REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE SPRING 2008 TERM
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ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 4:30-6:30 pm
$5 (both first-time and prospective members are free)
Location: Three Fountains Clubhouse, 3280 S. Oneida Way (NOT at the church!)
Kick-off the spring term with a party. Sip, nibble, and chat. Schmooze with facilitators and fellow Academics, and pick up any hand-outs you’ll need to get ready for your first classes. (Can’t make it? We’ll mail anything you miss.) Bring along friends and neighbors to join the fun and find out what the Academy is all about. There may still be openings in a class that strikes their fancy. A note of caution: long before last term’s open house, five classes filled. Members waiting to enroll that evening were disappointed
COURSES
Academy courses are divided into the following categories: Science & Health, Social Sciences, Fine Arts & Humanities, Food for Thought, and Building Skills.
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SCIENCE & HEALTH
EVOLUTION, INTELLIGENT DESIGN, Part 2
The Courts
Thursdays, 10 am – 12 noon
8 weeks, Feb. 21 – Apr. 10 (with a 9th week if there is interest)
$65, includes a source book of 163 pages
Lectures, discussion
No prerequisite
This is the second half of a two-part course that examines the conflict between evolution and intelligent design, but even if you missed the first part and have no science background, you’ll have no problem with the ideas covered in this course. We’ll be focusing on key state and federal court cases that have dealt with the teaching of evolution, creationism, and intelligent design in our public schools. We’ll trace the history of the successive arguments developed by religious fundamentalists to block the teaching of evolution in the United States and examine the standards used by the courts to decide whether a given law violates the Constitutional prohibition against endorsing a religion.
Recommended reading:
Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science (1998). You can download it free at www.nationalacademies.org/evolution/.
Instructor:
Lawyer, paleobotanist, and retired Southern Illinois University professor Larry Matten has a passionate interest in defending the modern theory of evolution against the claims of intelligent design.
HUMAN BEHAVIOR & NEUROBIOLOGY, Part 2
Are We Hardwired?
Thursdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
9 weeks, Feb. 28 – Apr. 24
$70, includes additional Part 2 handouts
$20, Notebook for new participants with reference materials and timely articles from Part 1
Illustrated lectures with Q&A and discussion
No prerequisite
If you ever wanted to know what really makes you tick, this is the course for you. With a hundred billion nerve cells, two million miles of axons, and a million billion synapses, the human brain is the most complex natural or artificial structure on earth. Although we inherit some factors that shape our brain, our environment and our actions play important roles in its functioning. Beginning with a brief review of last term’s topics, we’ll continue taking a wide-ranging look at the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, the hormones used by the brain, ideas on evolution and behavioral genetics, and ethology (animal behavior) to try to reach an understanding of the very complex factors that influence the way we live our lives.
Required reading:
Michael S. Gazzaniga, The Ethical Brain (Dana Press, 2005) (Buy from Amazon).
Recommended reading:
Another good book: Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (Penguin, 2003), paperback (Buy from Amazon).
Instructor:
Bennie Bub is a South African neurosurgeon board certified in three different specialties on three continents. After immigrating to the US in 1976, Bub practiced in Denver as an anesthesiologist for more than twenty years before founding a successful database company, from which he has retired to indulge his love of music, travel, and reading.
AGING & SEXUALITY
Thursdays, 10 am – 12 noon
4 weeks, Mar. 27 – Apr. 17
$25 (nonmembers $35)
Join us to talk about how our aging bodies respond to sexual desires. Classes will focus on such topics as physical attraction, touch needs, illnesses and disabilities, verbal and nonverbal communication, and changing expectations. Class input is valued and important as a means for examining these issues. This class is all about defining and communicating your personal values about sexuality, not therapy or a course in how-to. Class size limited to 12.
