Peripeteia 2017

Peripeteia 2017 is the weekend of January 27-29! A preliminary schedule is as follows (note that things are likely to change as we finalize things). Click on an event to go to its complete description. Note that some courses require pre-registration, or recommend some previous background in an subject.

Friday
6:00 to 7:30 PM in SCI 199 - "Genius" kickoff event
Saturday
9:00 to 11:30 AM in the Kitao Gallery - Drawing the Movements (pre-registration required)
10:00 to 11:00 AM in SCI 145 - Under an Alien Ocean
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM in SCI 102 - Coffee Talk (The Science, Economics, and Culture of Coffee)
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in McCabe 306 - Her Hat was in the Ring: How Thousands of U.S. Women Were Elected to Public Office Before They Could Vote (pre-registration recommended)
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in SCI 145 - Paradoxes and other problems (in Philosophy and elsewhere)
1:00 to 2:30 PM in SCI 158 - MUSHROOMS, MUSHROOMS, MUSHROOMS!
1:00 to 2:30 PM in SCI 104 - FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY - WHY DEAFNESS IS NOT A HANDICAP (or is it?)
1:00 to 2:30 PM in SCI 105 - Virtual Economies
2:45 to 4:45 PM in SCI 199 - WESTERN SOCIETY
2:45 to 5:15 PM in SCI 102 - Fortune Telling with the Tarot
2:45 to 4:45 PM in McCabe 306 - iOS Development: Tips for Beginners
5:30 to 6:00 PM in SCI 105 - Effective Stretching
7:00 to 8:00 PM in the Friends Meeting House - Kurt Vonnegut and Conviviality
9:00 PM in the Black Cultural Center - Modern Black Hair: An Instruction on the 3 Strand Twist-Out
Sunday
9:00 to 11:30 AM in the Kitao Gallery - Drawing the Movements (pre-registration required)
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM in SCI 104 - Nature Vulvas: meditation, empowerment, yonic sculpture
10:00 to 11:00 AM in SCI 145 - The Metamyth: Form and Texture of Fiction
11:15 AM to 12:15 PM in SCI 145 - Fractals and You
12:30 to 1:30 PM in SCI 104 - Around Again: Playing with Sestinas
12:30 to 2:00 PM in SCI 158 - Urban Sketching
1:30 to 2:30 PM in SCI 105 - Password Cracking and Network Sniffing
1:30 to 2:30 PM in SCI 145 - Who Washes Elves' Socks?
2:45 to 4:15 PM in SCI 158 - Introductory Knitting
2:45 to 4:45 PM in SCI 105 - What is Cryptography?
3:30 to 5:00 PM in the Matchbox's Tarble Commons - 咏春基本理论: Introduction to Wing Chun
5:00 to 6:00 PM in SCI 145 - ALIENS!
5:00 to 6:00 PM in SCI 104 - The Story of Modern Architecture
5:30 to 6:00 PM in SCI 105 - Effective Stretching
7:00 to 8:30 PM in Danawell Connector - Vertigo-go Improv Workshop/Playdate

Questions? Check out our FAQ!

Friday 27 January

6:00 to 7:30 in SCI 199
"Genius"
Peripeteia's kickoff event and audience-driven roundtable discussion on the idea of "genius" and its implications featuring students Amelia Erskine and Irene Kwon and Professors Stella Christie, Grace Ledbetter, Donna Jo Napoli, and Elizabeth Stevens.

Saturday 28 January

9:00 to 11:30 AM in the Kitao Gallery
Drawing the Movements with Yixuan Maisie Luo
Breaking the boundary of making marks
In class, we are going to do multiple experiments of using untraditional tools to making drawings of body and movements.
PREREGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR THIS COURSE, AND SPACE IS LIMITED TO THE FIRST EIGHT PEOPLE. ATTENDANCE OF BOTH SESSIONS OF THIS COURSE IS ALSO REQUIRED -- the second session is at the same time and place on Sunday. REGISTER HERE.

10:00 to 11:00 AM in SCI 145
Under an Alien Ocean with Linda Vu
The search for life on Europa
This course will focus on Europa, an icy moon orbiting Jupiter about 588,000,000 kilometers away, as a possible site of extraterrestrial life. We will begin with an overview of the origins of life on Earth and then address why Europa is suspected to host life, what kind of life we might find, and how we are planning to find it.

