Tuesday Courses   

Kumihimo, Japanese for “gathering threads,” is an ancient Japanese art form involving the use of interlaced strands of cords and ribbons to make strong and decorative ropes. Basic Kumihimo technique will produce unique attractive keychains, bracelets, necklaces, and other decorative cord through the selection and combinations of ribbons and threads, and may also include the use of beads. Students will learn to make a flat braid “friendship” bracelet. No prior knowledge or experience is needed to learn Kumihimo. This is not the same as the previous Japanese Braiding Class.

NOTE: The instructor will email a supply list prior to the first class. Materials needed should cost between $5-$10 dollars. There are two in-person sections of this course offered, both on Tuesdays. One starts the second week of the term; the other starts the fourth week of October. 

“Ancient science fiction, paleontology, free-thinkers, and eats” sums it up well. This course covers four distinct topics, knitted together by a common background in the Greco-Roman world. Did the Greeks and Romans have memes and stories that echo down into modern science fiction? What did they make of the giant bones that were cropping up all over the Mediterranean? Is it true that philosophical atheism in the West dates back not to the Enlightenment, but to the 5th century BCE? How did the ancients eat, drink, and party? These topics have been chosen not because they are important to the grand sweep of history, but because they are intrinsically interesting and lead us down byways of ancient history that we normally miss. Though they are not taught in “classic” Classics courses, they reveal a great deal about the depth and sophistication of ancient thought. This PowerPoint-assisted lecture course includes short videos, Q and A, and discussion. No previous experience or study is required.

“Ancient science fiction, paleontology, free-thinkers, and eats” sums it up well. This course covers four distinct topics, knitted together by a common background in the Greco-Roman world. Did the Greeks and Romans have memes and stories that echo down into modern science fiction? What did they make of the giant bones that were cropping up all over the Mediterranean? Is it true that philosophical atheism in the West dates back not to the Enlightenment, but to the 5th century BCE? How did the ancients eat, drink, and party? These topics have been chosen not because they are important to the grand sweep of history, but because they are intrinsically interesting and lead us down byways of ancient history that we normally miss. Though they are not taught in “classic” Classics courses, they reveal a great deal about the depth and sophistication of ancient thought. This PowerPoint-assisted lecture course includes short videos, Q and A, and discussion. No previous experience or study is required.

This historical overview will trace the social, economic, political, and cultural development of southern (or, more correctly, southwestern) Oregon and, to a lesser extent, adjacent northwestern California, from its Native cultures and early Euro-American settlement down to the events of the recent past. The term “aspects” says it all. The course is not a comprehensive history of the region but instead focuses on selected aspects of its history, covered in a generally chronological order. Following the first class on our region’s Native or Indigenous peoples, the course will focus on social, environmental, economic, cultural, and political changes between the early 1800s and the post-World War II boom years. The course is designed to acquaint the student with the basic chronological framework and, more importantly, to identify causal factors in the history of the area. There will be time for Q and A and discussion, as well as a lengthy bibliography for further knowledge. 

What is the journey of a Ukrainian woman refugee? What was the experience of growing up in Soviet Ukraine? What is the impact of the transition from communism to a free Ukraine on the life of a Ukrainian woman and her family? Becoming a refugee involves a change of identity, loss of status and economic stability, and a descent into another unknown world. Through lecture, discussion, and the stories of four Ukrainian refugee women living in Ashland, these questions will be explored. This exploration will be placed within the larger context of Ukrainian history, women’s spirituality, and the refugee experience as a path of spiritual transformation. The course will include reflective writing and/or journaling in response to the readings.

NOTE: Required text: “Displaced: The Ukrainian Refugee Experience” by Tamar Jacoby. Independently published (September 9, 2022).

Do you think spreadsheets are for accountants? Spreadsheets can be used by everyone! 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 ribbons, creating spreadsheets, and saving workbooks. Students will learn techniques for entering and formatting numerical and alphabetic data, navigating using shortcut commands, 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 PC laptop computers to class to work on in-class exercises. 

NOTE: Students must have Excel for PCs (version 2013 or later) loaded on their PC laptop computers and know how to download, save, and open files from emails. 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. 

