Water, Water Everywhere
A Learning Community
Spring 20XX
Professor of English
Office:
Telephone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Professor of Chemistry
Office:
Telephone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Librarian
Office:
Telephone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Office hours are scheduled for the purpose of meeting with students, so please do not
hesitate to come to our offices to talk during these hours or whenever else is mutually
convenient. You are always welcome to meet with us. If you have any problems,
questions, or need help regarding your schoolwork, please come to see us.
Course descriptions:
LC 101, Water, Water Everywhere:
This Learning Community will share in the wonder of water, learning about its
unusual chemical and physical properties and why it is essential to life. Water is
everywhere and without water, we die within a week. Water is absolutely indispensable
for all the forms of life that have evolved on Earth and is the most important compound
on the face of the Earth. Where does water come from? Who owns the water? How
severe is the threat of acid rain? Why is water a liquid when it should be a gas? How is
water able to absorb enormous amounts of energy without significantly raising its
temperature? What will happen if we continue our present patterns of water use? Will
there always be enough water for everyone, everywhere? How are these issues
represented in literature? What are the spiritual and aesthetic dimensions of water?
Some of the works discussed may include: Yann Martel‘s Life of Pi, Kurt Vonnegut‘s
Cat’s Cradle, Timothy Findley‘s Not Wanted on the Voyage, Hermanne Hesse‘s
Siddhartha, Philip Ball‘s Life’s Matrix: A Biography of Water, Marilynne Robinson‘s
Housekeeping, Shakespeare‘s King Lear, ―Onondaga Lake: A Case Study‖ Linda
Hogan‘s Solar Storms, David Christner‘s Let it Rain, Jonathan Harr‘s A Civil Action,
Vandana Shiva‘s Water Wars, and the film The Milagro Bean Field War.
Prerequisites: ENG 101 and permission of the instructors.
The Class:
In addition to the exploration into the intellectual and technical aspects of
literature and science, the aim of this course is to encourage critical, i.e. analytical,
thinking and to develop scientific, reading, research, and writing skills. The course is
designed to develop your ability to think in a variety of academic disciplines: to
understand, to intuit, and to reason as well as to introduce you to inductive and deductive
reasoning and to problem solving. Essay assignments, reading and writing assignments,
problem-solving exercises, lab work, and exams will be directed toward all of these
goals. Students should be willing to use one of the larger academic libraries in the area if
the HCC Library is unable to provide sufficient research materials. The class will consist
of lecture, discussion, group work, and student presentations. Active student
participation is required.
Water, 2
Attendance Policy:
Attendance is required. Excuses are not needed and should not be offered.
Arriving late or leaving early may count as an absence. If you miss more than two classes
(for whatever reason, and not counting Wednesdays which must never be missed), you
should withdraw officially or expect the possibility of a substantial reduction in your final
grade or of being dropped with a grade of AW. Disruptive behavior may also result in
withdrawal from the class or an AW. Make-up quizzes or exams will not be given except
in extraordinary circumstances. If you cannot avoid missing a class, contact another
student to learn what you have missed. (Please keep in mind that the syllabus is subject to
change and that changes will be announced in class.)
Grades:
Grades will be determined from all papers, essays, quizzes, lab reports, hour
exams,take-home exercises, class participation, and in-class exercises. Effort and
improvement will also influence your final grade.
The course grade will be determined as follows:
Projects, final paper, research paper, critical-reaction papers—50%
Hour exams—25%
Laboratory—15%
Class participation—10%
Students will receive a grade of B+ automatically on all one-page ―critical reaction‖ papers
if they are handed in on time and meet a reasonable expectation of competency. This
policy is meant to encourage creativity and risk-taking. Outstanding work will receive a
higher grade.
All assignments must be completed in order to pass the course.
Papers and Assignments:
Your writing is expected to be clear, well-organized, and free of errors in
grammar, spelling, and mechanics. We will be happy to help anyone with writing
difficulties, so please ask for help. You are always welcome to ask for help with
research, outlines, rough drafts, or any other aspect of your work. Papers must be typed
and must follow the MLA style as explained and illustrated in the MLA Handbook (6th
ed., 2003). We will cover this style in class, but again, if you have any questions or
problems, please ask for help. Always (for all of your college courses) keep a copy or a
final draft of papers that you hand in. Always save all of your papers until after you
receive your final course-grade (if not forever!). This is your responsibility. You may
also be asked to turn in papers on a diskette, so please be prepared to do so.
