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Winter 2004 Courses(Just to see what has been offered) The courses for the Winter '04 term were organized by the headings of History; Art, Music and Literature; Current Events and Public Policy; and Psychology and Ethics. HISTORYIT’S ABOUT TIME1-3 Wednesdays Ever wondered why you’re a “slave to the clock”? We’ll use Jay Griffiths’s witty and challenging A Sideways Look at Time as the basic text for taking a close look at our modern notion of linear time and how it affects every aspect of our lives—politics, science, industry, music, art, even interpersonal relationships. You’re sure to find yourself in the thick of some lively debates. Milt Lepkin loves synthesizing insights from various disciplines to illuminate the nooks and crannies of every challenging new idea that comes his way. A retired professor of psychology, he’s especially interested in applying its principles to everyday human relationships. THE MIDDLE AGES9:30-11:30 Wednesdays Are the dark ages a black hole for you, a time when nothing really happened? Norman Cantor will soon convince you otherwise as he traces the formative years of modern Europe from the fall of Rome to the dawn of the Renaissance. We’ll use his lively Civilization of the Middle Ages as a guidebook to explore the development of law, philosophy, and religion during this fecund period in Western history. John Rupainis’s long-standing interest in history and philosophy keeps him coming back to facilitate classes in these subjects. “There is,” he explains, “always something new to learn about them.” Political Intrigue in Pre-WWII Europe1-3 Wednesdays Broaden your perspective on past and current events by delving more deeply into some of the lesser-known political choices that led to WWII. Discussions focus on Alan Furst’s novel Kingdom of Shadows, whose Hungarian protagonist puts a human face on these choices. Occasional video lectures by historian Thomas Childers, University of Pennsylvania, help place the novel’s fictional action in the larger real-life drama of Hitler’s 1938-39 land grab. Donna Barrow, who led a BookNotes discussion on Alan Furst's World at Night for the Academy’s 2003 fall semester, likes reading literary thrillers and historical fiction as a way of gaining insight into the political motivations of our own time. She believes, “We must learn from the past if we are to steer a safe course for the future.” Religious Fundamentalisms1-3 Thursdays What motivates the religious militants of Northern Ireland, the Hamas and Hizbullah factions of Islam, the Christian Coalition of the U.S., and others? We’ll study Strong Religion (Gabriel A. Almond, Emmanuel Sivan, and R. Scott Appleby, eds., 2003), the result of a ten-year study of fundamentalism commissioned by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Discussions focus on the cultures that nourish fundamentalist religious movements around the world and the conditions that cause them to turn violent. ART, MUSIC & LITERATUREBeethoven’s Ninth SYMPHONY9:30-11:30 Wednesdays Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony stands as a stunning rejection of the symphonic form codified by Hayden and perfected by Mozart. Find out all about Beethoven’s innovations through four video lectures by Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Greenberg’s elucidation of the structure and interrelationships of the four movements is followed by a video lecture by Robert Winter of UCLA, who sees the symphony’s structure in an entirely different light. Musical interpretations, too, abound, and we’ll hear performances ranging from variations on the orthodox approach to others that use period instruments and even Beethoven’s original metronome markings. Impressionism & beyond1-3 Thursdays Have you always loved the Impressionists, but can’t tell one from the other? Even if you missed Part 1 of this course, you’ll enjoy this opportunity to learn more about Degas, Renoir, Cassatt, Manet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Vuillard, Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. Two half-hour video lectures (with lots of visual examples) by art historian Richard Brettell set the stage at every class session for lively discussions and short reports from participants. Bridge nut and impressionist groupie Sally Kneser says, “The work of the impressionists has always called out to me. When I visit an art museum, I start with them, then move forward. A recent Elderhostel adventure in Paris filled me with an even greater love for these modern masters.” Her enthusiasm is hard to resist. The Language of Great Music9:30-11:30 Thursdays In sixteen half-hour lectures by Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, we’ll explore the interplay between social change and innovation as we immerse ourselves in the grammar and syntax of musical forms and terminology. Focusing