Facilitators:
Caroline Bliss-Kandel, RN, BSN, and Joseph Kandel, Ed.D., have facilitated classes for older adults for many years and have learned the skill of open and comfortable communication.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
How Presidents Are Made
Tuesdays 10 am – 12 noon
8 weeks, Feb. 26 – Apr. 15
$65, includes numerous handouts
Lectures, discussion
Nothing in our political system is more generally misunderstood or under fire than the way we elect our presidents. In this course we’ll look at the history of the United States through the lens of the Electoral College and examine the way our political parties came into being and have evolved. We’ll see what part our founding fathers’ opinions of political parties played in the creation of the Electoral College, how the college was first used, and how it was affected by the passage of the Twelfth Amendment. We’ll take a close look at several notable elections, including the disputed 2000 election, and see what roles the Electoral College, political parties, and the popular vote play in determining the President of the United States. You’ll have a chance to ponder the “what ifs” of American political history and may perhaps end by agreeing with Thomas Jefferson, who said, “If I must go to heaven with a political party, I would prefer not to go.”
Recommended reading:
Jay Winik, April 1865: The Month That Saved America (Perennial, 2001) (Buy from Amazon).
Instructor:
Dick Young is a political activist and history buff who is earning a Masters in history forty years after taking his law degree at the University of Michigan. Young has taught this course at various Elderhostels and the continuing education programs of several universities.
THE DILEMMA OF IMMIGRATION
Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
4 weeks, Feb. 20 – Mar. 12
$40, no book to buy, numerous timely handouts
Lectures, discussion
Immigration has become a hot-button issue of the 2008 presidential election campaign. Hillary Clinton was pilloried for her defense of Gov. Elliot Spitzer’s plan to require illegal immigrants to have drivers’ licenses. Tom Tancredo says he won’t run for congress again now that he has successfully taken his “send ‘em all home” message to the nation as a presidential candidate. Are today’s immigrants different from those of the past, as some claim? Is America ready to turn its back on its 250-year history as a nation of immigrants? Can we afford to absorb all the new arrivals, authorized and unauthorized? Can we afford to turn them away? We’ll review the history of American immigration and immigration laws past and present. We’ll also compare relative rates of assimilation and changing attitudes toward immigrants. Finally, we’ll look at the economic impact of immigration and weigh its costs and benefits.
Recommended reading:
Most books on this subject are out of date. Instead of a book, numerous readings and a list of recommended websites will be distributed at the first meeting.
Facilitator:
For those who missed it the last time around, economist Jim Kneser repeats this lively and highly popular investigation into one of today’s hottest topics.
ISLAM FROM MUHAMMAD TO OSAMA
Tuesdays, 10 – 12 noon
Tuesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm - FILLED
8 weeks, Feb. 26 – Apr. 15
$65, includes photocopies of lecture notes
Lectures, discussion
How much do you really know about the Islamic faith and the Muslim people? Here’s your chance to explore the history of Islam from its seventh-century beginnings to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We’ll study the life of Muhammad and discuss the Holy Qur’an, both of which are widely misunderstood in the Western world. We’ll explore the similarities and differences among the three great monotheistic religions—Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—and examine the implications and consequences of the long political history between Islam and the West. At least one Muslim guest will provide some insight into the struggle faced by the American Muslim community in the wake of 9/11.
Required reading:
Karen Armstrong, Islam (Random House, 2000) (Buy from Amazon).
Also recommended:
John Esposito, What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002) (Buy from Amazon).
Facilitator:
Teaching is a passion for retired “technocrat” Walt Meyer, who has presented a series of classes on Islam for members of his Lutheran church on two occasions.
UNRAVELING THE CAUSES BEHIND
THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
4 weeks, Mar. 19 – Apr. 9
$35, includes photocopied handouts
Lectures, video, Q&A
For many, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a central issue in the political debate about achieving peace in the Middle East. Now is your chance to delve into this complex problem with an expert who has chaired a Middle East study group in Denver for the past sixteen years and who is now a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. You are sure to come away from these lectures with a clearer idea of the meaning of Zionism, the Middle East refugee problem, and the reasons for the close relationship between the United States and Israel, as well as a better understanding of the issues involved in the media’s treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Recommended reading:
David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Emire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (Owl Books, 2001), paperback (Buy from Amazon); first published in hardback in 1989 as A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922.