10:00 AM to 1:00 PM in SCI 102
Coffee Talk (The Science, Economics, and Culture of Coffee) with Ben Stern
Come learn about coffee, taste coffee, and learn how to brew coffee!
In this course, we will examine the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the coffee industry, as well as an depth scientific approach to coffee and coffee brewing. We will learn about coffee history, taste different coffees, and learn how to brew coffee.

11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in McCabe 306
Her Hat was in the Ring: How Thousands of U.S. Women Were Elected to Public Office Before They Could Vote with Wendy Chmielewski
Learn about how women got elected to political office between 1850 and 1920
The first part of the course will cover how over 5,000 women in over 43 states were elected to over 60 different political offices, before universal woman suffrage in 1920. This will also include an introduction to the Her Hat Was in the Ring web site and database, with detailed information about over 3,400 of these women. In the second part of the course participants will research a particular woman and discover information on her career to be added to the Her Hat Was in the Ring project database.
There will be snacks!
PRE-REGISTRATION IS RECOMMENDED FOR THIS COURSE. You may still attend without pre-registering, but for the convenience of the instructor please pre-register at this link.

11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in SCI 145
Paradoxes and other problems (in Philosophy and elsewhere) with Professor Peter Baumann
Paradoxes, Perplexity and Philosophy
This course focuses on paradoxes, starting with the famous liar paradox and also goes into other knotty problems in Philosophy (and elsewhere)

1:00 to 2:30 PM in SCI 158
MUSHROOMS, MUSHROOMS, MUSHROOMS! with Crum Woods Restoration Assistant Mike Rolli
All about mushrooms.
Learn about mycology - the magical world of fungi and mushrooms - through several stories from the underground, including learning about the "wood wide web", the mushroom that aided in the migration of humans out of Africa, and the exciting arena of myco-technologies. This class will utilize a slideshow presentation, short videos, and fun class participation. Mushroom soup and coloring supplies provided for all, prizes for some. One hour will be spent in the classroom and half an hour will be spent in the Crum Woods. Dress appropriately (warmly or as a mushroom).

1:00 to 2:30 PM in SCI 104
FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY - WHY DEAFNESS IS NOT A HANDICAP (or is it?) with Professor Beppie van den Bogaerde
Do you know what terms like 'audism' and 'surdophobia' mean? If you don't and want to find out, come to this workshop.
Diversity is often considered in terms of race, gender or age and not in terms of functionality e.g. blindness of deafness. Two approaches toward deafness will be compared: the medical model versus the social/linguistic model. In the medical model, deafness is often negatively described as in, for instance, ‘hearing loss’, ‘hearing impaired’, ‘auditively handicapped’ or even ‘deaf-and-dumb’. In contrast, the terminology used for non-deaf (sic) people is positive: ‘normal hearing’ or ‘typically developing’. This negative framing of deafness has been explained as ‘audism’ (Humphries 1975) or ‘surdophobia’ (van Gils, 1997) in the social/cultural/linguistic model. Audism is the hearing way of dominating, restructuring, and exercising authority over the deaf community (Lane 1999:43). Surdophobia is a term coined by Van Gils (1997) and refers to the hearings’ fear of deaf professionals. The social/linguistic model considers deaf-born people to be a cultural minority with their own signed language; signing deaf people who identify as Deaf use terms like Deaf Pride, Deaf Gain and Deaf space when they talk about their culture.
In this workshop we will discuss the two approaches, and discover our own biases. We will see how deaf-born, visual people view themselves, how they contribute to our society and what the role of sign language is in the Deaf communities. How can hearing people benefit from sign language, e.g. in learning or in communication?
Recommended reading: Constructions of Deafness (Lane, 1995), Audism: Exploring the Metaphysics of Oppression (Bauman, 2004), Surdophobia! Fear of Deaf Professionals (Woord & Gebaar, 1997).

1:00 to 2:30 PM in SCI 105
Virtual Economies with Jake Moon
Why people would pay $1000s for an in game item
How can something that doesn't physically exist hold value? This class will explore thriving and very real examples of virtual economies in video games. We will also go over cryptocurrency for comparison. The course will cover some basic economics concepts and lead into an interdisciplinary look at the meaning of value in our market driven society.

2:45 to 4:45 PM in SCI 199
WESTERN SOCIETY with Elsher Abraham
An exploration of Kanye West's influence on American culture and society.
This course will take a deeper look into mainstream social trends in American culture from the mid 90's to the present day. This exploration will be done through a close examination of Kanye West's career, starting from his days as a producer at the end of the last millennium and leading up to his efforts in fashion and politics in 2016. Prerequisite knowledge of Kanye West or hip-hop is not required, as everything you need to know will be covered. We will listen to snippets of West's music as well as view portions of his music videos and short films. At the end of the session, Yeezy will have taught you well.

