Students read Homer's Odyssey and discuss it in relation to Christopher Nolan's film. Students should see The Odyssey film in advance. After reading Homer's book, students watch the film together, if possible.

Alex Purves is Professor of Classics at UCLA with a PhD in Classics from the University of Pennsylvania (2002). She has published extensively on Homer and has has previously taught Fiat Lux courses on the poetry of Sappho.

Students learn about mindful approaches to academic writing: centering oneself in one's body, and in local contexts, to engage deeply with one's mind while working on writing drafts for other classes. Students should come with open mind (and heart), and drafts of their own writing. Students engage in some meditative and contemplative practices, walk, or sit in nature on campus. Students read contemplative texts, do some writing, and share work with each other. Class meets October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5, December 3.

Marjorie Elaine (Faulstich Orellana) is Professor of Education whose research examines the experiences of immigrant youth especially as language and culture brokers.

Can happiness be cultivated? If so, what role does attention play? Exploration of idea that happiness is not simply a product of external circumstances. Rather, it is a skill that can be developed through way one directs their attention. In today's attention economy, many forces compete to grab one's attention. It is given away mindlessly because people don't realize its value. But it is one of people's most important--and trainable--resources. Through mindfulness and awareness practices, investigation of how strengthening attentional muscle can transform how people experience themselves, others, and world around them. Study emphasizes direct experience of mindfulness. Each meeting includes practical exercises that explore effects of attention on well-being, resilience, and everyday life. Students develop daily mindfulness practice, build attention skills, and gain practical tools and firsthand experience of how happiness comes from within.

Professor Melzer has practiced mindful awareness for over 20 years and is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher with Unified Mindfulness. She is particularly interested in how mindfulness and compassion practices can be applied to everyday life and enhance learning in all disciplines.

Study of centrality of animal to articulation of human, and resultant silencing of numerous nonhuman species signified by former term. Whether as pet or pest, object dissected in lab or food carved at table, symbol or referent, nonhuman animal looms large though often silent, but still shaping what it means to be human. In living amid, researching, collaborating with, consuming, and above all thinking through nonhuman animal, humans construct who or what they are and how they differ from those deemed to be other than themselves. Exploration of human-animal interactions or intersections across diverse cultures, periods, and disciplines. Students read literary and legal excerpts, and some of latest scientific research on human-animal dichotomy/dualism: research that invites rethinking property status of nonhuman animals.

Arvind Thomas is a medievalist who works on the intersection of law and literature in Latin, German, and English literature. Arvind teaches courses on medieval hagiography and economics. Arvind has also been working on critical animal studies and its relevance to questions of human and non-human rights and environmentalism.

Discussion about prisons and cages continues to be polarized. Some call for their abolishment while others call for their preservation and expansion. In public debate about incarcerated humans and other animals, rarely is there access to voices of inmates or their advocates. Study asks how literature about incarceration--within and across species barrier--can help people think through, or rethink, concrete limits of law and abstract ideals of justice. Study also asks how it can help understand carceral logic that underlies not only prisons but also cages. Students reflect on diverse writings about prisons and cages as spaces for discussion and dissent. Topics include surveillance, due process, race, gender, culture, and human and animal rights. Introduction to riveting literature about human and animal prisoners by former inmates and academics such as uncontroversial heroes (holocaust survivor Alex Hershaft and civil rights activist Angela Davis), and controversial inmates (bomber/hunter Eric Rudolph).

Medievalist interested in the rich linguistic (and cultural) diversity of the so-called "middle ages," Arvind Thomas works with texts written in Middle English, Latin, and German. On a related note, he has been teaching in the areas of critical animal studies and food studies. His second-book manuscript has just been greenlit for a contract with Cambridge University Press. His first book is entitled "Piers Plowman and the Reinvention of Church Law in the Late Middle Ages" (University of Toronto Press, Winter 2019).

Study promotes learning and preservation of Cantonese language through Cantonese opera The Ballad of Mulan and popular songs. It reveals impact of Cantonese culture on Chinese poetry, American history, and literature. Students learn Cantonese by studying this opera; watching performances of Cantonese opera excerpts (Purple Hairpin Pickup from Purple Hairpin Saga and Fragrant Sacrifice from The Flower Princess); and reading Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior (1976 National Book Critics Circle Award winner), which resounds to Cantonese cadence and idioms. Cantonese Opera is a UNESCO Immaterial Heritage of Humanity. Work to preserve Cantonese language has engaged nonprofit community partners such as Asian Pacific Community Fund, Save Cantonese Organization, Perfect Harmony Cultural Exchange Association, Chinese New Life Women's Club, Southern California Cantonese Association, and Lion's Club. May include guest speakers who discuss their efforts to be innovative and entrepreneurial in ensuring its survival. Class meets September 25, October 9, 23, November 6, 20.

