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- A Journey from DNA to Development
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Item Number: W24STEM300A
Dates: 1/16/2024 - 2/20/2024
Times: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 50
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room D
Instructor: Scott Boyer
Max Seating Capacity: 50
Seats Available: 33
The primary goal of this course is to equip participants with the basic cell biology knowledge toolkit to better understand the small-but-mighty side of biology. For example, if a biotech company has a breakthrough technology that pops up in the news, participants can decipher the story with a deeper understanding and perhaps even healthy skepticism. The secondary goal is to have participants gain a deeper appreciation for the elegance (and complexity) built into each one of our thirty trillion cells. Even though the curriculum is designed to skim the surface on a range of topics in order to build a bigger picture, we can dive as deep as we want in class based on participant interaction and engagement. There is no prerequisite knowledge level.
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- Adapt Your Own Script for Readers Theater
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Item Number: W24ARTS300A
Dates: 1/16/2024 - 3/5/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 8
Maximum Enrollment: 10
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room B
Instructor: Robbi McMinimy, Daniel Stephens
Max Seating Capacity: 10
Seats Available: 4
In this writing course, students will participate in the process of adapting a script from a short story or other genre into the presentation of a 10 to15 minute performance, utilizing a radio/readers theatre format. Each class session will include lecture and discussion of script examples and script format. A guest speaker will discuss vocal characterization, production values and vision, and will offer hands-on help with students’ projects. The course will culminate in a Readers Theatre performance of each student’s final script. Research and script-writing will require some work outside of class. Everyone is welcome, and no previous experience is required.
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- Beginning MS Excel for PCs
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Item Number: W24STEM303M
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 8
Maximum Enrollment: 10
Building: Medford Higher Education Center
Room:Room 118
Instructor: Holly Campbell
Max Seating Capacity: 10
Seats Available: 7
Do you think spreadsheets are for accountants? We will de-mystify Excel spreadsheets and show how they can be used to plan and organize activities, keep track of expenses, and do simple analyses. The course will start with the basics, including an introduction to the Excel window and options in the Excel ribbon, creating and navigating spreadsheets, and saving workbooks. Students will learn techniques for entering and formatting numerical and alphabetic data, editing and moving data within spreadsheets and workbooks, and manipulating page layouts. Other topics include using basic arithmetic operations, analyzing data with simple functions such as SUM and AVERAGE, and the use of simple IF statements. This is a course for beginners, and students are not expected to have experience using Excel for PCs. This is a hands-on course. Students must bring their laptops to class to work on in-class exercises. Students who have taken the course before are welcome. NOTE: Students must have Excel for PCs (version 2013 or later) loaded on their laptop computers, PCs only. The instructor will email files to students with exercises to use during class and to practice techniques at home. Before each class, students must download the files from emails and save them on their laptops to use in class.
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- Care Circles: Informal Aging Support
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Item Number: W24LIFE300A
Dates: 2/20/2024 - 3/5/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 3
Maximum Enrollment: 50
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room D
Instructor: Anne Bellegia, Debra Johnson
Max Seating Capacity: 50
Seats Available: 24
Do you, like most of those aged 50+, want to age in place? Did you know that finding and affording paid in-home care is a significant challenge? Based on the instructors’ care experiences and a recognition that their own future supports may become inadequate, they formed a Care Circle. You can, too. The three-session course details why and how a Care Circle might reduce or delay using paid help or assisted living by: 1) becoming better informed about care options; 2) taking concrete actions to prepare; 3) learning and maintaining confidentiality about social and medical situations of members and providing each other with mutual supports such as meals, errands, pet care, advocacy, and transportation (not personal care). The instructors will share the direction in which their group of 13 members has gone, with actual circumstances providing important lessons. Lectures, videos, handouts, and discussions will provide tips and resources for forming a customized Care Circle of your own.
