Reading Poems in Pairs was the title of a course given
at the Academy for Learning in Retirement, Saratoga Springs,
New York. Each week participants improved their understanding and enjoyment
of poetry by comparing and contrasting pairs of poems written on the same
topic (nature, love, death, faith, etc.) These poems were written by men
and women from different centuries and cultures. The course enabled participants
to examine and discuss each poem for its own revelations of vision and
expression.
Members of the Academy for Lifelong Learning at the
University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee recently studied Capitalism
in Crisis. Using the automobile industry, members studied the possible
solution to the new economic shift that is so basic to our economy and
what are the resulting pros and cons.
The Community Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL)
in State College, PA offered its members a chance to study Gravitation
& Electromagnetism: The fundamental Force of Everyday Life.
Participants examined gravitation and electromagnetism, the connections
and some of the fascinating phenomena to which they give rise.
Members of the ILR at Bergen Community College in
New Jersey will be taking up Cycling for Seniors this spring.
Members will learn more about cycling as a hobby and for exercise.
The ILR at Bluffton University in Ohio offered members
a class this winter entitled Adapted for the Movies: English Lit,
The Bible, Shakespeare, and Bestsellers. Participants looked at
what happened to great literature, sacred books and potboilers when
movies get their hands on them.
Introduction to American Sign Language is the title of a new
course being given at the Community Academy for Lifelong Learning
(CALL) in State College, Pennsylvania. Participants will learn
the basics of ASE, etiquette for talking with deaf people, and enough
vocabulary to be able to introduce themselves and tell good stories
(of their own choosing). Much of the class is conducted in silence (except
for frequent laughter) so participants should come prepared to use their
hands, face and heart while starting to learn a beautiful, eloquent
language.
Members of the Institute for Retirees in Pursuit of Education
(IRPE) at Brooklyn College will be studying Latin: Its
Relationship to English this spring. They will explore the relationship
between Latin and English. Much of the English language is derived from
Latin. Emphasis will be on derivation, Anglicization and adaptation
of Latin words.
Members of Learning in Retirement, University of Georgia,
Athens recently studied Dreamwork in Modern Christianity. This
course looked at the dreamwork movement that has arisen in Christianity
since 1970 and continues to gain strength today. Increasingly, attention
to dreams as a path to spiritual growth is no longer regarded as strange
and “New Agey.” The first class examined the basic tools
of understanding that dreamwork has added to the 21st century Christian
toolkit, including the Jungian concepts of consciousness and the unconscious.
The second class explored the dreamwork movement in the church and the
scriptural evidence for dreamwork as a legitimate Christian practice.
The third class looked briefly at some theological implications of dreamwork
for Christianity before concluding with a demonstration of dream analysis
as currently being practiced in local churches.
In early spring, members of the L.I.F. E. program
at Mount Saint Mary College-Desmond Campus, in Newburgh, NY took a course
entitled The Good, the Bad, and the Poisonous. The Poison Educator
at the Hudson Valley Poison Education Center led an entertaining and
educational presentation on poisons. This presentation addressed what
exactly a poison is, how and why seniors are getting poisoned, recent
trends in poison control, and most importantly, prevention tips regarding
multiple medications and what the first steps are in a poison emergency.
This past winter, members of the Lifelong Learning program
on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina studied Reconstruction:
1863-1877. This period in American history determined the course
of the nation for the next century. One class featured reconstruction
in Beaufort County, which was a rehearsal for later efforts elsewhere
in the South. The course concluded with the disputed election of 1876
which ended Reconstruction.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University
of Massachusetts Boston is offering members a course this spring entitled
Six Million Paper Clips: the Making of a Children’s Holocaust
Memorial. Participants will view this documentary which will then
be followed by a discussion period.
Members of the OLLI program at the University of Pittsburgh
recently studied Friendship and Family in Contemporary Russian Literature.
They read some of the most popular contemporary Russian writers and
viewed a contemporary film to try and understand how writers employ
fiction/film to portray family and intergenerational relationships.
Members of QUEST: A Community for Lifelong Learning
in New York City will be studying Voices in Opposition this
spring. This course presents the voices of struggle, the ongoing narrative
of protest in America. It is based on a collection of contemporaneous
writings, such as Henry George’s “The Crime of Poverty”
in 1885 and later dissent like “Protesting the First World War”
and “Women, Gays and Other Voices of Protest.” The class
will consider what relevance these writings have today.
Senior College at the University of Maine Hutchinson
Center in Belfast offered members a course entitled Europe: Its
Present and Its Future. This course examined Europe and its many
and varied relationships with the United States.
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