This beginning guitar course will concentrate on chords. Each session will include learning the chords for a few easy songs, and perhaps, time permitting, some more advanced songs. Students will have the option of learning at least one song of their choice. Instruction will include the parts of the guitar, including string names, how to tune a guitar, and how to play the basic scale and basic chords. The course will include workshop sessions for individual instruction and will end with an opportunity for all students to play one song they have learned for the group.

NOTE: Students must have their own guitar and a music stand for reading music while practicing the guitar. The instructor will recommend a reference book on guitar chords. This course will be in Medford at the HEC.

Explore the wonderful world of beaten egg whites! Delicious soufflés are not so hard to master and can be made with a variety of fillings. You will be provided recipes, demonstrations, and support to make beautiful soufflés. Our savory version will be a vegetable option; our flourless dessert is a chocolate "Cloud Cake” (actually a fallen soufflé). Bonus recipes will be included. We will create together and savor the end results—I will be cooking in my kitchen while you cook at home! 

NOTE: Students should have basic kitchen skills and common equipment; a soufflé baking dish is best for our soufflé, although any straight sided dish will work. 

Would you rather play scrabble than monopoly because you love the surprise of creating words from the letter tiles you choose? Magnify that joy and you'll have the experience of cut-up poetry. All participants receive an assortment of pages from a variety of books that range from poetry to recipes to nonfiction texts on sewing or driving. Instead of choosing letter tiles, students pick words/phrases that speak to them from a page of text. Prompts and guidelines give students enough time to amass enough scraps to create a piece of writing. The juxtaposition available due to the different texts lends a certain nuance of magic to the creativity of the cut-up poem. Students may share their work with the class, but it’s not required.

Are you ready to connect to your body? Do you want to free yourself from tensions that keep you stiff and limit your aliveness? This is a movement course that gets energy flowing and allows one to safely express yourself. Coming from the theoretical basis of Bioenergetic Analysis, we will practice how to loosen frozen joints and breathe life into rigid holdings. We will pulse, vibrate, and become aware of how the body wants to fluidly move in a safe and accepting environment that encourages self-expression and connection to internal feelings and aliveness. After some warmups and stretching, we will use breathing, grounding, and pulsations to move energy and become aware of constrictions. Self-expression is welcomed as part of the process of releasing tension and increasing the flow of energy throughout the body. No experience is necessary, and the course is appropriate for any beginner who is interested in moving their body and releasing tensions held inside.

NOTE: Students will be asked to sign a waiver before the first class.

This course is designed for students who are familiar with quilting basics (advanced beginner/intermediate quilters). Students will complete a throw-sized quilt top. Participants will learn the quilting history of the Drunkard's Path block, tips for choosing fabrics, and design principles. They will also be taught how to cut and sew curved quilt pieces. Students should be knowledgeable about and own a rotary cutter and cutting mat. They are also required to bring their own sewing machine and to be familiar with its use. The instructor will provide some cutting tools and irons. A complete supply list will be provided at the first session with options for purchasing those items.

NOTE: Students will be required to purchase the "Lime and Soda" quilt pattern ($10.00), a set of 8 1/2" Drunkard's Path acrylic templates (about $24.00), and fabric ($50-$100).

This is a lecture course presented from an artistic and amateur scientific point of view and is designed to appeal to all levels of pollinator, bird, wildlife, and general gardening enthusiasts. Based on the premise that great beauty can be achieved while simultaneously increasing biodiversity, students will be presented with steps needed to create multi-seasonal pollinator and wildlife habitat that will enhance not only the beauty of their property, but also re-create the natural biodiversity of their communities. Students learn the basics to qualify their garden for certification as a monarch butterfly way-station or pollinator site. Students need not have a garden to participate or enjoy this class. No textbook is required. Recommended: “Real Gardens Grow Natives,” by Eileen Stark, “Soil Building,” by Elizabeth Murphy, “Nature’s Best Hope,” by Douglas Tallamy.

Be ready to open your heart and experience listening to the wisdom of your soul, a practice that can fill you with a new awareness of peace, joy, and love, bringing enhanced meaning to your life. The first three classes will shine a light on your existing heart-soul connection as we watch several short video clips from three world-renowned experts in the field of personal growth: Brene Brown, Wayne Dyer, and don Miguel Ruiz, all authors of New York Times best sellers.  After each clip, participants will together explore and discuss what these clips meant to them, with no right or wrong answers. In session four, participants will explore Kaufman’s metaphysical possibilities defining the heart-soul connection as he sees life and how these concepts apply to “Journey Between Your Heart and Soul.” In session five, participants will examine their own self-awareness and understanding of the attributes needed to become a proficient traveler between heart and soul. 