Late work will not be accepted and missed work will only be accepted under
extraordinary circumstances.
Plagiarism:
―In short, to plagiarize is to give the impression that you have written or thought
something that you have in fact borrowed from someone else‖ (MLA Handbook, 3rd ed.,
21). Plagiarism, even unintentional, may result in failure and a note in your college record.
For more information see the HCC College Guide and Handbook, the MLA Handbook, or
one of your instructors.
Water, 3
Laboratory Policy:
It is anticipated and encouraged that lab students interact with one another and
with the laboratory instructor in order to thoroughly understand how to successfully
complete the lab reports. All lab reports are due one week after the experiment is
completed. If for unforeseeable reasons the student is physically unable to be present for
a particular laboratory session, the lab report for the previous week‘s work must be
submitted on the next class day.
All lab reports will be evaluated on a basis of 10 points.
Absence from lab will result in a grade of ZERO for the missed work. Reports
that are not submitted within a week after the experiment is completed will be penalized
for lateness.
Required Equipment
OSHA-approved safety glasses.
Scientific calculator (strongly recommended).
Required Texts
Ball, Philip. Life’s Matrix: A Biography of Water. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2001. (Provided to students by the Honors Program.)
Christner, David W. Let it Rain. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing Company, 1980.
Findley, Timothy. Not Wanted on the Voyage. Toronto: Penguin, 1984. (Provided to
students by the Honors Program.)
Haar, Jonathan. A Civil Action. New York: Vintage, 1996.
Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. Trans. Hilda Rosner. New York: New Directions, 1951.
Hogan, Linda. Solar Storms. New York: Scribner, 1995.
Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching. 25th Anniversary Edition, New York: Vintage Books, 1997
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York: Harcourt, 2001.
Robinson, Marilynne. Housekeeping. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1980.
Schwartz, A. Truman, et al. Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society. 2nd
ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1997.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. Stephen Orgel. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.
Shiva, Vandana. Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit. Cambridge, MA:
South End Press, 2002.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle. New York: Delta, 1963.
Water, 4
Bibliography
Barrett, Andrea. The Forms of Water. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993.
---. Ship Fever. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Bohjalian, Chris. Water Witches. New York: Scribner, 1995.
Bruchac, Joseph and Michael J. Caduto. Native American Stories. Golden, CO:
Fulcrum, 1991.
Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1993. New York: Aspect, 1995.
Coffer, William E. (Koi Hosh.) Spirit of the Sacred Mountains: Creation Stories of the
American Indian. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978.
Conway, Jill Ker et al., eds. Earth, Air, Fire, Water. Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1999.
Davies, Stevie. The Element of Water. London: The Women‘s Press, 2001.
De Villiers, Marq. Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource. Boston: Mariner
Books, 2001.
Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.
Duncan, David James. My Story As Told By Water. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books,
2002.
Duxbury, Alison B., Alyn Duxbury, and Keith Sverdup. Fundamentals of
Oceanography. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.
Fagan, Brian. The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of
Civilizations. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2008.
Flannery, Tim. The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it
Means for Life on Earth. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.
Ghosh, Amitav. The Hungry Tide. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Gleick, Peter H. The World’s Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater
Resources. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2006.
Hatton, John and Paul Plouffe, eds. The Culture of Science. New York: Macmillan,
1993.
Kunzig, Robert. Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science. New
York: W. W. Norton, 2000.
Lee, Jeffrey. The Scientific Endeavor. Reading, MA: Benjamin Cummings, 2000.
Lembke, Janet. Skinny Dipping and Other Immersions in Water, Myth, and Being
Human. New York: Lyons & Burford, 1994.
Water, 5
Marks, William E. The Holy Order of Water: Healing Earth’s Waters and Ourselves.
Great Barrington, MA: Bell Pond Books, 2001.
McComas, William F. ―15 Myths of Science.‖ Skeptic. 5.2 (1997): 88-95.
Mitchell, John G. ―James Bay: Where Two Worlds Collide.‖ Water: The Power,
Promise, and Turmoil of North America’s Fresh Water. National Geographic
Special Edition. 184.5A (1993): 66-75.
