Lydia Graecyn
English Instructor

With Cabrillo College since 2003

Office visits: I enjoy working and visiting with students. PLEASE MAKE AN APPOINTMENT to avoid waiting in line or running out of time. If you cannot make my regularly scheduled times, we will try to schedule a meeting that will work with both our busy lives. I also often meet with students in the library to help with research projects, so you might find me there!

Zombies, Vampires, Corpses! Oh My!

Special Topic: The Undead vs. The Living

Only by becoming critical thinkers can we begin to make real active choices. This single skill can save us from becoming the walking dead and instead allow us to live purposeful, wonder filled lives. Writing serves as one of the most powerful and effective tools in developing our critical thinking skills.

"Popular culture has virtually become our culture. If we wish to understand ourselves, we must learn to think critically about what was once condescendingly regarded as 'mass culture'" (Maasik, Solomon V).

We will examine the historical representations of zombies, vampires, and corpses and explore their popularity as metaphors for contemporary cultural concerns. Investigating the semiotics of Zombies will lead us in understanding modern production and consumerism. The study of Vampires will reveal political and market structures as well as issues of power, privilege, and access. The course section on Corpses invites us to explore race, class, gender, sexuality, and perceptions of disabilities.

Reading critically and writing well can challenge the way you perceive the world and influence the way the world sees you. When you write about something, you have the opportunity to think and feel about it deeply. When others read what you have written, your expression represents you.


This course also supports students in developing the Cabrillo Core 4 Competencies:

1. Communication—reading, writing, listening, speaking and/ or conversing

2. Critical Thinking and Information Competency—analysis, computation, research, problem solving

3. Global Awareness—an appreciation of scientific process, global systems and civics, and artistic variety

4. Personal Responsibility and Professional Development—self-management and self-awareness, social and physical wellness, workplace skills