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- Community Journalism @ Ashland News
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Item Number: W24ARTS263A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 8
Maximum Enrollment: 18
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room B
Instructor: Paul Steinle, Bert Etling
Max Seating Capacity: 18
Seats Available: 11
Community Journalism @ Ashland.news will explore the practices of community journalism, describing how it helps provide the information “oxygen” to facilitate democratic, economic, and social vibrancy in a community. Students will learn how stories and/or photos are assigned, reported, and prepared for publication. The course also teaches techniques for gathering, writing, editing, photographing, and publishing factual information about the citizens, events, politics, economics, and culture of a localized area, all intended to enhance a community’s quality of life. Participants will also formulate a reporting plan to supplement future editions of Ashland.news and prepare stories and/or photos for publication. Beginning the third week, students will gather news in the field, reporting or photographing, writing, and doing preliminary editing on each other’s reporting—all with an aim for publication. The reporting and editing cycle will be repeated three times.
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- Conversaciones
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Item Number: W24LANG161
Dates: 1/30/2024 - 3/5/2024
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 18
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Ginny Blankinship
Max Seating Capacity: 18
Seats Available: 5
This course is designed to provide an opportunity to speak and listen to Spanish in a comfortable non-judgmental atmosphere. It is meant for those who already speak Spanish with some fluency but who don’t have all the opportunities to converse that they would like. The six weeks of the course will center on readings from the short novel “Lazarillo de Tormes,” from 16th century Spain. Lazarillo is considered world literature’s first pícaro, a direct ancestor of Becky Sharp and Huck Finn, and his story has been in print since 1554. During each class, we’ll talk in a whole group about the novel, see and discuss a bit of the movie of the same name, read a poem, and use provided questions in breakout rooms, where you can take the conversation in any direction. Materials, except the novel itself, will be posted on LearnerNotes. A bilingual edition or copies in both English and Spanish are recommended for the novel. Translations are provided for readings and song lyrics.
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- Cut-up Poetry
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Item Number: W24ARTS112A
Dates: 2/6/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 18
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room C
Instructor: Sallie Ehrman
Max Seating Capacity: 18
Seats Available: 6
In this course, expect to have an enjoyable time making poetry. During each session, the instructor will provide a prompt and students will create a poem from snippets they cut from a variety of books. The books, which will be supplied by the instructor, are mostly library discards, thrift store finds, or yard sale discoveries. Subject matter ranges from non-fiction manuals to wedding planning. Composing poems in this fashion broadens one’s experience of creativity Anyone who can use a pair of scissors and who has an open mind and a playful spirit will succeed in this course. There are no prerequisites or homework. Students are welcome to repeat the class. All materials will be supplied by the instructor.
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- Earth's Climate: Past, Present and Future
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Item Number: W24STEM107
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/13/2024
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Karen Grove, Benjamin Santer
Max Seating Capacity: 299
Seats Available: 271
We know that Earth’s climate is changing, but how do we know that human actions are a primary factor today, given that climate has changed throughout geologic time? We begin by examining the many natural factors that control climate change on timescales ranging from millions of years to just a few years. These natural influences include external factors such as the position of the continents, the orbital parameters of the Earth/Sun/Moon system, and volcanic eruptions. We also consider variability arising from within the climate system due to phenomena like El Niños and La Niñas. We then shift focus from geologic timescales to the natural and human influences on the climate of the last 2,000 years. How have scientists identified human “fingerprints” in observations of climate change? Are droughts, heat waves, and wildfires being affected by climate change? The final course segment examines projected climate changes over the next 100 years, based on different emissions scenarios.
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- Elizabethan Times: A Day in the Life
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Item Number: W24HIST301A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/13/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 70
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room E
Instructor: Linda Jaffe, Tom Woosnam
Max Seating Capacity: 70
Seats Available: 3
Yes, The Bard and The Globe and the Prince of Denmark. However, have you ever considered what everyday life was like during the Elizabethan Era? How did the average person dress? What might you have had for dinner on any given night? What was the medical treatment for a chest cold, melancholy, or certain “unmentionable” diseases? And then there’s courtship, marriage, and intimacy. Come join us for six lecture and discussion sessions, in which various topics will be addressed by a different lecturer each week. The topics and presenters are these: Police State and Religion (Tom Woosnam); Dress (Dianna Lee); The Elizabethan Theater Experience (Susan Stitham); Food (Susan Edgerley); Hygiene and Medicine (Earl Showerman); Sex, Courtship, and Marriage (Linda Jaffe). Whether you have an interest in all things Shakespeare, a particular interest in the Elizabethan Era, or whether these topics just pique your interest and curiosity, come join us for our presentations and lively discussions.