Montgomery, Carla. Environmental Geology. 5th ed., rev. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000.
O‘Connell, James C., ed. The Pioneer Valley Reader. Stockbridge, MA: Berkshire
House, 1995.
Orr, David W. Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect.
Washington, DC: Island Press, 1994.
Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson.
New York: Vintage, 1990.
Pearce, Fred. When the Rivers Run Dry: Water—The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first
Century. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007.
Rushdie, Salman. ―On Leavened Bread.‖ The New Yorker. 30 December 1996: 45.
Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. New
York: Penguin, 1993.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of King Lear. Ed. Jay L. Halio. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1992.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. 1977. New York: Penguin, 1986.
Singh, Simon. Fermat’s Enigma. New York: Doubleday/Anchor, 1998.
Slovic, Scott H. and Terrell F. Dixon. Being in the World: An Environmental Reader for
Writers. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
Snyder, Gary. The Practice of the Wild. New York: North Point Press, 1990.
Steingarten, Jeffrey. The Man Who Ate Everything. New York: Vintage, 1997.
Vidal, John. ―Liquid Assets.‖ The Manchester Guardian Weekly. August 2002.
Water: The Power, Promise, and Turmoil of North America’s Fresh Water. National
Geographic Special Edition. 184.5A (1993).
Wetherell, W. D., ed. This American River: Five Centuries of Writing about the
Connecticut. Hanover: University Press of New England, 2002.
Wise, Donald U. ―Creationism‘s Geologic Time Scale.‖ Geology: Annual Editions,
1999/2000. 2nd ed. Ed. Douglas B. Sherman. New York: Duskin, 2001.
Water, 6
Water, Water Everywhere
A Learning Community
Assignments are listed on the days they are due, so look—and plan—ahead.
The syllabus may change; all changes will be announced in class.
Syllabus
Spring 20XX
I. The liquid of which seas, lakes, and rivers are composed, and which falls as rain and
issues from springs. When pure, it is transparent, colourless (except as seen in large
quantity, when it has a blue tint), tasteless, and inodorous.
Popular language recognizes kinds of ‗water‘ that have not all these negative properties;
but (even apart from any scientific knowledge) it has usually been more or less clearly
understood that these are really mixtures of water with other substances. (OED2)
And the Albatross begins to be avenged.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
The very deep did rot : O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.
About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
The water, like a witch‘s oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.
from Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
―Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.‖
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
―Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.‖
W.H. Auden
The ocean is a body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for
man—who has no gills.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary
Water, 7
Week 1
Getting Our Feet Wet
Mon.
Monday Music: ―Rolling Thunder/Shoshone Invocation, The Main Ten.‖
Bread and Water, a tasting.
Small Group work (each group should choose a different member to
record the group‘s work and to report to the rest of the class):
1. discuss a meaningful water event in each of your lives;
2. discuss possible answers to the question, ―where does water
come from?‖
Class covenants distributed: please read, sign, and return next class.
Begin reading Timothy Findley‘s Not Wanted on the Voyage.
Wed.
Salman Rushdie, ―On Leavened Bread‖ (booklet).
Jeffrey Steingarten, ―Water‖ (booklet).
―Sweathouse Ritual No. 1‖ (booklet).
Book of Genesis, 1:1-2, Creation (booklet).
Water Use and Water Quality: Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry
to Society ch. 5, section 5.1 (pp. 150-53); exercise 35, p. 182.
Covenants due: read and signed.
Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage pp. 3-61.
LAB: Graphing (see lab schedule for more details).

Fri.
Film: Plato’s Cave, followed by group discussion.
Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage pp. 61-120.
Book of Genesis, chs. 6-10, Noah and the Great Flood (booklet).
―Leda and the Swan‖ (booklet).
Paper due: 1-page essay on the metaphysical properties of water (some
research might be helpful).
Sign up for first project (due Monday, week 5). The first project will be a
group effort on one of the following topics:
1. Spiritual qualities of water
2. Chemical and/or physical qualities of water
3. Political qualities of water
4. Cosmological qualities of water
5. Mythic qualities of water.
Four people may sign up for each topic. That team will then
collaborate on research, brainstorming, and writing to produce a
researched and documented 5-page paper. Each group will give a
10-minute presentation on their work in class.
