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This two-module series introduces friends who are ready to try writing to some tools of the craft. Nearly a century ago, Dorothea Brande wrote Becoming a Writer — a guide to discovering writing that really hasn’t been outdone since! We use Brande’s guidance, journaling, writing experiments, and writing prompts to discover the individual student’s optimal writing conditions and strengths as well as to develop their repertoire of skills and techniques. The cohort will build trust in each other and the always-supportive Collaborative Feedback Method as they optionally share their pieces and read encouragingly for each other. Module 1 Week 1: Ourselves and Our Dreams; the Writing Journal Week 2: I want your story to THRIVE Week 3: I like, I notice, I wonder Week 4: Conditions of Excellence Module 2 Week 5: Story Development Week 6: Story 2 Week 7: Make it your own! Week 8: Story 3 [show less]

This module dives into K-Pop Demon Hunters as both a pop culture phenomenon and rich site of critical inquiry. Blending fandom, performance, media industries, K-Pop culture, aesthetics, and myth, the course asks: what does it mean when idol culture meets demon lore? How do K-pop’s global circuits of production and fandom intersect with anime conventions, East Asian mythologies, and transnational media flows? Students will study the series as text, brand, and cultural event—moving beyond hype to examine the structures, production practices, and myths that make it compelling. The module combines accessible theory and film analysis with lively discussion, close reading, and collaborative analysis. Guest scholars in East Asian Studies and Anime Studies will offer focused perspectives on mythology, media mix strategies, and cross-cultural adaptation. This class is rigorous but playful—an experiment in taking fun seriously, and there's no need for any experience in any of these areas to take this course. *Note: Please make sure you watch the film before this module starts. [show less]

How do films tell stories — not just through dialogue and plot, but through images, sound, and structure? This short course introduces students to the language of cinema, exploring how film techniques such as framing, editing, mise-en-scène, sound design, and performance work together to create meaning. Through close analysis of carefully selected clips, students will develop the tools to “read” a film, learning about the choices that shape interpretation and audience response. Taught by Maggie Parke, whose work engages deeply with adaptation and visual storytelling, the course will draw on popular examples including The Fellowship of the Ring as our central case study piece, other well-known adaptations, and also original screen stories. We will examine how cinematic language transforms narrative across mediums. This class is designed for students from any background, and it is a viewing and discussion-based course offering an accessible yet rigorous introduction to film analysis, sharpening both critical insight and appreciation for the craft of storytelling on screen. *Note: Since this module is about visual interpretation of a scene, parts of it may not be accessible for visual/sight or hearing impaired. [show less]

Fairy Tales enchant us; they remind us to take a fresh view on daily life; and while many Andersen's tales are filled with sorrow, their beautiful and vivid imagery never ceases to amaze us. We will examine the works of Hans Christian Andersen from the perspective of creative writers, learning from this timeless storyteller. In one meeting, Pilar Barrera will lift up Andersen’s tales which demonstrate different themes or specifics of his craft. Then students work on their own stories, learning by experimenting with Andersen’s techniques. In the following meeting, Sparrow Alden will facilitate a workshop-style discussion of our original tale-telling work; we'll encourage one another as writers and appreciate one another as readers, then the cycle repeats. Our goal is to complete the month with a deeper appreciation for the tales we all love and a folder with one to four good drafts of original tales. Week One: Andersen’s Classic Tales & Writers’ Workshop Week Two: Andersen’s Tales of Personification & Writers’ Workshop Week Three: Andersen’s Larger than Life Themes & Writers’ Workshop Week Four: Andersen’s Darker Side & Writers’ Workshop Note: For more information about the supportive Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE Creative Writing, please check out our video here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdMBlxIRvA4) [show less]

"Christmas Gothic" is a literary subgenre and aesthetic that embraces the dark, eerie, and supernatural side of the winter holiday season. Stories in this mode might contain ghosts, dark fairies, magical objects, orphans, old mansions, Victorian-era dread, or the pagan roots of Midwinter and Yule. A number of these texts are aimed at young readers, or feature young protagonists. Whether it's the dark of winter or a bright summer day, any time is an excellent time to begin a journey into these mysterious and well-told tales. [show less]

Focusing on The War of the Rohirrim, this module examines adaptation across mediums, cultures, and cinematic traditions. Students will analyze the film as an anime production, exploring its creators, aesthetic conventions, and cultural context, while also tracing its roots in Tolkien’s writings and Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth films. Emphasis will be placed on animation as a storytelling tool, character construction, visual language, and the challenges of expanding a mythic world through a new artistic form. [show less]

Unlock the secrets of medieval buildings—real and imagined! Step into a world of soaring cathedrals, fortified castles, sacred wells, and the fantastical architecture of Chaucer’s imagination. In this course, we’ll explore how medieval structures were built, used, and imagined, learning to “read” their stories, symbolism, and hidden messages. From dramatic sieges to miraculous springs, from intricate stained glass to impossible fictional spaces, you’ll gain the tools to explore medieval architecture on your own, uncovering the stories that these remarkable buildings have been telling for centuries. Session 1: The Temple of Solomon and Heavenly Jerusalem Session 2: The Temple of Solomon and Heavenly Jerusalem Session 3: Under Siege Session 4: Chaucer’s murals and the Italian Trecento: Chaucer's The Knight’s Tale, Session 5: Chaucer’s The House of Fame Session 6: Reading Stained Glass at Chartres Session 7: Sacred Wells and their Shrines Session 8: Reading St. Mary’s Church in Iffley, Oxfordshire [show less]

Descend into the medieval ‘Dark Zone,’ a world beneath the surface where dragons coil, cave-witches curse, and the earth itself becomes a site of danger, revelation, and transformation. This course plunges into the rich subterranean imagination of Old and Middle English literature, tracing caves, hollows, and underground spaces from the tenth through the sixteenth century. Moving between sweeping thematic frameworks and analytical close reading, we will examine how caves function as mythic thresholds, spiritual testing grounds, and spaces of exile, prophecy, and refuge. Through attentive readings of canonical and lesser-known texts, students will discover how medieval writers used the underground to think through fear, faith, gender, power, and the limits of the known world. Session 1: Let’s go spelunking! Plato’s Republic, Jung and more Session 2: Primordial ‘Earth halls’ in Old English poetry Session 3: Subterranean worlds in Beowulf Session 4: Arthurian Caves Session 5: Mapping Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's Green Chapel Session 6: Saturn’s “derke cote”: occult caves in Chaucer’s poetry Session 7: Anchorites and cave-witches Session 8: Wookey Hole: a case study of a cave, history, and cultural imagination through time [show less]

This module provides a broad survey of Oz's remarkable longevity as a franchise over the 20th and 21st centuries. We will discuss how Oz operates as a quintessentially American fairy tale that, like all fairy tales, is ripe for reinterpretation by each new generation. Session 1: Introduction to L. Frank Baum and the Oz franchise/The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900) Session 2: Bringing Oz to the big screen — The Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming, 1939) Section 3: Ozas 1970s Musical Extravaganza -- The Wiz (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1978) Section 4: Ozas 1980s Dark Fantasy -- iReturn to Oz (dir. Walter Murch, 1985) Session 5: Ozas Literary Fiction -- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire Session 6: OzReinterpreted for the 21st Century: Wicked — Part One (dir. John Chu, 2024) Session 7: OzReinterpreted for the 21st Century, continued: Wicked — For Good (dir. John Chu, 2025) Session 8: Ozas American mythology — screening clips of other Ozadaptations not previously covered, as we discuss the question "What makes Oz so pervasive in American culture?" [show less]