Agenda

Week 1: Intros

Meetings

• Mon, 9/28: How do we introduce ourselves?

  • Introductions: we went around the table and introduced ourselves multiple times: name + hometown, name + what you did this summer, name + major. 

  • "Zoom" improv game: passing our energy around (zoom / eerk / oil slick / life is a highway). 

  • Re-introductions: we  went around one more time and gave our names, a mnemonic to remember our names, and a gesture to support that mnemonic. 

  • We passed out the introduction of Rose Horowitch's "The End of Reading is Here" from The Atlantic (August 2026). Please read this for Wednesday. [Not required, but here's the full article—access to members of the class only]

• Wed 9/30: What does it mean to make a first impression?

  • Check-ins. 

  • Why are first impressions important? How do we control the first impression? What does it mean to receive a first impression?  What are first impressions like across different types of interactions (written, online, media)? Examples: our re-introductions on Monday, the introduction of Horowitch's "The End of Reading is Here," video introductions.  

    • Among the things we discussed: the pressure of crafting a first impression, what information is withheld (and from whom). We also talked about the impressions made upon us and what it takes to click with another person. 

  • How do we learn the rules of a new place? In "The Merchant" Part 1, we hear a story about a time and place similar to our own. How does Ted Chiang teach us something different? How is this different from a 'factual' document, like a syllabus? (Does a syllabus tell a story?) A deeper question: how do you learn? 

Reading Assignments

• Read the syllabus | Article referenced at the end (optional read)

• By Wed, Sep 30:  Listen to part 1 of "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang, read by LeVar Burton. Pandora | Spotify | Apple 

• By Mon, Oct 5: Listen to part 2 of "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang, read by LeVar Burton. Pandora | Spotify | Apple 

• For the near future: On Canvas there are now modules to watch Arrival and the "Darmok" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Please feel free to watch these ahead of time. This is the one time we'll use Canvas in this course.

• By Monday, read one science "explainer" article from the following list and be ready to present it next week. 

  • Subset of Best American Science Writing selections: 2026, 2025, 2024

Doing Assignments

• Introduction Video | Prof. Tanedo's intro video (Due Friday, 10/2)

• Pre-Class Survey (Due Friday, 10/2)

• One Page Reflection (Due Monday, Oct 5), to be posted

• Watch Arrival by Week 3. This available on our Canvas page. 

Miscellaneous Thoughts

No action required, please feel free to peruse. 

• When playing our "zoom" improv game to pass energy across the room, one of the options was "life is a highway" where we identified someone across the room to pass the energy to. We did this without pointing to them. This meant that we made eye contact. In fact, the advice to "make eye contact" is a standard part of professional training in the US. However, this is also something with cultural codings that then affect how we navigate professional spaces. (See also this piece by Ed Yong and this blog response).

• Here's the link to Braid: Anniversary Edition which is available on Steam. We will discuss playing this game in the second half of the course.

Week 3: Narrative

Meetings

• Mon, 10/12:

  • Prof. Tanedo: the principle of least action 

  • Discussion of Sabrina Imbler's "My Metamorphosis" (Harper's Bazaar, 2022). What is it about? (What was the emotional/human 'aha' moment?)

  • Discussion of Arrival: what is it about? Discussion of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and principle of least time/action.  (What was the emotional/human 'aha' moment?)

  • We prefaced our activity with the proposal that human brains evolved to process language. Many animals also clearly communicate, some are even known to lie. The proposal is that humans are different because we learned to craft collective mythology that allows large groups of humans to collaborate. (See references below.) 

  • Activity: a round of Mafia / Werewolf: the use of discourse and narrative in a competitive game of survival.

• Wed 10/14:

  • "quantum distributions for Sarah Baartman" by Lena Blackmon (pdf); Role of "pathos" in communication

    • "Sarah Baartman" on Wikipedia

  • Reflection: emotion and information. We asked: on a team project, do you want your teammates to have mostly positive or mostly negative emotions? We examined the idea that "angry people will do shit," but also the counterpoint that team cohesiveness benefits from positive emotions. We discussed the "Good Jeans" ad from 2025, political polarization, the attention economy. We contrasted this with Scientific American-style explainer articles who (usually) convey emotions of curiosity, wonder, and being part of the discovery process.

  • We reflected that one of the most powerful feelings is tribal affinity ("us versus them"). With that in mind, we played one more game of Mafia. 

    • As a preview for Week 5, we introduced the twist of The Detective. How did we learn this new rule?

    • In Mafia, there are two groups: the innocent townspeople and the mafia. The mafia are 'hidden invaders' in the tribe of townspeople. How does this frame the way in which the group reaches consensus? Once one establishes trust, how do trusted-sub-groups interact with the larger town?

