Ab SchMaybe you’re searching for an easy course to fulfill your arts credits, or maybe you’re still searching for a reason to be in university (is playing video games or watching Netflix a major?). Either way, there’s some pretty cool, random, fun courses offered at the U of A that you might not know exist, but you should.
HECOL 211: Human Sexuality
Yes, this is the sex toy class. It’s a popular course that’s full or nearly full every year, even if it’s an 8:00 a.m. lecture. That’s a whole other kind of dedication to sex. God damn millennials with their morning Americanos stumbling into ECHA to satisfy their obsession with sex (it was full the year I tried to take it, otherwise I would have been right there with the rest of you). Of course, it’s more than just sex toys — it’s about contraception, STIs, “atypical sexual variations,” and the commercialization of sex, to name a few. It’s a 200 person lecture that staggers its enrolment dates on BearTracks to monitor and filter the students who need the class from the students who simply want the class. At this moment, three spots are still available in, you guessed it, the 8:00 a.m. lecture for this semester. So, when you show up to your first week of classes this week and realize Math 115 isn’t for you, hop on BearTracks and see if you can still jump on one of those last spots.
RELIG 274: Studies in Witchcraft and the Occult
Are you a Harry Potter fan still awaiting your invite to the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Do you claim to be a die hard fan (cult member?) of American Horror Story because normal people scare you? As a kid, did you secretly want to be a magician when you grew up so you could pull a lifetime supply of cute, fluffy bunnies out of a hat and keep them as pets? Do you play with ouija boards in your spare time? And think The Blair Witch Project was real? Well, this might be the class for you. There’s plenty of witch hunts, satanism, magic, and voodoo to go around in this course. Sounds like a fun three credits to me.
MLCS 299: Sherlock Holmes and the Transcultural Imagination
Wait, which Holmes hunk are we talking about here? Robert Downey Jr. or Benedict Cumberbatch? Who cares. It’s a whole class dedicated to Sherlock Holmes. If you’re a Sherlockian — IDK, apparently it’s a Tumblr thing — who has read all the books, and watched all the movie and TV adaptations, you should probably take this class. The course focuses on the popularity of detective fiction (maybe they’ll be a Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew course in the future?). It also addresses the politics of identity, power dynamics and authoritative roles, and questions of diversity. Why not learn about important university ideologies in a way that’s actually entertaining and enjoyable and won’t make you log onto Facebook during a lecture or take a quick power nap like you would in a poli sci course?
PHIL 372: Philosophy of Sex
A friend of mine took this course a couple years back. About midway through the semester, I asked him how the course was going. He told me they were just starting the unit on “the philosophy of the penis.” He didn’t say much beyond that, and I didn’t need much beyond that. Moral of the story: there’s more to philosophizing about sex than reading Michel Foucault, although the course syllabus has plenty of that, too. Okay, there’s actually a fuck load of Foucault. But there’s a lot of other stuff too. You can philosophize about pedophilia, rape, orgasms, and pleasure. Sounds like a wild ride. Plus, you don’t need a prerequisite to take this course, or nearly any 200 or 300-level philosophy classes, so they’re pretty cool to check out if you have questions about the world (which you should).
RLS 263: Principles of Tourism
How to be a tourist 101. Wear Hawaiian button-down shirts, Willy Gilligan’s hat, a camera with a strap around your neck, and forget sun screen. Okay, probably not what the course teaches, but learning about the tourism industry sounds cool nonetheless.
STS 351: Understanding Videogames
You thought you were being lazy by playing video games in your room all day, but this course is offered online. There’s seven to 10 hours of “work” AKA playing video games? Isn’t this every 12-year old boy’s dream? The description tries to make this course sound somewhat profound by its use of “interpretive” and “analytic theories” as they pertain to “video game media” (just say Xbox, it’s fine). Then apply all those university buzzwords like “race” and “sex” to video games and you have a course for credits. Plus, you can design your own video game avatar (wait, like Sims but better?). Just take the course, you know you want to.
MATH 348: Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces
Lol JK.
ANTHR 372: Anthropology of Food
This course is not only for those of you with hundreds of Instagram photos of meals #foodporn. There’s a scene in the animated movie Over the Hedge that sums up humans’ obsession with food perfectly: our mouths are pie-holes, we’re couch potatoes, we order food for delivery, we go get food from grocery stores or restaurants, we have devices to cook food and store food — we’re obsessed with food. And clearly I’m obsessed with that movie. Anyway, this course seems like a good option for understanding our cultural and social food obsessions and rituals (obligatory birthday cake or turkey coma from Thanksgiving anyone?), and might be worth checking out.
PAC 156: Instruction of the Basics of Yoga
Are you a Yogi? Grab your mat and head over to this course. It’s not just yoga that is offered through physical education, but it seemed like the most relaxing so that’s why it’s on this list. There’s also soccer, golf (I’m not quite sure how they make this work in our climate), indoor rock climbing (AKA the not super hard core rock climbing), and curling because Canada, eh.
DRAMA 101: Introduction to Theatre Art
Don’t lie, you didn’t take drama in high school because you wanted to be the next Leonardo DiCaprio. You took drama in high school because it gave you an hour in your schedule to do whatever the fuck you wanted. You may as well take it in university, too. Plus it’s a 101 course, so it screams “attention all students wanting an easy arts credit.” And it’s disclaimer is that it’s “Not normally to be taken by BA Drama Majors or BA (Honors) Drama students” AKA no one with any real talent or desire to pursue drama will be in this class, so it’s really just for those kids who want an A without applying themselves.
INT D 350: Game Design Principles and Practice
Disclaimer: this interdisciplinary course requires a computing science prerequisite, but if you have that CMPUT 250 credit then wow you’re in for a treat. This course looks at “tabletop games, sports, live-action games, and computer games,” and if I’m reading this right, you can design your own game. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up being one of those guys who shows up on Dragon’s Den with a bomb board game idea and you’ll make millions. And, you’ll get university credits, too. That’s the real selling feature here, right?