Facilitator:
A native of South Africa, Herzl Melmed grew up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and lived in Israel from 1965 to 1976, during both the Six-Day and the Yom Kippur Wars. Since immigrating to Colorado in 1976, he has been active in the local community and currently chairs ActionIsrael, a grassroots group of Christian and Jewish supporters of Israel.
THE BLUES
A Story of Migration & Transformation
Tuesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
8 weeks, February 19 – April 8 FILLED
$70, includes three-ring notebook and lots of photocopies
Music, video, mini-lectures, discussion
This class is FILLED. The blues, heart and soul of American popular music, was born on the Mississippi Delta in the early twentieth century and through successive decades shaped genres as diverse as jazz, country and western, rock and roll, soul, and hard rock. Set against the backdrop of turbulent social change, this course explores the wonderfully complex narrative of the influence of the blues as sung by the great women blues legends—from Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holliday to Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin. We’ll examine the relationship between the transformative influence of the blues and the parallel physical and social migration of Blacks out of the oppressive rural South. As we explore how a people and their history came to be manifest in a completely new and unique genre of music, we’ll try to assess the effect of both the music and the history on today’s mainstream culture. FILLED
Instructor:
After retiring from a career in commercial real estate law, Connie Hyde has returned to her roots as a student of literature, music, and art at Duke University. She is fascinated by the people and ideas that have shaped our world and the way that literature, music, and art interact with history and politics.
HOW TO THINK LIKE AN ECONOMIST & WHY YOU SHOULD
Wednesdays, 10 am – 12 noon
8 weeks, Mar. 5 – April 23
$75, includes a book’s worth of current articles + lecture notes
Lectures, Q&A, discussion
Each day the media assaults us with news of trade deficits, inverted yield curves, liquidity crises, fiscal policy concerns, a weakening dollar, and other issues about which we know we should be concerned but are unsure why. Economics sounds intimidating, but it really isn’t. Gregory Mankiw, who teaches economics at Harvard, describes it as the study of “how people choose to lead their lives and how they interact with one another.” This course focuses on the essential principles of economics—the basics of what you really need to know—with a minimum of charts and graphs and a maximum of examples from today’s headlines. Find out why economics is now the most popular major at Ivy League universities. Gain economic literacy, not a migraine, from this lively class that’s accessible to all.
Instructor:
After a career in private equity, Jim Kneser, one of the Academy’s founders, has turned his attention to educating adults about the important role of economic principles in everyday life and public policy debates.
NEW DISCOVERIES IN MEMORY & LEARNING
Wednesdays, 10 am – 12 noon
4 weeks, Feb. 20 – Mar. 12
$35, includes lecture printouts
PowerPoint lectures, discussion
What’s in a brain? No one really knew until 1991, when scientists began to study healthy human brains. This course will focus on the most recent discoveries about brain biology, how memory works, and the importance of meaning and emotion in learning. But there is still much more to discover about the physical workings of the brain and consciousness. What should we be doing to keep our brains healthy? How does all this information affect how we live our lives? Get your brain engaged, and learn about how you learn and remember information.
Instructor: After thirty years of classroom teaching, Sandy Stolar became intrigued by how the brain actually learns. Today she is a trainer for Translating Brain Research into Classroom Practice and a member of the “Brainy Bunch,” a national group that studies brain research.
