Lecture Course
Twelve twice-weekly, one-hour Zoom sessions
Mondays and Wednesdays, 8pm - 9 pm ET, June 3rd - July 8, 2024

Concurrent Optional Writing Workshop (limited to 15)
Six once-weekly, two-hour Zoom sessions
Thursdays, 8-10pm ET, June 6th - July 11th, 2024

Admission Options
Lecture Course Only: $110 Patreon Members / $120 General Admission
Lecture Course + Writing Course: $270 Patreon Members / $280 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time

“This is something borrowed, something new,
just like teacher said to do, 
As she hands your chains and the keys.” 
It’s Hard to Break Free by Burner Herzog

While technology has allowed for longer, easier, and generally freer human lifespans, our lives in the shadow of Late Capitalism are often overwritten by a desire-addled culture lulling us into passive consumption while demanding we live our lives “to the max!” Anxiety about our identity and the meaning of life lies at the heart of much of our popular culture, which in the last 100 years has been expressed symbolically through music, literature, film, and the digital flotsam and jetsam of our daily lives.

In this six week lecture course, join award-winning writer and San Francisco State University instructor David Gill as we decode the symbolism that not only lays out our various existential dilemmas, but offers avenues of self-discovery and fulfillment. Learning basic techniques of psychological and literary analysis along with directed free writing, students will find the keys to personal transformation in recurring tropes like zombies and androids, in films like Star Wars, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Fight Club, The Passion of the Christ, I’m a Virgo, and The Matrix, in classic poetry from T.S. Eliot, and lyrics from The Rolling Stones. 

Students in the writing workshop will complete three writing assignments related to the material in the lecture course: a personal reflection, an essay about an object that symbolizes something about them, and a story or poem. Students will receive detailed, individual feedback on both the form and content of their work, either in writing or via one-on-one conferencing. 

David Gill has taught literature and composition at San Francisco State University for more than 18 years where he has graded more than 35,000 pages of student writing. He is an internationally recognized expert on science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. An award winning writer, Gill’s work has been featured on Salon, Tor, boingboing, Daily Science Fiction, and RIFF Magazine. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, L.A. Times, NPR, and Salon.