NOTE: Past participants: please consider taking this course again since the entire course has been revamped with new materials and an additional class. All class materials including video clips will be available online so participants can review classes whenever they choose. There are two sections of this course: one held at the Campbell Center on Tuesdays and one offered online on Thursdays.

Creativity is a trait with deep genetic roots; artistic potential is in our genes! Yet for a range of reasons, many people have never seriously engaged in creating visual art. This course is for those people. In a safe and supportive environment, participants will dig deep for their artistic roots. The goal is to plant seeds in virgin artistic soil. The only requirement is to have had little or no visual arts training and a willingness to challenge deeply embedded habits of mind about art making and what makes it meaningful. In each of the six sessions, participants will engage in simple but intriguing visual art experiences. Then, through short lecture, small group activity, and guided discussion, previously closed doors will crack open and let in some light. What this class will NOT do is teach technique (not yet), teach critique (not useful yet), or reinforce absolutes (not necessary). Finally, for highest student satisfaction, arranging to attend all sessions is highly recommended.

NOTE: Students will be asked to bring simple supplies: a pencil or two, an eraser, any pen with which you like to write, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick. For the last class, students will need a sheet of decorative wrapping paper.

Come take a ride into the Cold War depths of nuclear submarines. This course will provide an inside look into what it was like to serve on a nuclear submarine in the Cold War. After covering the basics of design, equipment, weapons, and staffing of US submarines, the class will learn how submarines generate power and oxygen in order to stay submerged for months. We will also examine NATO and enemy submarines and delve into real world events and Cold War missions. The last session will cover the major submarine disasters and what caused them, including the two US nuclear submarines lost (USS Thresher and USS Scorpion) as well as Russian losses (K-219 and Kursk). A bonus topic will cover the recent submersible loss over the Titanic. No prior knowledge or reading is required. 

Come take a ride into the Cold War depths of nuclear submarines. This course will provide an inside look into what it was like to serve on a nuclear submarine in the Cold War. After covering the basics of design, equipment, weapons, and staffing of US submarines, the class will learn how submarines generate power and oxygen in order to stay submerged for months. We will also examine NATO and enemy submarines and delve into real world events and Cold War missions. The last session will cover the major submarine disasters and what caused them, including the two US nuclear submarines lost (USS Thresher and USS Scorpion) as well as Russian losses (K-219 and Kursk). A bonus topic will cover the recent submersible loss over the Titanic. No prior knowledge or reading is required. 

The intention for this course is to provide a poetic and tender invitation for the attendees to a deepening self-compassion as they engage and experience the changing complexion of beauty in the aging process. Each week will see the introduction of several poems. Over the course of five weeks we will encounter the poetry of David Whyte, Mary Oliver, Rumi and Hafiz, as well as the poetry of Fleur Adcock, Derek Walcott, Antonio Machado, Wordsworth, and Rilke, among others. Poetry by the instructor will also be included. Participants will experience the beauty of vulnerable transparency by many poets who have chosen through their words to make their journeys of self-compassion available to the world. We will look at the virtue, fruit and efficacy of their choice, and the invitation will be given to share how these words influence our own ability to generously offer self-compassion in our own lives.

NOTE: The poems to be shared in class will be available on LearnerNotes for printing out each week.

Let’s explore together the greatest mystery in all of science and philosophy, perhaps in the entire universe—consciousness. What could be more basic or important? Everything we know, love, and experience, including our sense of self, depends on being conscious. How does the most complex object in the known universe, one’s brain, create something that is simultaneously both the most mysterious and the most intimate to our awareness? The class will consider the mysterious nature of consciousness, its levels, and why it even exists. We will explore the debate over free will versus determinism, as well as quantum effects in biology and on consciousness. Plus, we will examine out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, psychedelics, AI, and self-transcendence. This is primarily a science-based course (with some excursions into metaphysics and Buddhist philosophy), using full color slides, lecture, some discussion, and Q and A. There are no prerequisites, except bringing your open and conscious mind! 

NOTE: This course is being offered for the second time and is expanded from three to five weeks by including more information on the debate over free will versus determinism and quantum effects in biology and on consciousness.