FINE ARTS & HUMANITIES
ADVENTURES WITH GREAT IDEAS
The Emotions, Part 1
Take your pick: Tuesdays, 10 am – 12 noon FILLED
Tuesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm FILLED
10 weeks, Feb. 19 – Apr. 22
$75, includes copious handouts
Video, lectures, discussion
Feeling jealous, happy, or anxious? Discover what the world’s great philosophers and writers have to say about your emotions. We will examine the ways in which our passions define us, move us, play havoc with our hearts and brains, and give meaning to our human experience as rational beings. As we learn how anger, fear, love, charity and mercy, pride and humility, jealousy, pity and envy, and joy and sorrow affect our lives, we’ll take a look deep into ourselves. This course is part one of a two-part series that provides an intellectual framework with which we can reflect upon our humanity as individuals, as members of society, and as part of the cosmos. Join this great intellectual adventure.
Required reading:
Photocopied materials
Recommended reading: Robert C. Solomon, ed., What is an Emotion: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 2d ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, 2003) (Buy from Amazon).
Instructor:
Jim Hartmann rose from deputy state historian to president of the Colorado Historical Society and gubernatorial-appointed state historic preservation officer during his thirty years with the society.
SCIENCE & RELIGION
Enemies, Strangers, or Partners?
Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
8 weeks, Mar. 5 – Apr. 23
$60, includes photocopies
Discussion
Whether you agree or disagree with Albert Einstein that “science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind,” you’re sure to enjoy this lively investigation into the question of whether science and religion are mutually exclusive. Stephen Jay Gould posited a “non-overlapping magisteria” with the magisterium of science covering the empirical realm—what the universe is made of (fact) and why it works the way it does (theory)—while the magisterium of religion extends over questions of ultimate meaning and moral value. Richard Dawkins criticizes this stance as “a purely political ploy to win middle-of-the-road religious people to the science camp.” We’ll consider extremes as well as middle grounds in the areas of astronomy and creation; quantum physics; evolution and continuing creation; genetics, neuroscience, and human nature; and God and nature.
Required reading:
Ian G. Barbour, When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners? (Harper San Francisco, 2000) (Buy from Amazon).
Also recommended:
Scott Atran, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002) (Buy from Amazon).
Facilitator:
Retired public school teacher Sherma Erholm holds a Master’s in communication theory and psychology. As a learning junkie, she has facilitated adult courses in such diverse subjects as futurism, China, Iran, evolution, and the U.N.
DISCOVERING A FORGOTTEN COMPOSER
Théodore Gouvy
Tuesdays, 10 am – 12 noon
10 weeks, Feb. 19 – Apr. 22
$70
Lectures, discussion
Immerse yourself in the life and music of little-known nineteenth century French composer Théodore Gouvy with maestro Robin McNeil. Close friend to Liszt, Berlioz, Bizet, Brahms, Schumann, and Mendelssohn, Gouvy was well-known and highly respected in his lifetime. His repertoire even includes several works commissioned by the New York Philharmonic in the 1860s. We’ll give Gouvy the hearing he deserves and try to understand why once-popular greats sometimes get overlooked in a crowd.
No required reading
Instructor:
Retired professor of piano, musicologist, author of book and concert reviews, and executive director of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, Robin McNeil dislikes retirement and continues to give private lessons.
WAGNER’S RING CYCLE &
THE NORSE MYTHS
Thursdays, 10 am – 12 noon
8 weeks, Mar. 6 – Apr. 24
$70, includes numerous handouts and the use of performance videos for home viewing
Lectures, discussion
Why is Richard Wagner one of the most beloved and despised composers of the past hundred and fifty years, and why is his “Ring cycle” considered the greatest of all operas? In this second of three courses on Norse mythology, we’ll focus on Wagner’s four-part operatic cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung, which weaves the disconnected legends that we studied last term into a dramatic narrative whole. You needn’t have taken the first course in the series, however, to enjoy this class fully. We’ll examine Wagner’s life, the historical context in which the operas were written, and the way in which he combined the ancient myths and sagas into a musical masterpiece. We’ll view video performances of most of the operas outside of class and spend our time together delving deeply into the background and esthetic features of this controversial work of art.
