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.

Summer 2026

CAT 124: Borders, Boundaries, and Identity

Caleb Mertz-Vega

Associate Instructor, CAT

Tuesday/Thursday 9:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.

This civic engagement course will take us from the classroom to the border to understand how borders, boundaries, and identity politics work together to construct our identities. We center our focus on San Diego as a border(ed) land and take Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa as a point of departure. Combining literature, visual media, and murals in Chicano Park, we dissect identity and how both physical and sociopolitical boundaries both inform and limit possible identities within this space and beyond. Through a combination of classroom instruction, a trip to the San Ysidro border, and a park cleanup at Chicano Park, students will develop a personal and connected appreciation of the history of the border in San Diego and the effects this has on the human inhabitants.

As a final project students will be asked to identify the borders, boundaries, and limitations within their own life and find a local nonprofit they can volunteer with. Each student will give an eight-minute presentation that connects their story to one of the readings, art installations, or stories they gained from this experience and one local volunteering opportunity with the expectation the student will have volunteered with the group.

Fall 2026

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

Becca Rose

Lecturer, CAT

Seminar time TBA

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.

CAT 124: Feral Foraging: Creating a Site-Inspired Art Exhibition

Maya VanderSchuit

Lecturer, CAT

Max Roemer

Visiting Artist

Seminar time TBA

Feral Foraging is an upper-division experiential learning course in which students will create artworks that relate and respond to their immediate environment. As such, this course invites students to quite literally touch grass, put their toes in the sand, and feel the wind on their faces. This iteration of CAT 124 will partly take place at UCSD's Craft Center, but more so it will encourage students to work outdoors in their local landscapes in collaboration with San Diego-based artist Max Roemer. At the beginning of the course, we will explore the history and evolving language of site-based art, including site-specific, site-responsive, and what we will call "site-inspired" work. Throughout the course, we will analyze concepts explored in site-based practices such as place, sustainability, time, and narrative while also acquiring confidence in working with sustainable materials through artist-led workshops. We will forage for ideas and materials through readings and discussion, research, artist-led workshops on play and experimentation, and field trips. At the end of the quarter, students will apply knowledge and skills gained during the gathering phase towards the production of an art exhibition on campus.

CAT 124: Podcasting

Romain Delaville

Lecturer, CAT

Seminar time TBA