Assignments

• For Wednesday (10/14): read "quantum distributions for Sarah Baartman" by Lena Blackmon (pdf)

• For next Wednesday (10/21): Create a comic. Use one of the pages of SPACES by Megan Delyani (artist's page) to use visual narrative to convey a technical idea of your choice. 

• For next Wednesday (10/21): please  read Chapters 3-4 of The Dialogues by UCSB professor Clifford Johnson. 

• Week 3, Reflection (Due Monday; 10/14: now posted)

• For coming weeks: 

  • Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel, audiobook via Libro.fm  or print version. We're working on bringing Aja Gabel to our class, this may be a chance to get your book signed. :-)

  • Braid: Anniversary Edition published by Thekla, Inc on Steam.

Supplemental Reading

• Clip from the BBC's adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather on belief. "Humans need fantasty to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape." / "Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little –" / "Yes. As practice. You have to start out learning to believe the little lies." / "So we can believe the big ones?" "Yes. Justice. Mercy. Duty. That sort of thing."

• A couple of popular-level books that address the role of mythmaking and language in human development. (My book club read both of these books and ended up rather critical of them, though you may refer to them and their bibliographies for primary sources.)

  • Cat Bohannon,  Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, Ch. 7, "Voice." Bohannon proposes that the first evolutionary modern human was the first mother to tell stories to her baby. 

  • Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens. Highlights the idea that collective myth-making was a criterion for humans to be able to maintain structures that spanned tribes of 100-or-so people. He calls this the "cognitive revolution" to connect humans through abstract concepts (nationhood, religion, money, morality).

  • Robin Dunbar's 'social brain hypothesis' that brains developed rapidly to navigate social groups.

  • Other books: The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, J. Henrich; The Belief Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life, J. Bering, SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable, B. Hood

• On rage bait and the attention economy

  • https://medium.com/cognitive-neuroeconomics/harvesting-our-attention-the-neuroeconomics-of-rage-bait-183e06edefbc

    • re: "Good jeans" commercial, a response by Tania Fabo. Tania wrote this piece as part of the Op-Ed Project.

  • "‘Ragebait’ culture on social media exposed in new study", summary of this academic paper. (Reynolds and John 2024)

  • "Social Media and Morality," Bavel et al, Annual Review of Psychology (2024)

  • "The Business of Anger," Jodie Shaw on Medium (2025)

"Optional reading for next week: graphic novel studies

• Prof. Rachelle Cruz teaches comic literacy at UCR. She has a fantastic book, Experiencing Comics. It is available in Rivera library.

• A relatively recent book: Making nonfiction comics : a guide for graphic narrative edited by Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk.

• The classic: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. 

Week 4: Visual

Meetings

• Mon, 10/19: Visuals and visual narrative

  • How does imagery move us? How does imagery inform us? How can stationary images tell a story? 

  • Slides from today

• Wed 10/21:

  • Exercise in visual communication

Assignments

• For next Wednesday (10/21) Extended to Monday 10/26: Create a comic. Use one of the pages of SPACES by Megan Delyani (artist's page) to use visual narrative to convey a technical idea of your choice. 

• Learn how to play one of the following board games. Next week you will teach a group of classmates how to play. You will be assigned one of the games. 

  • Sell Me a Sasquatch (beginner)

  • 7 Wonders

  • Trains

  • Pandemic

  • Dominant Species (advanced) 

• Prep for next week

  • Braid: Anniversary Edition published by Thekla, Inc on Steam.

  • Watch "Darmok" (Star Trek: the Next Generation) on our Canvas page

• For later: Listen to (or read) Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel, due November

• Week 4 Reflection, to be posted Wed.

Week 5: Play

Meetings

• Mon, 10/26:

  • Board games

• Wed 10/28:

  • Braid

Reading Assignments

Doing Assignments

Supplemental Reading

• "He Made 500 Hours of Puzzles to Explode Your Mind" (article in the New York Times on Oct 9, 2026) by Darryn King. 

• "Jonathan Blow on the Design of Braid" (YouTube)

• "Dissecting Design: How Braid Merged Action and Puzzle Design" Game Wisdom on YouTube

Week 6: Writing and Speaking

Meetings

• Mon, 11/2:

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• Wed 11/4:

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Reading Assignments

Doing Assignments

Week 7: Action

Meetings

• Mon, 11/9:

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• Wed 11/11: No class, Veteran's Day

Reading Assignments

Doing Assignments

Week 8: Inquiry

Meetings

• Mon, 11/16:

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• Wed 11/18:

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Reading Assignments

Doing Assignments

Week 9: Debate

Meetings

• Mon, 11/23:

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• Wed 11/25:

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Reading Assignments

Doing Assignments

Week 10: Rhetoric

Meetings

• Mon, 11/30:

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• Wed 12/:

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Reading Assignments

Doing Assignments