It was an era of great energy and inventions like the telephone, the light bulb, and the mail order catalog. It was also an era of extremes; the robber barons of Rockefeller oil, Carnegie steel, and Jay Gould's gold contrasted with Ellis Island which processed a million immigrants a year. With the help of both extremes, we built our longest railroad (the Transcontinental) our biggest bridge (Brooklyn) and our tallest buildings (skyscrapers in Chicago). And it was an era of great romantic movements, from the cowboy, to our parks (from Central Park to Yosemite), to the Great White Way of the Chicago World's Fair. We had arrived.

Throughout the centuries, artists of every medium have looked to the natural world for inspiration. In this class, we will consider how classical composers have responded to the various manifestations of Mother Nature, in both explicit and suggestive ways. The musical examples will range from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" to Beethoven's "Pastoral" symphony, the "Raindrop" prelude of Chopin, and Copland's "Outdoor" overture. And, thanks to composer Alan Hovhaness, Mount Saint Helens will erupt!

June 6th, 1944 marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most critical operations in our Nation's history. It was a time when the largest naval and air task force ever assembled put everything they had into a must-win effort to establish a beachhead in Nazi occupied France. This course will cover the planning of the operation, its execution and the high price paid by the brave soldiers, sailors and airmen whose victory opened a door to regaining freedom in Western Europe.

Smells conjure up warm memories, emotions and human relationships. Our noses are amazing molecular detectors, but how much do we really know about our sense of smell? How does fragrance drive our moods? How do we perceive smells and describe them to others? What smells are associated with certain diseases? Come explore the biology that makes it possible to the chemistry behind fragrances and essential oils. Through lecture and hands-on activities, we will test your ability to identify smells, discuss odor molecules, describe the journey from nose to brain, and compare human smell abilities with other animals. We will investigate the source of essential oils, the creation of perfumes, product labels and regulations, and aromatherapy claims. This class is not suitable for individuals with chemical or fragrance sensitivities.

Initially released in 2015 Microsoft's latest and "last "operating system has been through at least five "feature updates" in addition to monthly "cumulative updates." Likewise, this popular course continues to update and focus on what's useful to you. Bring your Windows 10 laptop, tablet, or 2-in-1 computer to class and together we will explore useful ways with touch, keyboard, mouse or voice to improve your computing experience.

We are not your average book discussion group! Participants make their own reading choices and come prepared to present brief reviews and share their appraisals. You may select a past or current author in any genre. Learn from each other through informal discussion. This is a low fee class, but requires registration.

This course is appropriate for new gardeners as well as those who have been at it for a while. Students will learn ideas, techniques and solutions they can apply to their particular gardening needs. Topics include how to plan a garden area for specific conditions, gardening successfully at any age, improving success with plant selections to fit the garden's conditions, using bulbs for year-round colorful gardening, inter-planting vegetables and flowers, starting seeds indoors and growing pollinator-friendly and health-friendly plants. We will discuss where to find additional gardening knowledge, such as key books and websites and Master Gardener answer clinics.

James Joyce said he wrote Dubliners "to betray the soul of that hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city," and did the job so vividly that no publisher would touch it for fear of a libel suit from the real Dubliners Joyce mentions in it by name. Readers anywhere, publishers feared, might be offended by its immorality, not to mention the frequent use of the word "bloody." Although Joyce felt "people might be willing to pay for the special odor of corruption which, I hope, floats over my stories," Dubliners' first publisher disagreed and in the eleventh hour destroyed the entire first printing. In this course we will examine where obscenity meets art in Dubliners and find out what all the bloody fuss is about. Students are asked to read the first three stories prior to our first class meeting.

This course covers what vitamins and minerals are, how much on average an older adult should consume and highlights some good dietary sources for each nutrient. Students will have the opportunity to evaluate their diet to determine whether they are obtaining vitamins and minerals in recommended quantities. The consequences of insufficient vitamin and mineral consumption as well as the risks of toxicity from oversupplementation will be discussed and regulations governing supplement labeling, manufacture and safety will be addressed.

Making personal and family health care decisions is complicated by shifting scientific evidence, contradictory guidelines, glitzy ads and personal preferences. Even after doing research on alternatives, the patient must navigate the dysfunctional US healthcare system and the conflicted world of specialties, for-profit corporations and insurance restrictions. Learn how to identify the best available evidence and apply it to your personal health care needs. Distinguish professionals from profiteers. Avoid scams. Keep costs, complications and consequences in context. Learn to communicate effectively with your doctor to exercise informed choices. Class presentations, discussion and exercises will focus on: Choosing and using your doctor; making decisions for treatments; making decisions for preventive services; end of life care choices.

To the moon for a month of Moondays! By the time this course starts, the fireworks will be over, but the saga continues. On July 20, 2019, we will have celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the lunar surface: Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. La Luna is our nearest celestial neighbor, the source of Earth's tides and the eclipses, and the constantly changing illuminator of the night skies. It likely formed by a giant asteroid impact in the early eons of the solar system and is said to be geologically "dead", but it may be a source of outer-space resources, and may be the first human outpost in space. Along with the Apollo mission, all these and more are features of our moon and will be the topics to study as we look out at our solar system and our closest companion in the grand celestial dance.

People know and love the psalms. It is the song book of the Old Testament. It is a book of prayers and stories, of sorrow and joys, of a people from long ago. It is a book filled with feelings of hope, fear, anger, love, faith and joy of real people. There are 150 songs, written by many authors, over 800 years. Because the feelings are real, and the words and thoughts timeless, the songs have been a source of inspiration for people for more than 3,000 years. The Psalms reach into every corner of the human experience, speaking to universal needs of people in every time and place: Thanksgiving, instruction remembrance, vengeance, lament, trust and praise. Join our class as we explore 30 of these beloved songs.

Passwords are our first line of defense...and our greatest weakness. The best passwords (unique, long, filled with random letters, numbers and symbols) are the hardest to remember. Let's talk about a different approach to password creation, and options available that go beyond password usage. Finally, let's address the challenge of managing this mess and the best, safest ways to store and retrieve your passwords.

In this course we will undertake a reading of Shakespeare's last play, in which an exiled magician thwarts his political enemies on an enchanted island (and which will be performing at Seattle Shakespeare Company from Oct. 15 through Nov. 10.) We will consider how the play provides a meditation on voyages of colonization taking place during Shakespeare's day and how Prospero's magic operates as metaphor for the playwright's art. Students are asked to read through Act 2 for the first class meeting. Any edition of the play will do, though it is recommended to find one with annotations and line numbers (the instructor prefers Signet Classic paperbacks, widely available.)

The class includes an introduction to macroeconomics, including unemployment, inflation, budget deficits, monetary policy, and trade. We will address the history of the US economy from the creation of the Federal Reserve System to the aftermath of the Great Recession and the macroeconomic policies of the Trump Administration.