Epistemology: how do we know what we know? In this section of the class we explore
how and why information is sought and obtained as well as strategies to determine
whether information is valid and reliable. We will discuss questions such as what is
knowledge and how do we distinguish one form from another? How do we acquire and
use knowledge? What is scientific knowledge? What is the relationship between myths
and theories? What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning? Why
are these questions important?
Water, 8
Solve the riddle: H _ _ _ _ _ _ O
(clue on last page)
Week 2
100% Chance of Rain
Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit.
The conscious water saw its God, and blushed.
(Richard Crashaw, 1612? – 1649, Epigrammata Sacra. Aquae in Vinum Versae (His own translation.)
Mon.
Monday Music: Creedence Clearwater Revival, ―Who‘ll Stop the Rain?‖
Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage pp. 120-181.
What is Science?
Lee, ―Introduction,‖ ch. 1 in The Scientific Endeavor, pp. 1-10 (booklet).
Lecture on critical essays, the MLA style, and research.
Wed.
Wynn, ―Does Theory Ever Become Fact?‖ in Science and Its Ways of
Knowing, pp. 60-62; questions for discussion 1-2, p. 63 (booklet).
―Laws and Theories‖ exercise (booklet).
Definition and definition of ―myth.‖
Dylan Thomas, ―A Refusal to Mourn the Death, By Fire, of a Child in
London‖ (Booklet).
Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage pp. 181-242.
LAB: Inductive Reasoning (see lab schedule for more details).

Fri.
McComas, ―15 Myths of Science‖ in Skeptic, pp. 88-95 (booklet).
Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage pp. 242-301.
○Full Moon
Fhairshon has a son,
Who married Noah‘s daughter,
And nearly spoiled ta Flood,
By trinking up ta water.
Which he would have done,
I at least pelieve it,
Had the mixture peen
Only half Glenlivet.
(W.E. Aytoun, 1813 – 1865, from
―The Execution of Montrose,‖ vii)
Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach‘s sake and thine often infirmities
(King James Bible, 1 Timothy 5:23).
And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine, ‗I don‘t care where the water goes
if it doesn‘t get into the wine.‘ (G. K. Chesterton, 1874 – 1936, Wine and Water)
What is a “clepsydra”?
Water, 9
A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom;
a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water. (Fisher Ames, 1758 –
1808, House of Representatives, 1795)
Week 3
Limits to Conclusions?
Mon.
Monday Music: Eric Clapton, ―Let it Rain.‖
Ball, ―Pride, Prejudice, and Pathology—The Allure of Weird Water,‖ ch.
10 in Life’s Matrix, pp. 271-79.
Findley Not Wanted on the Voyage pp. 301-352 (end).
1-page ―critical reaction‖ paper due on Not Wanted.
Guest lecturer: Dr. Marion Copeland.
Wed.
Ball, ―A Drop of Something Stronger—Water as Savior,‖ ch. 11 in Life’s
Matrix, pp. 293-310.
Piet Hut, ―Structuring Reality: The Role of Limits‖ (handout).
LAB: Properties of Water (boiling point, density vs. temperature, cooling
curve—temperature vs. time, surface tension).

Fri.
Christner, Let it Rain.
Ball, ch. 11 continued.
Begin reading Life of Pi.
The Wonder of Water: our learning community will share in the wonder of water, learn
about its unusual physical and chemical properties, trace its movement about the Earth
and why it is essential to life. Life originated in water yet this vital resource is being
threatened by living beings. Water has been a compelling image in literature, and issues
ranging from ―Who owns the water?‖ to ―Is there enough water for everyone,
everywhere?‖ will be considered from both scientific and literary perspectives.
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Bible, Revelation, 21:6)
From the waterfall he named her,
Minnehaha, Laughing Water.
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807 – 1882, iv. Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis)
CXXIII.
There rolls the deep where grew the tree.
O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,
And dream my dream, and hold it true;
For tho‘ my lips may breathe adieu,
I cannot think the thing farewell.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1833)
Water, 10
Week 4
Raining Tigers and Hyenas
Mon.
Monday Music: Bap Kennedy, ―Mostly Water.‖
H20: Surprising Stuff.
