On October 28, 2014, the Humanities Colloquium went to the National Steinbeck Center. Each quarter the students in the Colloquium elective series take a field trip to deepen their understanding in the subject under consideration. The first quarter the students studied “non-fiction.” As part of the study they read some of the non-fiction writings of John Steinbeck: “About Ed Ricketts,” “The Harvest Gypsies” and selections from Travels with Charley. At the museum the students learned more about Steinbeck’s life and writings, while visiting the displays in the museum and also from a docent who is a Steinbeck expert. Yustina Hryciw enjoyed the field trip because “It was very interesting to see all of the displays from the various books; and the people in the museum weren’t strict about the displays- many of them were of the sort which you could climb and sit on.” Reading a selection of Travels with Charley was not enough for Yustina or classmate Isabella Negrete, they borrowed Mr. Olson’s copies (yes, he has two) and are reading the entire work on their own!