Required reading:
M. Owen Lee, Wagner's Ring (Limelight, 1988) (Buy from Amazon).
Also recommended:
Ernest Newman, The Wagner Operas (Princeton Univ. Press, 1991) (Buy from Amazon). Extended bibliography will be available at the first class meeting.
Instructors:
Hardly a Johnny one-note, economist Jim Kneser indulges his lifelong interest in music by facilitating courses showcasing some of his favorite composers. Retired high school English teacher Carol Anthony is a longtime fan of J.R.R. Tolkien with a passionate interest in Norse-English-Germanic mythology and culture.
MASTERPIECES OF EUROPEAN ART, Part 3
Looking with Fresh Eyes
Thursdays, 10 am – 12 noon
8 weeks, February 21 – Apr. 17, no class Apr. 10
$60, includes bound copies of lecture outlines
Video lectures, slide presentations, discussion
No prerequisite
This is the final part of a course designed to give you the tools you need to look at works of art with greater understanding. Even if you missed parts one and two, you’re bound to relish Professor William Kloss’s illustrated DVD lectures showing you how to get inside an artwork and savor it to the fullest. We begin with the seventeenth-century Dutch masters, then move on to the reigning French classicists Poussin and Claude before turning to the Spanish baroque with El Greco and Velazquez. It’s on to Versailles to review Fragonard and other eighteenth-century French masters before catching up with the giants of neoclassicism and nineteenth-century romanticism—David, Goya, Ingres, Delacroix, Constable, and Turner. We’ll study French realism from Daumier to Courbet and the birth of impressionism with Manet and Monet. We’ll focus on Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, and Cézanne, then move on to cubism and early modern painting and sculpture, ending with Seurat, Matisse, Rodin, Brancusi, Kandinsky, and Picasso.
Recommended reading:
Ross King, The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism (Walker & Co., 2006) (Buy from Amazon).
Facilitator:
A devotee of art museums at home and abroad, Laura Pardee has long been fascinated by European painting, sculpture, and architecture. Her firsthand experience adds a personal dimension to your virtual tour with art historian William Kloss. Fred Pardee enjoys providing technical support to Laura’s richly illustrated course.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM PREHISTORIC ART
Thursdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
2 weeks, Apr. 17 and Apr. 24
$15
Illustrated lectures, Q&A
What prompted humans to start making paintings and sculpture that we now value as art? Learn what distinguishes the Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures of our distant ancestors, and see how these differences play out in the earliest works of art known to us. These lectures will explore the various theories that try to explain the “function” of late Old Stone-Age cave paintings and the huge stone constructions raised by New Stone Age communities: do they testify to magical or religious practices, or were they merely decorative? We’ll revisit well-known sites such as Lascaux, Altamira, and Carnac, as well as lesser-known marvels like Chauvet, Peche Merle, Gavrinis, and Newgrange.
Lecturer:
An experienced scholar and lecturer in the arts and sciences, Henry Claman is a semi-retired professor of medicine at the CU Medical School, where he directs the Medical Humanities Program.
DEADLY DETECTIVES
The Detective in Literary History
Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm FILLED
5 weeks, Feb. 20 – Mar. 19
$40, includes plenty of handouts
Discussion, lectures, video
Filled
This class is FILLED. Are fictional detectives elementary, my dear Watson? Not exactly. This course tracks famous sleuths from the golden age of detective fiction as they solve classic literary puzzles. Not only does the class offer a great mental workout, it explores the enormous variety of early twentieth-century detective figures, their predecessors (notably Sherlock Holmes), and some successors. Did you know that while Arthur Conan Doyle’s portrait of a vaguely scientific, god-like detective provoked a series of rejections of the Holmesian model, the ultrascientific R. Austin Freeman kept a personal laboratory to craft forensic solutions that would really work? Even though the authors worked at some distance from reality, the class will unearth issues that are critical to real detective work, such as lying, forgery, witness testimony, not to mention the character and creativity of the detective. Join this investigation into renowned detective characters and their creators, including Poe, Doyle, Sayers, Simenon, Christie, and others. Filled
Required reading:
Patricia Craig, ed., The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories (Oxford Univ. Press, 1990) (Buy from Amazon). (2 or3 stories from this book per class; available used at Amazon Marketplace)
Recommended reading:
Ian Ousby, Guilty Parties: The Mystery Lover’s Companion (Thames and Hudson, 1997).