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- Exploring Ukrainian Culture Through Women's Lives
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Item Number: W24PERS267
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 8
Maximum Enrollment: 25
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Louise Paré
Max Seating Capacity: 25
Seats Available: 24
Explore the complexity and significance of women’s lives in contemporary Ukraine through stories of Ukrainian women writers, scientists, social activists, leaders, and artists whose work changed their culture and the world. The values of the matriarchal cultures that sourced Ukraine continue to be transmitted through her folk arts, music, and dance. Ukrainian women continue to bring forth from within themselves individually, and as a diverse community, new expressions of the values and beliefs of their culture. Discover the meaning of Ukrainian goddesses in Ukrainian women’s spirituality and the impact of Russian colonization on Ukrainian identity then and now. The course can be repeated since it will combine lecture, new guest speakers, discussion on events that currently impact Ukrainians, and ritual circle-sharing as well as out-of-class readings and reflective writing.
NOTE: Required text: “Your Ad Could Go Here: Stories by Oksana Zabuzhko,” edited by Nina Murray.
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- Exploring Your Immune System
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Item Number: W24STEM191
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/6/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: John Kalb
Max Seating Capacity: 299
Seats Available: 293
Let us explore the immune system together in a step-by-step fashion to untangle its many mysteries, components, and functions. Second only to the brain in complexity, this life-saving system protects us on a daily basis from a world of threats, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and toxins. Some of the topics we will cover include innate and adaptive immunity; the major organs, cells, and messenger molecules involved in immune function; and how the immune system distinguishes between “self” and “non-self.” Knowledge is powerful if it leads to appropriate action. The better we understand the workings of our immune system, the better we can support its function and not weaken it. This is especially important right now with all the confusion surrounding COVID-19 and the other infectious diseases out there. This introductory science-based Zoom course will use colorful and easy to understand slide presentations and lectures, and some discussion with questions and answers.
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- Have Fun Cooking and Sharing Recipes
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Item Number: W24REC300
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/13/2024
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 24
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: John Pratt
Max Seating Capacity: 24
Seats Available: 2
Do you enjoy cooking and exploring new recipes? Do you enjoy sharing your cooking experiences with friends and learning new concepts about food preparation? This course is designed for you. Every week, we will all prepare a new recipe that we have found online or in print, one we have not tried before, and then write a short account of our experiences. We will post our recipes online and respond to each other’s accounts. Then, once a week, we will have a Zoom meeting where we will all have a chance to talk about our previous week’s experience and our plans for the next. In addition, each week the instructor will pick one scientific element of food preparation (based on the Cook’s Illustrated book, “The Science of Good Cooking”) to explain and discuss. For the last session, we will meet face to face for a potluck featuring a dish each of us has made.
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- Hot News & Cool Views
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Item Number: W24SOC140A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 10
Maximum Enrollment: 32
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room A
Instructor: Rick Vann
Max Seating Capacity: 32
Seats Available: 20
Hot News & Cool Views is an open discussion opportunity to explore and discuss breaking local, national, and global news and events. All differing views and opinions are welcome, and divergent political leanings and personal backgrounds add “sizzle” to the class. The result is an entertaining and often controversial 90 minutes! An agenda with supporting news articles is sent out a couple days ahead of each class, and ideas and articles submitted by students are integrated into the agenda. Hot News & Cool Views will help you stay current on the news and well informed in an election cycle. Please join our great group for a journey around the world that is better than a strong cup of coffee to get your week going!
NOTE: Two sections of this course are being offered at the same day/time as a hybrid: one on Zoom and one in-person. |
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- Hot News & Cool Views
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Item Number: W24SOC140
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 10
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Rick Vann
Max Seating Capacity: 299
Seats Available: 288
Hot News & Cool Views is an open discussion opportunity to explore and discuss breaking local, national, and global news and events. All differing views and opinions are welcome, and divergent political leanings and personal backgrounds add “sizzle” to the class. The result is an entertaining and often controversial 90 minutes! An agenda with supporting news articles is sent out a couple days ahead of each class, and ideas and articles submitted by students are integrated into the agenda. Hot News & Cool Views will help you stay current on the news and well informed in an election cycle. Please join our great group for a journey around the world that is better than a strong cup of coffee to get your week going!