on Western music from 1750 to 1850, Greenberg takes us on a musical tour that begins with the classical forms that arose during the Enlightenment and ends with the Romantic revolution exemplified in Beethoven’s Fifth. You’ll find yourself listening to your favorite composers with an ear attuned to nuances you’ve never before heard. A man for all seasons, Keith Meagher’s special interests center on the connection between culture and history. On the face of it, religious fundamentalism and great music—the two courses he’s facilitating this semester—have little in common; yet both are the outgrowth of specific cultural and political conditions. Keith loves delving deeply behind the surface and finding ways to encourage fellow students to do the same. LITERARY WALKS IN BRITAIN1-3 Tuesdays Whether you’re an armchair traveler or planning a trip to the English and Welsh countryside, you’ll relish this chance to discover or revisit Britain’s rural beauties through the eyes of great writers. We’ll use Bruce Chatwin’s novel On the Black Hill, Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’urbervilles, and the Everyman Pocket Poets edition of William Wordsworth as basic guidebooks for our journey through Wales, the west country, and the Lake District and north Yorkshire. Our final session focuses on planning a walking trip to Britain: tips on getting in shape, using internet resources, what to pack, and how to get around. Jim Mingle has roamed the byways of Wales, Yorkshire, Cornwall, and Dorset throughout his professional life in higher education. He heartily endorses the idea that “the world is best seen at two miles per hour—with a knapsack on your back, a book in your pocket, and a pint at the end of the road.” UNFORGETTABLE AMERICAN SHORT STORIES9:30-11:30 Wednesdays What can writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver, and Richard Russo tell us about who we are? The rich fabric of American experience is waiting to be discovered in short fiction, where glimpses into the emotional life of others shed light on our own. Our jumping-off point for new adventures in reading will be John Updike’s anthology of Best American Short Stories of the Century. Kathlene Sutton can’t imagine a life without learning. After a professional career teaching English literature and writing to college students and adults, she’s anxious to continue sharing learning experiences with others in the Academy’s relaxed, informal atmosphere. Current Events AND PUBLIC POLICYColorado Fiscal Policy Update Keep yourself current on the state’s fiscal situation and the competing remedies likely to emerge for voter consideration on next fall’s ballot. You should come away from this course with a clearer idea of Colorado’s tangled web of taxation and spending—and with some simple tools for evaluating fiscal referendums and initiatives. Public policy specialist Toni Larson will join the class as her schedule permits. As executive director of Independent Higher Education of Colorado, the nonprofit agency responsible for public policy research and lobbying for Colorado College, Regis University, and the University of Denver, Toni Larson keeps abreast of state fiscal issues, especially as they affect higher education. Current Events for News Junkies1-3 Tuesdays Here’s your chance to discuss local, national, and international events with other newsies. Everyone comes to the sessions armed with one or more news items they’d like to talk over with others. Sources can be anything from magazines and newspapers to television and the internet. The European Union and the Euro1-3, sign up for either Wednesday or Thursday sessions What does a united Europe mean for the world economy and the international balance of power? The success or failure of the European Union promises to affect the life of every American. We’ll examine the Union’s bumpy past and the challenges facing it today, as well as possible scenarios for its future impact on the global economy and world peace. The course fee includes a $15 materials fee. No book required. After a career in financial management, Jim Kneser has turned his attention to educating adults about the workings of complicated economic principles in the real world. In the past few years he’s taught classes in microeconomics, macroeconomics, globalization, and public policy. Hardly a Johnny one-note, Jim indulges his lifelong interest in music by facilitating courses showcasing some of his favorite composers. PSYCHOLOGY & ETHICSTHE CONDUCT AND ETHICS OF HUMAN MEDICAL TRIALS1-3 Tuesdays Completing this course will qualify you to serve as a lay member of the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB), which oversees research projects at CU Health Science Center and Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Denver Health, and the VA Hospital. You’ll learn about the general history of research using human subjects, the