2:45 to 5:15 PM in SCI 102
Fortune Telling with the Tarot with Professor Sibelan Forrester
A lecture on the history and system, followed by a demonstration
Tarot cards are one of the most interesting forms of fortune-telling. This course will open with a brief history of the cards and their use, then will outline their messages. The second half of the course will demonstrate actual readings - hoping for some willing volunteers. Bring your own deck if you have one!

2:45 to 4:45 PM in McCabe 306
iOS Development: Tips for Beginners with Cassandra Stone
Learn how to build a simple tip calculator iPhone app using Xcode and Swift
Starting is always the hardest part. In this course, you'll learn how to build a simple app, along with all the basics of getting set up. We'll explore how all the stuff you see on the screen connects to the code running in the machines. No previous experience with Swift or Xcode is necessary––we'll be starting from square one!
That said, SOME GENERAL PROGRAMMING BACKGROUND IS PREFERRED. Also: there will be computers available, but if you have one, BRING YOUR MACBOOK. If you do bring your Macbook, please INSTALL XCODE BEFOREHAND.

5:30 to 6:00 PM in SCI 105
Effective Stretching with Gabriela Brown
Improve your flexibility!
A quick session that covers the two basic types of stretching, useful stretching positions, and creating a personal stretching routine.

7:00 to 8:00 PM in the Friends Meeting House
Kurt Vonnegut and Conviviality with Jasmine Jimenez
The stuff of life Vonnegut imagined
Welcome to Vonnegut fans of all degrees, this talk will explore the nature of Kurt Vonnegut's ideals, humor, and humanity. Drawing from several novels and published interviews, this course will trace Vonnegut's eccentric perspective on themes of community, potential, and purpose. We will take into account the layers of fiction, prose, and irreverence in pursuit of articulating Vonnegut's dark and humorous wisdom about the fate of mankind.
Please let us know if you intend to attend (so we can get an idea of numbers, and organize the space accordingly) by filling out this form.

9:00 PM in the Black Cultural Center
Modern Black Hair: An Instruction on the 3 Strand Twist-Out with Maya Henry
What those YouTube beauty gurus can't tell you.
Come learn how to do a three strand twist-out, how to maintain it, how to un twist it and how to keep the curls properly moisturized. We will be watching an instructional video on how to achieve the look and talking about hair techniques.

Sunday 29 January

10:00 AM to 12:00 PM in SCI 104
Nature Vulvas: meditation, empowerment, yonic sculpture with Bea Baker
Come spend some time in the Crum and make beautiful yonic sculptures from already beautiful nature!
I spent February of 2016 in Dresden, more or less alone in a place where I was not yet proficient in the language and didn't know anyone. Lonely and bored, I started walking through the forest near my apartment often. I saw a red berry on the ground one day and thought, that is just like a bright, fat clitoris. From then, seed pods and leaves became labia, lichen became pubic hair, and the frozen forest floor became a canvas that I returned to once daily for a month. I used sculpture and presence in nature to focus, to meditate in a way I am normally not able to do.
Please come join me to create sculpted beauty from natural yonic beauty. We will construct ephemeral artwork that honors the vulva as a symbol of empowerment, appreciate our contribution to the makeup of the forest, and respect what the forest does with our work after we walk away.
Attendees can leave at their leisure, but should meet at the designated time.

10:00 to 11:00 AM in SCI 145
The Metamyth: Form and Texture of Fiction with Victor Gomes and Zach Tucker
exploring modern mythic structure through television
The search for narrative structures in ancient myths produced Campbell's conception of the monomyth, which allowed for a new comparative approach to analyzing and producing stories. Applying a similar framework to the modern, predominantly serialized "myths" of television can produce a new understanding of narrative structure, and what TV's "cultural heroes" signify about our society.

11:15 AM to 12:15 PM in SCI 145
Fractals and You with Aaron Wagener
The beauty of rough edges in mathematics
What's the connection between coastlines, ferns, and your cell-phone antenna? Why is it hard to predict the weather? What is a Mandelbrot Set anyway? In this class we'll answer these questions by studying chaos and fractals, fields that deal with feedback loops, infinitely repeating details, and lots of crinkled edges. We'll see that systems with very simple rules can have completely unpredictable behavior, and we'll learn to interpret the pictures that are used to map these systems. If you've ever been bored all of the perfect shapes in math, this is the class for you. No college math background is necessary.

