Course Descriptions
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Mysterious Civilizations of the Ancient World
Minoan Civilization has long intrigued scholars and lay people alike. Beginning in 3000 BC and lasting until approximately 1450 BC, Bronze Age Minoan Civilization was the forerunner of Greek Civilization. We will be examining the origins and development of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. Using the major palace and villa sites on the island, we’ll follow excavators and historians as they discover and rebuild our knowledge of this fascinating civilization. Finally, we’ll study the catastrophic destruction of this once powerful civilization. When: Mondays, Feb. 8, Feb. 22. March 1-29 (7 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Ray Thompson A Potpourri from the Eastern Shore This course will consist of a variety of subjects dealing with the Eastern shore, including Migration from England and Settlement of Early Delmarva; Mapping Delmarva’s Past; Delmarva—Cradle of America; Life on the Eastern Shore during the 17th and 18th Centuries; Bogerternorton Hundred on the Seaside of Worcester County and its Early Settlement; If Walls Could Talk: The History of Rackliffe House and its Occupants; The Oyster Wars of the Eastern Shore; and When freedom was as Endless as the Marshes. When: Mondays, April 5-May 24 (8 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Ray Thompson Conjuring Presence and Intimacy with Poetry In the face of imminent danger, we humans instinctively tighten the ties that bind, gather our tribes, and circle our wagons to face each other with our backs against the storm. Yet the safety measures we are dutifully practicing to protect our collective physical health against the ravages of a raging pandemic ultimately thwart this instinct for survival and threaten our spiritual and mental health. The power of this instinct is evident in the number of self-proclaimed Luddites who regularly Face Time and Zoom, albeit the video option off on the latter. And while virtual reality is godsend, I’ve heard sighs that “it just isn’t the same.” While I don’t claim that it is a panacea for our current crisis, I do believe that the practice of poetry—reading and writing— has the power to conjure a palpable presence, a sense of genuine intimacy, and can literally transcend the very real distances between us. In this course we’ll parse poems together to discover just how poets use language and poetic devices to make this magic. Then we’ll write our own poems, and conjure palpable presences—together, in a shared and intimate space. When: Tuesdays, Feb. 9-23, March 2-30 (8 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Nancy Mitchell Crossroads of War – Salisbury in the Civil War The Civil War became “the crossroads of our being” (to quote Shelby Foote) and no more so than in Salisbury. Rising from the ashes of a town fire, Salisbury capitalized on its being a rail head and eclipsed towns on the peninsula as the axis for the war in Delmarva. We will explore how this happened and how the experience entered into the collective memory of the city. Topics include: 1) Railroad to Nowhere? – The Salisbury Fire & the Eastern Shore Railroad, 2) Home Guard? – Camp Wallace & the (Other) Peninsular Campaign, 3) Going Viral? – An Epidemic & a Telegraph, 4) The South Shall Rise Again? – Salisbury’s Southern Sympathizers and Sagas. Class members will explore these subjects from the writings and recollections of the people who experienced and remembered them. When: Tuesdays, Feb. 9-23, March 2 (4 sessions) Time: 12-1:30 p.m. Course Leader: Phil Hesser Pearl Harbor – Lessons for today from America’s Day of Infamy On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Overnight, Americans went from complacency and a longing to avoid war, to outrage and full support for action and revenge. The course will explore the events leading up to the attack, addressing such questions as: How did the warm relationship between Japan and the U.S. deteriorate in a few decades to the point where Japan saw this country as its bitter enemy? Why did Japan’s leadership approve an operation which many of its top military leaders thought to be foolhardy? How were the Japanese able to keep their plans – and the whereabouts of their fleet – completely under wraps, and achieve total surprise? Why were our Navy and Army commanders in Hawaii so completely unprepared, despite clear warnings of the imminence of war? What lessons applicable to today and the future can we learn from this experience? When: Tuesdays, March 30-April 27 (5 sessions) Time: 10:30-11:45 a.m. Course Leader: Mike Roberts The Artist’s Way In this course, participants will examine how Divine Spirit can lead to ever widening experiences of faith and appreciation of their lives as creative beings. It’s never too late to discover our natural creative talents. We will explore the creative energy offered by our universe and discover it as our very own. As a participant in the Artist’s Way, authored by Julia Cameron, course members will engage in whole or small group discussion, journal writing, and hands-on experiences. Participants should order a copy of the Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron before the beginning of the class. Paperback copies are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Enrollment limited to 10. When: Wednesdays, Feb. 24, March 3-31 (6 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Sophia Sonen |
