductive approach to pedagogy to engage them in an unusually conceptual way. By the end of the course, students will be well-versed in new ways to leverage computing and graphics to reveal structure in data as well as traditional principles of using data to draw conclusion.

The course will be divided into 4 segments: 1) dichotomous & categorical Data; 2) quantitative data; 3) observational comparisons of groups; and 4) a capstone.

1. Dichotomous & Categorical Data

   Using statistical data of the simplest kinds, we introduce several themes of the course: presenting meaningful and relevant summaries; connecting numeric and visual descriptions; recognizing and avoiding fallacies and deceptions; chance versus systematic differences between groups; the distinction between active and passive observation; causal inference from experiments.

   Topics:
   • Fisher's test for everyday experiments, as elaborated with Wardrop's "skeptic vs. advocate" scheme
   • Simulation associated with Fisher's test
   • Summarizing categorical variables one or a few at a time, using traditional graphs, such as bar graphs, informatively colored maps, and modem graphs, including spine plots and mosaic plots.
   • Introduction to "Mondrian" software for making these plots and for efficient summary of variables
   • Critical appraisal of use of graphics in the media
   • Measurement validity

   Text: R.L. Wardrop (1995) Statistics: Learning in the Presence of Variation, chapters 1-7,

   Project: conduct, analyze and write up an experiment.

2. Quantitative Data

   Without introducing new concerns to study design or to statistical inference, quantitative data call for more sophisticated plots and summary measures, as well as more judgment in the choice of plots and summaries.

   Topics:

   • Summarizing quantitative data numerically, via measures of location and spread
   • Building intuition for these measures; additional critical appraisal of use of graphics in the media
   • Graphical and permutation-based assessments of bivariate association (Buja & Cook 1999, Buja, J. Comp. Graph. Stat. 2004)
   • Permutation tests for comparison of two groups on a measurement variable

Text: N. Maxwell (2004) Data Matters: conceptual statistics for a random world, Key College Publishing, Emeryville CA; chapters 6-8.

Project: Descriptive analysis project, in small groups, with oral presentation.

3. Observational comparisons of groups

   Non-experimental comparisons occupy a spectrum between highly trustworthy and highly fallible. This course segment treats locating and improving a comparison's position on this spectrum, emphasizing conceptual over technical issues.

   Topics:
   • Simpson's paradox
   • Stratified comparisons
   • Direct standardization
   • Simultaneous graphical comparison of groups along several variables
   • Propensity score stratification and matching (as time permits)

4. Capstone

   The final segment ties the sections of the course together. Case studies are used to show how statistical evidence of various kinds, from various sources, can be assembled into a persuasive whole, despite imperfections of each of the parts. In particular, these case studies will illustrate effective uses of the logic of experimentation and of descriptive analysis.

Intended audience: This will be a First-Year Seminar intended for freshmen with interests in statistics, computing or mathematics, and making sense of data in the health, public policy, and social science sciences.

Course Requirements: Two projects, involving data collection and data analysis, with write-up; quizzes; and problem sets.

Class Format: 3 hours a week in seminar format.

This course is distinguished by its use of hands-on, participatory approaches to learning, by its substantial component of descriptive and graphical statistics, and by its narrow and conceptually-focused treatment of statistical inference. Rather than preparing students in specific techniques they may be likely to encounter in later courses, it offers an introduction to general ideas of statistical inference and to specific methods of exploratory analysis and data display.

See UC 150 for description.

Issues of human sexuality and gender are explored from many perspectives including historical, cross-cultural, religious, and physiological. All people are sexual throughout their lives, although the expression of our sex and gender is one of the most diverse and controversial areas in personal and public arenas. The diversities of biological sex, gender identity, gender roles, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and sexual behavior and the interplay among them are presented and reinforced through readings, exercises, videos, guest speakers, and weekly written assignments. We will discuss sexual difficulties such as infertility, STDs, sexual dysfunction, and sexual victimization along with prevention and treatment strategies. We will examine social and political issues such as civil rights for sexual minorities, sex and the law, date rape, pornography, the impact of AIDS, public and private morality.

Issues especially relevant for students are explored, including:

• choice of sexual partners and behaviors
• the influence of drugs, alcohol, and smoking on sexual function and sexual decision-making
• sexual values and religious attitudes toward sex, and
• the wide range of possible lifestyles from celibacy to polyamory to paraphilias.

The course requires access to the Internet and uses a variety of Web-based resources and communication modes, as well as a textbook and readings from various journals. Weekly short papers and a semester project are required. Opportunities for help with developing presentation skills are available.

We study the development of medicine as a science and how the perception of it has been changed through the media. Students explore their own beliefs about medicine through literature such as The House of God, The Intern Blues, The Double Helix and movies and television series such as the Story of Louis Pasteur, The Hospital, Medic, Ben Casey, Marcus Welby, M.D., ER, and Saint Elsewhere, as well as more recent offerings such as John Q, House, and Grey's Anatomy. Much of the course focuses on the discussion of ethical issues and the crystallization of students' own beliefs about medicine in the 20th century.