Instructor:
Irene Gorak holds a Ph.D. in nineteenth-century literature from UCLA. A native of Britain, she taught English in British high schools, and later, worked as an adjunct professor of Gothic, women’s literature, and detective fiction at the University of Denver.
REVISITING OCCUPIED FRANCE
IN FACT & FICTION
Wednesdays, 10 am – 12 noon
3 weeks, Feb. 20 – Mar. 5
$25
Discussion, mini-lectures
Six decades after being penned by the Auschwitz-bound novelist Irene Némirovsky, Suite Française has found its rightful place on the bestseller list. The first two parts of what was intended to be a five-novel cycle only recently resurfaced and have been published together as a “suite” that details, in the author’s own words, the chaotic “daily life, the emotional life, and especially the comedy” of a France overrun by Nazi forces. Delve into this gifted novelist’s light-hearted evocation of a bitter time, written as it was being lived, and savor its rich mixture of history and imagination.
Required reading:
Irene Némirovsky, Suite Française (Vintage, 2007) (Buy from Amazon).
Facilitator:
Trained as a geologist, Donna Barrow is an avid reader whose Stanford English professor would, Donna says, “turn many shades of red” if she knew her former student was leading a book discussion. Not to worry, Donna will deal with the novel’s historical aspects and has enlisted former professor of literature Connie Platt and music specialist Robin McNeil to address its other features.
LINCOLN’S MELANCHOLY
Pain, Pen & Power
Thursdays 1:30 – 3:30 pm
6 weeks, Feb. 21 – Mar. 27
$45, includes handouts
Discussion, video
How did suffering and depressive tendencies lend brilliance to one of our greatest presidents? Based on the book Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled his Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk, this courseexplores the paradoxical argument that Lincoln transformed his private misfortunes into rigorous public performance. Shenk’s provocative psychobiography provides the framework for exploring Lincoln’s verbal and literary genius, as well as his use of presidential power. Was Lincoln a tyrant, as some claimed, exceeding his constitutional authority, or was he simply a man at war with himself? Did his personal psychic pain contribute to the difficult decisions he made for the “house divided”? We’ll examine how polarizing elements played out in Lincoln’s mind and helped plot a course that saved the nation.
Required Reading:
Joshua Wolf Shenk, Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled his Greatness (Houghton Mifflin, 2005) (Buy from Amazon).
Recommended Reading:
Doris K. Goodwin, Team of Rivals (Simon & Schuster, 2005) (Buy from Amazon).
Instructor:
Educated at Williams College, Oxford, and Harvard, Douglas Wilson taught literature for more than thirty years at the University of Denver before his retirement. He has published works on Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Shakespeare.
JANE EYRE, VICTORIAN REBEL
CANCELLED
Tuesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
7 weeks, Feb. 19 – Apr. 1
$55, includes photocopies
Discussion, mini-lectures, video film clips
THIS CLASS WAS CANCELLED. What makes Charlotte Brontë’s romantic Victorian novel about a naïve young woman who finds love as a governess on the lonely moors of England a good read in an age flooded with bodice rippers? What gives this tale of an orphan girl its richness and depth? And how did Brontë’s life experience influence her writing? We’ll explore these questions and other controversial questions as we read the novel in segments of about 75 pages each session. You should come prepared for the first class meeting with book in hand and chapters 1-8 under your belt. Cancelled.
