LLI News September 2008

Interesting tidbits from the latest batch of LLI newsletters.

History and Humanity: The Dialogue of Jared Diamond was the title of a program given at the Adult Learning Institute at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, New York. Jared Diamond, a professor of geography at UCLA, has enjoyed significant public acclaim in the past decade owing to two best-selling works: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize, and its sequel, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005). Broadly speaking, the former examined how human societies had developed and why some had more than others: The latter asked why some societies successfully faced certain environmental challenges while others had not. Taking its terms from the respective books’ sub-titles, this presentation asked whether Diamond looked at human history as a playing out of “fate,” or as a result of conscious “choice.” The implications for us as a species – of one over the other – are significant.

Last fall, members of the Harvard ILR in Cambridge, MA studied the Promised Land: the Story of Irish and Jewish Immigrants in America. Irish and Jewish immigrants have played a remarkably important and dramatic role in American history. This course explored the forces that drove the newcomers to this country, the harsh realities of their lives and work, and the ways in which they enriched their adopted land during the years 1850-1920.

This fall Learning in Retirement, Inc. at the University of Georgia Athens is offering members the opportunity to study Four Doors to the Modern World. Participants will discuss four books – Prince by Machiavelli, The Utopia by Moore, Praise of Folly by Erasmus and the Book of the Courtier by Castiglione. Particular attention will be paid to the influence these works have had on our world, both past and present.

The Catalpa Rescue was the title of a spring course given at the L.I.F.E. program at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, NY. This is the true story of the 1876 rescue – with no bloodshed – of six Irish political prisoners serving life sentences at a Western Australia prison. The thrilling escape was planned by a group of Irish born Americans over a period of years. It was carried out by members of the group and a Yankee whaling captain, George Smith Anthony, descended from one of America’s oldest families. Over 100 slides were shown in this narrated presentation complete with period music and exhibits of related material.

Lifelong Learners at the Fairfield Senior Center, which is affiliated with Sacred Heart University in Connecticut are studying Women’s History as Seen Through the Lens of Religion, this fall. Women’s History will be told from the context of cultural norms as they reflect religious beliefs and from the context of women’s experiences as they pertain to contributions to civilization. This course will explore the work of many outstanding female leaders who challenged the thought that women are inferior and who worked to reconstruct women’s place in society. Through this study, one can understand the role in which religion has both supported women’s causes and limited women’s ability to fully participate in the human experience.

Books that Change Your Life was the title of a course members of the Lifelong Learning Society at Christopher Newport University, took this summer. Each DVD lecture had two classical books discussed by J. Rufus Fears, professor of classics at the University of Oklahoma. There were two 30-minute lectures in each session followed by a short discussion.

This past spring members of the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement in Montreal studied Marshall McLuhan. Canada’s high priest of pop art also has a serious side and participants looked at his writings including literary criticism, poetry, and essays on painting. His vast learning includes subjects such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, and religion. Members gave presentations for discussion and since much of his material is controversial, lively comment was guaranteed.

Earth’s Explosive Power: Volcanoes’ Effect on our Environment was the title of a course given this past spring at the OLLI program in New Hampshire. Volcanoes – ruptures in the outer shell of the earth that allow molten rock, ash and gases to violently escape into the atmosphere – have huge short and long-term effects on living things and their environment. Participants examined the Krakatoa eruption (1883), the year without a summer (1816) and the Toba catastrophe theory emanating from a supervolcanic event more than 70,000 years ago – a theory that suggest climactic changes greatly impacted our ancient ancestry.