CAT 124

CAT 124 is Sixth College's own high-impact experiential learning course that gives students the opportunity to learn through community engagement, critical analysis, and small group discussion. The courses bring together an interdisciplinary faculty to expound on themes of culture, art, and technology, examining different topics each quarter and over the summer, through distinct experiential learning opportunities. These classes fulfill the experiential learning requirement and are open to students in all departments and fields. Authorization requests for CAT 124 can be submitted through the Enrollment Authorization System and do not require a justification or any supporting documentation.

Spring 2026

CAT 124: Making Sixth Literary Arts Magazine (SLAM): Subversive Publishing, Then and Now

Becca Rose

Lecturer, CAT

Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-4:50 p.m.

What experiences have you longed to see represented in books, magazines, journals, comics? In what ways do you think art and literature can influence identity, can forge community, can create dissent? In this experiential learning course, we will explore these questions both by learning about literature and creating our own. In the classroom, we will engage with readings, lecture, and discussion that will focus on learning about the systemic and structural inequalities of the publishing industry that has and continues to favor white, male, cis, heteronormative, neurotypical, and able-bodied people, but more particularly we will devote ourselves to learning about the community-centered movements, presses, and projects (such as Kitchen Table Press, the Riot Grrrl 'zine movement, present-day Rowhouse Publishing, and more) that have and continue to challenge those industry norms and create space for more voices in literature (while also critiquing any further failings of representation within some movements). For the experiential component of the course, we will put this space-making into practice ourselves: we will make literature and form community within and outside of the classroom through the creation and sharing of the collective final project—a new issue of Sixth College's very own literary arts magazine, for which you will be the editorial team. As such, this course isn't just about histories of literature—this course is about what kind of art and literature you want in the world. Please note that community-making is integral to this course, which has a significant group work component that will require both in class and out of class collaboration.