Required reading:
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Penguin, 2006) (Buy from Amazon). Other editions with notes are okay, but discussions will be easier to follow if all participants can be on the same page.
Recommended reading:
Lyndall Gordon, Charlotte Brontë: A Passionate Life (W.W. Norton, 1996) (Buy from Amazon).
Facilitator:
Retired English teacher Liz Aguilar has visited the family home of the Brontë sisters and walked the Yorkshire moors described so vividly in their novels.
WRITING YOUR LIFE STORIES
Tuesdays, 10 am – 12 noon FILLED
8 weeks, Feb. 19 – Apr. 8
$60, includes three-ring notebook, paper, and photocopies
Interactive workshop environment
Whether you’re nineteen or ninety, you have stories to tell and wisdom to share. This course gives you the support and inspiration you need to start compiling a permanent collection of your real-life stories to share with family and friends or simply to enjoy for yourself. Jump-start your memory with innovative and engaging activities that help you recall long forgotten events. This is the perfect opportunity to begin writing. FILLED
Facilitator:
Kathy Boyer, a retired teacher, has conducted Life Stories workshops for libraries, summer camps, churches, community centers, and the Academy. She also works with individuals to record their memories on audio tape.
MAKING POETRY PART OF YOUR LIFE
Wednesdays, 10 am – 12 noon
3 weeks, Mar. 19 – Apr. 2
$20
Discussion, mini-lectures
Who has time for poetry in today’s hectic world? Find out how reading and writing poetry can enrich your life. We’ll take a look at a wide variety of poets—including, among others, Sara Teasdale, William Wadsworth, Robert Frost, A. E. Houseman, Carl Sandburg, Countee Cullen, Oscar Wilde, Joyce Kilmer, and Shakespeare. We’ll discuss the steps taken in writing a poem and how poetry can change the way you look at life and your surroundings, things you may otherwise take for granted. Through an understanding and love of poetry, we can learn to love life and the uniqueness of its expression in nature, language, interpersonal relationships, and even tragedy. Come prepared to share your favorite poems—your own or those of others.
Facilitator:
Retired lawyer Ted Borrillo is also a published poet who has already made poetry a rewarding part of his life.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
EXPERTS & ENTERTAINERS
Wednesdays, 12:15 – 1:15 pm
10 weeks, Feb. 20 – Apr. 23
Academy members $40 series, $5 each (1 free)
Nonmembers $10 each
BYO Lunch
Sign up for as many or as few as strike your fancy.
Members: join us for one free lecture. Lois Martin, founding editor and publisher of the Aurora Sun and an Academy member, has put together an appetizing array of experts and entertainers for this noon-hour lecture series. Pack a lunch, gather your friends, and join your fellow Academics for this weekly buffet of new ideas. You can find out more about the speakers at www.academyLL.org, by clicking on Facilitator Profiles.
A) Feb. 20. “The Paranoia of Governments.” Retired social worker Ann Stone explains how the diagnoses that apply to personal disorders can also apply to ruling bodies. She believes several countries are trapped in a paranoid foreign policy cycle.
B) Feb. 27. “Signals and Secret Passages on the Underground Railroad.” The long and complex story of the Underground Railroad was one of the greatest civil rights efforts in this county. It became a legend powered by beliefs and compassion. The story will be told by Sandy Sweeney as she talks about the origin of the movement to abolish slavery and the journey on the Underground Railroad.
C) March 5. “How To Be Cool When Ordering Wine.” Gordon Dickerson is a registered wine sommelier and director of the International Wine Guild. He tells how to know and order the best (but not necessarily the most expensive) wines for every occasion. He currently teaches this very specialized science at Metro.
D) March 12. “The Prodigal Son” by Garrison Keiller. Four players from the Unitarian Universalist Reader's Theatre present this funny, but thoughtful, one-act play. Directed by Jo Hehnke.
