Making Your Place

A year-long, interdisciplinary program for the Grays Harbor community

offered by The Evergreen State College

Faculty: Marla Elliott and Rick McKinnon
Marla Elliott has a Master of Fine Arts
in drama, has organized and run
volunteer lawyer programs, and has
been an activist in women's issues
and poverty law for over 25 years.
Rick McKinnon has a Ph.D. in
linguistics, has worked as a linguist
and pediatric speech-language
pathologist, and is a mediator and a
citizen journalist.
The program will meet in intensive weekends.
Saturday Oct. 3rd, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on TESC campus
Saturday Oct. 17th 9 to 5, Sunday Oct. 18th 9 to 5 at GHC
Saturday Nov. 7th 9 to 5, Sunday Nov. 8th 9 to 5 at GHC
Friday Dec. 4th, 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday Dec. 5th, 9 to 5,
and Sunday Dec. 6th, 9 to 5 at GHC
Because web-based learning activities will be a
significant part of the program’s work, all students must
have access to internet-linked computers. Students
enrolled for 12 credits must participate in a web-based
seminar each Wednesday evening 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Program web site: http://www2.evergreen.edu/EvergreenatGH

Program Description:
On the one hand, all human beings are born into and form communities. On the other hand,
Americans idealize individualism and self-reliance. What do we get from these values, and what do they
cost us? In this broadly interdisciplinary program, we will blend an analysis of our core social structures
with an opportunity for each student to explore his or her personal opportunities for participation and
action.
Using perspectives from psychology, linguistics, evolutionary biology, law, literature, and drama,
students will work throughout the year to understand community, to develop eloquent expression—both
written and oral— and to examine ways to use that eloquence to address a variety of audiences and issues.
Our learning about community will be grounded by a close examination of how humans evolved, how
they develop, and how they associate. Analysis of theory will lead to practical applications and
suggestions for ways to work with and within communities. Issues of social justice and diversity will
form a consistent background for themes developed throughout the year.
In fall quarter, we will study intimate communities, particularly families and musical ensembles. In
winter, we will look at how our sense of community broadens into the larger affinities of schools, spiritual
groups, and community organizations. In spring quarter, our focus will be on government and civic
responsibility and the emerging role of technology in creating and connecting ever-larger communities.
Throughout the year students will work on creating and performing oral history monologues based
on interviews they conduct—in fall quarter with each other and in subsequent quarters with significant

Making Your Place

TESC at GHC fall 2009
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people they choose. These projects in documentary theatre will allow students to celebrate members of
their communities while developing cross-disciplinary skills in interviewing, editing, and oral eloquence
and gaining the poise and confidence necessary to articulate their ideas across a range of contexts, both
personal and public.
Students enrolled for 12 credits will complete a significant independent project each quarter. Fall’s
project will be a research paper 10 to 12 pages long, exclusive of bibliography, on a topic of the student’s
choice related to our program themes. In winter quarter, students will complete a major art project in a
medium of their choice and present it to the class (e.g., photography, sculpture, other visual art, music,
drama, dance, etc.). In spring quarter, students will create an enduring web-based collaborative project
that will benefit their communities.

Required Reading for fall quarter:

Bloom, Paul. Descartes' Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human.
Basic Books, 2005. ISBN-13: 978-0465007868

Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were. Basic Books, 2000. ISBN-13: 978-0465090976

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy. Holt, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-
0805057249

Gibson, Carrie. Crossing the Bridge: The Missing Link in the Dialogue about Difference. Fenestra
Books, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-1587362149

Pinker, Steven. The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Harper, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-
0061336461

Making Your Place

TESC at GHC fall 2009
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