ZOOM COURSE
Our Declaration of Independence is being celebrated in this, its 250th year. Its roots come from charters, compacts and declarations of rights that we'll explore. From the Magna Carta to our Declaration of Independence, it has been a long legal movement to recognize the rights and liberties of citizens.
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COURSE MEETS IN PERSON AT THE CONCORD CENTER
This course presents an extended analogy between the human immune system's role in protecting a person's health and the fole of civic culture in protecting the health of America's democracy. Viruses exist even in healthy bodies, but a healthy immune system system keeps them in check. Democracies work in much the same way. A healthy civic culture--marked by tolerance of opposing viewpoints, trust among citizens, and the respect for the rule of law--suppresses dangerous impulses before they damage the democratic process. But when a democracy's immune systems weakens, extremism and lawlessness can spread like a virus. Sadly, America's immune system has been compromised, and the public square is now infected by a strain of authoritarian populism.
Who decides what AI gets built -- and wy should you care? Spoiler alert: it's not just about the code. This talk dives into how workplace culture shapes AI bias and explores the job market where tech meets ethics. From algorigthmic auditors to policy hackers, discover the growing "responsible tech" sector and how data science skills can actually make the world better.
Oscar Wilde is well remembered today for his clever witticisms, flamoyant personality and trenchant social criticism. His life and lifestyle have been the subject of plays, films, and books, but far too frew are familiar with his unequalled literary heritage. Join us, first by reading his materpiece novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), which is totally relevant to our world today, and then by coming to class for a one-hour lecture followed by a book discussion. Discussion questions will be sent to you a week in advance of the class.
This 4-week intensive course introduces students to the essentials of artificial intelligences (AI) while building their ability to critically assess its societal, political, and cultural implications. Students will explore fundamental AI concepts--such as algorithms, machine learning, generative AI, automation, and bias--while learning to apply critical media literacy.
From ancient times to the Ottoman Empire, and from the Victorian Era to the present, flowers have been used as a communication code or conversation when words were not possible or sufficient. We'll explore the use of flowers as a source of information through the type of flower and/or its color, and how those earlier practices still influence our usages.
Why was Picasso’s "Guernica" key to art history? How did Parker’s “Ornithology” upend jazz? This course studies eight early 20th century icons across disciplines: painting, music, poetry, &c. Rather than a rushed survey of “isms,” this deep dive approach to pioneers like Stravinsky, Faulkner and more shows modernism as a whole, while focusing on favorite “classic moderns."
MEETS IN PERSON AT THE CONCORD CENTER
OLLI SPOTLIGHT LECTURE. President Donald Trump's expansive claims of executive authority have revived enduring questions about presidential power and judicial review. This lecture connects founding debates to current controversies, asking how effectively the Constitution's checks and balances function today and how the Supreme Court is shaping those limits.
Few Biblical characters have so captured the imagination over the millennia as King David. But what do we really know about him? This richly illustrated session will combine Biblical text, history and archaeology to give us a better sense of who David was and what he actually did. We’ll close by exploring how Hollywood has made him an A-List movie star over the last century of cinema.
For decades, the American university stood as a marketplace of ideas and a cornerstone of democratic life. Today, that pillar is being dismantled to make way for the MAGAcademy. This lecture dissects how a corporate model defined by administrative bloat, precarious adjunct labor, and the commodification of student debt became the perfect staging ground for a MAGA-led hostile takeover. Drawing on the searing indictment presented in Nolan Higdon’s MAGAcademy (with a Foreword by Henry Giroux), we move beyond the noise of the culture wars to explore how forty years of neoliberal policy and bipartisan neglect hollowed out the academy from within. The lecture will explore how Donald Trump exploited deep-seated vulnerabilities in higher education to build the MAGAcademy, while offering a roadmap for restoring the university's democratic mission. Join us as we examine the structural decay that left our campuses vulnerable to the current crusade.
The presentation explores trauma as a collective and intergenerational experience rather than solely an individual psychological issue. Drawing on trauma science, historical context, and lived experience, this session examines how chronic stress, systemic inequities, and historical harm shape the ways communities adapt, survive, and protect themselves across generations. Participants will learn how trauma is embodied and how stress exposure can be transmitted through families and communities. Through a guided reflection and facilitated discussion, attendees are invited to explore the survival messages passed down within their own communities and consider pathways toward collective healing, connection, and restoration.