Chemistry, ch. 5, § 5.2, pp. 154-55. Refer to ch. 1, § 1.8, pp. 16-18, for
―Chemical Change: Reactions and Equations.‖
Martel, Life of Pi, chs. 1-33.
Wed.
The Anomalous Liquid.
Ball, ―Between Heaven and Earth—Why Water is the Weirdest Liquid,‖
ch. 6, pp. 151-57.
Martel, Life of Pi, chs. 34-66.
In-class writing on Life of Pi.
LAB: an Energy Conservation problem dealing with hot water. There are
no instructions, procedures, or data sheets for this lab. There is simply a
problem to solve that requires reasoning skills and creativity.

Fri.
Molecular Structure and Physical Properties.
Chemistry, ch. 5, § 5.3 – 5.4, pp. 156-59. Refer to ch. 1, § 1.5, pp. 10-13,
for ―Classifying Matter: Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures‖ and
§ 1.6, pp. 13-14, for ―Atoms and Molecules.‖
Martel, Life of Pi, chs. 67-100 (end).
1-page paper due on the nature of knowledge.
I got this powdered water; now I don‘t know what to add.
Steven Wright
Evil is like water: it abounds, is cheap, soon fouls, but runs itself clear of taint.
Samuel Butler
I never drink water. I‘m afraid it will become habit-forming.
W. C. Fields
I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes.
W. C. Fields
You can‘t trust water: even a straight stick turns crooked in it.
W. C. Fields
Buoyed by water, he can fly in any direction—up, down, sideways—by merely flipping
his hand. Under water, man becomes an archangel.
Jacques Cousteau
Water, 11
Week 5
Water Magic
Mon.
Monday Music: DMB, ―Don‘t Drink the Water.‖
Project Presentations.
Molecular Structure and Physical Properties continued.
Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 3-105.
Wed.
Why Water is Crooked.
Ball, ―Between Heaven and Earth—Why Water Is the Weirdest Liquid,‖
ch. 6 in Life’s Matrix, pp. 167-74.
Project Presentations.
Pizza.
Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 105-208.
*****
LAB: Fluoridation. Bottles of sodium fluoride have a skull and
crossbones emblem on them to warn that the substance is a dangerous
poison and is sometimes used to kill rats. Yet, sodium fluoride is added to
public drinking water. Is fluoridation part of an evil plot to poison us?
You will determine the fluoride content of a water sample using
spectrophotometry, a technique based on measuring the concentration of a
colored solution based upon its ability to absorb light. You will compare
your results with the fluoride limits set by public health standards.

Fri.
Water and Life.
Guest Lecturer: Prof. Kate Maiolatesi.
Crisis: there are numerous water issues that threaten the planet. Who owns the water? How
severe are the effects of acid precipitation on materials, visibility, and human health? Is acid rain
a major contributing cause to fish kill, damage to lakes and streams, and unhealthy forests? Is
acid rain a scientific issue or a political issue? (Or a spiritual issue?) Why has Onondaga Lake,
in Syracuse, become so polluted? How do deforestation and construction of dams contribute to
environmental contamination of water? What can be done to minimize the threat of destroying
much of the biodiversity of the coral reefs?
Water has inspired great poetry and literature. Our language is full of allusions to
springs, depths, currents, rivers, seas, rain, mist, dew, and snowfall. To a great extent our
language is about water and people in relation to water. We think of time flowing like a
river. We cry oceans of tears. We ponder the wellsprings of thought. . . . Our relation to
water is fundamentally somatic, which is to say it is experienced bodily. The brain
literally floats on a cushion of water. The body consists mostly of water. We play in
water, fish in it, bathe in it, and drink it. Some of us were baptized in it. We like the feel
of salt spray in our faces and the smell of rain that ends a dry summer heat wave. The
sound of mountain water heals what hurts. We are mostly water and have an affinity for
it that transcends our ability to describe it in mere words. (Orr, 1994, p. 54)
Water, 12
Week 6
Bottoms Up!
Mon.
Monday Music: Frank Black & The Catholics: St. Francis Dam Disaster.‖
Water and Energy.
Chemistry, ch. 5: § 5.8, pp. 165-68.
Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 208-315.
Sign up for second project (due Monday, week 10).
Wed.
Water and Energy, continued.
Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 315-401.
LAB: Properties of Water (see lab schedule for more details).

