Stop and Shop

Here's short review of some of the more interesting--or just plain strange--courses being offered at Harvard this summer. If you'd like to dig up the Yard, listen to jazz, or watch old movies, or even if you'd just like to write about yourself, there's bound to be a course for you.

For those who want to spend a summer excavating mysterious ruins, why did you to come to Cambridge? But Anthropology S-15, "Introduction to Archaeological Research in the Field," plans to make use of the materials at hand. The agenda includes digging up the South Yard, the site of the Old College and Indian College of the 1600s. Boston University Professor F.J.E. Gorman hopes his projected 20 students will be able to find evidence of 17th-century student ideologies--"evidence of student revolts," such as broken glass and dice and cards, from a time when gambling was forbidden.

If you'd prefer writing about yourself to digging up the trash of your predecessors, Creative Writing S-20, "Autobiography," may be in store for you. It promises to "explore how details gleaned from both memory and observation can bridge the gap between reality and fiction."

Unlike the typical computer science offering, Computer Science S-P, "From Problem to Program," will consider the social and philosophical issues posed by computers in addition to teaching programming in Pascal and BASIC. "We're not emphasizing the language as much as how we can use computers to solve our problems," says Professor Nancy Small Doorey, also hailing from B.U.

Students who have never been to Boston (or those Harvard students who have never been out of Harvard Square) may want to look into Fine Arts S-183, "The Architecture of Boston." Focusing on the period from 1750 until World War II and on architects such as Bullfinch, Richardson, Olmstead, and Gropius, the course's field trips may put the Freedom Trail to shame.

The only prerequisite for Music S-54, "Introduction to Jazz." is, according to the catalogue, "varied listening experience." Who ever thought summer school could be this good--spend class time listening to and discussing the major works of jazz greats like Ellington, Armstrong, and Goodman?

If you've come to Harvard to find yourself, explore your childhood neuroses, or study human sexuality, the psychology courses merit a look. One of the biggest departments, with 16 offerings, psychology includes an array of courses from the psychology of women to psychology in law, business, and economics.

After taking a heavy course in abnormal psychology or early human development, you might consider two evenings a week of movie greats, in Visual and Environmental Studies S-195, "Film Masterpieces." The classics analyzed include works by Bergman, Fellini, Hitchcock, Ford, and Capra. But don't be misled--you won't get by without a price. In this case, the "screening fee" is $30.