NOTE: Two sections of this course are being offered at the same day/time as a hybrid: one on Zoom and one in-person. |
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- Introduction to Creative Writing
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Item Number: W24ARTS148M
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 10
Maximum Enrollment: 10
Building: Medford Higher Education Center
Room:Room 118
Instructor: William Lawson
Max Seating Capacity: 10
Seats Available: 7
Come develop your writing in this ten-week introduction to creative writing. No previous writing experience is necessary: All you need is a love of writing and a willingness to share your ideas with others. Each class will feature an introduction to a different type of creative writing, including short story, drama, fiction, creative nonfiction, numerous forms of poetry, and haiku. In each class you will have an opportunity to share your work in the genre discussed the previous week. The class will be encouraged to comment upon it constructively. After each class the instructor will email students copies of class notes, along with the following week’s assignment. Students who have taken this class in the past are welcome to take it again.
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- Japanese Braiding: Kumihimo Bracelet Making
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Item Number: W24REC301A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 1/23/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 3
Maximum Enrollment: 18
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room C
Instructor: Peggy Foster
Max Seating Capacity: 18
Seats Available: 1
Kumihimo, Japanese for “gathered threads,” is an ancient Japanese art form involving the use of interlaced strands of cord and ribbon to make strong and decorative braided rope. Basic Kumihimo technique will produce unique and attractive key chains, bracelets, and other decorative cords through the selection and combination of ribbon and thread, and may include the use of beads. No prior skill or experience is needed to learn and enjoy Kumihimo. Students will learn to make a basic keychain in the first class, and move on to a bracelet and beads in subsequent classes. Each student will make one or two bracelets by the end of the course and have a basic knowledge of Kumihimo. NOTE: The instructor will email registered students the needed links and information about purchasing materials. Costs can range from $15 to $35.
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- Life Happens: Now What? Life Transition Skills
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Item Number: W24LIFE304
Dates: 2/6/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Howard Jay Rubin
Max Seating Capacity: 299
Seats Available: 294
Most of us spend half our adult lives going through major life transitions—like retirement, marriage, loss of a loved one, divorce, inheritance, career change, empty nest, and big health challenges—yet we have never been trained in the vital skills needed to master (or even manage) these life passages. Change happens quickly, but major life transitions can take years. The transformation that results from working through them skillfully lasts a lifetime. This course explores how you have handled these significant “life-quakes” in the past, and how you can use them now and in the future as times of reimagining and reinvention. We will explore the four phases of major life transitions, both in the research and in your own experience. These challenging passages launch your life’s next chapter and hold great potential gifts of “post-traumatic growth” while allowing you to design your own ideal next chapter. Our emphasis will be on developing the creative skills to flow through major change.
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- Making Sense of the Climate Crisis
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Item Number: W24SOC302
Dates: 1/16/2024 - 1/30/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 3
Maximum Enrollment: 25
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Anita Dygert-Gearheart, Bob Dygert-Gearheart
Max Seating Capacity: 25
Seats Available: 17
Making Sense of the Climate Crisis is for any person living on Mother Earth. It is based on the community version, not the faith-based version, of “Wake Up World,” a curriculum on the climate crisis for faith and community groups. This course will provide students with a basic understanding of what the vast majority of climate scientists agree on about the state of our ecosystem. It will also enable them to critically evaluate what they see and hear daily regarding the climate crisis. It is broad in scope and introductory in nature. It attempts to provide a structure for understanding, so we can all move from our default position of causing the problem, to making a choice to be part of the solution. No previous knowledge is necessary, only an openness to learning. NOTE: The curriculum will be available free of charge on the wakeupworld.earth website. Participants will be asked to read and review class material before class.
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- Mindful Movement: Qigong and Stretching
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Item Number: W24MOV130
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 1/30/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Nando Raynolds
Max Seating Capacity: 299
Seats Available: 281
This class is an introduction to Qigong and simple stretching patterns. Movements will be taught both as physical and energetic exercises and as methods for improving present moment awareness and mindfulness of subtle perceptions. No special clothing or experience is required. Come as you are, ready to have fun with others! Although Qigong can be studied for a lifetime, this brief series will give you a taste of the practices. You will learn a set of simple movements you can integrate into your daily routine. Students can access videos on my YouTube channel, and a DVD is available for purchase but is not required. The exercises will challenge and enhance your flexibility, balance, and coordination. Classes consist mostly of active movement. Students will sign a liability waiver prior to the first class.
