Professor Marc Cohen’s English 105 class had a unique experience this semester! On February 26, the class visited the Cat’s Cradle music venue in Carrboro. Prof. Cohen’s class had previously interviewed the band Hotel Fiction and then had the opportunity to see them play live.
Professor Cohen has a history of integrating experiences like this one into his 105 classes. For instance, in the past he has collaborated with the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the UNC Hospitals Emergency Department, among others. Prof. Cohen has always been interested in integrating experiential projects into the classroom.
The students enjoyed meeting and listening to the band. It was first-year student Jada Yard’s first time attending a rock concert. Yard said, “People always say that it’s so much better than just listening in your headphones. I could hear every single note, like every single feeling that they were expressing to the crowd, and all the people around me were so into it. The funniest thing to me is Professor Cohen. He knew all the words, all the songs they were singing, and you could tell he was in his element.”
Yard recognized that this experience will have a lasting impact on her: “Professor Cohen has taken a class that was generally supposed to be open and shut, and he made it something that we will really think about for the rest of our time at Carolina.”
The band enjoyed working with Prof. Cohen’s class. Jess Thompson, a founding member of Hotel Fiction, said, “It’s really cool that somebody reached out to have us be a part of the unit for a class. [Cohen] understands the holistic nature of being in a band and how many people it takes to make that happen. We’re just really honored.”
Read more about the experience here.