Dr. Talia Moore is a criminologist, associate professor, forensic researcher, and educational content creator specializing in graduate curriculum development, trauma-informed practice, and community engagement. Dr. Moore currently serves as the Graduate Forensic Psychology Program Director and Associate Professor at Saint Mary’s College of California. In addition, she works within the Department of Criminal Justice and within the Addictions Studies Certificate Program at California State University East Bay.
Dr. Moore brings over a decade of experience in law enforcement and community corrections, having served as a Deputy Probation Officer supervising juveniles, adults, felony drug offenders, and individuals with significant mental illness.
Dr. Moore is the host of Want Moore with Dr. Moore: The Criminologist of the Bay, a podcast dedicated to exploring the successes, challenges, and complexities of the justice system and other intersecting systems through education, advocacy, and community dialogue.
She earned her B.A. in Social Welfare from University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Psychology from Golden Gate University, and an Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology (Forensic Concentration) from Argosy University American School of Professional Psychology.
When the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it revolutionized American travel and transportation, but it was inspired by Europe’s earlier canal networks. In this course, we will trace French, British, and Irish canals of the 17th and 18th centuries, then follow the story into the 19th century as we examine American canals, especially in New York and Pennsylvania. We will explore how canals reflect national politics and ambitions and why they remain vital to global shipping today.
Instructor: Bernie Carlson
Bernard (Bernie) Carlson is Vaughan Professor Emeritus of Humanities at the University of Virginia and an expert on invention, entrepreneurship, and technology’s role in society. He received the Sally Hacker Prize from the Society for the History of Technology and the William Middleton Prize from the IEEE, and filmed Understanding the Inventions that Changed the World. Now based in Ireland, he directs the MS program in AgInnovation at the University of Galway, where he trains adult learners in product development, startups, and sustainable farming.
Osher Online courses take place via Zoom and are not recorded.
In this course, we will trace the evolution of literature specifically written for children - from its earliest forms to the modern era. We will begin with the oral traditions that underpin all storytelling, then follow the shift toward published works created specifically with young readers in mind. We will survey key moments and turning points that shaped the growth of children’s literature as a distinct field. We will conclude by analyzing how a well-known children’s literature has evolved over time.
Instructor: Blake Regnier
Blake Regnier is a former middle school reading interventionist and current English instructor for Worthington Learning Center. Regnier is also an adjunct instructor of English for Minnesota West Community and Technical College. With a diverse background in literary traditions spanning classical works through the modern era, his primary research interest has been in Victorian era monsters and other assorted "things that go bump in the night."
Osher Online classes take place via Zoom and are not recorded.
Coffee will be a lens on climate change, social life, health, North–South dynamics, social and economic justice, tourism, and slavery. We will trace coffee from planting and processing through shipping and, ultimately, the drink in our cups. We will explore coffee’s history, its shift from elite beverage to everyday staple, and research on health, farmer income, and climate resilience. The instructor will share experiences from coffee farms around the world, discuss different brewing methods, and demonstrate how coffee is brewed.
Instructor: Robert Thurston
Robert Thurston, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of History at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio). He earned a BA in History from Northwestern University and a PhD in modern Russian history from the University of Michigan. His writing spans twentieth-century Russian/Soviet history, witch hunts (Europe and Salem), the body in the Anglosphere (1880–1920), and coffee as an economic and social force. A devoted coffee educator, he has opened a roastery and coffee shop and has visited coffee farms from Asia to South America.
Osher Online classes are held via Zoom and are not recorded.
In this course, we will explore a wide range of horticultural practices with something to offer no matter our experience level or where we live. We will cover container gardening, aquatic gardens, ornamental and fruiting plants, bonsai, landscape design, and pest management. Each week, we will focus on a theme and examine design ideas, plant choices, and long-term care practices for success. Whether we garden on 10 acres or in an apartment, we will find plenty to learn and enjoy in horticulture.
Instructor: Chris Baker
Chris Baker has worked in horticulture for 15 years, including as a horticulturist at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and as Curator of Bonsai at the Chicago Botanic Garden. He focuses on the use and benefits of native plant species and sound, eco-friendly horticultural practices. Baker studied with bonsai master Torho Suzuki at the Daiju-en Nursery in Japan. He is President of the North American Bonsai Federation and a board member of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation.
Explore 100 years of American history through objects often taken for granted in everyday life: signs. This course introduces the Museum’s origins and features a conversation with ASM’s founder about why signs matter. We will examine how signs have evolved due to trends in commerce and technology and explore case studies of three major food companies who used signage to shape their brands. In the final session, we will take a virtual visit to ASM’s neon shop to see how a neon sign is made.