NOTE: We will meet over Zoom and class will include social time with other students using breakout rooms. Since this is online, students must be prepared to take complete responsibility for their own physical well-being. Classes will not be recorded.
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- Moving Forward on Your Own After Losing a Partner
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Item Number: W24LIFE303
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 1/30/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 299
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Howard Jay Rubin
Max Seating Capacity: 299
Seats Available: 296
This course will help those affected by the death of a loved one in a relationship navigate the daily struggles of this powerful life phase and begin to take their own pivotal next steps towards emotional, mental, physical, and financial well-being. Loss is a passage with no timetable, often marked by grief and the challenge to take on new and perhaps unfamiliar skills and responsibilities. This course is a compassionate exploration of the knowledge and resources to find the support and strength you need, as well as a gentle reminder that you don’t have to go through it alone. This proven process will provide varied tools to help enrich self-understanding while building confidence, skills, and a vital community/professional support team. We will learn from the experience of others who have lost a partner and are at different points in their healing, as well as from experts in life-planning, grief recovery, and personal finance. Participation during class is encouraged yet optional.
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- Nonfiction Writing Workshop
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Item Number: W24ARTS178A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 10
Maximum Enrollment: 15
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room B
Instructor: Paul Steinle
Max Seating Capacity: 15
Seats Available: 11
The Nonfiction Writing Workshop offers practical training to enhance nonfiction writing skills. Class materials include selected readings, posted online, that demonstrate key writing techniques practiced by well-known authors. Students are required to submit for analysis four 500 to 1000-word writing samples using content derived from their experience. Work will be submitted every other week by midnight Fridays. Students will read each other’s work and share constructive criticism about style and content. The instructor will also comment on each exercise. The storytelling techniques emphasized are applicable for memoir, historical articles, long-form journalism, and book-length nonfiction for print or the internet. Students should expect to spend four-six hours a week reading assignments and students’ work and writing. Previously taught courses have been amended annually, based on previous students’ feedback.
NOTE: A paperback, “Bird by Bird,” by Anne Lamott, is assigned to be read by the end of the term.
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- Peace of Mind When Buying or Selling Your Home
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Item Number: W24LIFE301A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 1/30/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 32
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room A
Instructor: Jim Berns
Max Seating Capacity: 32
Seats Available: 13
An article in the July 2022 “Psychology Today” states that moving “is a top stressor!” Students of this course looking to buy or sell a home can expect to identify strategies to avoid or minimize those stressors. This course will be a combination of lecture and roundtable discussion and will deal exclusively with residential real estate with an emphasis on owner-occupied homes. Topics to be addressed may be those otherwise “unknown unknowns” and based on other people’s buying and selling experiences along all points of the process. Students need not have any background or experience in buying or selling real estate. The instructor is passionate about making your move successful and, as much as possible, stress free. Other related professionals may be invited in as guest speakers to provide additional information.
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- Slowing Down to the Speed of Life
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Item Number: W24PERS305A
Dates: 2/20/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 30
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room C
Instructor: Dan Altman
Max Seating Capacity: 30
Seats Available: 17
In a world that constantly pushes us to do more, be more, and have more, discover the transformative power of slowing down and living from the inside-out. Drawing inspiration from the enlightening book “Slowing Down to the Speed of Life” and the teachings of visionaries like Sydney Banks, Dr. Joseph Bailey, and Richard Carlson, this course offers a fresh perspective on living a deeply meaningful, peaceful, and contented life. Joseph Campbell said that what people are really seeking is an experience of being fully alive, to feel “the rapture of being alive.” Syd Banks, during a mystical experience, discovered the keys that allows each one of us to directly experience this innate joy and inner peace. Join in thought-provoking classes that illuminate this innate wisdom that we all possess, as we watch short videos of Syd Banks, Joe Bailey and others, with time for questions and discussions.
NOTE: Two sections of this course are being offered at the same day/time as a hybrid: one on Zoom and one in-person.