Fri.
Potability and Purification of Water.
Chemistry, ch. 5: § 5.9-5.14, pp. 170-77.
Harr, A Civil Action, pp. 405-502 (end).
Guest Lecturer: Jonathan Harr.
1-page ―critical reaction‖ paper due on A Civil Action.
○Full Moon
Week 7
Who Owns It?
Monday Music: Handel, ―Water Music.‖
Hour Exam I.
Samual Taylor Coleridge, ―Rime of the Ancient Mariner.‖
Read this online at:
Mon.
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html
(If you are not able to read the poem online, let us know.)
Hogan, Solar Storms, pp. 11-59.
Wed.

Fri.
Shiva, Water Wars, ―Introduction: Converting Abundance Into Scarcity,‖
pp. 1-17.
Ball, ―Epilogue: Blue Gold,‖ in Life’s Matrix, pp. 337-72.
Hogan, Solar Storms, pp. 60-113.
LAB: Properties of Water—Heat of Fusion.
Shiva, Water Wars, ―Water Rights: the State, the Market, the
Community,‖ ch. 1, pp. 19-37.
Hogan, Solar Storms, pp. 114-144.
John G. Mitchell, ―James Bay: Where Two Worlds Collide‖ (booklet).
1-page ―critical reaction‖ paper due on the wonder of water
Spring Recess, March xx-xx: enjoy!
Film: The Milagro Beanfield War (118 mins). Please view this film before Week 8. You
may borrow the HCC copy (on reserve) overnight for free or you may be able to rent it
from your local video store. It is wonderful!
Water, 13
Week 8
It Calls for Stormy Weather
Mon.
Music: Peter Gabriel, ―Red Rain‖ and B.B. King, ―Stormy Monday.‖
Shiva, Water Wars, ―Climate Change and the Water Crisis,‖ ch. 2, pp.3951.
Hogan, Solar Storms, pp. 145-236.
Wed.
Shiva, Water Wars, ―The Colonization of Rivers: Dams and Water Wars,‖
ch. 3, pp. 72-82 only.
Learning Communities Midsemester Evaluation (SGIFS).
Hogan, Solar Storms, pp. 237-312.
Field trip to Quabbin Reservoir, 12:3 – 3:00 (to be confirmed).
LAB: Field Trip to Quabbin Reservoir (lecture and picnic by the water).

Shiva, Water Wars, ―Food and Water,‖ ch. 5, pp. 107-117.
Hogan, Solar Storms, pp. 313-351 (end).
1-page ―critical reaction‖ paper due on Solar Storms.
Guest lecturer: Prof. Patricia Kennedy.
Fri.
March XX—April X is pre-registration period. Be sure to make, and keep, an
appointment with your advisor to pick up your mid-semester grades, discuss your
academic progress, ask any questions you may have, and choose a schedule of classes for
next semester (early, before classes get closed). Save time by arriving prepared with a
Spring schedule already filled out, even if it is only a tentative schedule. Consider taking
a learning community!
Week 9
The Threat of Acid Rain
Mon.
Monday Music: Beth Orton and William Orbit, ―Water from a Vine Leaf.‖
Acids, Bases, and pH.
Chemistry, ch. 6: § 6.1 – 6.3, pp. 184-88 and § 6.6, pp. 193-96.
Chaucer, ―The Miller‘s Tale‖ (booklet).
Wed.
Acid Rain, Combustion of Coal, and Effects of Acid Precipitation.
Chemistry, ch. 6: § 6.7 – 6.12, pp. 196-206.
Tennyson, from In Memoriam (booklet).
LAB: Water Purification and Determination of Water Hardness.

Fri.
Damage to Lakes, Streams, and Forests: Politics of Acid Rain.
Chemistry, ch. 6: § 6.13 – 6.16, pp. 207-14.
Wallace Stevens, ―Sunday Morning‖ (booklet).
1-page ―critical reaction‖ paper due on Water Wars.
Water, 14
Week 10
Onondaga Lake: A Case Study
Monday Music: Poco, ―Blue Water.‖
Risks and Benefits of Industrialization.
Chemistry, ch. 7: § 7.1 – 7.4, pp. 220-30.
Presentations: abstract (written and oral) of final paper.
Mon.
