Honors 212:
Seattle: Reading and Writing the City
Course: Honors 212 (Seattle: Reading and Writing the City)
Taken: Spring 2014, Junior Year
Professor: Naomi Sokolof
Taken: Spring 2014, Junior Year
Professor: Naomi Sokolof
I moved to Kenmore, WA when I was 7 years old. I have grown up considering myself a Washingtonian, but moving to Seattle for college has fostered in me a new appreciation for the city I have come to think of as my own. This Honors class was part Seattle history class and part coffee shop book club. Learning the history of the city allowed us to place each novel in context, from World War II era Chinatown in Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet to the 1962 World's Fair in Jim Lynch's Truth Like the Sun to the present-day Microsoft culture of Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette.
One of the most interesting novels that we read for me personally was Long for This World by Michael Byers, because the main character is a UW scientist who works in our very own UW Medical Center and Health Sciences Building! Long for This World tells the story of Dr. Henry Moss, who has devoted his life to studying the rare disease Hickman syndrome. Children with Hickman syndrome age rapidly and prematurely, and in the story Henry stumbles upon a potential cure but must choose between testing it properly for many years before it can benefit patients or illegally using it now in an attempt to save his favorite patient's life. This novel resonated with me because Henry is studying aging in the very same building that I do!
One of the most interesting novels that we read for me personally was Long for This World by Michael Byers, because the main character is a UW scientist who works in our very own UW Medical Center and Health Sciences Building! Long for This World tells the story of Dr. Henry Moss, who has devoted his life to studying the rare disease Hickman syndrome. Children with Hickman syndrome age rapidly and prematurely, and in the story Henry stumbles upon a potential cure but must choose between testing it properly for many years before it can benefit patients or illegally using it now in an attempt to save his favorite patient's life. This novel resonated with me because Henry is studying aging in the very same building that I do!