English

CRWR 39A Introduction to Creative Writing invites students to explore fiction as both readers and beginning creative writers. The short stories from diverse cultures and communities that are read in class will serve as models in style and form for students to create their own fictional work, introducing them to the craft and mechanics of fiction and storytelling. Through workshop students are provided an opportunity to both receive and offer constructive feedback, and to revise their work using this input. 

CRWR 39B Advanced Creative Writing invites experienced creative writers to further develop their skills and knowledge of culturally diverse short fiction, exploring additional forms and styles that will serve as models for their own work. Advanced students will write extensively and take a leadership role in the writing workshops, facilitating constructive feedback and discussion regarding revision. 

From the first gothic novel to the latest slasher horror, we'll explore how scary stories, novels, and films reveal societal fears and interrogate what we find most unnerving about the nature of identity. Selected texts will represent a range of cultures, genders, and perspectives.

Learn about why poetry is one of the oldest forms of creative and artistic expression around the world by studying historical and contemporary poets and their work. Poetry can be and do so many things, and we will study how it can exist both in culturally traditional forms as well as modern forms, including free verse.

"All Power to the People: Survey of Black Panther Literature" offers students a hands-on trek through the history--and lasting impact--of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, started in Oakland, California, in 1966. Students use BPP literature and related events, including, the BPP's foundational 10-Point Program ("What We Want, What We Believe"), letters and personal memoirs by BPP leaders  Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, media coverage and reports, video, poetry, court documents, transcripts, interviews, BPP community programs, The Black Panther (the BPP's  newspaper), etc.

What does it mean for a text to be labeled “American?” In this class, we’ll consider the relationship between literature and colonialism as well as the formation of national identity through literature. We’ll engage with a variety of texts and genres, including creation narratives, sermons, poetry, captivity narratives, narratives of enslavement and liberation, letters of “discovery” and exploration, autobiographies, short stories, and more.

Jump into independent journalism and write stories for the Script!  Working with the campus paper, in Introduction to Reporting/Newswriting & Intermediate Reporting/Newswriting, you'll be asked to take on the role of 'student reporter,' reporting on campus events and issues to the student body and broader Foothill Community.