○Full Moon
Wed.

Fri.
Pollutants and Mercury Toxicity Found in Onondaga Lake.
Chemistry, ch. 7: § 7.5 – 7.7, pp. 230-36.
Presentations: abstract of final paper.
Pizza.
Individual conferences in Jim‘s office.
LAB: Vernal Pools (We will explore the HCC campus to find and analyze
the biotic population in emergent vernal pools. Dress appropriately.)
Technical, Political, and Economic Barriers to Cleaning Onondaga Lake.
Chemistry, ch. 7: § 7.8, pp. 237-41.
Schedule final presentations (during Finals week).
Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act. 1.
Week 11
Water Pollution
Mon.
Monday Music: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, ―Ripplin‘ Waters.‖
Marks, ―Dead Fish,‖ ch. 9 in The Holy Order of Water (booklet).
Montgomery, ―Water Pollution,‖ ch. 6 in Environmental Geology, pp.
385-410 (booklet).
Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act. 2.
Wed.
Water Pollution, continued.
Nichols, ―Keep It Simple‖ in Slovik and Dixon, Being in the World, pp.
679-83 (booklet).
Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act. 3.
LAB: Aquatic Ecosystems and the impact of human activities.

Fri.
Music: John Hiatt, ―The Tiki Bar is Open.‖
Film: Understanding Oceans. Meet Thor Heyerdahl who sailed his balsawood raft, Kon Tiki, from Peru to Polynesia to prove his theory of ancient
ocean migration. Learn how the ocean and air work together to create the
disastrous El Niño. Trace the path and motion of currents, the winds of
the ocean. Monitor ocean pollution. Consider the effects of global
warming.
Shakespeare, The Tempest, Acts 4-5.
―Here lies one whose name was writ in water.‖
(John Keats, 1795-1821: epitaph composed for himself, qtd. in Lord Houghton, Life of Keats, ii.91)
Water, 15
I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing
away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water.
Amy Tan (b.1952) US novelist
Week 12
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
Shakespeare, from King Lear
Mon.
Monday Music: Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (entire).
Guest Lecturer: Dr. Xian Liu.
Wed.
Coral Reefs.
Duxbury, et al., ―The Ocean Basin Floor,‖ § 4.3 in Fundamentals of
Oceanography, pp. 81-82 (booklet).
Duxbury, et al., ―Tropical Coral Reefs,‖ § 12.10, pp. 309-12 (booklet).
Robinson, Housekeeping, pp. 3-59.
LAB: Coral Reefs.

Fri.
Hour Exam II.
John Tallmadge, ―In the Mazes of Quetico‖ (booklet).
Robinson, Housekeeping, pp. 60-94.
3-page critical, researched paper due on The Tempest.
Saturday: Field Trip to Mystic Aquarium (mark your calendars!)
Origins of Water: how did Earth become a water planet? The Earth‘s solar orbit, its
rotation, and the atmospheric gases above the Earth‘s surface produce surface
temperatures that allow water to exist as liquid water. Infant Earth was a world without
water. How do we know that Earth was not originally formed with continents, oceans,
and atmosphere? Is it possible that a rain of comets may have brought the Earth its
water? What is the total amount of water on Earth? Is it constant? How reliable are the
scientific theories about water? Does water speak to us in spiritual ways? Is water myth
water truth? Do Sumerian writings, Egyptian writings, Greek philosophy, and Genesis
accounts of water‘s creation provide insights to its origins? How are our human bodies
connected with water and water healing? What are the aesthetic dimensions of water?
The study of mathematics is apt to commence in
disappointment....We are told that by its aid the stars are
weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water
are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, this
greatest science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons
to grasp it.
Whitehead, Alfred North (1861 - 1947)
An Introduction to Mathematics
Water, 16
Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.
William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) English poet
Ode, Intimations of Immortality, 9
Week 13
Origins
Mon.
Monday Music: Julie Miller, ―Out in the Rain.‖
Film: Celestial Earth (based on current scientific theory, Celestial Earth
represents 6 billion years in only 10 minutes. In this proportionally
condensed time-scale, each film minute represents 600 million years).
Time Perspective (booklet).
Drill exercise dealing with time (booklet).
Robinson, Housekeeping, pp. 95-142.
Wed.
