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Artificial Intelligence has the power to change the way we work, our health, how we consume media and get to work, our privacy and more. Join this class to discuss what are the most important things we need to understand about this revolutionary technology today. You will learn the facts you need to know in order to navigate these early days of AI as well as how to use a sampling of AI apps. 

This 3-week course offered by Agathologist Dr. Michelle Kazmer includes: Agatha Christie the Woman, introducing her personal life and history; Tropes and Tricks, how Agatha Christie and The Detection Club shaped the Golden Age of crime fiction; her two most famous detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple; Other Recurring Sleuths and Standalones; Agatha Christie as playwright and romance novelist; and Adaptations and Re-envisionings of her works in many media. 

Suggested Reading: Death on the Nile or Evil Under the Sun (Poirot) The Murder at the Vicarage (Marple) Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (standalone)

This course is about the 600,000 Cuban refugees who came to the U.S. in the first 15 years after Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. We will learn their story—what happened in Cuba when Castro took over, why they left, and what happened when they got here. The course is based on the history as well as many of the 54 interviews Powell conducted for his oral history book about early Cuban exiles. The Cuban diaspora that began in 1959 continues today. The course will explain how and why it all began.

Suggested Reading: "Cuba: An American History," by Ada Ferrer; "Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: Biography of a Cause," by Tom Gjelten; "Young Castro: The Making of a Revolutionary," by Jonathan M. Hansen

Join wine educator Jim Wilson in a three-session course on the art of wine appreciation and tasting. Learn about the importance of aromas, tastes and balance that make wines enjoyable.  Wines from around the world will be tasted, focusing on wines great for summertime cooking. Jim has been conducting classes for more than 30 years in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

The war in Viet Nam caused upheaval in American politics. Now, 50 years after American withdrawal from the war, many people do not understand the war, its origins or its controversies. This class will review reports from national news magazines (Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report) as events unfolded. It will provide information about what the public was being told as America’s involvement grew from 1945-65.  

The forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains are comprised of uniquely diverse communities of flora and fauna that reflect this region’s ecological and ethnohistory. Join us as we explore how these ecological conditions, along with how present-day forest management efforts, are being used to conserve and protect these forests for future generations. 

Suggested Reading: https://www.ncnhp.org/classification-natural-communities-north-carolina-4th-approximation

Since the birth of the modern submarine in 1900, steady technological gains — particularly the advent of nuclear propulsion in 1954 with USS Nautilus — has expanded the mission far beyond that of attacking enemy ships. From World War II to the present day, the submarine has become an effective, high-tech spy. At the same time, it has itself become a prime target of enemy espionage.

Part book club, part New Orleans travel guide, explore The Big Easy while reading The House on Prytania by award-winning author Karen White. This class will feature discussion of the novel while virtually exploring the neighborhoods and HAUNTS mentioned by the author. The first 12 registrants receive a free book.