This course introduces Guests to the art of travel writing, exploring stories that capture the wonder, humor, and challenge of journeys around the globe. Through short readings, discussions, and creative reflections, Guests will discover how travel writing blends fact and imagination while connecting with their own travel memories and dreams. 

We start each week's class with an in-class writing exercise centered on a specific writing concept introduced by the instructor. Following this, everyone shares their work aloud. We then present our at-home writing, which can include a variety of genres such as lighthearted or serious prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and essays—all are encouraged. The session concludes with a supportive critique process providing constructive feedback and encouragement in a safe environment. 

This course introduces classic science fiction stories and novellas that imagine the future of humanity, technology, and outer space. Guests will read works by authors such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke, discussing how science fiction reflects both the hopes and fears of its time and what they are saying in our present. 

This course will examine collective and individual acts of resistance characters take to persevere towards a state of moral fairness in modern translated literature from South Korea, Iran, Nigeria, Japan, and Mexico. Each story will focus on moral conflicts like risking one’s well being in a fight they can never win, insisting on one’s right to human dignity when their identity is disparaged, and self-actualization in spite of one’s loved ones. We will examine the way international literature represents these stories and how their characters take action to resist. 

We love to love, and we love to have front-row seats to the romantic pursuits of our friends, celebrities, and random strangers in our social sphere. Can the nation’s reaction of equal parts excitement and disdain over Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s engagement explain society’s love-hate relationship with romance novels? Two-dimensional characters and obvious, repetitive story lines lead many to disengage with or avoid romance novels while others treasure the experience. In this course, we will dig into the so-called “trash” and examine how the popularity of certain tropes might speak to more than just entertainment in modern, historical, and fantastical romantic literature. 

This course explores short stories and folktales from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, focusing on universal themes of love, loss, and hope. Learners will compare their travel experiences with cultural perspectives while discovering common human threads. Each session integrates storytelling with travel-inspired activities, sparking lively discussion, personal reflection, and shared cultural exploration.