E) March 19. “Watch Your Mouth: The Power of Words.” The Rev. Don Scheuer—former Congregationalist minister and Cherry Creek high School teacher—has, according to the Rocky Mountain News, specialized in hugs and handshakes for his entire life. Learn how to “watch your mouth.”
F) March 26. “What's Wrong (and Right) with Denver's Court System.” The Honorable Larry L. Bohning is currently assigned to the criminal division of the Denver county courts. Judge Bohning helped revise Denver’s criminal court system and will talk about the changes he proposed for making the court more workable.
G) April 2. “Facts and Myths about Female Hormone Replacement.” Dr. Herzl Melmed, who has worked and trained in five countries around the world, will clarify and demystify the issues surrounding hormone replacement. His thirty years of gynecological practice at Swedish Medical Center have included many post-menopausal women.
H) April 9. “Why Everybody Lost the Civil War.” Dr. John Slocum will explain how the malpractice of medicine was the cause of the huge number of deaths during America's Civil War.
I) April 16. “Cultural Patrimony: Whose Art Is It?” Mark Addison taught grad-level art history courses at CU for ten years before his recent retirement. He’ll share his thoughts about the long history of plunder that marks the amassment of huge public collections in the world’s capitals.
J) April 23. “Tribes, Traditions & Trouble.” Dr. Kevin Evans, a Denver dentist, has recently returned from living with and studying several Egyptian tribes with fellow religious lay leaders. He’ll talk about why tribal customs make it so hard for various Middle Eastern people to understand each other.
BUILDING SKILLS
YES, YOU CAN DRAW!
Thursdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm FILLED
8 weeks, Feb. 21 – Apr. 10
$60 (nonmembers $70), includes the book
$45 (nonmembers $55) for those repeating the class
Leader: Retired art teacher Diane Carrick
This class is FILLED. Guaranteed: You can draw. Drawing helps us appreciate the charm, harmony, and beauty of real forms and offers a rare opportunity for originality in a world that grows more and more conventional every day. Using the book Drawing Made Easy by David Sanmiguel (Sterling Publishing Co., 2000) (Buy from Amazon), you’ll explore such drawing skills as proportion, shading, and perspective. By practicing between sessions, skills increase rapidly. Past participants are welcome to return in order to hone skills learned last fall. Bring a drawing pad, pencil, and kneaded eraser. FILLED
BRIDGE: INTERMEDIATE PLAY
Tuesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
8 weeks, Feb. 19 – Apr. 8
$50 (nonmembers $60 or $10/day)
Resident experts: bridge enthusiasts Donna Barrow, Judy Brand, Sally Kneser, Lynne Pettyjohn
Bridge is more than a pastime. It’s a passion. Players return to the table time and time again for the mental challenge, the competition, and the company of others who share their love of the world’s greatest card game. The spring bridge offering is for intermediate players who understand basic bidding and are able to play comfortably. There will be no formal instruction, just four wandering advisors. Come alone or bring your own partner or group. To learn more about Negative Doubles, click here. To make flash cards in order to practice the Negative Double, click here.
CHESS
Thursdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
8 weeks, Feb. 21 – Apr. 10
$40 (nonmembers $50 or $10/day), includes handouts
$20 for a book’s worth of copies, required only for new beginning students
Instructor:
Larry Matten, avid chess player, elementary-school chess coach
Learn the game of kings (and queens). Both new and continuing players are welcome. Continuing participants can play games or listen in while the weekly lesson about basic moves and strategies is given to the beginning players, who don’t need to know a thing about chess to sign up for this class. For the more advanced, there will be chess problems to solve. Learn the algebraic notation for record keeping during a game. Recreate and follow games played by chess masters. Opening moves and defenses will be discussed, as well as end-game strategies. As beginners advance, we’ll introduce variants such as speed chess and team chess. Chess boards and pieces will be provided.
