Project Unnamed

            The first rule of honors options is you don’t talk about honors options.  At least, that’s what it felt like to my freshman self when I joined the honors program.  I couldn’t quite figure out what they were, and my upperclassman friends just gave me vague and sinister warnings about avoiding them and sticking to regular honors classes. 

            So that’s what I did for two and a half years, but now I am going to debunk some of the honors option myths because I am currently working on one--and actually enjoying it.  In order to graduate in the honors program, you have to get 24 hours of honors credit.  This is easy to work on freshman and sophomore year, because most core classes are also offered as honors classes.  However, once you get to be an upperclassmen and are taking classes mostly in your major field, honors classes are a bit harder to come by.  Enter honors options.  The idea is to make some of your regular classes honors by working with the professor to do an extra project related to the class.  You propose a project, get it approved by the honors program director, and then work on it throughout the course of the semester.  Sound less mysterious? 

            Maybe, but a lot of people still think it sounds like a lot of work.  But what my upperclassman friends didn’t tell me was that this extra work could actually be fun—remember you get to pick what the project is.  Which brings me back to the introduction to this post, which is a reference to the book (and, yes, movie) Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.  What does Fight Club have to do with honors options?  In my case, everything.

            I am taking an American Novels class, and I decided that it had the most potential for an honors option, so I went to Dr. Arthur and made my proposal: I wanted to study Fight Club, a contemporary American novel, to figure out why it became such a big cultural phenomenon if most of the literary world seems to think it is just a gross piece of shock art.  After I assured Dr. Arthur that no, I am not interested in anarchy, self-mutilation, or beating the tar out of anybody, he agreed to help me with this project, and it has been an interesting ride.  Dr. Arthur has never read Fight Club, so I’ve enjoyed hearing his reaction to it (mixed so far…he doesn’t seem super impressed, but I am secretly convinced he finds it a page-turner). 

            The project has actually evolved over the course of the semester into something a little different: Project Unnamed (this is what I have decided to call it, since I’m in Fight Club codenames mode).  I will be defining a brand new literary genre consisting of literature that deals with underground societies/conspiracies, such as Project Mayhem in Fight Club, W.A.S.T.E in The Crying of Lot 49, and the Mutafikah in Mumbo Jumbo.  My project will culminate in a mock encyclopedia entry explaining this genre, which I myself will get to name.  Suggestions are welcome, because right now I am trying to resist the temptation to name it something totally random or just name it after myself, but somehow I don't think that would be the most scholarly approach.   

                 

           Though the true name of Project Unnamed is still a mystery, hopefully after reading this post honors options aren’t, and you’ll be tempted to take one if you ever get the chance.  Because in what other class could you get your professor promising to be a character witness if the government comes after you for researching anarchist movements? 

You also might check out Dr. Arthur's Rockhurst blog for his take on our little project: http://jasonarthursblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/everything-but-fight-club-is.html