Instructor: Erin Holland
The American Sign Museum (Cincinnati, Ohio) covers more than 100 years of American sign history and displays more than 800 signs and artifacts, making it the most comprehensive museum of its kind. With a mission to educate the community about the history of the sign industry and its significant contribution to commerce and the American landscape, the Museum is organized to preserve, archive and display a historical collection of signs in their many types and forms.
Richie Unterberger, author and photo researcher of the book San Francisco: Portrait of a City, presents and discusses more than a thousand pictures covering the evolution of the Bay Area. Encompassing our region’s architecture, music, political activism, and spectacular natural beauty, it also features work by some of the most internationally renowned photographers. No class meeting on Monday, June 29.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel combined angelic harmonies and timeless melodies with poetic, socially conscious lyrics to craft some of the biggest folk-rock hits. Combining rare video and sound clips with expert commentary, this course will also feature screening and discussion of the classic film they soundtracked, "The Graduate."
The story of how the FBI surveilled the folk singers such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bess Lomax, and others. Using music, video, and records from extensive Freedom of Information Act filings, the lecture will bring to life these artists and the systemic way they were subject to government surveillance and suppression.
In his short career of 10 years,Vincent van Gogh created hundreds of works of art.Through correspondence with his younger brother,art dealer Theo van Gogh,most of what is known of Vincent's thoughts,hopes,struggles and flashes of inspiration are recorded in the hundreds of letters they exchanged. This course will cover his work through the lens of his relationship with Theo.
Irrepressibly famboyant, Oscar Wilde was nonetheless a man of many faces and many moods. Admired, adored, snubbed, humiliated, vilified, and even imprisoned, Wilde, in spite of all, lived a fascinating life and produced works that are still enormously relevant today. Join us for a Wilde ride as we examine the man, his circle, his diverse works and his legacy.
We will discuss Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, that powerfully addresses housing discrimination in the mid 20th century. We will uncover the many darkly funny and insightful moments in this play and see the beauty of her writing. I will use Imani Perry’s biography of Hansberry (Looking for Lorriane) to show how the complexities of the playwright’s life are reflected in her writing.
Reading of the play and biography are optional (not required).
This course offers a contemporary and accessible exploration of modern substance use. Participants will examine how substance use culture has evolved in recent years, including shifts in public attitudes, emerging substances, and changing patterns of use across communities.
The course will also introduce current approaches to treatment and recovery, highlighting both evidence-based practices and newer, sometimes controversial, responses to addiction. Throughout the series, we will consider how trauma, life experiences, and social context shape substance use and recovery pathways. No class meeting on Wednesday, July 1.
Women are often overlooked from two important art movements: Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. Today, while male contemporaries like Monet, Manet, Pollack and de Kooning are household names, fewer are familiar with Morisot, Bracquemond, or Krasner. These women dared to enter the male-dominated world of painting -- not as muses but as artists.
Humanity confronts four existential risks. Each has the potential to extinguesh our species, or leave survivors to struggle in an increasingly brutal competition for increasingly scarce resources: a deadly pandemic, nuclear war, global warming, and tyrannically regulated AI. How likely are these, and what must be done to protect ourselves? Class discussion will be facilitiated.
Having lost most of its French Empire in 1204, the Plantagenet kings of England unleashed a fitful but persistent campaign of recovery and reconquest, now against a new French dynasty... the Valois. What had been a conflict between budding nation-states now devolved into a dynastic struggle for the crown of a united kingdom of England and France, formally known as the 100 Years War. Between 1337 and 1453, the smaller and weaker Kingdom of England continually punched up against the larger and stronger Kingdom of France, fighting and winning some of the greatest battles of the Late Middle Ages, but ultimately retiring to their island to prepare for the next round. They just couldn't quit one another.
"No white man sings like Van Morrison," claims music critic Greil Marcus. Morrison, Belfast-born and two-time Grammy winner, has livedhis blend of spiritual, bluesy, and rock music through 60 albums, 80 singles, and thousands of live performances. We'll study his influences, listen to songs, and decipher some of his wonderfully strange and emotionally evocative lyrics. No class on Tuesday, June 30.
Explore the revolutionary career of Miles Davis, from his early bebop sideman days to the groundbreaking Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue recordings. This course dives into his formative influences, signature sound, and the cool/modal innovations that reshaped jazz forever. Listen, learn, and experience the evolution of one of music’s most iconic and influential artists.
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CAL STATE EAST BAY OLLI