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Members of the Academy for Lifelong Learning at
the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee continue to delve into
20th Century Intellectual History. This ongoing course since
2005, is composed of individuals committed to exploring the fundamental
intellectual movements in western civilization that express the character
of the 20th century. They explore the contributions of music, art, literature,
poetry, science and philosophy in shaping the 20th century.
Members of the Center for Learning in Retirement at
Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois will be studying “PBAR”
– Programming Beliefs, Actions, Results. “PBAR”
is designed to demonstrate to people how the adult paradigms that condition
our current lives were really formed in our childhood – out of
materials that our parents thought were important, not realizing they
were only passing the same content they, as adults, struggled with in
their own lives It also provides a remedial look at our belief system
that powers our choices, decisions and actions.
A Virtual Tour of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece is the
title of a new course being given at the Community Academy for
Lifelong Learning (CALL) in State College, Pennsylvania. The
instructor will present color photos and video of two Aegean civilizations
that preceded the flowering of the classical Greek culture.
When Religion Becomes Evil: Contemporary Evil Movements in Judaism,
Christianity and Islam is the title of a new course at Encore:
Center for Lifelong Enrichment in North Carolina. Participants
will draw upon insights of three great world religions to examine evil
movements arising from these religions. This surprising development
seems to contradict the ideals of peace and compassion central to these
religions. Among the issue members will focus on are, What are the definitions
of evil in philosophy and religion? Are the religions themselves the
problem? What should be our response to these developments? The impetus
for this course is the escalation of evil and violence on the global
scenes.
The Furman University Learning in Retirement program
in South Carolina is offering members a chance to study Romantic
Musical Masterpieces of the 19th Century. Because music of the
19th century, (the Romantic Era) is in some ways more accessible and
familiar to the average listener than is music of earlier or later eras,
this course will examine outstanding music of several “romantic”
categories: symphonies, concertos, tone poems, overtures, incidental
music, opera, ballet, chamber music, sonatas, and more.
Garment Workers’ New York: Ethnicity, Class, & Gender
in Progressive Era New York, is the title of a new program being
given this spring at the L.I.F.E. Program at Mount
Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY. Garment workers were central to
Progressive Era NY. This lecture discussed New York’s garment
workers, their unions, and their politics: New York communities; the
role of women workers; the relationship between workers and the state;
and the emerging 20th century liberalism that would find fulfillment
in the New Deal.
This winter the LIR program at Waukesha County Technical
College in Wisconsin is offering members a chance to study Forensic
Science. The instructor, a forensic scientist will show slides
and discuss some of the most interesting of his 600 cases involving
murders, robberies and accidents. He will describe how physical evidence
is used to learn the truth about a particular incident. Some of the
actual evidence form these cases will be available for inspection. In
addition to showing slides of actual cases of his own the instructor
will also discuss and show slides of the Kennedy assassination, Simpson
case and the Jon Benet Ramsey case.
The Lifelong Learning Society at Christopher Newport
University in Virginia is offering a new course entitled Canadian
Literature and Culture. In order to know a people, it is necessary
to learn the culture – the beliefs and attitudes that provide
the context for words and actions. One key to culture is, of course,
literature. The course’s goal is to provide an entertaining and
informative foray into Canadian literature.
This Week in Review is an opportunity for members of the Lifelong
Learning Institute at Edison College in Florida to discuss
the news in the newspaper, the Internet, the radio and TV. This program
is LLI’s version of the PBS’ “Washington Week in Review,”
and gives participants the opportunity to bring in news items making
news the previous week that they want to discuss. Spirited discussion
of timely and important news-making events are guaranteed.
Stemming the Tide of Anti-Americanism was the title of the
October Forum held at the Lifetime Learning Institute
in Annandale, Virginia. United States foreign policies are stripping
tens of millions of potential friends of America of their dignity and
self-esteem, and are setting the stage for decades of attacks on the
U.S. and on those allies that choose to support such policies. There
is an urgent need for this country’s leaders to consider more
assertive U.S. action to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, a better
and more consistent rationale for U.S. military intervention abroad,
an expanded emphasis on job creation as a key element of foreign assistance,
and more balanced U.S. nuclear policies. These are some of the personal
opinions that their speaker, a long time director of international cooperative
programs, discussed at the Forum.
Members of the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement
in Montreal will be studying The Albigensian Crusades. Members
will look at why in 1208, Pope Innocent III called for a crusade to
destroy the Cathar Heresy in Occitania (the Lanquedoc). Who were the
Cathars? And why did the Pope launch this crusade in France, and against
fellow Christians? What was the outcome of this fratricidal conflict?
What long-term consequences did it have? Among others, it led to the
first Inquisition…
Members of the OLLI program at Duke University in
North Carolina will be studying Spiritual Existentialism. Existential
philosophers are concerned to delineate the basic categories of the
“human condition” and to present an account of what they
perceive to be “authentic” human existence; that is, a mode
of living one’s life which, in terms of their analysis of the
human condition, they regard as appropriate to human beings as human
beings. This course will take as its basic premise the view that, in
deChardin’s words, “human beings are spiritual beings living
human lives,” and will examine the implications of this fact for
an understanding of the human condition and what, consequently, is required
of human beings if they are to lives their lives “authentically.”
Last fall members of the Senior Players at the Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of S. Maine in
Portland performed at the Biddeford City Theater. They provided a 2-hour
program designed to entice seniors from the area to become more involved
in theater by showing how much fun it is and how easy it is for seniors
to perform. The theater is a beautifully restored early 20th century
opera house that is now an active theater.
Members of the Worcester Institute for Senior Education
at Assumption College in Massachusetts will be studying Chinese-American
Literature, this spring. They will learn about Chinese culture
through the eyes of three fascinating bicultural storytellers. The novel
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan takes them into the private
lives of 19th century Chinese women, old and new China collide in the
novel Waiting, and The Woman Warrior combines memoir and fantasy
to portray one Chinese-American’s journey.
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July 23, 2008
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