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- Slowing Down to the Speed of Life
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Item Number: W24PERS305
Dates: 2/20/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 30
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Dan Altman
Max Seating Capacity: 30
Seats Available: 16
In a world that constantly pushes us to do more, be more, and have more, discover the transformative power of slowing down and living from the inside-out. Drawing inspiration from the enlightening book “Slowing Down to the Speed of Life” and the teachings of visionaries like Sydney Banks, Dr. Joseph Bailey, and Richard Carlson, this course offers a fresh perspective on living a deeply meaningful, peaceful, and contented life. Joseph Campbell said that what people are really seeking is an experience of being fully alive, to feel “the rapture of being alive.” Syd Banks, during a mystical experience, discovered the keys that allows each one of us to directly experience this innate joy and inner peace. Join in thought-provoking classes that illuminate this innate wisdom that we all possess, as we watch short videos of Syd Banks, Joe Bailey and others, with time for questions and discussions.
NOTE: Two sections of this course are being offered at the same day/time as a hybrid: one on Zoom and one in-person.
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- Talking About Death As If It Might Happen to Us
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Item Number: W24LIFE302
Dates: 1/23/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Joanne Kliejunas
Max Seating Capacity: 20
Seats Available: 12
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.
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- The Elegance of Mathematical Proofs
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Item Number: W24STEM308A
Dates: 1/16/2024 - 2/13/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Maximum Enrollment: 50
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room D
Instructor: Irv Lubliner
Max Seating Capacity: 50
Seats Available: 30
Philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, “The pure mathematician, like the musician, is a free creator of his world of ordered beauty.” While some might say that “mathematician” and “beauty” shouldn’t appear in the same sentence, there are many who appreciate the elegance of certain mathematical proofs, their simplicity and clarity, combined with clever reasoning, and perhaps a visually pleasing aspect. In a mix of lecture and discussion, we will look at accessible proofs that illustrate the beauty found in mathematics and the strategies math enthusiasts use to prove assertions. Here’s an example: A classroom has 25 students, seated in a 5-by-5 square array. To create a new seating arrangement, the teacher told students to move to a new seat, each of them moving to the one just in front, just in back, just to the left, or just to the right of their current seats. Prove that the task is impossible. All are welcome, and no prerequisite knowledge is required. Let’s have fun doing math together!
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- The Evolutionary Psychology of Morality
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Item Number: W24STEM140
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 2/20/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 7
Maximum Enrollment: 40
Building: n/a: online course
Room:Online (Zoom)
Instructor: Dave Ferguson
Max Seating Capacity: 40
Seats Available: 4
Historically, morality has been studied as if it were a human invention. This has been the approach of philosophical thinking and writing in the field of ethics for over 2,000 years. Recently, however, biologists have been studying morality as an adaptation, attempting to discover how morality functions and how it evolved. We will examine six types of moral adaptation, all of which share a commonality: they enhance survivorship and reproductive success. Genetically based traits that enhance survivorship and reproduction will pass on copies of genes that produce those traits in their offspring. Over time, the traits and the suite of genes producing them will increase. Seven sessions cover 1) evolution and misconceptions, 2) genes and behavior, 3) Jonathan Haidt’s six dimensions of morality, 4) kin selection and caring, 5) reciprocal altruism and fairness, 6) xenophobia and disgust, and 7) hierarchy and liberty. Classes will include readings, videos, and lectures.
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- The Gospel of Thomas
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Item Number: W24SOC153A
Dates: 2/13/2024 - 2/27/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 3
Maximum Enrollment: 25
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room C
Instructor: Jerome Dirnberger
The Gospel of Thomas was found in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. The Gospel starts off stating that Jesus’ brother is the author, and it contains 114 Sayings attributed to Jesus. Some biblical scholars call it the “Fifth Gospel,” as it might be the oldest (written in the first half of the 1st Century AD) because about half of Jesus’ sayings in this Gospel are in the biblical gospels. The readings in this Gospel of Saint Thomas will guide our discussion in concentrating on Jesus’ philosophy, namely how he understands the cosmos, his vision of how we should live in community, and the imperative of obtaining more self-knowledge. The unique sayings of Jesus are the beatitudes, including, for example, turning the other cheek, loving one’s enemies, and treating people in the way you want to be treated. These sum up Jesus’ perspective. Reading and discussion of some of the 114 Sayings will be explored in each class session.
NOTE: The instructor will provide a free copy of the Gospel of Thomas for your use during the course.
