A quick survey of trans writing from the midcentury to today reveals an absurd pattern: trans is, again and again, referred to as "new." Yet many of these texts also point out that "gender discordance" exists across cultures and, in fact, has existed for time immemorial. How to square this ostensible contradiction? "Sex in the Archive" will aim to explore this question-why is trans framed, perennially, as new?-in order to consider not just the deep histories of sex in the archival record, but to challenge conservative policy.

This intro-level workshop is for students interested in pursuing all types of narrative/prose fiction, whether literary fiction or genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc). We'll spend some time as a community critically examining short fiction from authors such as Carmen Maria Machado, Octavia Butler, Ursula K. LeGuin, and others, in order to understand how they make use of character, form, structure, place, voice, and other fundamental tools of fiction-writing.

Overview of topics within environmental engineering and how humans have built infrastructure around us. Learn how to leverage chemical, biological, and physical processes to clean the environment. Course topics will span from drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, hazardous waste management and more. There will be several opportunities for field trips to visit local infrastructure. Throughout the course, we will explore how our approaches to environmental engineering infrastructure intersect with equality and social justice in the community.

Light Art encourages us to slow down, observe, absorb, perceive, and feel. Light art is immersive, it alters our mental and emotional state. Light art truly invites us into it, not in the figurative manner that all art can, but literally. You pass through it, and it devours you. Whether it's calming, agitating, or whimsical, light can provoke thought or initiate a chuckle. Within a studio format the class will manipulate light and explore light as sculpture and environment. We will tell stories and create acts of guerilla lighting.

Designers, choreographers, and performers frequently face a traditional performance space or, as is often the case, face a nontraditional space and then question how to "fill" or design within it. What elements help create the functionality and appropriateness of a performance space? We will explore a variety of spaces, traditional and non-traditional, and the "performers" who use or have used them. Through studio/hands-on experiences, we will also explore performance design elements such as scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, or projections.

Students in this course will practice and learn the basics of using weighted and unweighted exercise to train flexibility/mobility, strength, speed, endurance and coordination. Students will design and receive feedback on an individualized weight training program. Each class session will include cardio warmup, stretching, and weight lifting. Participants who have never been involved in a fitness program are especially welcome, along with experienced students of weight training method. The course instructor for spring 2026 will be John Snyder.

Learn the foundations of yoga through the practice of yoga postures, breathing, techniques, yoga philosophy and meditation. Intended for students who are new to yoga or those looking for an introduction to yoga beyond the poses. Expect detail-oriented instruction, dynamic exploration of movement, and guided relaxation. Please bring your own yoga mat. Yoga mats are for sale at the OPRA equipment room. Five Colleges students will be graded pass/fail.

This course examines the fraught intersection of politics and popular culture in the US. In this class, we ask: What is pop culture? How does it differ from other cultural expressions? How does pop culture both challenge and reify white supremacist capitalist patriarchy? What and who get to be political? How does pop culture act as a vehicle for the appropriation or exploitation of Other cultures? Is consuming pop culture a form of political action? How do explicit political themes both enrich and detract from consumption? What economic imperatives drive pop culture production?

Since its founding, the US has closely regulated the bodies of Others and punished those that rebel against these socially-constructed designations. Utilizing an interdisciplinary amalgam of Critical Race Theory, Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory, Media Studies, Sociology, American Studies, Performance Studies, and Feminist Theory, this course will explore how the state, the media, and civilian institutions police the boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality by pathologizing, criminalizing, and stigmatizing difference.

Public education is one of the most contested institutions in American society, shaped by competing political, social, and economic forces. This course invites students to examine the evolving project of public education while developing the analytic tools needed to assess contemporary educational policy. Through readings and discussions, we will explore what it means to be educated in the United States and consider how various processes and policies have expanded or restricted access to educational opportunity and equity.