details of specific cases (including the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis study), and the background leading to the Federal mandate for local institutional review boards. And you’ll even have a chance to attend an actual COMIRB review of research projects. Conducting seminars in research ethics for scientific investigators whose studies involve human subjects is among Lisa Jensen’s duties as head of CU Health Science Center’s Institutional Review Board. Her own background as a research nurse in endocrinology (1992-99) has given her personal insight into the issues researchers face. Norm Stoller’s own research interests focus on the clinical development and testing of chemical agents for managing periodontal disease. Like his co-facilitator, Lisa Jensen, he has a thorough understanding of the ethical issues raised by the use of human subjects and first-hand experience in applying Federal regulations to research projects. GREAT IDEAS of PSYCHOLOGY, PART 19:30-11:30 Thursdays Thinking about what makes us uniquely human has always attracted the best minds of every age. This provocative course from the Teaching Company traces the broad intellectual framework on which the discipline of psychology has been built. You’ll have a chance to follow the point-counterpoint of competing theories about the human mind that began with Plato and Aristotle—and a chance to talk about the relative merits of such modern thinkers as Freud, Skinner, Jung, William James, and others. As a speech and language pathologist for thirty years, Connie Carson has focused on cognitive dysfunctions and finds questions of how we experience, rationalize, and communicate about our world an endlessly fascinating subject. The Ultimate Age9:30-11:30 Thursdays You’ll come away from these sessions with a new view of the aging process and easy-to-use strategies for making the most of what life has to offer at every age. Explore the myths of ageism, the role of creativity in successful aging, and the real meaning of “wasting time.” Guest speaker Caroline Bliss-Kandel offers ideas for living in the moment. Caroline Bliss-Kandel is a retired hospice nurse with a special interest in the power of sitting meditation. "It’s a good way," she says, "to learn to stop listening to the noises in your head.” Joseph Kandel has an Ed.D. in education and has taught more than two hundred classes in aging, interpersonal relationships, stress/time management, and death and dying at Denver-area colleges. He believes that “successful aging means more than just hanging in there: there’s also involvement in life, challenging yourself, and taking care of your needs.” VIRTUE IN OUR TIME1-3 Wednesdays Ayn Rand wrote a controversial book of essays, The Virtue of Selfishness. We’ll contrast her philosophy with science writer Matt Ridley’s The Origins of Virtue. Ridley promotes scientific game theory 30 years after Rand put forth the philosophy of Objectivism. Both authors deal with contemporary topics such as individualism, racism, modern warfare, conservation, and altruism. Lifelong learner Jane Yoder seeks out mental challenges in all her undertakings and happily confesses that “the more I learn, the more ignorant I find I am.” Jane has facilitated courses in Great Music, Ethics, and Ayn Rand. For her study of Objectivism over the last 40 years, Jane has attended seminars, written articles, and participated in five on-line discussion groups. DIVERTIMENTIIn addition to the cultural and academic courses, many interesting Divertimenti were offered. GAMES OF SKILLBEGINNING BRIDGE 2Lessons cover three conventions (Blackwood, Stayman and Gerber) and specialty situations like Slam Bidding, the Takeout Double, the Two-Demand Bid, and the Preemptive Bid. $5 materials fee will be collected on the first day. Georgia Wilson spent fifteen years teaching high school business classes, but bridge has been her passion since college days. She is now a Bronze Life Master and qualified club director and currently offers one practice play and one club game a week for students. MAHJONG FOR BEGINNERSEngage your mind while learning how to play this ancient Chinese game. Once Lee Williamson explains the basics of the simple Wright-Patterson Air Force system, you’ll be off and running—picking up new vocabulary and exploring the niceties as you go along. Limited to five players. Sign up early. Experienced Mahjong instructor Lee Williamson first fell in love with Mahjong as a service wife and now enjoys passing on her enthusiasm to newcomers to the game. ART & MUSICSTUDIO ART: THE BASICSThese sessions offer the structure you’ll need to solve problems when you get stuck making any kind of two-dimensional art. By focusing on the seven approaches to visual art and the basic elements of design, you’ll learn to look with a more critical eye at your own work and appreciate the work of others more fully. Bring