This service-learning course explores the dynamics of formal and informal education in urban setting through traditional coursework integrated with personal reflection and community involvement. We will study the effects of social history and culture on the life prospects of children and youth. Students will work closely with members of the community and program staff to observe and document beliefs and practices that shape social identity and expectations. This course is intended for students with an interest in teaching, or urban and community studies, or both.

As an integral part of this course, students will be placed as tutors at a Detroit school beginning the week following the first class. This is a commitment of four hours per week (including travel time from campus). Students must be able to participate during one of the following time slots: Monday 8-12 (secondary); Tuesday 2-6 (elementary); Wednesday 8-12 (secondary); Thursday 9-1 (elementary); or Thursday 2-6 (elementary).

Students will examine the development of dentistry from its origins to its present status as a scientifically-driven health care discipline. Students will evaluate critically how science has influenced the development of dentistry as a discipline for the past century and explore how emerging scientific disciplines are likely to change the practice of dentistry in the next millennium.

Please attend every session if possible. If you are unable to attend a class, please email me beforehand. This is not a lecture course with a final written exam. Students will be expected to participate in class discussions, ask questions, and offer opinions.

Indeed this is the age of scientific discovery! With each passing day, knowledge in the life sciences is increasing exponentially in many areas, including stem cell biology, patterns of birth defects, and the phenomena of aging, dying and death. This new information, while important to human health, surfaces the complex and intertwining issues of ethics and values that will be of special consideration in this seminar. Each of the daily learning modules and discussion topics laid out in a course “blueprint” is designed to expand current thinking and personal experiences on the “risks and benefits” between world of scientific discovery and its impact on human health and society.

Biological Perspectives. The “organizational plan” of the human body serves as a keystone as we probe the interplay of genes, cells, morphogenesis, and the environment in which we live. Myriad biological advances will be considered, including such examples as:

1. Birth defects and population patterns
2. Phenomena of aging, dying, and death
3. Stem cells in biology and health

This last topic alone opens up a world of biological concepts and principles that can influence our understanding of how the human body — YOUR human body — is shaped prior to birth and throughout life. Thus, "life inside the box."

Ethical and Societal Perspectives. However stimulating "life inside the box" may be, that is not the whole story! In the excitement of so many dramatic scientific advances over the last ten years, efforts to understand the ethical implications have not kept pace. It is vital that researchers and clinicians be aware of and sensitive to the legal, cultural, and societal issues spawned by their work. What is society (nationally and internationally) asking for on principles and policies that should be in place to guide further research and application of such discoveries? Addressing this question focuses our attention on those environmental events occurring outside biology laboratories and outside our own human bodies. Thus, "life outside the box.”

Examples of key experiences in UC 154 include: open sharing of ideas and information on issues and priorities in biological and health care research; open class discussions on readings from a select text and from select case studies; and open sharing of ideas on strategies for information collection and assessment needed to guide the preparation of a required research paper on a topic of a student’s own interest as related to the course scope.

This course studies representations of the female figure in the visual arts throughout history, concentrating on the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. We will consider feminist theories about the production and reception of works of art in relation to issues of authorship, subject matter, social environment, and the actual processes of representation. The course introduces students to the fundamentals of looking at works of art, paying particular attention to the capacity of a work of art to gender spectatorship. In conjunction with the LS&A’s Fall 2009 theme semester, “Meaningful Objects: Museums in the Academy,” the seminar will emphasize first-hand study of original works of art in the University of Michigan Museum of Art and other university collections. A field trip may be organized to the Detroit Institute of Arts or the Toledo Museum of Arts (a student co-pay is included in the estimated total cost of course materials).

D. 4

The appearance of the Virgin Mary to Catherine Labouré in Paris in 1830 marks the beginning of what is widely referred to in Catholic circles as the “Age of Mary.” Since then, Marian apparitions have proliferated at a rate unprecedented in the history of Christianity, transforming what was once a phenomenon witnessed by a privileged and pious few into public spectacles, often of a global scale. This course charts this transformation, using apparitions and miracles of the Virgin Mary worldwide as a historical lens through which we may understand several hallmarks of modernity: industrialization, secularism, nationalism, total war, the ascendancy of technology and the mass media, and the feminization of the supernatural. We ask whether miracles and apparitions of the Virgin Mary represent sites of resistance to modern conditions, or are an effect of them. We also examine how modern Marian apparitions have both shaped and reflected gender ideologies held by different cultures where Catholicism has taken root.

This seminar draws on a diversity of material, including primary sources, devotional texts, film, and other popular media. Of methodological concern is how one can read a variety of sources historically. Attendance at all sessions is mandatory, and students are expected to have done all required reading, produce and present weekly response papers, and participate in discussion. Final grades will be determined by the above, plus a final research paper on a relevant topic of the student’s choosing.