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- The Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Survivor
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Item Number: W24LIT135A
Dates: 1/16/2024 - 2/6/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 50
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room D
Instructor: Irv Lubliner
Max Seating Capacity: 50
Seats Available: 43
Felicia Bornstein Lubliner, a survivor of ghettos and concentration camps (Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen) in Nazi-occupied Poland, wrote and spoke publicly afterward about her Holocaust experiences. Her son, the course instructor, invites you to delve into her written stories and oral presentations, published as “Only Hope: A Survivor’s Stories of the Holocaust.” Each story will be read aloud, either by the instructor or by students who have the book. Participants will be invited to share their reactions, questions, and insights. We will discuss the historical context and lessons to be learned about that period, the universal human responses that the narratives evoke, and the relevance of the subject matter to challenges we face in modern times.
NOTE: Purchase of “Only Hope” is optional. It is available as a paperback book for $15.99 and as a Kindle download for $5.99.
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- The Mature Voice
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Item Number: W24ARTS315A
Dates: 1/16/2024 - 2/20/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Maximum Enrollment: 16
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room E
Instructor: Sarah Oppenheim-Beggs
Six sessions will delve into how to take care of the voice, strengthen and improve articulation and singing range, as well as experience the joy of music-making in ensemble. In each class, singers will learn specific warm-ups for development of the voice, as well as the solid science of how the voice works. Each class will focus on a particular aspect of singing, corresponding vocal exercises, and their implementation. Students need to have a fairly good ear, though they won’t need to be able to read music. For creative material, we will use rounds.
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- The Range of Light
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Item Number: W24NAT302A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 1/30/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 35
Building: Campbell Center
Room: Room C
Instructor: John Schuyler
From afar, the Spanish conquerors of the 18th century saw them as a snowy mountain range. Up closer, John Muir called it the “Range of Light,” a term that has endured. Whether comprising snow or light, the Sierra Nevada Mountains are the backbone of California in many ways. They are also a barrier, capturing moisture coming from the Pacific, but also a barrier to pioneers coming west. The range provides the state most of its water. It is key to outdoor recreation, including international attractions such as Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. It played a key role in providing the lumber used to build much of the nation’s most populated state. This course looks at the geography, natural history, human history, and challenges facing the single largest mountain range in the lower 48. “The Gentle Wilderness” is now plagued by overcrowding, dying trees, and unwanted wildfires. What does the future hold for these mountains? Classes will include lectures, slides, video, and discussion.
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- Understanding Insulin Resistance and Diabetes
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Item Number: W24STEM309A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 1/30/2024
Times: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 4
Maximum Enrollment: 50
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room D
Instructor: Sarah Aitken
Max Seating Capacity: 50
Seats Available: 30
Right now, one in three people reading this has prediabetes, and 90% do not know it. If nothing changes, by the year 2050, one in three people living in the US (including children) will have overt Type 2 diabetes. These statistics could change if we had a better understanding of our body’s physiology! That is what this course is all about. Your body is a miracle and is most likely functioning exactly as mother nature intended, although that may not work as well in 2024 as it did 300,000 years ago. In the four course lectures, you will learn what insulin resistance and diabetes are, why Type 2 diabetes is epidemic, and how the human body interacts with food. In addition, you will gain an understanding of the physical consequences of insulin resistance, what environmental factors play a role in it, what the signs of insulin resistance are, and the latest treatment guidelines from the USDA and the American Diabetes Association and how those guidelines came to be.
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- US Supreme Court Cases: 2019 Through 2023
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Item Number: W24HIST303A
Dates: 1/9/2024 - 3/12/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 10
Maximum Enrollment: 50
Building: Campbell Center
Room:Room E
Instructor: Michael Wells
Max Seating Capacity: 50
Seats Available: 8
Our US Supreme Court has changed during the past five years, and it is changing judicial history with it. This course will cover the most important decisions from 2019 to the present. We will review majority opinions, concurrences, and dissents of the court and the various justices. This will be a lecture course, with outlines distributed before class and the written text of lectures distributed in the week following class. No background is required, but reading of the cases is encouraged. They are free on websites like Justia and Findlaw. Students will be encouraged to learn just a bit about how trial and appellate courts work at the federal level. We will look briefly at the federal court system and how cases come to the US Supreme Court. No political or other viewpoint is being pursued. Students will be left to decide for themselves how the court and the law have changed.
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