in anything you’re working on now, even pieces you’ve given up on. You’ll go away recharged with self-confidence and a new perspective on your work. An accomplished pastel artist, Connie Renner won the Bronze Medal at the 1998 Museum Show of the International Association of Pastel Societies. Her work is included in The Best of Portrait Painting published by Northlight Books. CHAMBER MUSIC JAM SESSIONEven if you’re a lapsed player, you’ll enjoy this chance to rehearse ensemble techniques in mass quartets. Eve Bat Shalom will bring sheet music for simple chamber pieces; you bring your music stand, music-reading glasses, and enthusiasm for creating music with others. As a licentiate in violin teaching from Trinity College, London, Eve Bat Shalom has been coaching violin students for fifty-one years. She likes nothing better than “connecting people to classical music and to each other through the study and performance of chamber music.” GENOCIDE IN RWANDAJournalist Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families is a gripping and horrifying account of the Hutu massacre of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority a decade ago. If you haven’t read it yet, you’ll find when you do that it’s a book you’ll want to talk about with others. Come prepared to share your impressions and insights. Finding a book that Cyndi Sauvage has not yet read is the most difficult task faced by the two book clubs she attends. Her BookNotes choice this time is, in her words, so “unforgettable that I feel compelled to pass it on so others won't forget it either.” REMAKING EDENWho’s legally “Mom” when a child has two genetic mothers? What if parents are able to choose their children’s personality traits and talents? In clear, accessible prose, Lee M. Silver’s Remaking Eden demystifies the science that lies behind the world of reprogenetic technologies and raises ethical questions that guarantee lively discussion. Great Books groups and Gloria Maytham have traveled hand-in-hand for over fifteen years. The book she’s just finished is always “the most fascinating” she’s ever read. Her enthusiasm is infectious. PLAINSONGThis warm-hearted novel by Kent Haruf offers plenty of food for thought about the meaning of family and community. The book’s regional setting brings the story even closer to home. See if you can determine why Governor Owens selected this as our state book for 2003. Whether Marlin Barad is instigating, organizing, or participating in an educational event, her point of view is always original. PLAINS CONSERVATION CENTER FIELD TRIPGet a first-hand sense of the role the mid-grass prairie played in Colorado history. Vans or SUV’s leave promptly from the church at 9:20 for the Plains Conservation Center in southeast Aurora, where we’ll visit an 1870s sod village and observe native wildlife in the field and at the center’s education building. If you have read Plainsong, it will be even more fun. Dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes. Retired director of the Colorado State Conservation Board and now president of the West Arapahoe Conservation District, Dan Parker is dedicated to teaching and learning about our natural resources. JUST FOR GIGGLESRED HAT SOCIETY TEAThe frivolity kicks off with a dramatic reading of the poem beginning “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.” If you’re dedicated to being, not doing, to play, hilarity, and celebrating womanhood, just show up wearing a red hat and purple dress (or at least a grin), and we can decide later whether to form a new chapter of the Red Hat Society, a national disorganization of women that promotes healing through the power of laughter. Peg Meagher retired as a psychiatric nurse and professional clown in 2000, but she hasn’t given up her belief in the role of laughter in healing. KNIT WITSWhat better way to knit up the “raveled sleeve of care”? Pick up your knitting needles (and dropped stitches) in companionable company. You’ll get praise for your progress and help when you get stuck. We’ll meet twice at area knitting shops, starting at Showers of Flowers, and twice at the church. Maps and details when you sign up. Retired librarian and bookworm Jackie Writz divides the rest of her free time between gardening and knitting. She’s finished literally hundreds of garments for the needy, her friends, and her own wardrobe. PLANNING AHEADCHARTING A COURSE FOR FALL SEMESTERTaking our cue from Arnold Toynbee’s Cities of Destiny (1967), we’ll plot a five- to ten-week multidisciplinary, multimedia fall Academy course in the humanities showcasing the history, art, architecture, music, great ideas, and literature of our favorite cities. Desperately seeking people with broad interests willing to take on a one-week stint as tour guide to one of the world’s great cities. ( categories: Winter 2004 )
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