[Higher_Desire]

These are real courses offered by colleges and universities in the USA according to MSN Encarta.
http://encarta.msn.com/college_artic....html?GT1=6190


10) Art of Walking (Centre College - Danville, Kentucky)
-- Students not only read literature by noted perambulators like Kant and Nietzsche, but go for neighborhood strolls with their professor and his dog.

09) Death and the 19th Century (Purdue University)
-- Every poem and novel in the course deals with the 19th-century conception of mortality and the world beyond.

08) The Art of Sin and the Sin of Art (Rhode Island School of Design)
-- Contemplates the relationship between sin and the art world. The course catalog invites you to "lust with the saints and burn with the sinners."

07) American Degenerates (Brown University)
-- Students discuss how early British-American writers embraced the grotesque, monstrous, "not our kind" status bestowed on them by the mother country and reflected their zeal for cultural and physical degeneracy in their literature.

06) The Road Movie (Barnard College)
-- Studies Easy Rider and Thelma and Louise, while also discussing the genre's literary precursors, like On the Road and The Odyssey.

05) Comparative History of Organized Crime (Williams College)
-- Compares the work of goodfellas from the United States, Italy, Japan, and Russia.

04) The Horror Film in Context (Bowdoin College)
-- Students read Freud and Poe and watch Hitchcock and Craven, all while discussing the horror genre's treatment of gender, class, and family.

03) The American Vacation (University of Iowa)
-- This course pays particular attention to how American families' varying backgrounds shape their vacation experiences.

02) Daytime Serials: Family and Social Roles (University of Wisconsin)
-- Students analyze the plots, themes, and characters of daytime soaps and discuss their impact on modern life.

01) Philosophy and Star Trek (Georgetown University)
-- Students discuss the nature of time travel, the ability of computers to think and feel, and other philosophical dilemmas facing the crew of the Starship Enterprise.


H-D