12:30 to 1:30 PM in SCI 104
Around Again: Playing with Sestinas with Tristan Beiter
A look at the creative and fun possibilities of my favorite verse form
We will explore the sestina, first reading some examples and talking about the form's defining characteristics and the effects that these qualities can have and why they have them. We are then going to talk about writing fixed form poems and the challenges and possibilities and possible solutions when writing a sestina before working together to write poems ourselves. All levels of prior experience with poetry and with this form encouraged to attend.

12:30 to 2:00 PM in SCI 158
Urban Sketching with David Holmgren
Drawing everywhere. All the time
"This course will be about how it is possible to draw from life anywhere, and how that practice can help you appreciate the world around you. The course will go over a variety of techniques and tools and ways to loosen up so that you aren't too afraid to draw. Even on a blank page. Even in public.
The idea of keeping a sketchbook will also be covered, including different types of sketchbooks and how to make a sketchbook really feel like it's your own. A sketchbook should feel comfortable, like home, where you can create and express the world around you and we'll talk about how you can make it that way. "

1:30 to 2:30 PM in SCI 105
Password Cracking and Network Sniffing with SCCS
Understanding the Dark Arts of the Internet
This course will go beyond the clichés about hacking and cybersecurity to show students practical examples of real-world attacks. Students will learn about some internet protocols, how to exploit them, and how to attack human weaknesses of users. The course will also teach students what they can do to mitigate these attacks.

1:30 to 2:30 PM in SCI 145
Who Washes Elves' Socks? with Rachel Davis
Or, 'The Worldbuilding Authors Don't (but Should) Do'
Have you ever wondered who washes elves' socks in the Lord of the Rings? Or why Muggle-born wizards don't just bring pens to Hogwarts? Or whether that meat dinner Ash Ketchum is eating used to be someone's Pokemon friend? If you have -- or if these unanswerable questions are now stuck in your mind -- come to 'Who Washes Elves' Socks?' to discuss what worldbuilding is, why it's important, and what authors leave out that, really, they should have considered. We'll also try our hand at some worldbuilding, and build our own worlds full of clean socks and ballpoint pens!

2:45 to 4:15 PM in SCI 158
Introductory Knitting with Tymoteusz Alan Chrzanowski
A course in the fundamentals of knitting for absolute beginners
Come learn how to knit! By the end of this course you will be able to complete simple projects like scarves. No experience necessary and materials provided.

2:45 to 4:45 PM in SCI 105
What is Cryptography? with Professor Martin Gagné
History of Cryptography, and Modern Challenges
Cryptography is now part of our daily life, but few people understand how it works, and what security it can truly promise. As we travel through the history of cryptography, we introduce its basic concepts, and show how advances in cryptography have influenced our world. We then explain how cryptography is used in modern times, and discuss the problems cryptographers are now trying to solve.

3:30 to 5:00 PM in the Matchbox's Tarble Commons
咏春基本理论: Introduction to Wing Chun with Jerry Qin
You definitely can't learn it in a day, but it's a good place to start.
The course will try to give a history of the developments and theory of Wing Chun as both fighting system and cultural artifice. Hopefully you will enjoy learning.

5:00 to 6:00 PM in SCI 145
ALIENS! with Emma Puranen
Design and learn about aliens
Imagine an alien. You probably have a mental image of a small green humanoid figure with a large head and black eyes without pupils. Where did this come from? Is this anywhere near what an actual alien would look like? Can we even answer this question? In this course, we will investigate aliens using exoplanet science, evolutionary biology, and art!

5:00 to 6:00 PM in SCI 104
The Story of Modern Architecture with Wendy Wu
why and how architecture evolved over the last century?
What is modern architecture? In this course we will survey the most important architects and building forms of this diverse period. How has history, technology, and cultural exchange shape the past, present and the future forms of architecture?
There will be snacks provided.

7:00 to 8:30 PM in Danawell Connector
Vertigo-go Improv Workshop/Playdate
Want to learn the basics of comedy improv?
Come learn the building blocks of comedy improv and improvise with Swarthmore's premier (and only) improvisation group!

9:00 PM in a still unknown location (likely Sci Commons or Kohlberg lounge)
Collection and Chill
Come hang out with the Peripeteia planning committee and eat leftover snacks! ;)