Monday Courses   

Ken Burns and his collaborators have been creating documentary films on PBS for over 40 years. Known for a style that brings primary source documents, images, and archival video footage to life on screen, these films present the opportunity to pose thought-provoking questions. Using the documentary “US and the Holocaust” by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein as a starting point, the course will use video clips to consider the United States and its response to the Holocaust. Lesson topics cover the impacts of Nazi ideology, US immigration law in the period of 1924-1941, US media coverage of the Holocaust and its role in shaping what America knew, the varying symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, an examination of how people make choices during times of crisis, and an inquiry inviting students to consider if US public opinion influenced US response to the Holocaust. Watching the documentary in advance of the class is recommended, but not required.

NOTE: WARNING: This film and the course contain material that may be sensitive for some students. There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15, or on January 29 and February 19.

In this course, we will explore the structure and primary movements of the shoulders, arms and hands, and how they are connected to the entire skeleton and you as a complete human being. Each class features an exercise, or “lesson,” involving gentle movements done slowly with minimal effort, while paying attention to your own personal experience. You determine how big, how fast, or how “good” you do the exercises. You will be guided through enjoyable sequences, exploring and discovering ways of moving with spontaneity and awareness. You can think of these exercises as safe, fun puzzles for your nervous system and brain. Each lesson is designed to help you remember, learn, and create new patterns of behavior. You will be involved in your own process of learning. This course is ideal for all ages and abilities. You will increase your balance, reach, and ability to turn more easily, and reduce tension as you adjust and move with more comfort and ease.

NOTE: An OLLI waiver form must be signed prior to the first class. There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15.

Learn a complete Tai Chi form for health and longevity that you can do anywhere, anytime, and that is adaptable for all ages, body types, and abilities. No previous experience is necessary. Reduce stress, improve balance, gain focus/concentration, relieve pain, and gain benefits galore from a 3,000-year-old Chinese movement form: Tai Chi. When you finish the six-week course, you will have three tools in your toolbox for dealing with change, transition and life in general. You will have the Tai Chi 17 form which includes movements from Yang Short Form, so you will be prepared to study further if you wish. You will have learned a sequence called Finished the Form, which you can use alone as a practice or as a warmup or cool down for other practices. You will gain a basic knowledge of Tai Chi/martial arts and how to promote health and mind/body awareness.

NOTE: An OLLI waiver form will need to be signed prior to the first class. There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15.

Make your knitting more interesting and challenging. Learn a variety of new stitches and techniques. Topics include knit and purl combination patterns, cables, plaits, twists, yarn-overs, eyelets, and reading directions. Participants will knit sample swatches of each stitch or an optional scarf “sampler.” This is NOT a beginners’ class. Knitters MUST know how to knit, purl, cast-on and bind-off. Required materials include white or cream-colored worsted weight (#3 or #4) weight yarn, knitting needles in a medium size, and a cable needle. We will be knitting in all classes and participants will be practicing the techniques between classes. The information is cumulative, so participants will find it most helpful to attend all classes, if possible.

NOTE: This is an advanced beginner/intermediate level course. More detailed information about course materials will be sent to registered participants.
 

Ready to take a deep dive into creating your own folk masterpiece? Surprise yourself with imagery created through simple drawing, collage, and painting exercises. Then follow along as you learn to distill and simplify imagery to shapes. Finally, use a step-by-step process to paint a colorful, vibrant painting glowing with light. Each session will start with samples, a demonstration, and time to create and share. The course meets three times a week for two weeks. No art experience is required. Instruction for each class builds on the previous session. Former students are encouraged to repeat this class. A supplies list will be emailed to registered students.

NOTE: Materials can cost between $100 and $150. Students may already have suitable materials. 

“The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world,” writes Ed Yong in “An Immense World.” We will explore parts of the bubble Dr. Yong is describing. Courting peacocks create airflow patterns they can sense with their crest feathers. Butterflies taste with their feet. The naked mole rat is insensitive to the pain of acids and capsaicin. Treehoppers communicate by sending vibrations through the plants on which they stand, which can resemble the songs of birds, monkeys, or musical instruments. Black ghost knife fish produce their own electric fields, which they use to sense the world around them. Bumble bees can sense the electric fields of flowers. This class will examine such marvels through the lens of the physics that govern them. Yong’s book is recommended, but not required.