Ball, ―The First Flood—Water‘s Origins,‖ ch. 1 in Life’s Matrix, pp. 1-21.
―How Thunder and Earthquake Made Ocean‖ (a Pacific Northwest Native
American legend) in Bruchac, Native American Stories (booklet).
Marvin Bram, ―Commencement Speech‖ (booklet).
Robinson, Housekeeping, pp. 143-92.
LAB: Planning and beginning the Experimental Design Lab scheduled for
next week.

Fri.
―The First Flood—Water‘s Origins,‖ continued.
Robinson, Housekeeping, pp. 193-219 (end).
Guest Lecturer: Dr. Kim Hicks, Director of the HCC Honors Program.
1-page critical reaction paper due on Housekeeping.
One may not doubt that, somehow, good
Shall come of water and of mud;
And, sure, the reverent eye must see
A purpose in liquidity.
(Rupert Brooke, 1887 – 1915, The Hill)
It is said that Abdülhamid II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s, had
censors expunge references to H2O from chemistry books because he was sure it stood
for ―Hamid the Second is nothing.‖
(http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-nothing)
Water, 17
I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
G. K. Chesteron
Beauty is a form of genius—is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one
of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that
silver shell we call the moon.
Oscar Wilde (1856 - 1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist
Week 14
Water as Hope
Merses profundo: pulchrior evenit.
Plunge it in deep water: it comes up more beautiful.
(Horace, 65 – 8 BCE, Ars Poetica, iv. 65)
Monday Music: Cry, Cry, Cry, ―Down By the Water.‖
Marks, ―Is Water Myth Water Truth?‖ in The Holy Order of Water, pp.
77-100 (booklet).
Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, chs. 1-33.
Mon.
○Full Moon
Wed.

Fri.
Marks, continued.
Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, chs. 34.66.
LAB: Scientific Hypothesis and Designing an Experiment—Be creative!
You will have the opportunity to design your own experiment. Think of a
problem that you want to investigate. Develop a hypothesis and then
design an experiment to test it. Collect and analyze your data and make
conclusions.
Wise, ―Creationism‘s Geologic Time Scale,‖ (booklet).
Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle, chs. 67-100 (end).
1-page critical reaction paper due on Cat’s Cradle.
―The last thing I have to say is that ice is the past tense of water. I've always wanted to write that sentence
and now I have.‖ (Rita Mae Brown)
The King over the Water. (Jacobite toast, 18th century).
The sound of water escaping from mill-dams, etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork.
I love such things. . . . those scenes made me a painter and I am grateful. (John Constable, 1776 – 1837,
from Leslie, Life of John Constable, 1843, ch. 5, letter to John Fisher, 13 Oct. 1821)
A ―clepsydra‖ is a water clock that measures time by the flow of water (from kleptein, to
steal, and hudōr, water).
Water, 18
Clue to riddle: it has something to do with water.
But somewhere, beyond space and time,
Is wetter water, slimier slime!
(Rupert Brooke, 1887 – 1915, The Hill)
From a drop of water a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without
having seen or heard of one or the other.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930), Scottish author, physician
Sherlock Holmes in "A Study in Scarlet," pt. 1, ch. 2, 1887.
He‘d be sharper than a serpent‘s tooth, if he wasn‘t as dull as ditch water.
Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870), English novelist, dramatist
Our Mutual Friend," Bk. III, Ch. 10
Week 15
Reflections
Mon.
Monday Music: Neil Young, ―Down By the River.‖
Wise, continued.
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (entire).
Wed.
Reflections on the origins of water.
Quabbin Reservoir and the Connecticut River.
Thomas Conuel, ―Quabbin: The Lost Valley‖ and James Tate, ―Quabbin
Reservoir‖ (booklet).
1-page paper due: reflections.
Final Exam: Presentations of final papers (5 pages), with food.
Date:
Time:
Saturday: kayaking on the Swift River. Hurray!
Irrigation of the land with seawater desalinated by fusion power is ancient. It‘s called ‗rain‘.
Michael McClary
The best [man] is like water. Water is good; it benefits all things and does not compete with
them. It dwells in [lowly] places that all disdain. This is why it is so near to Tao.
Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC), The Way of Lao-tzu
You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.
Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC), On the Universe
My empty water dish mocks me.
Bob the Dog