King-Kok Cheung is UCLA Research Professor of English, Professor Emeritus of English and Asian American Studies, and Special Advisor of the US-China Education Trust. She is author of Articulate Silences and Chinese American Literature without Borders (both monographs have been published in Chinese), An Interethnic Companion to Asian American Literature, Asian American Literature: An Annotated Bibliography, and co-editor of The Heath Anthology of American Literature, and the 2023 recipient of the Association of Asian American Studies Lifetime Career Achievement Award.

Many people move through life by meeting expectations, avoiding failure, and trying to appear certain, capable, and in control. Over time, that can distance them from the kind of life they actually want to build. Class creates space to pause and examine inner forces that shape how people think, work, relate to others, and relate to themselves. Using selected episodes from Hidden Brain podcast, exploration of themes such as teaching and learning, imposter phenomenon, cognitive dissonance, keeping an open mind, believing in oneself, self-kindness, and cultivating purpose. Goal is to help students develop a more intentional inner compass for their personal and professional lives. Students listen to one podcast episode before each session, in order to be prepared for discussion.

Reza Manesh, MD, is a Professor at the UCLA School of Medicine and a clinician at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System. He is the author of Finding Joy in Medicine, co-founder of The Clinical Problem Solvers podcast, and a recipient of multiple teaching awards. Michael Ong, MD, PhD, is Professor in Residence of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA. He received his MD from UCSD and PhD from UC Berkeley. His research focuses on health economics, general internal medicine, and tobacco control.

Pink Floyd built some of rock's most ambitious records out of alienation, grief, satire, and longing. Study traces their arc from early formation through peak of their powers, treating each major album as work to be read as much as heard. Sessions cover band origins and London underground scene. Study follows Syd Barrett into his solo work, and examines transitional years that led to Meddle. Focus on band's masterworks: Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Close attention paid to lyrics, musical structure, and conceptual design. Study also covers Gilmour-led band and Roger Waters' solo output. No prior music theory required. Class designed to encourage students to listen closely and read carefully.

Brian Kim Stefans teaches poetry, new media, experimental fiction and film courses in the English Department. He is also a composer with high competence in Logic Pro (and various plugin suites) and Dorico. He has published several books of poetry since 1998 and released several collections of songs and instrumentals on the internet.

Consideration of how legal theory and practice can form backbone of great spiritual civilization--namely that of rabbinic Judaism. Students think deeply about how law develops, why law is important, and how law deals with fundamental questions of life.

Jonathan Zasloff is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law for over a quarter of a century. He received his PhD in American History from Harvard and a law degree from Yale. He is also an ordained rabbi for four years. He hopes that all this is not too much of an imbalance.

UCLA has been stopping point for some of most significant musical creators of our time. Great composers of Broadway, classical, EDM, film, jazz, pop, rock, and video game music have either attended UCLA as students, taught master classes and courses, or performed on campus. Students sample and explore some of this great music.

Born in 1956, American composer Ian Krouse has been hailed in Gramophone as "one of the most communicative and intriguing young composers on the music scene today." Soundboard described his music as "absorbing, brutal, beautiful, and harsh, all at the same time." He is widely known for his pioneering efforts in the development of the guitar quartet, of which he has composed eleven to date, most of which are now featured regularly in the touring repertories of the leading groups of our time. His most notable achievement to date is the creation and premiere of the epic Armenian Requiem.

Many traditions of political music raise interesting questions such as whether protest songs and revolutionary music are pro-democracy, and whether music for civil rights expansion is inherently pro-democracy. Musical genres studied include folk, proto-rap and rap, leftist protest, national anthems and marching band, musicals, even Schoolhouse Rock. Artists studied include composers from Ludwig von Beethoven to Aaron Copland; Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger; Billie Holiday and Nina Simone; Paul Robeson; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; Public Enemy, Gil Scott-Heron, and NWA; and Frederick Rzewski. Class includes student presentations, and possibly student writing and performance of their own pro-democracy songs. Special attention paid to music that has been written for or used by election candidates. Discussion of campaign songs including already-written music, such as This Land is Your Land, Beyoncé's Freedom, and others; and music used against artists' wishes, also including Beyoncé's Freedom and others.

Composer David S. Lefkowitz has written more than 125 compositions, and has seen performances across the country and some 20 countries across the globe. Much of his music reflects his interest in ancient poetic traditions of different world cultures, including those of China, Iran, and Spain. He has composed instrumental music and vocal music, including choral music and a secular cantata Lincoln Echoes.