“The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world,” writes Ed Yong in “An Immense World.” We will explore parts of the bubble Dr. Yong is describing. Courting peacocks create airflow patterns they can sense with their crest feathers. Butterflies taste with their feet. The naked mole rat is insensitive to the pain of acids and capsaicin. Treehoppers communicate by sending vibrations through the plants on which they stand, which can resemble the songs of birds, monkeys, or musical instruments. Black ghost knife fish produce their own electric fields, which they use to sense the world around them. Bumble bees can sense the electric fields of flowers. This class will examine such marvels through the lens of the physics that govern them. Yong’s book is recommended, but not required.

Quantum mechanics is correctly considered mysterious since it is like nothing we encounter in our everyday, macroscopic lives. For example, if you try to say, “an electron is like a _________,” you find nothing in your experience to fill in the blank. The best we can do is describe how it works. The course will cover the three major methods of calculating quantum mechanical effects, leading to the periodic table of the elements. The course will not discuss philosophical interpretations of quantum theory. A Nobel Prize-winning physicist once said that he didn’t understand quantum mechanics and, by the end of this course, neither will you. Some easy mathematics will be used in the course. The course consists of illustrated lectures including animations and video clips. Everyone is expected to ask questions at any time during the class. Course materials, including presentation slides, Internet links, a bibliography, and other relevant information, will be available at LearnerNotes.org. 

This course gives students a structured opportunity to write short personal narratives. The format comes from “The Sun” literary magazine, which includes a “Readers Write” section each month. We will review samples from past issues of the “The Sun” and write our own responses to the magazine’s prompts. We will also look at upcoming topics and write essays that we may choose to submit for publication in the magazine. Students are expected to commit to writing one 400 to 600-word essay each week and share it on our interactive course website on SOU’s Moodle. When students post essays, others may respond with answers to the following questions, intended to encourage supportive feedback: What did you notice? What struck you? How did you connect personally to the story? All students are welcome, regardless of writing experience. This course has been offered previously; however, all writing prompts will be new.

Note: There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15.

Recognizing that most of us have few (if any) opportunities to talk—really talk—about death, this class may be a remedy. Sensitive conversation will consume most of our class time together. The instructor will invite students to suggest topics of interest in the weeks before the class starts. She will then frame discussions using materials students will access to prepare for each session. Discussions are likely to examine such topics as: death’s timing, meaning and value; getting the care we prefer; aging; dementia; medical treatments; legacy; and our beliefs about death. TED Talks, articles, and books like “A Better Way of Dying” and “The Five Invitations” may be used. The instructor’s intent is to prompt us to talk freely and meaningfully about this experience, which is part of all our lives. Students interested in joining in these important, personal discussions need to commit to attend every one of our six sessions so that our conversations can deepen over our time together.

NOTE: Conversations in this class, both in-person and online, will be deeply personal and confidential. This is best achieved, and the quality and content of discussions built upon, if the participants are consistent and reliable in their attendance. Students who know they will need to miss even one class should not enroll now. This class may be offered again in the future. Two separate sections of this course are being offered on different days and times: one online and one in person. 

This class will feature 10 classic musical films featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, starting with 1921’s “Flying Down to Rio” and finishing with 1949’s “The Barkley’s of Broadway.” The other eight are “The Gay Divorcee,” “Roberta,” “Top Hat,” “Follow the Fleet,” “Swing Time,” “Shall We Dance,” “Carefree,” and “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.” A handout for each film will be provided at the preceding session; for the first meeting, a handout will be available that day. Before each film, the instructor will point out anything of particular note and will entertain questions and comments. A guided discussion will follow the end of each film. Students need bring nothing more than a desire to see these special musical films that are true classics and still enjoyable, no matter how many times one views them.

NOTE: This begins the four-year (12-term) series of classic musical films first introduced eight years ago and introduced again four years ago. There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15.

In this course students are assisted in cultivating lives of self-renewal, emotional well-being, creative intelligence, and human flourishing. Students seek to integrate the human, natural, cosmic, and spiritual dimensions of the greater reality into transformative lives of meaning, significance, fulfillment, and hope. In addition, students are introduced to a “synoptic vision of transformative education” to address the critical challenges of human flourishing, cultural literacy, civil society, and ecological integrity in our global age. Finally, students will be assisted in clarifying their own personal statements of human flourishing and greater purpose.

Note: There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15.