First taught at the University of San Francisco in fall 2002 and scheduled again for fall 2003, Mathematics and Esthetics-Science and Art in the Bay Area (MESABA) is a unique freshman seminar that provides instruction in both math and art as well as academic support for new college students. It celebrates and is enriched by the art. nature, science, and people of San Francisco and the Bay Area. But its structure and content can prove useful for many quite different courses and settings. So this is an argument for both unicity and catholicity.