Economics and Neuroscience Tools to Address Environmental and Health Issues
Faced with major environmental and health issues, how can economics and neuroscience provide guidance in addressing conditions for sustainable economic growth? This four-week course will take up basic scientific foundations of environmental and health dynamics as they affect key issues we face today. With an emphasis on global climate change and the COVID pandemic, we examine how pricing signals and our perceptions of risk shape the formulation and implementation of efficient and equitable policy choices. The course will be delivered via Zoom and will contain a website link for supplementary reading source material. When: Wednesdays, April 7-28 (4sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Phillip LeBel Who, Me? Identity in Short Stories It’s all about me, myself, and I narrators—short fiction that explores how we define ourselves. Join our group of lifelong readers in discussing imaginative stories of identity, along with topics such as “Take My Name,” “Me and My Doppelganger,” “Hyphenated,” “My DNA,” “Beast Me,” and “Staking My Rep.” Readings will be provided via email. There’s room in Zoom for you, yourself, and yours (no extra charge for pets). When: Thursdays, Feb. 11-March 18 (6 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Nancy Hesser Stages of Ages: Short Stories Remember when you believed in magic—in Santa Claus and monsters under the bed? Remember your first crush? And those halcyon days of contented maturity—or is the midlife crisis a universal fact of life? In this course, readers will Zoom in to discuss short fiction that evokes stages of personal development. Selected short stories from around the world will relate to such topics as “Using Your Inside Voice,” “It Must Be Love,” “Time To Settle Down,” “How Did I Get Here?” and “What Next?” Readings will be sent via email. When: Thursdays, March 25-April 29 (6 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Nancy Hesser Westward Bound! Crucial events determined the American experience. As exploration was coming into its own, in 1497, by the voyages of John Cabot, England’s King Henry established a claim to the continental domain in which the history of the United States would unfold. It was becoming clear that the key to developing new lands was colonization. But during the 1500’s England and Europe hosted constant wars, religious conflicts, desperate social dislocation, international disputes and persecutions, along with the enactment of barbaric criminal laws against the poor. These convulsions of the 16th and 17th centuries lay behind people’s clamoring to leave behind their roots and to come here. The Great Migration that Changed the World was born. In this newfound dominion of unknown size, we learned from Indians, farmed extensively, organized a government, built a society, fought British rule, created a Constitution, became a nation…And so after three centuries, from John Cabot to John Adams, the development of American society from sea to shining sea unfolded, by means of the same indomitable energy that brought us here and made possible the immense exploration and vital ownership of our westward lands. They story is monumental. When: Thursdays, March 25-May 13 (8 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Eleanor Mulligan Quotes and Quotidian This course will look at what lies behind some well-known, and not so well-known quotes from philosophers, politicians, personalities and thoughts from everyday life, and explore with class participants how they apply daily (Quotidian) to our contemporary lives. Quotations will come from figures as diverse as Kant, Nietzsche, Hobbes, Mother Goose, John Stuart Mill, Charles Schulz and other well-known thinkers and mind stimulators. The ‘daily’ part of the course will be just that: today, our contemporary society as we experience it on a daily basis with the quotes in mind. When: Fridays, Feb. 12-March 5 (4 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Todd Becker Great Decisions 2021: Current Challenges Facing the World The course is a presentation by video of current and past political and economic challenges the world is facing. Six of the following seven topics will be presented and discussed. At the beginning of each session we will view a video (approximately 25 minutes). Following the video presentation, the session will be opened for discussion. Global supply chains and national security Brexit and the European Union Struggles over the melting Arctic China’s role in Africa The Korean Peninsula Roles of international organizations in a global pandemic Course participants may choose to order the 2021 briefing book from the Foreign policy Association online at https://www.fpa.org/great_decisions/?act=gd materials or by calling 800 477 5836. The cost of the guide is $32.00 plus shipping. The book is NOT a requirement for the course. When: Fridays, March 19-26, April 9-30 (6 sessions) Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Dale Godfrey |